Ford Crown Victoria
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{{Infobox Automobile
|image=Image:2006 Ford Crown Victoria.jpg
|name=Ford Crown Victoria
|manufacturer=Ford Motor Company
|production=1955-1956
1980-present
|class=Fullsize
|body_style=4-door sedan
|platform=FR Panther
|related=Mercury Grand Marquis
Mercury Marauder
Lincoln Town Car
|similar=Buick Lucerne
Toyota Avalon
|This article is part of the Ford Automobile Series.
}}
The Ford Crown Victoria is a fullsize, rear-wheel-drive car produced by the Ford Motor Company in the 1950s, and then again since the 1970s. While the Crown Victoria only has mediocre sales to the general public, the Crown Victoria is very popular among fleets, with its twin, the Mercury Grand Marquis being the exact opposite. The Grand Marquis is almost never used by fleets other than rental car companies, while it is very popular among the general public. While it shares components with the Lincoln Town Car, it shares almost no exterior sheetmetal or interior parts. The 1992-onward model has had a number of upgrades, and is the most common police car used in North America, followed by the Chevrolet Impala.
Contents |
Description
The Ford Crown Victoria is a fullsize sedan manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. The Crown Victoria, or "Crown Vic" as it is often referred, represents the top-of-the-line sedan in the Ford lineup. Much like its predecessor, the Ford LTD, the Ford Crown Victoria is also commonly used as a taxi cab, fleet vehicle and police car, a segment in which Crown Victorias make up the vast majority of vehicles used.
The Crown Victoria is manufactured in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, rides on the 1979-vintage Ford Panther platform and utilizes the universal 4.6 L SOHC SEFI V8. As of 2005, prices range from US$25,000 for the base model to $32,000 for the high-end LX Sport trim.
1955
Image:1955 Ford Crown Victoria.jpg The first "Crown Victoria" appeared in 1955; it was a 2-door 6-seater hardtop coupe, part of the Ford Fairlane range, that differed from the regular Victoria model (named after a type of carriage) by having a stainless steel band that 'crowned' the roofline, passing right over the car, as an extension of the B-pillar line. The model was produced in 1955 and 1956.
1980
In 1980, Ford brought back the name on a deluxe version of the LTD fullsize car line on the Ford Panther platform. It replaced the previous year's LTD Landau model, and used a stainless steel band over the roof at the B-pillar to evoke the 1950s model.
1992-1997
Image:FordCrownVictoria-non.jpg
In 1992, along with dropping the LTD designation, the sedan body (production of the station wagon having ceased in 1991) was completely redesigned to the round, six-window shape (which shared many details with its contemporary, the newly refreshed 1992 Taurus), and there was a new 4.6 L modular engine. There was a further facelift in 1998 and chassis modifications for 2003.
1998-2002
Image:New york police department car.jpg
In 1998, the Crown Victoria's exterior styling, rear suspension, and ignition system were updated. The 1998-2002 "Crown Vics" have a revised 4-link rear suspension with a Watts linkage. The general road handling manners have improved, but towing capacity has been reduced. The Crown Victoria also uses a coil-on-plug ignition design rather than traditional spark plug wires. This design, already being used on the 1996-1999 Ford Taurus SHO 3.4L V8 engine, was later implemented on other users of the Modular V8, including the 1999-up Mustang GT, and many F/E-series trucks. The Crown Victoria also features a 114.7" wheelbase.
Change of Canadian availability
In Canada, 1999 was the last year the Crown Victoria was individually available to civilians from Ford dealerships. Since 2000, the Crown Victoria has only been available in Canada as a Police Interceptor for law enforcement, or as a taxi or Special Service Vehicle for commercial fleets. The civilian Crown Victoria is only available when ordered as a fleet directly from Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited and is not available through Ford dealerships. Civilians can, however, purchase used 2000 & up civilian Crown Victorias that are available at dealerships every so often, or used Police Interceptors or Special Service Vehicles from various auctions. The Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car, which also use the Ford Panther platform, however, are still available at Ford & Lincoln dealerships in Canada.
According to the article of the Mercury Grand Marquis in the french book Le guide de l'auto 2006 (The 2006 Auto-Guide), Ford is rumoured to considering bringing back the Crown Victoria to the Canadian civilian market, replacing the Grand Marquis. Although Ford hasn't made any official statement to this effect, many consider this to make sense since the Mercury brand was officialy phased out in Canada in 1999 and despite the Grand Marquis' Mercury badging, it's officialy sold as a Ford in all Canadian sales literature.
