Panthers, even these ’80s versions, are still plentiful in most parts of the United States. Still, how often do you see a two-door Grand Marquis? Total production of these from 1983 to 1987 was less than for the Colony Park wagon. The nadir was swan-song 1987, when production totaled 4,904 units–even fewer than the number of, say, 1971 Ford LTD convertibles that were built.
One of my dad’s favorite later model cars – he had a two door 84 Crown Victoria and a two door 86 Mercury Marquis. They were indeed rare to find (at least here) and surprisingly, dad found both of his on smaller town dealer lots in rural North Carolina.
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
I have a 1991 mercury marquis went to have3 areas painted in Sanford from sonny collision and it was stolen looks 55k original miles want it back
I liked the box panthers. After all, the Chrysler K-Cars were 5/8 scale.
Strictly speaking of style, I liked them better than the GM B bodies due to their more angular lines. Sometimes the subtle curved roof line and the character line on the various B bodies annoyed me.
The box panther quality? I have heard it wasn’t up to GM standards, but the 1970’s low-quality hangover still lingered for a few more years well into the 1980’s for all domestic OEMs, some models more than others, but Ford offering those optional vent windows covered several sins in my book, and I wanted one…
I think that by 1986-87 the Panthers had surpassed the GM B bodies in quality. I recall that when my mother was researching a new car in 1985, she was considering a the final rwd Olds 88 until she saw that the CV/MGM had significantly better frequency of repair ratings in Consumer Reports. I found this fact surprising at the time. She bought the Crown Vic and it was a very good car.
By 1986/87 only the Caprice and wagons were left at GM and there quality was comparable to Fords. The main difference was that Ford updated there 302 with SFI whereas GM was still using a carburetor. Some prefer the former over the latter and vice versa. Gm alos offered a large FI 4.3 liter V6 on the Caprice sedans for better mileage seekers which Ford lacked so there was some give and take between both. There is a reason law enforcement chose both of these cars over the years. They are both well built sturdy reliable sedans that will go the long haul.
I have owned both the b-body and Panther from the mid-late 80’s. Really not a huge difference in quality or reliability between each. They each had things I liked, and things I didn’t like. Overall, I generally prefered the GM sedans, but mainly if it had the F41 suspension.
The Fuel Injection was probably a big advantage in reliability ratings over the GM E4ME feedback carbs. They were finicky and not many knew how to tune them right. Also quite a few B-bodes still used the dreaded TH200 up until the mid 80’s. GM should have put TBI fuel injection on the b-bodies in 1987 at mimimum when most other GM V8’s got it. Realistically, it could have been installed in the early 80’s. This was the Roger Smith GM, where they rode old ideas until every last cent was squeezed out.
They tried to spend as little as possible on these since every year was supposed to be “the last”, I’ll bet there were many people ready to pull the plug anytime there was a slight drop in sales.
I always found it interesting that GM didn’t make the Caprice coupe for ’83 but then brought it back in the years following. I have an ’87 Caprice two door and while I can’t compare it to these, it started my love for that whole downsized platform. Someone around here has a two tone blue Crown Vic coupe from that vintage that I’ve been behind in traffic a few times but the Merc version I’ve yet to see.
Sean, that Caprice is beautiful! I’d love to see more of it!!!
My father was a big fan of the F41 suspension option, but the ’79 Caprice that I bought from him didn’t have it. So I treated my Caprice to what I like to think of as an Italianesque upgrade-stiffer shocks (Konis), big assed sway bars front and rear (Quikor), and a 13″ Momo leather steering wheel. But I left the springs alone. I liked my solution more than the F41 with stiffer springs. Even with rim-protector tires, the car handled responsively and was fun to drive. Still have the Momo.
I briefly owned one of these, in white with a blue vinyl top. One of the last of the true full-size coupes.
For the princely sum of $50, I bought it from a guy I worked with in Iowa City. I *ahem* never registered or titled it. I just drove it around until the tags expired, then left it parked on a side street. Eventually it disappeared. Joe (previous owner), if you’re out there, I’m sorry if that came back to bite you; I was 19.
