Confession: I have owned three Panther bodied cars, but this is not one of them. There have been an even dozen in the family between my wife and I, my parents, my grandparents, her parents, and her brother. Confused yet? Don’t worry, I’m going to break it down – so to speak. From previous comments on various posts before today, it appears Panthers are perhaps second only to the Toyota Prius in eliciting strong reactions from people.
So let’s go for a trip. While we will snack on milk and honey, beware: some of the wine colored rose bushes may have a thorn lurking in them and, no, those glasses on my head aren’t rose colored, either.
I’m going to go in order of model year in lieu of acquisition date, as that seems as good as any.
1980 Ford LTD: No, there was no Crown Victoria in the name of this one. My father obtained the white LTD from the estate auction of an old lady in 1992 when it had 60,000 miles. It was equipped rather oddly, perhaps a throwback to the halcyon days of a la carte option selection. While it was the low-buck model with only two headlights, like the one above, it had a tan colored full vinyl top, wire wheel covers, and the four-speed automatic overdrive transmission. Inside it had crank windows, power locks, and no tilt steering wheel. It also had the variable venturi carburetor sitting on top of its 302 cid V8.
The variable venturi went adios pronto. The mechanic who replaced the carburetor also disclosed he had “overhauled” the engine as the old lady had got stuck in her yard one day and had poured the coals to it to spin her way out. Maybe that was no big deal, but as it was low on oil at the time, it became a big deal. My father (well, me, for the most part) put about 10,000 miles on it before selling it to my then girlfriend’s (now wife’s) father. An intermittent bout of rough running got remarkably worse for him and it was some o-ring that had deteriorated. He later sold it to his younger son who drove from St. Louis to New York state several times before it died somewhere along the way due to a less than top notch “overhaul”. The total mileage accumulated is unknown, but it is in excess of 45,000 miles.
1985 Ford LTD Crown Victoria: My parents purchased their white ’85 in June 1986. It had been purchased new by a gentleman in town who quickly bored with his cars and traded every three to six months; he traded this car for a Dodge Omni. This Crown Victoria took us on vacations from Washington D.C. to the Grand Canyon and was flawless until around 55,000 miles. It was at this time all the pollution control components started going kaput one at a time. The dealer told us there were seven in all; it was traded for a Dodge Dynasty after the fifth, and worst to that point, was replaced for $700 in 1990. It had 77,000 miles at the time.
Despite this being by far the most heavily optioned box Ford of the bunch, and the only one with vent windows, this car wound up being the worst of the dozen as the pollution control devices rendered the car unreliable.
image source: www.policecarwebsite.net
1986 Ford LTD Crown Victoria, part 1: This was a car I purchased from a state surplus auction in November 2000 for the princely sum of $375. It had started life as a Missouri State Highway Patrol car and at 50,000 miles it was sold to Southeast Missouri State University. I vividly remember the car patrolling the campus during the time I attended college there.
I purchased the car with 133,000 miles. While it was quite worn in many places, its 351 cid (5.8 liter) V8 ran like a champ despite the ridiculous 2.73 rear axle. Its biggest overall flaw was its appetite for fuel at the rate of 12 miles per gallon. It was also surprising to find this car equipped with power windows, full wheel covers, and a quite decent factory stereo.
There were a number of issues that transpired while I owned it; the heater core leaked and was promptly by-passed; finding upper control arms for the police spec suspension was a challenge; the variable venturi carburetor reared its ugly head; and the wax covered engine computer started to fry itself one night. A quick replacement from a junker cleared that last issue in ten minutes. I sold it with 141,000 miles to someone who made me an offer I could not refuse.
