The final Crown Vic, plant closes Sept 16

[sa v8 mate]

I'd heard they were canning the panther platform (crown vic/town car) didn't think it was so soon. So in maybe 5 years' time the streets of America, and all those US cop shows will have very different car furniture. Shame really, I think it's a case of Ford being embarrassed about an old separate chassis V8 format, which has had very little investment. The fact that the Police and Taxi/Limo companies loved them was of little interest, and a nice earner for the past 10 years.

Found it on this http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-the-St-thomas-A...

[Roo]

Wish I hadn't sold mine. Lovely old thing to waft around in.

[Stew2000]

This is probably on the forum somewhere..
anyway's this is what a real riot is for: http://jalopnik.com/5840637/the-last-ford-crown-vi...

[bob1179]

A bit sad really. I had one when I was in the States earlier this year. It was effortlessly barge like and loads of fun in the corners, it squealed and protested and rolled in a way no European saloon does, but it had bags of character.

RIP Crown 'Vic...

Gratuitous pic:

[Vet Guru]

It's like the town car accounts for over 50% of Lincoln sales! So god knows what will happen next year!

I did see this year in the states more Taxi's that were Toyota pruis. Seems odd when the crown Vic did the job so well.

[Stew2000]

Do you think the Buick Regal will sell? It's only a Vauxhall Insignia.

[mariner2]

We rented a Mercury Grand Marquis ( a flash version of the Crown VIc) for a trip in 2009 from Dallas up through Texas, Okalahoma and Minnesota to Chicago. It was on offer at Hertz for almost nothing versus the regular rental so we took it.

It may be old and crude but for travelling the US Midwest it made great sense. Vast space , quiet,massive aircon. power, soft ride and and there are almost no corners so handling is just not needed.

The fuel consumption on the open roads of the midwest is actually about 25mpg imperial as the things pull over 40mph/1,000 rpm so you travel most places at 1,500 rpm all day.