2003-present
In 2003, the chassis was again redone with hydroformed steel. The front and rear suspension was also completely overhauled. New inverted monotube shocks are now used (replacing the old twin-tube shocks that had been around since the 1960s). In the front, new aluminum control arms, and rack and pinion steering (replacing the recirculating ball units) have been implemented. The rear suspension was redone for durability in police-duty applications and the rear shocks were moved outboard of the frame rails for better handling and ease of maintenance. As a result, the road-handling manners of the Panther platform cars have improved significantly. The engine output increased due to the addition of a knock sensor for more aggressive timing.
The Crown Victoria retained the same exterior styling, but 2005 models received a rear whip radio antenna rather than an integrated rear defroster antenna. 2005 models also received a new steering wheel.
Even with the latest 2006 Crown Victoria, the overall design remains relatively unchanged from the 1979 design. It still uses a front independent suspension with a rear live axle on a body on frame design, using a traditional rear wheel drive drivetrain. The design has been popular with police departments and cab companies to the same extent as the Chevrolet Caprice in the 1980s and early 1990s, especially in New York City where they make up the majority of the taxi and New York City Police Department fleets, as well among the general populace.
The Crown Victoria has often characterized as an "older person's car", but this is a misconception considering nearly all vehicles in this class tend to have an older client base (largely due to economic reasons). It is considerably more durable than modern front wheel drive cars that rely on constant velocity joints for transmission of power to the steering wheels. It also offers more interior space and slightly better fuel economy than many SUVs of similar weight.
Engines (MY2005 stats):
- 220hp @ 4750 rpm/265lb.ft. @ 4000 rpm/9.4:1 compression 4.6L V-8 (Fleet only.)
- 224hp @ 4750 rpm/265lb.ft. @ 4000 rpm/9.4:1 compression 4.6L V-8 (Base civilian package.)
- 239hp @ 4750 rpm/276lb.ft. @ 4000 rpm/9.4:1 compression 4.6L V-8 (Perf. & Handling Pkg.-equipped only; includes Sport)
- 250hp @ 4900 rpm/287lb.ft. @ 4100 rpm/9.6:1 compression 4.6L V-8 (Police Interceptor package only.)
Fuel tank safety concerns
While the car has been highly rated for safety, there was some controversy and lawsuits in the 1990s over the car's gas tank leaking after certain types of high energy impacts, specifically when being hit at a certain angle offset in the rear at speeds greater than 85 mph (137 km/h). However, the safety ratings are still higher than most other American vehicles at this price point. In fact the survival rate for these type of collisions was higher than any other mid-sized sedan, which perform worse due to their much lighter construction, lower weight, and shorter distance for a crumple zone. In the case of the Crown Victoria, it is a combination of factors including a number of different traits, such as the nature and position of the gas tank, and the unique circumstances of the car crashes - namely at speeds of over the legal limit - something most civilians would never be subjected to. There are very few, if any, reports for this fire problem when struck at ordinary speeds.
The condition may have been exacerbated by police equipment installers drilling over the package tray in the luggage compartment. Due to the gas tank's orientation, drilling through the package tray may result in drilling into the gas tank. The equipment installers would then install bolts that go into the gas tank and can cause sparking in an accident. Ford's solution in the form of a recall kit includes appliques to mark unsafe areas to drill in the luggage compartment, as well as a rear differential cover shield, and rear shock lower bolt shields.
It is interesting to mention the contents of the recall kit because they can be found on early 1980s Fords. Ford used polymer shields on the gas tank facing the rear differential covers. Ford also used polymer shock bolt covers for the lower mounts on the rear shocks. These items were removed on later models, however. Further, many investigations, both performed by federal/state agencies, and the police department themselves, have found that items in the trunk were improperly stowed - which became tank-piercing projectiles when impacted at high speeds. Ford's immediate reaction was to offer a Kevlar-lined trunk-storage unit, and distribute training as to the proper (and improper) stowage procedures for trunk materials. Lastly, for 2005 and newer models, Ford offers the first-ever, on-board fire-suppression system for the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor units, which effectively choke any fire on-board when detected.
Even though this model of the Crown Victoria has been criticized for this type of rear end collision, the civilian Panthers all have the same "flaw" and Ford refuses to address this problem on all the models. It should also be noted then every other car on the road has the same "flaw", but civilians do not routinely park on the shoulder of high speed interstate highways, where they would be subject to a collision that can cause a fuel tank to erupt. Fire related police fatalities are no higher than those for the Chevrolet Caprice. See Numbers Don’t Damn Crown Vic.
