Panther Day continues with yet more 1998-02 Townie goodness! Remember the Touring Sedan? I won’t blame you if you don’t, for they were not a hot seller. But, with their improved handling and de-chromed trim, they were about as close as a Lincoln got to a Marauder.
The Touring Sedan debuted with the newly de-squared 1998 Town Car. It likely was intended to compete with the 1994-98 Cadillac DeVille Concours and 2000-up DTS. As such, it featured color-keyed side moldings in lieu of chrome, 16″ Chrome-Tech alloy wheels, black bird’s eye maple trim inside, and perforated leather seating.
Touring Sedans also got a blacked-out grille, but the real goodies included dual exhaust (shared with the Cartier and Limo Package Executive Series models), revised springs, monotube shock absorbers, and 30mm front/15mm rear sway bars. A 3.55 axle ratio was also included (Executives, Signatures and Cartiers made do with a 3.08:1 ratio).
I actually considered a Touring Sedan to replace my much-loved ’91 Volvo 940SE back in 2004. The Ford dealer in Moline had one in gunmetal gray with light gray leather. I drove it and it was quite nice. True, it did have the ticky-tacky chrome wheel arch and rocker panel trim (as does our featured Medium Charcoal Green example here), but at least it didn’t have the fake convertible top, vinyl landau top or chrome luggage rack that many of these cars sported–like a malignant growth.
Ultimately, I decided against it, and bought a ’99 Volvo S70 instead. But with my recently-acquired Cartier, I guess the decision was just deferred!
I have a BIL who bought one of these – a black one that had been a FoMoCo “program car”. He had lived with a 93 Camry for a long time and longed for a Town Car for all those years (occasionally renting them).
Alas, the time came and the car was a major disappointment to him. After the second trip back to the dealer because of wet rear carpet, the bloom was off the rose and he traded it on a new Avalon, which he still has.
I really liked that black Touring Sedan, there were not many of them around. My BIL has pretty tight specs on his cars, and I suspect that after the initial problems, he just lost faith in it. I asked at the time about buying it, but he refused to sell it to me, claiming that it was a lemon. Who knows, maybe it was.
The half-a$$ed blackout treatment sort of makes it look cheap. Especially since they left on those tacky fender trim rings, those just scream Pep Boys. The Town Car is one car that actually looks better with chrome trim. But I could also see the appeal of a totally blacked out TC, with gloss piano black trim all over, and tastefully larger wheels. The performance enhancements must be welcome on that car though. My dad would love this, he’s a TC freak.
IIRC, those chrome fender lip pieces are aftermarket. The whole idea of the Touring Sedan was to drop the bling or geriatric jewelry. I agree, those are one of my least favorite accessories on a Townie.
Those don’t just scream Pep Boys, they ARE Pep Boys LOL!!! Never understood the appeal of those tacky moldings…
The trim on the wheel wells are not factory.
When Ford wanted to create something just a bit different, they could do it nicely. Touring Sedans were always subtle, but that was part of their appeal, and perhaps their demise. Take a look at the 1992 Crown Victoria Touring Sedan. What’s that? You’ve never seen one? Exactly. They were subtle, but to those in the know, it was the little things in the TS’s that made them unique.
Talk about CC effect! A block from my place, and just an hour after reading, I spy a Touring
Signature class here means used Toyota with Toyota warranty.
This one slipped under the radar,I’d never seen or heard of it before but I like it a lot.Not as mean looking as the blacked out Mercury Marauder which I liked even more,I thought it would be the car to save Mercury and we all know what happened next
The Marauder got quite a bit of attention when I saw it at Cobo Hall in Detroit in ’02 (on display). Unfortunately, that didn’t translate into sales. I remember reading about this Lincoln Signature Touring Edition. Never saw one until now. I do not car for the blacked out grille with chrome surround. Unfortunately, we’re looking at this car from a 2013/2014 perspective. If this had been around today, EVERYTHING would be blacked out.
Much like the Marauder, this Touring Edition wasn’t the typical buyers’ cup of tea (for these Panthers).
Ironically, here in the City and County of Honolulu (Oahu), I have seen a dozen Marauders. Four of them are driven by cops. The Detroit concept Marauder had a retro “flying Mercury head” much like the early ’60s Mercuries. Production had the art-deco, abstract bent Mercury wing cap design.
The production Marauder did get the “Fireman” or “God’s head”, which ever you prefer, logo on the seat backs and center caps.
I bet the Marauder would have sold better if the bean counters would have released the car as designed by Steve Babcock. However the bean counters had their way and the car was significantly neutered as a result. On the plus side Steve was more than happy to share what exactly got shelved so it is pretty easy to sharpen the claws, so to speak, and make it the car he intended.
I still maintain that the Marauder (and probably the Touring Ed Townie) would have sold better with an engine upgrade. The 4.6 is fine for normal driving, but this kind of car followed the Impala SS that got a really strong V8 not available in a standard Caprice. I never understood why the 5.4 never made it into these cars. OK, other than CAFE. Still, a low-production specialty model like the Marauder just screamed for more power out of the box.