1986 Lincoln Town Car: My brother-in-law drove his blue Lincoln during his swinging bachelor days. This was in the 1996 to 1998 era. The car had about 200,000 miles when he bought it and he was using it as part of a business he had at that point, so he quickly put another 100,000 miles on it without issue. The power window motors had ceased working and he sold it when it needed new tires. I cannot remember if I drove this car or not; if I did, it was very little.
image source: www.wikipedia.org
1986 Ford LTD Crown Victoria, part 2: My father-in-law, who can sniff out a low mileage car 500 miles away, was given a two-door LX when it had 85,000 miles. His baby-blue coupe had belonged to an army buddy of his in Chicago. While it was a bit crunchy in spots when acquired in 2001, it was immaculate inside. An unfound vacuum leak rendered this car to be parked and later sold.
This Ford was quite physically rugged. One early morning, as my father-in-law slept and the front of the car was on jack stands for a brake job, my mother-in-law got in, started it, and backed it out of the garage. Yes, there was a big bang along the way that didn’t phase the car other than a mild curl on the bottom of the fenders between the bumper and wheel well. They put right at 10,000 miles on this car prior to the vacuum issues.
1987 Ford LTD Crown Victoria: This is also the car pictured at the top. Again pursuing a scent, it was purchased by my father-in-law in 1996 with 60,000 miles, this car served my in-laws until 2003 when they sold it with 170,000 miles after having purchased a new Chrysler Concorde. This Ford replaced an ’83 Seville whose HT 4100 devoured itself at 177,000 miles.
This particular Ford was as near flawless as any of the box Panthers were in my experience. These pictures were taken in June 2000 prior to its going to a wedding in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and is a before-and-after chronicle of my cleaning it up. I buried the 85 mph speedometer on it twice – I’m not sure if that is a huge accomplishment or not.
image source: www.wikipedia.org
1992 Ford Crown Victoria: My father-in-law purchased a blue ’92 from a state surplus auction for $651.50; it, too, began life as a Missouri State Highway Patrol car. The mileage when purchased was around 100,000. The fuel pump quit immediately in the car and the valve guide seals in its first year 4.6 liter V8 were not the most robust, allowing a quart of oil to be burned every 500 miles or so. He gave me the car a few years later.
The service records indicated the transmission had been replaced prior to my father-in-law purchasing it in 2001. After I took ownership of the car in 2003, the transmission began to act up again. When getting it repaired, it was discovered an errant bolt had chewed up the torque convertor and lodged itself in the bell housing. Soon thereafter, an offer again presented itself that was too good to refuse after a friend fell in love with it – he also had four kids to haul and a recently deceased Ford Taurus wagon. They immediately moved to Ohio when the Crown Vic had approximately 145,000 miles. Failing to check the oil, he irreparably damaged the engine. It was sold to a person who supposedly gave it one last hurrah in the demolition derby at the Ohio State Fair.
image source: www.wikipedia.org
1997 Ford Crown Victoria: With the exception of their ’85 Crown Victoria, my parents drove horrid compact cars for years – which could explain my lack of patience with small cars and four-cylinder engines. In a perverse twist, my parents waited to buy their tan base model Crown Victoria until they had an empty nest. Purchased in 1998 with about 15,000 miles, my parents drove this car all over the United States until 2001 when they traded it at 120,000 miles for a…
2000 Mercury Grand Marquis: This car (well, a tan one that sat normally and lacked a hood scoop), along with their ’97 Crown Vic, were as trouble free as anything they ever owned. You could say it was the automotive equivalent of a Rolex watch as they only required fuel and a periodic oil change. My parents bought it lightly used and put another 120,000 miles on it.
The only demerit this car ever earned was my mother hated the front passenger seat as she could never get comfortable in it.
2001 Ford Crown Victoria: This is the car I covered here. Yes, it had a few issues such as the plastic intake manifold (indicative of all 4.6 liter engines in passenger cars until about 2002), a short in the wiring to the crankshaft position sensor, and a pinion gear that deteriorated due to insufficient maintenance. I put right at 60,000 miles on the car in just under seven years.
Compared to the other aero Panthers covered here, this car would be have to be placed near the bottom of that list as nearly all the others were simply trouble free.
