The Panther-platform Grand Marquis (and Crown Victoria) is/was an accidental car on so many levels. It was never supposed to survive to the end of the 1980s, let alone thrive for another twenty years beyond. And there was no reason for another of these to grace my driveway, until my son Jimmy got the bug to adopt one as his first car. And I must admit, both in the abstract and with this particular example, this was a very, very good car. Sort of the Anti-Turkey of the 1980s.
We just can’t get away from Panthers in this family. In high school, my mother was a Paulding (Ohio) Panther. My sister and I were (Fort Wayne) Snider Panthers. Each of my kids was a St. Pius Panther. Since 1985, the Panther Love has run through the family driveways, as well. We have owned 1985 and 1993 Crown Victorias, each bought new by my mother and then purchased later by me. The ’93 still serves as the daily livery for my two high school students.
And now, after a (not so) long and (semi) arduous search, I have handed a full-fledged case of Panther Love to the third generation. I am hopeful that this will work out better than the Chicago Cubs Love that I passed on to the lad a number of years ago.
When the Ford LTD and Mercury Marquis were introduced as 1979 models (on the brand-new platform identified internally as the Panther), nobody would have guessed the level of success that these cars would be enjoying a decade hence. First, it was a classic case of the wrong car at the wrong time. The fuel price spikes of 1979 (and the sustained price rise that lasted to the early 80s) coupled with the onset of a nasty recession doomed everything of any size, particularly in the upper-middle price range. The LTD and Marquis were seldom seen in their first two or three years, and rumors of their demise began to swirl almost immediately.
You could see the Ford product plan starting to unfold. In late 1982, Ford introduced two new sedans on the smaller Fox platform – called Ford LTD and Mercury Marquis. Ford’s two flagship nameplates would still be there to cater to their fans, just in slightly smaller, V6-powered portions. But whether it was to amortize the tooling or just to eke out a few more units of sales, the larger V8-powered panther cars remained for what was supposed to be a final year. The big holdovers were each renamed with the prior year’s top trim level: the LTD was now the LTD Crown Victoria, and the Marquis was now the Grand Marquis.
From that point onward, we saw the annual ritual play out in the car mags. They all went something like “Ford has announced that the cancellation of the panther-based full size cars has been delayed for another year, and there are expected to be no significant changes to the cars.” What was happening, though, was that fuel was coming down and the economy was going up, and these cars started to fly out of showrooms across the US. Well, maybe not fly, but both Ford and Mercury could each boast of sales in the low six figures. Thus, the 1983 cars became 1984s, which then became ’85s.
Ford was also the beneficiary of decisions made by product planners at GM and Chrysler. Chrysler was left with nothing but the much smaller Fifth Avenue, while GM canned all of the upper level rear drive Oldsmobiles and Buicks. The result was a lot of former Buick, Oldsmobile and Mopar owners who drove out in a new Crown Vic or Grand Marquis. In fact, the Grand Marquis of this era is one of the rare Mercurys that sold at levels close to or even above those of its Ford counterpart.
These cars also improved quite a lot with age. The earliest versions suffered from finicky fuel and electronics systems, and were not as well thought of as the GM B body cars, then in their heyday. But as FoMoCo settled into its long relationship with these cars, they continued to improve. I remember being surprised that the Panthers were getting better Consumer Reports reliability ratings than the final 1985 Olds 88, which I discovered when my mother started looking into new cars.
In any event, so began the long, continuous process of improvement that continued unabated until just this past year. The basic 1979 car finally got a minor sheetmetal and trim upgrade in 1988 and an entirely new body and powertrain in 1992. Could this be the best Ford since the Model A? A question for debate, perhaps. But what is beyond debate is that this may be the most durable and trouble-free U.S.-based platform of the past twenty years. Both the ’79-91 box-style and the ’92-11 aero version of this car have their fans, but there is really no wrong answer here.
I have shared my son Jimmy’s search for his first car. We started on a whim when we saw the ’74 Plymouth Satellite (here). After leaving the Satellite’s orbit and coming back to earth, we started looking more seriously. After a turkey or two (one of which was featured here) the lad decided that the old box Panther was what really lit his fire. As much as practical old dad tried to suggest that a newer Panther or one of the GM 3800 sedans would be a nice, vanilla, tension-free experience, he would not be dissuaded.
There is a benefit to having your automotive tastes line up with those of the AARP set of a decade or two past: You have an unusually good selection of nice old cars from which to choose. But even I was surprised at the number of these cars in my area, and really nice ones at that.
You all know that I live in central Indiana, and that we use copious amounts of road salt in the winter. One of the old box Panther’s biggest failings was its late 1970s FoMoCo body design. Although it was not bad by 1970s Ford standards, let us just say that it was not one of the most rust-resistant cars ever made. But with a basic Craigslist search, we found ourselves with the luxury of three very nice cars to look at.
You are looking at the winner. 47,000 actual miles accumulated by three elderly owners. The car outlived the first owner, and the next two, in their turns, adopted and cared for this low-mile gem. This car has lived its life in the garage, and it shows, both inside and out. We were told that it lived many of its early winters in Florida. And it drives as nice as it looks (at least as well as one of these does. More on that later.) All of you know that the camera can be very kind to an old car. But I am here to tell you, this one looks as good in person as it looks in the photos. And yes, that is a AAA Plus sticker at the top of the driver’s window (and the car’s proud new owner standing behind it).
In case you are curious, the runners up were a white ’89 Grand Marquis with navy velour, a teeny-tiny bit of rust and 137K on the odo, and a maroon ’89 Crown Vic with burgundy velour and 71K on the odo. The Vic, however, was suffering from a transmission issue that made an appropriate purchase price a little sticky. Each was a genuinely nice car that deserves a new owner who will treat it well.