Despite numerous court cases charging Ford with partial liability for fires caused in accidents, the company has never been convicted. An attempted class-action suit in Belvidere, Illinois in 2004 failed as well. Although the company has avoided financial responsibility for the fires, the components found in Ford's fuel tank safety kits have been in use with Ford vehicles since the early 1980s as evidenced in the 1980-1982 Ford Thunderbird that has a polymer differential cover shield and lower shock mount shields to prevent the fuel tank from contacting those areas.
Body on frame
The Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis, and the Lincoln Town Car are the only mass-produced passenger cars with body-on-frame construction in the United States. This construction style is opposed to the now more commonly used unibody construction style where the body panels are load-bearing members. Mercury introduced a performance version called the Mercury Marauder but sales were slow. The Marauder was not a market success and the model was retired after just two years of production.
Police Interceptors
Image:HaltonRegionalPoliceServiceCar.jpg
The law enforcement version of the 1999 and up Crown Victoria is known as the Police Interceptor, and many taxi companies use this "heavy duty" version as well. Prior to 1999, the police cars were officially known as the P71 Crown Victoria. The changes made in 1999 included a new rear fascia insignia, an all-black trim scheme which included replacing the color-keyed trunklid panels with black ones, and a black grille. Further refinements were made in 2001, including deletion of all trim on the plastic bumper pieces, and a honeycomb-style grille, replacing a slat-style grille as is found on standard Crown Victorias. Another difference between the civilian version and the Police Interceptor is that the back seats of the latter are built with the back and bottom portions as a single piece with no space in between them for back-seat occupants to hide objects.
The 2004-2005 Police Interceptor (referred to many as CVPIs, P71s) are rated for 250 hp (186 kW) because of the addition of a new air intake system. This includes a new air box that resembles the Mercury Marauder airbox (raised airbox lid, deeper bottom) with an integrated 80mm mass air flow (MAF) sensor that is part of the airbox lid. This allows for much more precise flow calibration and reduces the chances of air leakage. P71 zip tube (the flexible rubber hose between the throttle body and MAF outlet) is also used to reduce NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness) as well as transfer air from the airbox to the throttle body with minimal flow resistance. Kevlar-lined front doors, which might be useful as protective barriers during gun fights, are optional on the Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, new for 2006 Model Year. Following the criticism of fires following rear-end collisions, in 2005 the Crown Victoria Police Interceptors now come with an optional automatic fire suppression system and special "trunk packs" designed to help prevent trunk contents from piercing the fuel tank in a collision.
There were some problems with early 2003 Police Interceptor. The newly designed steel wheels would rust and fall out, the rack and pinion units would fail early (sub-10k miles), and the rear axles would wear out and possibly fall out as well. This was not limited to the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. Some 2003 Mercury Marauders were also affected. Luckily, this was only for very early 2003 models as the problems appear to have been fixed for newer models.
"P71" is the designation for the Police Interceptor. The code appears in the Vehicle Identification Number and distinguishes it from the commercial (P72), standard civilian (P73) and luxury civilian (P74) models.
Long wheelbase fleet models
Image:DSCN1386.JPG Starting in the 2002 model year a long-wheelbase Crown Victoria was made available that featured a six-inch wheelbase stretch made possible by a new frame and extended body. The stretched Crown Vic was not offered to the general public, but instead was intended for service in New York City's taxicab fleets, for instance, and the livery market.
Future
Ford was rumored to be considering replacing the aging Panther platform with the front or all-wheel drive platform based on the D3 architecture. Ford has denied this.
Another rumor going around at Ford is that the Crown Victoria will eventually be replaced by one of two vehicles:
- Ford Australia would modify the Ford Falcon to left hand drive and US safety standards and export it to the US, which would see a revival in the Falcon name in the US market. Despite consumer demand, Ford has no plans to do this.
- The Panther platform would be retired altogether, replaced by a completely new vehicle based on the Ford D2C platform used for the Ford Mustang. To go with Ford's naming scheme of naming cars that start with the letter "F", the Crown Vic name would be replaced by "Falcon" or "Fairlane". In addition, to go outside that naming scope, reviving the Galaxie nameplate has also been mentioned.
Despite this, Ford has announced that the Crown Victoria's better selling twin, the Mercury Grand Marquis will stay in production until at least 2009, with the "Grand" dropped off the nameplate, so it will fit mercury's new namimg scheme of making all their cars start with the letter M.
External links
Official Websites & Resources
- Ford Crown Victoria: Civilian | Police Interceptor (U.S.A.)