2001 Lincoln Town Car: Replacing a very problematic 1992 Buick Roadmaster, my grandparents, Albert and Iris, purchased this car in late 2001 (stories about a previous car they owned can be found here). Mechanically this car was never a problem. However, they did trade it off after 60,000 miles. Not having a garage, the Lincoln, like every other car they have ever had, was parked under a maple tree that covered part of the driveway. One winter thaw brought an interior leak; my cousin found the problem to be a maple leaf clogged drain somewhere in the firewall area that had frozen and burst. On the next dry day, it was traded for a Chevrolet Equinox.
I never drove this car.
image source: www.wikipedia.org
2003 Ford Crown Victoria: My father-in-law picked up the scent once again. Purchased from the estate of an older woman in December 2004, it had all of 800 miles on it when acquired. It now has 112,000 miles and it is still going strong. It has had no issues, other than warped brake rotors – which can happen on anything. The car has been in two hail storms and was fixed both times. The first, and more severe, necessitated removal of much of the interior; the reinstallation left a lot of pieces loose. He recently told me it is still getting 23 mpg in mixed city and highway driving.
About two years ago, I had a sizable pile of bricks and cinderblocks for which I had no need. My father-in-law placed all of them in the trunk of his ’03 Crown Vic. While I do not know how much weight this was, the rear suspension was fully compressed and the trunk was full. It didn’t phase the car a bit for its 75 minute drive back home. He had also done similar with ceramic tile in his ’92; we later calculated that was around 1,500 pounds.
If you have kept track, that is 867,000 miles (or just over 3,000,000 kilometers) on this mixed fleet of Panthers with several of them having had tougher than average lives. Please also note none of them were purchased new.
Is the Panther platform the perfect chassis for a car? It depends upon your tastes and your needs but it was good enough to make several of us return for more of their alluring charms.
The image of the “2000 Mercury Grand Marquis”….. that’s a story right there.
+1
Perhaps a donk lift kit but without the 24’s? On the other hand I’m sure I’ve seen a video of a Crown Vic at Moab or similar
My Grandfather, a Ford Supervisor at Livonia Transmission for many years, and his brother, a top Electrical Troubleshooter for Lincoln-Mercury, swore by these cars. Today, they are all my aunt and grandmother will drive.
Great story!
I can understand Panther Love… just picked up my 7th last night (so I can put my Fairmont away for the evil Cleveland winter). I’ve had a ’79 LTD, a ’79 Marquis, an ’87 Crown Vic LX, a ’91 Grand Marquis GS, a ’95 Grand Marquis LS, an ’05 Crown Vic P17, and now my little-old-lady-only-driven-on-Sunday (seriously :D!) ’96 Crown Vic LX. Told myself I was going to get something other than a Panther for a beater this time… yea, right :D!
I meant P71… damn fat fingers LOL!
I actually liked the no grill on the 1992 as opposed to the 94-97 grilled ones as the grill placement looked very last minute addition like
I too prefer the grill-less 92 CV. The 93-97 grill looks like a last minute change because it was. Too many traditional CV buyers asked the question “Where is the chrome grille?”
The irony is that these cars were bottom breathers.
That never gets in the way of fitting a cosmetic traditional grille, I have even seen cases where they don’t even pass any air through!
Gee, we have only had three of them (85 CV, 89 MGM and 93 CV). Our experience meshes with yours – the newer cars were better.
These seemed to improve a lot around 1987-88. You seldom find anything older than 1986 around here, but from 86 on there are always quite a few for sale.
What is funny is how different the personality of a Box Panther is from an Aero Panther. They drive like night and day from one another. I like the looks of the Box cars, but prefer driving the Aeros.