The heater core was shot and at the time I didn’t have the skills or facilities to get it fixed. It was a nice driver, though—an absolute tank in the snow for some reason. Got around better than the 4×4 pickup I had at the same time.
Gawd, I really gotta start carrying a camera. Saw one of these – my first and only spotting – at a stoplight last week. Looked mighty clean (this is MN), whitewalls and wire wheelcovers intact, back shocks sagging, no exhaust, some long-haired punk driving it. Wild guess: he just snagged it on the cheap from a neighbor’s estate sale.
I’m a GM guy myself, but even I knew it was an oddity when I saw it. Good catch!
I grew up in the era where 2 door = cool and 4 door = old man car. I really wanted to like the 2 door version of this, but there was always something awkward about the lines of these. My father’s 1980 Lincoln Town Coupe was even worse, as the roofline was even boxier, hard as that is to fathom.
My favorite versions of these became the detective-spec sedan that was sans vinyl roof, although the Country Sedan wagon was pretty attractive too. Even knowing this car’s rarity, I just can’t get worked up over this one. And when not even I can get worked up over it, you can understand why sales were in the toilet. 🙂
JP,
Growing up I thought 2-drs, specifically hardtops, were the only way to go. Anything else was nerd city.
But when my parents were transferred to Paris in the mid 60s, I was exposed to a whole other way of thinking. The French didn’t like 2-drs, and the performance car was the Renault R-8 Gordini. Sure, the Mini Cooper (a 2-door) was also coveted, but the R-8 Gordini was the car of choice. Many of the Monte Carlo Rally winners in the ’50s and ’60s were four-door sedans.
The Dodge taxis that I worked in the mid-’60s were fun to drive, and had four doors. I then began to think of “sleepers” as being the way to go. Big brakes, tight suspensions, good roll control, and a feeling of being the master of the car. Plus the utility of four doors. We take this stuff for granted today but back then (the ’60s) Detroit thought we all wanted floaters and bloaters.
Nice, but does it have every broughamy gadget & gizmo available from the factory?
Highly likely, judging from the exterior appointments.
I’d love to have a Panther Coupe. I’d want to drop it on a 03 up chassis and stick a modern 5.0 in it.
When I was in high school and college, there was an LTD Crown Victoria coupe of approximately ’84-85 vintage in our neighborhood. It was painted the same shade of brown as my folks’ ’87 wagon and featured a tan leather interior with all kinds of broughamy goodness. I LUSTED after that car. One day I’d like to get my hands on one of these to use as a weekend driver.
I recall some other thread discussing coupés vs. 2-door sedans. I’ve noticed that some coupés have rear legroom as good as their sedan counterparts, while with others, rear passengers get punished, either due to a lower roofline & front-seats, or a shorter wheelbase. In my experience, the Coupé DeVille was roomy in back, whereas the Fairmont Futura (vs. its non-T-birdish, cleaner coupé stablemate) was not. Am I correct in supposing the Panther Coupé was merciful to folks in back? Hard to judge from outside, which BTW, would look much better with a proper rear ¼-window.
Dents like that always get me wondering how they happened, and whodunit.
Thats a 2door sedan not a coupe, sporty? not at all just a 2door barge, thankfully the pre ww2 BOF technology left these shores after the 50s.
I’ve always a been land yacht guy. My first car as a teenager in the late 90s-early aughts was a 4-door ’87 Ford LTD Crown Victoria (in two tone navy and sky blue with navy vinyl top, full bench seat, crank windows, radio only, but with the traction-loc option and a dual exhaust). Kept it until 200K when I saw an ’87 Brougham I couldn’t pass up and sold it for $1,200. It was a pretty good car.
Anyway, also driving around town at the time were two bretheren cars in coupe form, a medium blue ’84-87 LTD Crown Victoria coupe (It had the slanted, 3-stacked taillamps like mine, not the flat slanted early 80s version with “LTD” at the bottom) inexplicably driven by a youngish looking blonde, and a Lincoln Mark VI coupe in aquamarine driven by an older black guy. Haven’t seen either cruising around since about 2003.