Jimmy’s new car is living with me for the short term while he finishes out the semester at school. I have been giving it a bit of a shakedown and have found a thing or two that needs some attention. For example, I now have a perfect batting average with old cars and automatic temp control. None has worked right. But it appears that a thermal blower cutout switch is the culprit and it will be replaced soon, along with some old belts and hoses. I am hoping for some decent weather over Christmas break, because I suspect that I will be providing some technical assistance to this car’s new owner in carrying out these and a few other maintenance items.
So how does it drive? When I was about Jimmy’s age in 1979, I bought a low mile 1959 Plymouth Fury. Although the car had some anachronistic touches (like pressing a button to select gears) it drove, turned and stopped not terribly unlike a then-modern car. I would often forget that I was tooling around in twenty-year-old iron. This car is not like the twenty year old ’59 Fury.
Driving this car, I am reminded of some time spent in the late 1990s behind the wheel of a friend’s 1951 Fluid Drive Dodge. Everything about the driving experience reminded you that the car was obsolete and why.
I have ranted here before about the combination of the 5.0 lopo engine, the AOD transmission and the extremely tall (2.40-ish) axle ratio. This is not a fast car, and in the 25-35 mph range, it is REALLY not a fast car. This version with the sequential fuel injection has about twenty horsepower on my old ’85 Crown Vic, and I am the first to tell you that it is a noticeable and welcome improvement. However, there is almost nothing about the way this car drives that reminds me of our ’93 Vic.
But the old Panther is charming, in its way. So long as you are willing to accept the car for what it is and drive it the way it asks to be driven, it is as comforting as a steaming mug of hot chocolate on a cold day. If you live the life of a road warrior in a world of congested entrance ramps and the need to dart quickly from place to place, this is not the car for you. But if you are looking to lope along a flat midwestern interstate highway on a leather sofa with your favorite music in the air, you could do a lot worse than one of these. Jimmy has always been a fairly sedate driver (he got within rounding error of 40 mpg out of my Honda Fit on a recent trip) and this car will suit his style just fine.
We all know that retro is in. Actually, I think that Ford may have missed an opportunity – it could have resurrected this old box body to plop on top of the 2011 chassis. I am convinced that a new-old Vic/MGM would be a winning retro-mobile with modern (by Panther standards) power and handling characteristics. But Ford did not do so, and today’s youth will have to find these the same way that we did, and will have to accept the car’s limitations as well. I hope that Jimmy gets as much out of the experience as I would have at that age. And if he eventually decides that maybe a twenty-something year old car is not his thing, it is just possible that Dad could be convinced to make him an offer.
Acquaint yourself with grandmarq.net and rockauto.com. Both are essential for Panther owners. And of course you can contact me if you’d rather, as I have done what you’re doing a few times myself.
Your GM example sure is slick!
As for the bad driving, I just cannot overstate how radically the feel of the car can be transformed by a rear swaybar if it doesn’t already have one, 4 stiff shocks, and good front sway bar bushings and end links. As loaded up as that car appears, it probably has the rear bar. Rockauto has limo and trailer tow shocks for less than $10 a piece…
The HVAC/ATC stuff is easy to sort out. Mine works great and I have hardly touched the controls since about September…
I had three panthers; I started with a 79 LTD (to be renamed Crown Victoria in 83). I bought that car in 86 with 60,000 and drove it until 2000 when it got hit and wasn’t worth fixing.
The variable venturi carburetor was a bad design, and I swapped it out for a holly 4 barrel and edelbrock performer manifold after the second year. Then when the muffler rotted I added dual exhausts. A couple of years later the harmonic balancer went out and wore the hub off the crank; a rebuilt engine followed that incident.
By then it was about 1991 and the mustang/5.0 fever was really taking off. I bought a set of take-off E7TE heads from an HO engine and had them ported. Those really woke up the rebuilt and cammed 302.
I also had added the police car front and rear sway bars with poly bushings and end links, performance shocks, 15 inch steel wheels (stock wheels were 14 inch) with the dog dish hubcaps and a fresh interior with Cougar bucket seats. Finally it got fresh Deltron paint.
The C4 got a rebuild with a wide ratio gear kit to complement the engine, but since I was a broke veterinary student, I kept the Superspeedway-like 2.24:1 rear end. It would hit 90 in second, and I never turned it over 5200 rpm.
The next was a 93 Crown Vic creampuff with ~32,000 miles. It saved my wife’s life when she got hit head-on a few months later. I replaced it with a 95 P71 (police package) from the auction, the best car I’ve ever owned. It was a stock/civilian interior car with no light bars or spotlight, no cage; very clean. The only indication that it had been in police service was the antenna mount in the center of the trunk lid.
I was hoping that the car had been used by the property appraisers office or something since it was so clean. When I got it home, the service orders were in the glove box. It had been the “chase car” for Pasco county; I confirmed that when I met a mechanic from their service pool.
They were replacing the brakes every 12,000 miles and tires every 8,000, so obviously it had been run really hard. I drove it hard for 5 years, then gave it to my dad. As he aged past 85 it was in several low speed crashes. About 2 months ago it went to the junkyard with over 300,000 miles on it.
I still look at the panthers, and dream of another; maybe a marauder with an Eaton blower or turbo and a manual swap.
I want to buy diz car its my dream car .. I am from Chicago IL
Congratulations! It warms my heart to see a father/son share their interest in automobiles (or anything else). Great car as well.
What a great find, JP! I am NOT a panther-lover, but the “box-panthers” are my favorites, and I liked them better than their GM counterparts on styling alone. I said this before, but the subtle arched beltline and top side glass line always annoyed me on the B-bodies. The linear design of the box panthers truly appealed to me, hence my love for the K-Car, which was nothing more than a scaled-down box panther in style, anyway. Either way, design-wise (appearance) fit the platforms very well.