Agreed, and I would add that the ’90 and ’91 cars are well nigh perfect. My ’91 Grand Marquis GS was about the most perfect car I’ve ever owned. Sold it for $500 with an odometer that quit at 278K and she was still running strong, nothing, and I do mean NOTHING ever failed on that car, it was just getting a bit too crispy around the edges for me. And I found a certain loaded ’95 Grand Marquis that I just fell head over heals over…
Well contrary to popular belief the majority of the chassis was updated along with the switch to the Aero body. So yeah they are like night and day. If you really like the looks you could always do a body swap sticking a Box on an Aero chassis. One of the things that did not change is the body mounting locations.
A Box two door on a ’03-’11 chassis with a Coyote… that would be the ultimate Panther…
Not quite. Add a 351 Windsor, some heavy duty internals, a judicious choice of camshaft and rear-end ratio, and porting and polishing of the heads, THEN it would be the ultimate Panther.
Mom had a ’79 with the 302. Pleasant enough to drive, it was traded for a Mark VI when a seal leak developed on the back of the engine.
Does the wagon body also go on the later chassis?
I had an ’89 Country Squire LX that I loved, but would love another one with some more modern bits (Coyote + 6sp auto or manual from a Mustang GT)
I don’t see why they wouldn’t since to the best of my knowledge the wagon frame wasn’t different than the sedan frame.
“These seemed to improve a lot around 1987-88.” You can thank the computer chips for replacing all the kludgy failure-prone mechanical pollution controls. Ford finally nailed it with their fourth-generation electronic engine controls (EEC-IV).
According to a comprehensive Panther tech history Sajeev Mehta wrote at TTAC (link) Panther engines got EEC-IV computer control with two injectors in 1984 and sequential port fuel injection in 1986.
Well the 80-83 cars did have EEC III with their CFI and it was a pretty reliable system. The main draw backs were that it lacked a good on-board diagnostics system and they allowed the O2 sensor too much latitude. When the O2 sensor started going south they could actually enrich the mixture to the point where the car wouldn’t run, though Chrysler did that with a lot of their early EFI systems as well.
My dad had a box LTD, which has become the basis for a short story I’ve been working on for the past year.
What a great story Jason! I am a lover of Panthers as well (not to mention other bigger as well as “Foxy” Fords). My third car was a 1997 Grand Marquis after an unfortunate incident with my second and first “real car”, a Mark VII LSC. Then I made a mistake and got a FWD Continental. I corrected this mistake with a 1998 Town Car Cartier. After that one I deferred in my life for a while, and now I am a proud owner of a 1988 Town Car Signature.
Thanks for this chapter in my continuing education of the Panther. My appreciation of them has certainly grown in the last couple of years here. Now all I need to do is actually drive one. I’m 99.9% certain I never have. Which is a bit odd, now that I think of it.
My in-laws still have their ’03; I was in it last week and it’s now at around 114k. When/if you take Stephanie to the Laura Ingalls Wilder home, I could arrange something…:)
But in Indianapolis, he can drive both a Box and an Aero in one place. The Great CC Panther Comparo! 🙂
I hadn’t thought about that. Terrific idea!
He really needs to come to NC so he can experience most of GM’s deadly sins!
Sometimes I’m tempted to get one to use solely as a summer freeway car. I live up in Portland, where there’s a lot of these for sale for decent prices, but the city fuel economy and parking would be bothersome.
Ford’s Aero Panthers are good-looking and well-engineered cars. The 1992 Crown Vic has a very good drag coefficient of 0.33 (see my post on aerodynamic drag here) and got 24 mpg (EP) on the highway.
I agree they’re much better looking without the grille. Never driven one, but have ridden in plenty of CV taxis. Nice ride.
In the real world back before the days of E10 I regularly got 26.5 MPG out of my HPP equipped (3.23 rear axle ratio) 92 CV on road trips. The less aero non HPP 93 GM (3.08 rear axle) would only manage 26 MPG.
This video provides convincing evidence of the strength of the later Panthers.