Agree with the comments about these getting higher ratings in the quality dept. than GM by the mid 80s. My grandfather drove Cadillacs (stepping up from Oldsmobile per the Sloan model) after a big promotion starting in the late 50s with a new gold 1959, then switched to Lincoln Continentals (4 doors, no Marks) in the early 70s, then bought a powder blue ’78 or ’79 Cadillac which I dimly remember riding in from early childhood. By 1984 or so, he was over 70, ready for a slightly smaller car, and ready to go back to FoMoCo; his last 2 cars were an ’86 and ’88 Grand Marquis LS. I loved the ’86, sky blue with navy interior and that big Lincoln star on the hood. It was more angular, and looked visually bigger than, the ’88 so I’d insist we take the ’86 out when we went on trips. He didn’t really understand! He moved to a retirement home and, by then a widower, sold it to a cousin when I was 10 with 65K on it, much to my chagrin…I held out hope for the white ’88 someday but he never bought another car, stopped driving regularly when I was 13, and died the following year. The cousin got the ’88, too, with only 40K.
Dad’s 82 Country Squire was a great car. He always commented on how much better built it was than the 77 Chevy Caprice wagon he had before it. We put a ton of mileage on that wagon and it ran and ran and ran. I learned to drive on it too – not too bad for a 16 year old, as it was loaded to the max – it was really like driving a Lincoln station wagon around! Plus I could load 10 friends into it too!!
A couple of weeks ago I was in Canton, Michigan and I saw a youngish black male driving one of these, it was in beautiful condition, same color too! I had to do a loop-around and go back and see it. I really wanted to get some pics, but I wasn’t in a position to do so. I did nod and mouth “nice car” to him, he nodded back.
When I was a kid, a friend of my dad owned one of these. It was a 1985 model. We made a number of trips up north in it. It was very roomy and quiet. I loved the way it floated over bumps. It always seemed to have plenty of power, as “Uncle Bert” always seemed to cruise at close to 90 in it!
He only kept it a couple of years and then he and his wife decided to trade it for a new 1987 Dodge conversion van.
Back then, the Grand Marquis coupe was right up there with the Olds Cutlass Supreme Brougham as my dream car!
If anyone is looking for one of these there has been a beautiful black with maroon interior on the local craigs list for at least a few weeks now. Low mileage and really in great shape from the pictures…
No it isn’t mine, but I’ll be happy to give you the link to the ad if you want.
I recently inherited my grandmother’s 1984 2 door MGM. I would like to get info on how many are still on the road and how many were made in the specs like mine. (This car was custom ordered by my grandfather) anybody know where i should start?
Brian contact Elena Ford at Ford marketing:
P.O. Box 6248, MD 4 S-B
Dearborn, Michigan 48126
You will receive a very complete breakdown via the cars VIN of how it was equipped as it left the factory.
Good luck:-)
brian atwell if you read this I own a black mgm coupe my dad bought it brand new. I got my first license in it at 19 .I have all of the original paperwork including show room brochurs the only has 53000 miles on it special order .police package and trailer towing package combined you can view it on laconia nh. rotary car show pictures 2015. and to answer your question. you can find all the info you need at marti auto works in tempe Arizona or I can answer anything you want to know .. my uncle was plant manager at st Louis assembly plant where a lot of coupes were built .only 13.347 were built for 84 model year .mine is only one out of 184 with all the rare options……………
Starting back in the “Jurassic” era of the late 50’s and early 60’s I have always found myself piloting one of Henry’s land yachts anchored via four tires:-) From the Galaxie 500 models, to the upscale LTD variant(s), and finally through the Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis. These cars when fully “loaded” were bargains as compared to the Lincoln vehicles……but in all instances Tudor models were de rigueur as opposed to the mundane and conservative four door models. Indeed even as of last week, people approach me with kind remarks concerning my Tudor……..cruising an iron horse of almost 4000 pounds has its rewards and benefits over its more expensive stablemate Lincoln:-)