I even liked the coupe, but that B pillar sure was pretty wide.
The two-tone color scheme worked better on these than the GM counterparts, too.
As much as I like the Coke-bottle styling of the General Motors cars in the ’60’s, I like long, linear styling even better, hence my never-ending dream of acquiring another ’64 Chevy like my avatar.
Aside from the few Fords I actually liked in my life, I keep forgetting, but I need to add these to my list.
@ As much as I like the Coke-bottle styling of the General Motors cars in the ’60′s, I like long, linear styling even better, hence my never-ending dream of acquiring another ’64 Chevy like my avatar.
I agree with you. In fact, I have long asserted that the 68 Chrysler Newport is the automobile at the apex of automotive stylistic perfection. 🙂
Gotta go 65-66 JP, but yeah: straight lines! Modern designers need to rediscover the ruler. Worst offenders are the new Hyundais that make me seasick with their swoops and swells.
Totally agree with you on the ’68 Newport, or the sportier 300, best in the 2 door, though the 4 door hardtops were might nice too.
I had the base 4 door sedan for my ’68 Newport I had in HS back in the very early 1980’s.
I dunno the 2 tone works on my Caprice!
Yes, it sure does!
I miss two-tone paint. Our 1984 Chrysler E-Class had that beautiful gun metal blue hood-and-silver-body treatment with thin blue areas just below the beltline that ended at the C pillar. Very classy.
I remember that, it was a popular GM 2-tone treatment too, my is actually the whole top of the car from the hood to the trunk in gold and everything below the beltline in cream.
I might do an article on the car, its the only fully loaded Caprice I have ever seen, even has a factory sunroof.
Sharp Caprice Carmine. I also really liked the two-tone on the ’77-’81 Bonnevilles and ’85-86 Parisiennes, where the hood and roof were one color, and the sides and trunk were another.
But the Panthers were probably better than the K-Cars; they probably rode better.
Well, it’s a nice car but I’m still in the Aero-Panther camp. That 1990-91 generation was an interesting short-lived transitional model that actually used same dash as the later aero versions, along with an air-bag and such. I know these were quite popular on the Canadian prairies at the time.
My grandmother (still kicking at 102!), with whom I lived while at Georgia Tech, had an ’83 (or maybe an ’85) Grand Marquis which was purchased lightly used from a Great Uncle who worked for a Merc dealer. It was the successor to maybe a ’79 or early ’80s G. Merc, also from my Uncle. Grandpa had been a loyal Pontiac man before that, so it must have taken some doing to get him to switch brands.
Your description of the ride and performance (and fuel system problems) match my memory exactly. When I wanted a nice, sedated date vehicle (instead of my rip-snorting Buick 3.8L-powered Vega), I took the Merc.
One thing I hated about these cars was that Ford made sure the seating position was somewhat higher than in other comparable cars – great for visibility, but for a tall driver, it felt very claustrophobic.
Granny voluntarily stopped driving right around the age of 90, and as the car was still having intermittent fuel system issues, I put it up for sale for her, perhaps for $1500 or so, with fewer than 50K on the odo. Didn’t take long to sell, and the buyer was thrilled to have it.
However, there is almost nothing about the way this car drives that reminds me of our ’93 Vic.
That only adds to the charms and makes the Panther experience a far more multi-faceted one than the critics assign to it.
I agree; my 92 drives far different than the 85 my dad owned, or the handful of other box panthers that I have test-driven over the years.
“There is a benefit to having your automotive tastes line up with those of the AARP set of a decade or two past: You have an unusually good selection of nice old cars from which to choose.”
Sing it brother! 🙂
I can relate to your son’s good luck, both in finding a clean old-lady ride and in having a dad with some shop skills.
“The fuel price spikes of 1979 (and the sustained price rise that lasted to the early 80s) coupled with the onset of a nasty recession doomed everything of any size, particularly in the upper-middle price range. The LTD and Marquis were seldom seen in their first two or three years, and rumors of their demise began to swirl almost immediately.”
Minor nit: I don’t have sales/production figures in front of me, but IINM the ’79 models actually sold reasonably well; the second energy crisis didn’t really hit full-on until late in the 1979 North American model year. The big hit for most mid-size and full-size cars was in the 1980 model year.
You raise a good point. One source puts 79 Marquis sales figures at around 140K units. I have not yet located 76-78 figures to put this in context, but this source shows sales dropping to 54K in 1980, then rebounding to 61K and 77K in 1981 & 82.
LTD sales dropped more, from roughly 356K in 1979 to 141K, 132K and 128K in 1980, 81 & 82.
Just from experience, though, I do not recall the 79s selling nearly as well as the 76-78 models had. Also, I suspect that the remaining availability of a big Chevrolet hurt the Ford numbers, while the lack of GM mid-market competition helped Mercury, which basically caught up to the Ford numbers by 1987.
“I do not recall the 79s selling nearly as well as the 76-78 models had”
That may very well be true. In 1977-78, the big Fords and Mercurys may have actually attracted some buyers who liked their full-size cars in pre-CAFE dimensions and went out of their way to buy one while they still could. (Chrysler still offered the big C-bodies in all three of its brands in ’77, and in Chrysler-branded form only in ’78, but ChryCo had largely become an afterthought in the full-size market by then, particularly in the price classes that Plymouth and Dodge competed in.) Those buyers presumably got one in 1977-78 while they still could, and were out of the market in ’79, leaving the newly downsized LTD and Marquis to go head-to-head with the popular and established GMs.