Well a 4v 5.4 wouldn’t fit in, at least using their standard assembly line flow and procedures, and it would have required them to make a different intake as the Navigator one would be too tall to fit under the hood. The 2v 5.4 might have slipped in there on the production line but the 4v 4.6 was better.
Had the bean counters not told Steve to “see the parts bin” so he was forced to use the 2″ H-pipe from the 2V cars there would be an extra 20-30 horses on tap. If the 4.10 gears were allowed to stay the 0-60 time would have been significantly improved. If both were allowed to stay the Honda boys wouldn’t have had bragging rights that the era V6 Accord was faster 0-60.
To be pedantic, the ’94-96 Impala SS engine was the same as the optional engine in the Caprice and standard engine in the Roadmaster and Fleetwood: the iron head 350 CID LT1. Less knowledgabe people make a big deal about it being a “Corvette motor” which is only true in the sense that the LT1 first appeared in a Corvette…much like every other family of Chevy V-8.
The differences were in the axle ratio (3.08 vs 2.xx in other cars) and electric vs mechanical cooling fan. Chevy gave the engine 260hp with electric fans and 250hp with the mechanical fan.
But yeah, the Maurader sales were a disappointment. Perhaps more power would have helped as the comparisons to the Impala SS were not favorable. Perhaps more distinction from the Crown Vic/Grand Ma would have helped. Or maybe the number of people who will actually buy a V8 performance sedan is simply much lower than the number of people who say they want to buy a V8 performance sedan.
I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that many of those who say they want a V8 RWD performance sedan and those who will actually buy a new one is quite different. Much like the people who say they want a diesel, MT, brown wagon.
I am sorry but the only two lincolns that can pull off the all black look and look good are the Mark VII and Mark VIII. The townie is meant to scream “I have arrived”
There are (or were, haven’t been there in a while) 2 Town Car Touring Sedans at the local Pull-A-Part, both in Toreador Red, my favorite color for one. Must have been pretty sharp when they were new.
I have pictures from the local L-M dealer circa 2000 of a brand-new Toreador Red Touring Sedan with white leather, sitting on the lot. That car was so sharp!
Until six weeks ago, I never heard about these cars. The Maurader, yes – it was a big deal with a big mark-up. Now, I’m really bummed that Ford stopped making new Panthers. The Gran Ma LSC, the Crown Vic LX Sport and the Town Car Touring sedans put everything one could want in an amazing big cruiser that is no typical rental Panther machine.
After years of floating around in rental Panthers, I had absolutely no idea there were wicked Mr. Hydes formed from those pleasant Dr. Jeckyls.
Only about 10% or less of the Panther production were these machines. I am proud to have one.
These cars are like seeing NFL stars in expensive suits. Just admirable and masculine.
I’d say that way fewer than 10% of the model mix in a given year was the LS-E, LX-Sport or Touring.
However in most years you could get the HPP package which gave you the go-fast and handling goodies that were put in the rare cars. Of course you don’t get the Marauder bucket seats, console and floor shifter with the HPP package like you did in the LS-E (by far the rarest Panther) or LX-Sport (by many accounts rarer than the Marauder),
As I a was driving to work on the 405 fwy today I passed a Toreador Red Signature Series Touring Edition. It occurred to me that this was a car I’d forgotten existed. I logged on to CC and low and behold…
Never knew it had the same 3:55 axle as my Marauder.
I’m not so sure that they ever let a 3.55 TC out of the door. On the CV LX-Sport the 3.55 option was pulled after only being listed for 6-9 months. So I bet that the majority of the Touring Edition cars have the 3.23 gears like the majority of HPP cars.
Oh yeah which 405? WA?
The 405 I’m referring to is in Southern California. What we used to call the San Diego Freeway.
As for the 3:55 TC, I’m just going by Tom Klockau’s post.
I got that figure from my 1999 Town Car brochure. No idea if it was on the Touring Sedan just that year, or if it was changed. Now I need to locate my 1998 and 2000-02 Town Car brochures to confirm!
Always loved the Touring Sedan as long as it wasn’t festooned with aftermarket crap like many dealers did (extra chrome, trunk racks, etc.). Honestly though I can say I’ve only seen one in real life and it was black. That charcoal green is beautiful and far too few cars were painted that color.
Yes. I remember seeing a Touring Sedan with whitewalls, a fake convertible top, and a tacked-on luggage rack. I could just picture some salesman convincing an elderly couple that it was the car for them–never mind that they would never use and probably never notice the extra power and better handling.
interesting, the concurrent 2WD F-150s also had 3.08 and 3.55 axle ratios, and 4WDs had 3.23 and 3.73(?). I wonder how comparable the axles are to the Panthers’.
Pretty much every RWD Ford used the 8.8″ diff at some point, hence why they have the same gear ratio choices. Even the different IRS applications, Cobra, MN/FN, Explorer and Expendition used the 8.8″ diff. Of course the housings are different to suit the particular application with different widths and mounting methods.
Thanks, Eric.
I remember once seeing a limousine with that black out grille
The people I bought my Fleetwood from had a Red Touring Sedan under the carport. May have replaced the Fleetwood. Kind of sharp car. I will have to ride that way and see if it is still there. HMMM.