Because of changing personal needs I recently replaced an S10 that wouldn’t die. My criteria for a replacement was that it get 20mpg and be able to tow 3,000 lbs. The panther gets the mileage and will tow 4k. I had narrowed it down (after considerable reading) to the panther and any S10 chassis with 4.3. A bulletproof engine was the thing that narrowed it to those two. In reading about the ford 4.6 I decided it would be a 2002 or later due to various (intake manifold) design updates. One of the things I read from two different sources was that they torture tested the 4.6 on a dyno to 500,000 miles. They secured the test when it wouldn’t break. That was enough to make me really lean in that direction. It also reinforced my personal experience from owning these things.
Then I had to scuttle the research. A daughter with a blazer clone (olds bravada) with a cratered transmission (4L60E) settled things. I have it now and hope I get the mileage I was confident of getting with the panther. My truck is in Florida with my granddaughter and looks much better (and cleaner now)
A friend of mine has a performance shop and he is doing a heavy duty rebuild on the trannie. We will see how it goes. One thing similar to the panther with that car is that they stuck a luxury car into a workhorse vehicle. You can get excellent work, decent price, or timely finish on work like this. Choose any two of the three. I wait impatiently.
Sorry to rain on the Panther parade, but that picture of the 1980 LTD brings back wretched memories, and may explain why Panther Love has basically eluded me. My Pop’s father, Granddaddy Will, was a loyal Ford man, always buying them for both himself and his wife. He’d then drive them for all they were worth until they started needing major repairs, at which point he’d buy another, usually some sort of remnant at the end of the model year. In the late summer of 1979, his ’73 LTD (never a favorite of mine) had been in a fender bender and was needing other repairs. So he traded it in on a ’79 LTD in “Light Medium Blue” (which was it? Light Blue? Medium Blue? Just call it “Baby Blue” and be done with it) with a “Wedgewood Blue” vinyl bench-seat interior (it looked very similar to the blue 1980 LTD in Jason’s picture). I just did not like that car in any way! Granddaddy Will’s LTD was also oddly equipped, just like Jason’s father’s car: his base-level LTD had power locks (but not power windows) and a power bench-seat (!), tilt wheel, cruise control, AM/FM stereo, A/C, with all the bodyside moldings and bumper guards and light groups on offer. But it still felt cheap and stripped, not helped at all by the Fairmont-style dual headlight front end (at least the Landau with the quad headlights looked better). Plus, there were some really idiotic features, like the horn on the end of the turn-signal stalk–seriously, what were they thinking? My Pop had a ’78 Caprice at that time, and to me it was hands-down superior in every respect. Granted, the LTD trim level at that point was really more comparable to the Impala, but I think even the base bowtie biggie would have trounced the Ford. My Granddaddy actually let me drive that LTD on some rural Mississippi back roads, even though I hadn’t gotten my license. I guess it was fine, though my “car sense” was premature and I can’t really comment on how well the thing drove, as I was just thrilled to be behind the wheel of any vehicle. But given the chance to choose, I would much rather have been driving the Caprice! Granddaddy Will only had the ’79 LTD for about 2 years before he passed away, and I don’t remember it having any major problems. However, trouble free or not, his wife was not such a big Ford fan. She was driving a ’77 LTD Landau (she got Will to kick it up a notch for her car), and after he died, she traded in both Fords for her dream car: a Buick LeSabre Limited.
The horn on the stalk and the design of that steering wheel was in preparation for air bags which the gov’t had been threatening to make a requirement for awhile. I’m not a fan of that either.
1979 Australian Fords had the horn on the stalk to – as does my 1968 Hillman incidentally, I don’t think airbags were on the radar then!
Yeah GM produced and sold cars with airbags in the early 70’s after having been working on them since the late 50’s early 60’s. So yeah they had been proven to work and there was talk about making them mandatory sooner than they actually did.
Pretty much every pre-1990 British Ford I’ve ever driven had the horn in the end of the indicator stalk – although the upper trim levels sometimes had them on the steering wheel as a point of difference over the lower-spec models. Ford used the LHD steering columns in their RHD cars too, so the indicator stalk with the horn on the end ended up on the left – you know, the side where the gear lever is… Indicating, tooting and changing gear at the same time was always an exciting challenge, although indicating and tooting at the same time often occurred unintentionally…!