Here are some production figures from the “Standard Catalog of American Cars 1975-1986”. Let me say at the outset that I’m not 100% sure what these figures represent — Production at U.S. plants (including cars destined for Canada or elsewhere)? Production for the U.S. market (including cars built in Canada)? Total North American production? With that caveat:
FULL-SIZE FORDS:
1976 402,861 (Note 1)
1977 445,156 (Note 2)
1978 313,883 (Note 3)
1979 356,535 (Note 4)
1980 141,562
1981 132,363
1982 128,053
1983 113,616
1984 173,489
1985 199,110
1986 124,037
(1) includes 35,117 Custom 500s (fleet sales only) and 367,744 LTDs
(2) includes 11,127 Custom 500s (fleet sales only) and 434,029 LTDs
(3) may include a small number of Custom 500s; the book isn’t totally clear, but it suggests that the Custom 500 was available only to fleet customers in Canada, while a model called the LTD ‘S’ served the same purpose in the U.S.
(4) unlike every other year covered in this post, the book shows no low-end model oriented towards fleet customers (e.g., Custom 500/LTD ‘S’) in 1979. If this is correct, fleet buyers apparently needed to settle for the fleet version of an LTD II, or else upgrade to a “regular” LTD.
FULL-SIZE MERCURYS
1976 115,968
1977 156,032
1978 145,627
1979 140,800
1980 54,328
1981 61,638
1982 77,157
1983 95,718
1984 148,817
1985 161,258
1986 109,420
A few notes:
–Relative to the last three years of the previous design, the 1979s didn’t knock anyone’s socks off, but they weren’t exactly flops either. ’79 full-size Ford production was well below what it been in 1976-77, although it had fallen off quite a bit in ’78, and ’79 was up from that. The apparent lack of a low-end fleet sales model may also make ’79 look a little bit worse than it really was (by comparison, Ford built more than 23,000 LTD ‘S’ models in ’80). Mercury’s ’79 production was higher than it had been in ’76, a little bit less than it had been in ’77, and slightly less than it had been in ’78. To the extent that ’79 sales were a bit underwhelming, any of the following may be part of the explanation: the energy crisis began to affect sales as the model year wore on; buyers just didn’t like the new design that much; buyers liked GM’s B-bodies better; a lot of Ford loyalists had bought in 1977-78 to get the last of the pre-CAFE models and were now off the market.
–Production of both models dropped off drastically in 1980 as the effects of the second energy crisis and ensuing recession were felt. ’80 turned out to be rock bottom for Mercury, whose production would gradually rise up over the next three years. Ford continued to decline, albeit more slowly, until bottoming out in 1983. The big Mercurys definitely rode out the storm better than the big Fords; by 1983, Mercury was less than 18,000 units behind Ford (in the late ’70s, the gap between the two had typically been 200,000+), and less than 21,000 units behind its own production in 1976 (its worst year of the 1976-78 period). Even with their struggles, though, the big Fords always managed to stay in six-figure territory. If this was bad as it got, you can understand why Ford never actually pulled the trigger on discontinuing the Panthers. These types of vehicles would never again be the all-purpose family cars they had been in the ’70s and earlier decades, but there was clearly still a large enough market to justify making them.
–The full-size Fords and Mercurys both experienced a sales surge in 1984-85, as the economic recovery gained traction and the relative price of gas declined. Mercury’s production in both of these years was actually higher than it had been in any year of the 1976-79 era. Ford was still way off its pace of 1976-79, but it nearly reached 200K in 1985. The gap between Ford and Mercury continued to be relatively small compared to what it had been prior to the early 1980s. I’m guessing that neither model would ever reach the levels of 1985 again.
–Both models fell off sharply in 1986 (though to levels that were still above where they had been in 1983). I’m not sure why. Had the strong sales in 1984-85 saturated what remained of the market for these vehicles? Did they lose some sales to the new Taurus/Sable?
The decline in sales for 1986 is odd. That was the year that GM replaced the Buick LeSabre and Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight with smaller, front-wheel-drive models. The Buick Electra, Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight and Cadillac DeVille had already switched to a smaller, cheaper-looking front-wheel-drive platform, and Lincoln, in particular, was hammering home that point in commercials for 1985.
By 1986, the only “old school” full-size GM cars left were the Caprice, Fleetwood and station wagon versions of the Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick. GM was going out of its way to promote the new front-wheel-drive models and ignore the remaining rear-wheel-drive cars.
I remember reading that Panther sales really started to take off in 1985-86 as GM basically abandoned this market. Perhaps it was the Lincoln Town Car that garnered the sales increase? At any rate, it was all gravy for Ford by that point, as the tooling was long paid for by 1986.
From a profit standpoint, it wasn’t the Taurus that saved Ford (that program only broke even). It was the Panther cars and trucks, which sold well in the 1980s, even after the tooling had been fully amortized.
I also remember reading that the Panther cars didn’t sell as well as expected in 1979. They were viewed as somewhat of a disappointment compared to the GM cars in performance and capabilities. While sales of the LTD did increase, Ford didn’t experience the level of increase that Chevrolet did with the new Impala/Caprice in 1977.
“The decline in sales for 1986 is odd…I remember reading that Panther sales really started to take off in 1985-86 as GM basically abandoned this market. Perhaps it was the Lincoln Town Car that garnered the sales increase?”
Here are the numbers for Lincoln. This only includes the Town Car/pre-1981 Continental (no Mark):
1976 68,646
1977 95,600
1978 88,087
1979 92,600
1980 31,233
1981 32,839
1982 35,069
1983 53,381
1984 93,622
1985 119,878
1986 117,711
During 1980-83, the Mark VI should arguably be included here, at least the sedan. It isn’t, so the figures for those years may make things look worse than they really were. That aside, the trends in the numbers above track those for Mercury pretty closely. Like Mercury, Lincoln was selling more full-size cars in the mid ’80s than it had been in the late ’70s. Note that Lincoln also had a pretty good year in ’79 selling the old non-downsized models.
Lincoln wasn’t down as much in ’86 as Ford or Mercury, but it wasn’t up, either; it stayed pretty much level. (With the drops in the other brands, Lincoln outsold Mercury in this segment in ’86, and wasn’t far behind Ford.) I’m stumped, too. It would be interesting to see figures for 1987 and later years, but my book only goes up to ’86.
It seems like I remember ’86 being a slightly shorter production run than other years, but I don’t remember why. Likewise, ’88 was a longer-than-normal run for at least the Town Car, but I don’t remember why there either!
“I also remember reading that the Panther cars didn’t sell as well as expected in 1979. They were viewed as somewhat of a disappointment compared to the GM cars in performance and capabilities. While sales of the LTD did increase, Ford didn’t experience the level of increase that Chevrolet did with the new Impala/Caprice in 1977.”
Here are the numbers for Chevy’s full-size line (Impala/Caprice):
1976 423,856
1977 661,661
1978 612,397
1979 588,638
1980 236,815
1981 219,425
1982 188,189
1983 220,795
1984 276,495
1985 264,793
1986 245,012
If you want to cite ’79 Panther sales as a dissapointment:
–You expect a new design to give you a boost in sales. But compared to the previous three years, production levels of the ’79 Panthers were mediocre at best. Ford was well below its 1976-77 levels, and Mercury was somewhat below its 1977-78 levels. (Meanwhile Lincoln had its best year of the 1976-79 period selling the old design.)
–When GM introduced its downsized B-bodies in ’77, Chevy experienced a huge sales increase. Ford in ’79 was up from what had been a down year in ’78, but nothing remotely like what Chevy did in ’77.
–The ’79 Fords were outsold by their Chevy counterparts by a huge margin (more than 230,000 units). In ’76, the last year both were selling pre-downsized full-size cars, the margin had only been about 20,000 units.
On the other hand, if you want to give the ’79 Panthers the benefit of the doubt:
–Whatever may have happened in 1976-77, the fact is that Ford took a big drop in ’78, and the ’79 made a substantial improvement on that. As big as Chevy’s lead over Ford was in ’79, it was even bigger in ’78. It’s true that Mercury was down from ’78 to ’79, but only a little, and it had been down a little from ’77 to ’78, too.
–From these numbers, I strongly suspect that ’77 was the all-time peak in the post-1973 energy crisis market for low-to-medium priced full-size cars. The economy had recovered somewhat from the recession of the mid ’70s, gas prices had come back down a bit, and people were returning to full-size cars — in as large of numbers as they were ever going to. It was all downhill from there. It’s unfair to compare what Ford was able to do in ’79 to what Chevy was able to do in ’77 (or what Ford itself was able to do in ’77, for that matter). The market for full-size cars in ’79 just wasn’t quite as strong as it was in ’77.
–While Chevy’s full-size cars outsold Ford’s by a wide margin in ’79, I suspect that if we looked at numbers for years before 1976, we’d find that Chevy was typically pretty far ahead of Ford in this segement, it had been that way for a long time, and ’76 was an anomaly (perhaps driven by GM buyers waiting for the new ’77s). Ford had to be hoping the new Panther would be a little bit closer in ’79 than it actually was, but it’s not like you could realistically expect Ford’s full-size line to outsell Chevy’s. It just wasn’t going to happen.
All in all, I think “somewhat of a disappointment” is probably a good way to describe ’79 Panther sales. They did O.K., probably not quite what Ford was hoping for, probably not as good as they could have done, but not terrible under the circumstances. Then the second energy crisis hit, and the world these cars had been designed for suddenly no longer existed.
I do remember that the traditional buyers “got used to” smaller big cars by 1983, and then started buying them up. The FWD GM big cars and Olds diesels did sway many to Panthers, but by 1990, the “small” FWD Buick LeSabre gained back some sales.
GM’s first front-wheel-drive “big” cars were riddled with bugs and showed sloppy workmanship. That undoubtedly scared away many potential customers. Buick worked the hardest to improve quality, and by 1989, the LeSabre was scoring well in reliability surveys. That boosted its sales in 1990.
Maybe cuz it’s Monday morning, but I’m clueless. As in, where’s the CC Clue on this car?
PS: You must be a great dad.
The clue was shot at the forward edge of the right front fender. The chrome piece is the trim under the parking/turn signal light and the vertical seam is that between the right front fender and the corner cap. The funkly little decal was used at the dividing line between the two colors.
As for how good a dad I am, I should probably leave that one to my kids. However, I would rather they wait about 15 years to give me the final rating. 🙂
As in here? Wow, the bar on CC Clues is going up! Thanks for the super story.
The classic American rear-drive V8 car lived for over fifty years. I wish there had been more of these and fewer SUVs.
Box Panthers are indeed best driven sedately because that was what they were designed for. They were the very last of the American Dream Whip Ride-mobiles. Drive one along at 80 km/h or so and it will be wonderfully smooth.So smooth, in fact, that you can’t feel a single thing coming through the steering wheel. It’s just like a rheostat so you have to keep an eagle-eye to make sure the thing is going down the road in a relatively straight line.
Those 14″ wheels just glide over minor road imperfections. It is larger ones that cause the trouble; any decent sized frost-heave or pot hole will have the thing bounding like a kangaroo and heading in altogether different direction. I always got the impression these cars were designed as Interstate Cruisers and at that duty they would be very comfortable.
The 302 is strangled and underpowered and the AOD never seems to know what gear to be in. Once it is in OD, the whole drive-train is locked and it doesn’t unlock until you boot it and then it shudders and kicks down into third. The only way to drive it is D and reserve OD for the Interstate.