Yes, this is a Euro thing, not about air-bags-to-come. It was common practice there, and Ford saw fit to try to get Americans aboard. Wasn’t this about the same time the US was going to go metric. Same results….
Count me in for the Pather club. Here are my two “book-ends”, my ’85 C/V with 351 Windsor, and my Dad’s ’90 G/M (in my possession) with the 302 F/I.
There is a 98-02 Grand Marquis on my block that has been driven with no bumper for over a year now.
I like the Panthers. I’ve never owned a Ford, and my tastes run mainly to midsize cars and pickups, but I do like a big old Panther. I’ve driven a few Town Cars, and my mother-in-law had a ’94 Grand Marquis that was in nice shape as well. I think I could do worse than a well maintained Crown Victoria or Grand Marquis in my driveway. I like the fact that they’re roomy, comfortable, and reliable with plenty of parts available. Good brakes and plenty of power to get you out of trouble when you need it. Maybe a retired Police Interceptor…the 21st century Bluesmobile. That’s the ticket.
I just mentioned on Tom’s My First CC that I wish we got Panthers here. We did and do get the excellent Aussie Falcons instead, but there’s just something about a Panther that makes me want to drive one every day. They have such a great fuss-free comfy cruiser vibe. Make mine a 2007ish GrandMa, with a 2001-5 front clip (I prefer the wider headlights). It’d need bucket seats, console shifter, cruise control and sunroof. Perfection! Actually, I’d swap out the 4-speed auto for the ZF 6-speed auto from the Aussie Falcon, then it would be more economical and even more perfect! Actually, if I was going to swap in the Falcon auto, it wouldn’t be much more effort to drop in the Falcon’s DOHC 5.4 or supercharged Coyote 5.0… Perfecting perfection…! Now I just need to get a GrandMa across the Pacific… 😉
Well if you want the buckets and floor shifter in a GM you’ll have to find the rarest of all Panthers the LS-E. It was only offered in 01-03 and 05. It would be actually easier to find the more common Marauder.
Actually slipping in the DOHC 5.4 is a lot more work. The 4.6 DOHC barely fits in and the 5.4 is wider and taller so you need to move the brake booster or convert to hydroboost and you’ll need to rework the HVAC box too. On the plus side you can use the mounts off of the 4.6 to get the engine bolted to the chassis.
The Middle East market GMs apparently mostly had buckets and floor shifter. If I was serious and wealthy enough to import one, it wouldn’t make much difference whether it came from North America or the Middle East. Of course I’m not wealthy so I’ll dream away lol.
Re the 5.4, it fits in the current Aussie Falcon, so I’d simplistically assumed the GM’s engine bay would be a similar size if not bigger. But I hadn’t considered the booster or HVAC though, so good points there – you burst my bubble! Guess I’d go with the Falcon’s supercharged Coyote then! Dreams are free! 😉
It’s probably like the Falcons after they dropped the V8, they moved the heater pipes so they are in the way of fitting a V8.
The 5.4 DOHC is a very bulky engine, I’ve seen one in an XY Falcon, so the 66-69 Falcon/Fairlane US equivalent engine bay and it was a very tight fit, about 3/4″ between the cam covers and the shock towers. I can’t remember what they had done to reduce the amount of rocking – on the other hand I do remember the engine note straight out of the extractors, what a beast!
Check your math-3,000,000 kilometers is about 1.8 million miles.
Man, It seems like you only drove each of them for a really short amount of time. I’ve had my 1986 vic for 7 years now, but it’s been in the family. Grandpa bought it new and gave it to me for my graduation.
Sort of related – Is it SO hard to find an LX emblem for the trunk? I literally cannot for the life of me find anything. I’ve seen 1990s LXs all over the place but no 84 – 87 LX emblems at all. I need a break on this.. Man..