The cop versions were not that much different; they still took a lot of attention to pilot in a straight line but were somewhat firmer, although they still did not have enough rebound damping.
Compare to a 1978 Buick LeSabre Custom, of which I was a proud owner for two years. Sumptuous interior and impeccable build quality. Excellent steering and steering feel. Hit a pot-hole and there is one “thump” and that is it; no drama, no deviation off line and no bounding. The 350 gives a creamy-smooth helping of torque to its designed 65 mph cruise speed. Any call for power in the city is answered immediately with that classic GM sound that all B lovers know and adore.
And then there is the 9C1. Ahhhhh, the 9C1, especially in dual exhaust, no catcon Canadian spec. That was the pinnacle of sledness. Rumble-rumble, varooom, complete invincibility. If I could only find one that hasn’t had the bark beat off it, but that is impossible 22 years later because the whales are not worth having.
“…steering wheel. It’s just like a rheostat…”
In the golden age of snarky Car and Driver road tests, they said a fuselage Dodge “handled like a waterbed” and they got “more road feel through the radio volume control than the steering wheel.”
After my recent drive in that 74 Satellite, I think that the C&D guy may have been right.
I cannot really disagree with anything you say. In fairness, however, your Buick was a pre-CAFE car, which makes a world of difference. CAFE pretty much ruined drivability of all of the big cars, certainly until maybe the early 90s when aerodynamics and engine electronics got the numbers up.
I spent a lot of time in 307 powered B/C body GM cars of the 80s. The transmissions operated more smoothly, but they were deadly slow cars as well.
I have to disagree on that. The Olds with the 307 and 4 speed 700 series automatic was still one helluva nice car to drive, especially in FE3 guise. Nice torque and great roadability.
My parents had a 1982 Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight Brougham sedan with the 307. It was a reliable car, and very nicely trimmed, but it wasn’t quick in any sense of the word.
I don’t know about that… I had an ’87 Caddy Bro-ham with an Olds 307, and that think had glacial acceleration… and clattered like an old Royal typewriter. Crap motor if there ever was one.
Tell your son congratulations for joining the Panther love family. Looks like you found a prime example.
There are a couple of tricks to making a box act a little more like a aero in the handling dept. The 92-02 HPP front springs will pop right in to stiffen it up a bit. Box police sway bars and an aero steering box, preferably the HPP version will also do wonders. The other big thing is the tires. 245 or even 255/60 15’s will fit on those wheels (255’s just barely), in the wheel wells and will dramatically change the cornering grip as well as steering response.
Just a couple of days ago I was heading home and ended up following a Box CV, at first there were a number of cars between us but eventually they all turned off so I could get a better view. It appeared he had 275/60 15 out back and 245 or 255 60s up front on American Racing 200s. As we got on the freeway I was reminded of just how much difference there was between a box and an aero as I watched it wallow around curves and over bumps while my aero remained much more composed despite the fact that the front shocks are due for replacement.
A quick tip, that vintage AOD should have a torque converter drain plug so you can drain all of the fluid.
I still insist that my wagon is a fast car, but freely admit that view may be colored by experience with my prior rides, which have included a Citroen 2CV, Renault 4, Peugeot 504 diesel wagon, and two VW diesels.
That raises a legitimate question for you box Panther experts out there: Were there ever any factory options (i.e. trailer towing packages) for the civilian cars that affected performance, or do they all pretty much drive the same?
While you’re at it, what was the last year for the vent windows option 🙂
A 5000lb tow package was available in boxes and early aeros. In some boxes that meant the 351 was included. Even the 302 cars benefited from better gearing and different suspension components. The aero cars it meant dual exhaust and rear air springs, I believe they were the stiffer HPP/Marauder/Livery/Limo bags too.
With the towing package, you got a 3:55 Trac-Loc rear axle. I had an 87 wagon as a toy car with it and it help move the car better than the ‘granny’ 2:73 open rear.
No, it is not a ‘Posi’ if it’s in a Ford. Posi is a GM brand name for a locking rear end.
I know that dual exhausts were offered on the later (sequential injection) boxes that added 5 or 10 hp. Ours does not have it.
Good question on the vent windows. I know that my mother’s ’85 had them. It was a shame that I had quit smoking by the time I owned it. I cannot say how much longer they were offered.
89 was the last year for the Vents.
I had a 89 country squire, rode very well. I put KYB gas shocks all around, and 225 70 15 tires, it felt much tighter with the shocks and bigger tires.
I had the leather seats in my wagon and it felt like a Town Car station wagon.
I never liked how the dash shook when i his some really bad NY roads.
All in all a very good car that delivered a real 23mpg on long trips.
Be careful when installing an aftermarket stereo, if you have the premium sound, you will have to rewire the speakers or get a special harness to bypass the amp at the amp. I found that out the hard way one night installing a CD player.
Nice car good luck.
On later first generation Panthers, vent windows were optional.
By reading the article about the Panthers, we could wonder some “what if?” like what if Buick and Olds didn’t dropped their B-body sedans and let them soldiering a couple more years like the Estate and Custom Cruiser or if Chrysler didn’t drop the R-body St-Regis/New Yorker/Gran Fury?
Then what if Ford continued to offer a wagon version for the 1992 aero model of the Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis? I spotted some “what if?” at http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/gallery/showimage.php?i=3446
http://wagonvisions.blogspot.com/2010/03/2006-ford-crown-victoria-country-squire.html
Also, the short lived 1981-82 Fox-body Ford Granada and Mercury Cougar (the Cougar was again available in sedan and wagon versions when Mercury dropped the Monarch nameplate), was a scaled down version of the LTD and Marquis, could Ford studied another design to shrink the LTD and Marquis for 1983?
The white car (conversion using a Taurus roof and rear window) is extremely awkward. The other site is a the best what-if photoshop of this idea around, really shows how gorgeous of a vehicle this would have been.
I almost bought a 75K trip black Grand Ma like the one in article, a co-worker was selling it, it was his fathers car since new and the old man was looking at trading it in for something a little smaller and alot newer, I low-balled him on the car and the Cash-For-Clunkers happened and there was no way I could match the $3000 they were going to give him to send it to “the chair”.
I remember being surprised with C4C: My 93 Crown Vic failed to qualify for the program by 1 measly mpg!. I had never realized what an economy car it was. 🙂 It was probably a good thing, or I may have caved in to the temptation to trade it in. It is too good of a car for that.
C4C took alot of B’s and Panthers to the happy hunting ground….sad.
Surprisingly, these 1988-91 Panthers have very high survival rates in Upstate NY. There are more of those around than the 1992-97 Panthers; Ford definitly did something right with them from 1988-91. As for limitations, they do not matter because the from bench seat is no less than a world class sofa that soaks up not only my entire body, but all of the worries in the world.
Lots of box Panthers on the road out here in the Seattle area, as well as quite a few of the early to late aero cars too.
I gotta admit it’s a good looking car.
I LOVE this car!!!!!
Please tell me that Jimmy is planning on keeping it original, and not pimping it out, it deserves better.
Tell him to keep the leather conditioned so it doesn’t dry out and crack.
I’m going to grab some of the pics and add to my personal collection.
Now somebody needs to find Sajeev and get him over here, he’d be proud…
Beatiful car, beautiful two tone paint, beautiful leather interior. Love that old Panther. Although I’d love to get my hands on a well kept Marquis or LTD and drop a HO 302 in it.
Wow, that thing looks absolutely immaculate. Nice find.
Why can’t I ever find cars like this?
Another Panther story….argh!….The B body was a far superior car…ask any cop that had to switch from a Caprice to a Crown Vic. Inferior engine, inferior chassis. The difference was GM realized that it was time to move on.
Box to Box I’ll concede that when new the B-body, at least the better versions were superior. But Bubble to Aero the Panther lept far ahead and left the Whale floundering behind, hence it’s discontinuation. The fact that the Crown Vic became THE police car certainly helped seal the fate of the Caprice.
The Panther became THE police car only after the Caprice disappeared. The LT1 Whales went like snot and cops loved them. The reason for the end of the Caprice had nothing to do with sales; the mammoth SUV craze was on full bore in 1996 and that sealed the fate of the Caprice; there was simply more money converting the lines to make the Tahoe.
Besides, cop cars were never money makers anyway. I doubt Ford has made a dime on their cop cars in several years.
Ford didn’t keep extending the order cut off date and produced them for about 2 years longer than originally intended because they weren’t making money selling the P71. They weren’t cheap to buy in fact they were more more expensive than the V6 Charger and not that much cheaper than the Hemi version depending on specific equipment.
The Lt1 powered Whale definitely beat the CV in HP, top speed and acceleration but that was it’s only strength and those are actually not that high on the requirements list on many if not most depts for most of their fleet. They were also known for being involved in excessive amounts of 1 car “accidents” because the chassis and brakes couldn’t keep up with the engine. Around here they fell out of favor with most depts almost immediately upon the intro of the police package for the Aero.
I’ve asked every cop I’ve ever met what kind of patrol car they prefer. Back when the old Caprice was still around, they ALL mentioned the engine of the Caprice and sort of stared off into space, wistfully. And they all said the Vic handled a lot better. The gist I came away with is if they could have had the LT1 Caprice engine in the Vic chassis, that would have been their ideal car.
These days, every cop I’ve asked hates the Charger, Hemi or not. My best friend from high school has been a cop for quite a while now and is on the SWAT team. Asked him and he said he had the the choice of a Hemi Charger or a worn-out Vic with a worn-out seat from some other fat cop and he took the Vic. He is very skeptical of the new Tauri that his police chief or whoever has started ordering, but hasn’t driven one yet. I’d think the EcoBoost Taurus would be the one to have versus the revised Charger or that Aussie Caprice they’re bringing over, assuming the Taurus suspension holds up.
Nice set of wheels….as you are aware….todays best deals on older iron are the 4 door sedans from the 70’s and 80’s, almost the only ones you can find that are truly unmolested. You have found yourself a cream puff.
Not one to rain on anyone’s parade…….also be aware you have a vehicle that has another not so nice side to it. Perhaps you have heard of the on going law suits from the infamous exploding gas tanks on the early 80’s to well into the 2000’s, on the Ford Crown Vics (ditto for Marquis’s), from high speed rear end collisions. Granted most victims seem to be from law enforcement agencies operating said vehicles, stopped beside highways doing traffic stops.
Cross reference the validity by googling same.
Just a heads up FYI for you.
Good road, cheers.
Those cars were also hit by vehicles traveling at 70+ mph. This ins’t “Pinto fiasco, part two.”
Thats a nice looking car JP lucky kid I see me doing this for my daughter in a few years but its scary what she can identify on the roadside at pres she can spot Morris Minors BMC Minis and VW Beetles at quite a distance.
Thanks for the article. I read this site every day, but have never commented until now. I have been following the car search through the previous installments and glad to see you guys end up with what appears to be a great, super-clean car with lots of character.
The choice of car really takes me back. As a college student, 12 years ago, I found myself in search of inexpensive, reliable transport after my 1973 Maverick was totaled. After driving my mom’s 1985 Colony Park through high school, I was convinced a Grand Marquis fit my requirements (inexpensive and reliable) perfectly as they were super durable, and at the time, in such plentiful supply that you could get one with whatever options you wanted for about $1100 (Turbine Wheels and LS trim were must-haves for me–call me a sucker for the cornering lamps). Even if repairs were needed, the parts were super cheap and could be found just about anywhere.
After two weeks of searching, I came across a very clean 1989 Grand Marquis on a used car lot that got me through my next four years of school in supreme, velour-lined comfort. That car took me on several trips across Ohio from Cleveland to Athens to visit my future wife and to and from my first out-of-state job in Indianapolis. V8 power and Body on Frame construction allowed me to hitch a U-haul to my car and move myself for the cost of gas (then $1.20/gallon) and trailer rental. In the four years I owned the car, the only issues I had were a blower motor that failed one winter morning, (my dad fixed it in less than an hour in our driveway) and an alternator replacement.
To this day, I still have a soft spot for this era of Grand Marquis. I hope your son enjoys it, greatly. I’m sure he will.
Awesome read, thank you! Wish we had such cool cars here when I was a teenager. I knew the Town Car received the minor sheetmetal ‘softening’ in ’88, didn’t realise Ford softened the MGM too. I’ve mentioned previously, but Mercury Grand Marquis is one of my favourite model names, it just sounds so cool. Jimmy’s one greatly blessed lad!
I had the 1991 version of this car, not a bad sled. It was totally out of my norm for me, I usually prefer something smaller, in the mid sized arena. But I scored this car for about $2100 in 2001. Of course, there was a reason why…
If you took the OP’s car and painted it a plain dark blue, with matching interior, you’d have the car I had. 302/AOD, towing package, single exhaust. Mine was the cheaper trim, the GS model. I had the car for 3 years. Even though I saw the trailer hitch on it when I bought it, I had no idea what was to come. Someone had f**ed up an oil change, when I went to do the first one, the drain plug fell into my hand after a half turn, it was largely bereft of threads.
Thinking I was working on one of my old Fords, I thought I’d go to the parts store and get a ‘threading’ oil plug. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, the oil pans no longer had a reinforced area where the plug threads into, it was just a tab on the inside of the oil pan. Hello replacement oil pan!
The engine leaked oil horribly when I got it (and I thought the leaking drain plug was the sole source of the leak, it wasn’t), but I should have walked away from the car. Eventually I had to deal with, in no specific order, oil drain plug, valve cover gaskets, coolant hoses (various), radiator, brakes and various electrical issues.
That said, when the car ran well, it was great! Roomy, quiet, fairly powerful, comfy, solid. Drove and tracked well. But when it broke, and seemed to break often, it sucked. Sucked money, mostly. Then gasoline got up to about $3/gallon, and I was becoming less than thrilled having to put a tank of fuel in it every week. I bought a high mileage Chevy Cavalier from my anal retentive brother in law and haven’t looked back. Until now.
I’m hoping your son’s car wasn’t used for heavy duty towing (I’m assuming mine was due to the large number of issues I had with the car), and with a little TLC it will be a great DD for him. Enjoy!
That is an absolutely gorgeous Panther. You were lucky indeed to find one in time capsule condition. Both of you will enjoy it.
Sharp Marquis, looks like a winner! I especially like the two tone. I don’t remember ever seeing a two-tone ’88-91 Marquis, even when they were new. I second the comment above on using leather conditioner on the seats, that will be even more important if the car isn’t going to be garaged. Hope you both have fun with this car. Enjoy!
Good eye on the two tone. I have the factory sticker, and two tone paint was one of the options. However, the factory dark gray was just on the lower body. The seller told us that the paint on the hood was tired from its early days in the Florida sun, but he was concerned that he would not get a decent color match (he had owned a body shop years ago). So, he decided to carry the dark gray onto the hood, roof and decklid. I am no fan of repaints, but this was a very nice job. And now Jimmy has the only one in the entire world that looks just like this.
Just have to interject this little nugget. Today I was traveling home from the Alb International Sunport heading down I40 into Gallup. Freezing cold highway, snow piled around the highway from a storm on the 22nd-23rd. I was fairly flying along and was coming up on a square silouete from behind in the late afternoon sun.
What to my wonderous eyes did appear? A triple brown (shout out to the brown car appreciation society) Lincoln Town Car from the 1985-1989 model window. Beautiful, spotless, paint shining, chrome polished, CB antenna… Colorado plates. Older gentleman at the wheel, his cruise control likely set at about 80mph. Don’t see 80s cars out flying like that much, and especially in this snowy weather.
1989 was really a good year for these cars. It’s like they saved the best for the last of this body style. The interior and exterior was at it’s most handsome level with the ending of the square bodied car. It’s was never as formal again and died a slow painful death.
Way late comment…but wow, that’s a beautiful Grand Marquis. Your comment about the two-tone does explain well why I’d never seen another like it! Very striking, especially with the extra-“Broughamy” padded roof. Does your son still have the car?
I’ve also had three panthers–a ’91 Crown Vic back in 2001 (done in by an engine fire due to a fautly alternator, very nice for the ~6 months I had it though), a 2003 Marauder from ’06 to ’11 (selling that is one of my biggest regrets) and currently a ’97 Crown Vic. Great cars, and just may be habit-forming!
Yes, we still have it. It now has about 67K on the odo – the son spent a couple of years doing a lot of midwestern travel covering and broadcasting Big 10 football and basketball games. Unfortunately, the AOD transmission is giving us some trouble at the moment, so it has lost its interstate privileges for the time being. However, it is perfectly fine for old Dad to drive the mile to work and back, as I did today.
Very strange: I had two 89 Grand Marquis’ and one 90 Grand Marquis, one of the 89’s and the 90 BOTH caught fire because of faulty alternators…once while parked and once while driving!
I have a 1989 Grand Marquis ,my moms car …original 128 000 kms in Canada (Windsor) in great shape for its age would you know of anyone interested in it ..hate to see it go to the wreckers email me if interested complete car we bought her a new car.