Recently we ran a vintage review by R&T of 1947 and 1972 big Fords. Not surprisingly, they were not a fan of the big and wallowy ’72, and had some harsh words for its handling, or lack thereof. So it felt fitting for R&T to test the new 1992 big Ford, sporting a very contemporary aerodynamic body and the new 4.6 “Modular” V8. Little did they know at the time thta this would become quite the evergreen. But it’s interesting to see it through the eyes of the times.
Buddy just sold his ‘05 Crown Vic with a cracked intake manifold as listed on Craigs List. Got dozens of calls and sold in two days for $2500.
There is an audience for these Beast of Burden.
Ford really tried with this car, possibly the most thorough re-imagining of a large American sedan since the 1977 GM B/C body program. They tried to bring much of what made the Taurus a breakout success and move those things up a division, including the styling that was aggressively modern for the class.
Unfortunately, this car was not a retail success. Ford moved over 200k of these in 1985 but these never hit 110k in even their best years. I also suspect (but have not researched) that there were many more retail sales of the prior generation. The Grand Marquis got most of the retail love after 1991, and especially after 1996-97. I remember how hard it was to find civilian versions in Ford dealer lots in 1993 when my mother was in the market.
The 92 had the best styling of the whole series, but was also stuck with the old AOD transmission. The 93 got the new AOD-E but gained that horrid grille. I spent many years with our family’s 93 LX and it was a very satisfying car over a long period of time. After coming out of 8 years driving RWD GM C body cars, the Vic was a real driving machine.
Actually the only cars that got the AOD were the 1992s built during 1991. Starting in Jan 1992 they switched to the AOD-E and changed from the block that had the old 302 bellhousing pattern to the pattern still used to this day on the 5.0 and apparently the 7.3 too.
I knew that folks on the forums referred to the 1992 “bastard block” with the old bellhousing pattern, but had not been aware that those were only built for part of the year. My car was a 93 so I was past all of the confusion. Didn’t the 4.6 debut in the 91 Town Car?
Yeah the 91 TC was the first recipent of the 4.6. How Ford phased the change over on the Panthers was interesting.
The 90 TC got the new body on the old chassis, the 91 TC got the new chassis and the 4.6 with the 302 bellhousing to mate up to the old transmission.
The early 92 CV/GM got the new chassis, the 4.6 that bolted to the old trans, then finally in Jan 92 they all got the new trans and block.
It never made any sense to me why the bellhousing pattern was changed on the 4.6 other than to make interchange impossible. There’s a tiny micro following for those blocks, I know of two people in the MN12 Thunderbird community who sought them out to use as a buildup basis to pair with the SuperCoupe M5R2 5-speed designed for the SBF patterned 3.8.
I’m kinda stuck on the idea of getting a >10% power boost simply by splitting the exhaust. Although the cost of doing so is not on the data chart, I can’t imagine any buyer NOT checking that box!
The cost of the dual exhaust is on the data sheet. It is part of the Handling and Performance Package, or HPP. In addition to the dual exhaust it gave you unique front springs, the higher rate rear air suspension, unique shocks, a unique power steering computer, thicker sway bars also used on the police and tow package, 3.23 gears (not the base car’s 3.08 as listed) and finally the 225 tires. A heck of a value for $191, though that price is higher if the 114 package was not selected as that gave you the Rear Air Suspension with the softer springs
The dual exhaust also came with the tow package that had its own unique front springs, shocks, 3.23 gears, 225 tires as well as relays for the trailer electrical.
Of course the Police package gave you the dual exhaust, along with a lot of other unique components.
From an enthusiast’s point of view, these older performance packages do seem like good value compared to aftermarket parts. The reality is that there must have been decent margin in them for the manufacturer as well … a stiffer spring or sway bar is just a pound or two of extra steel, ditto for a lower gear ratio (maybe even a savings depending on how it’s done). Add in a few bucks for fixed cost due to lower volume, and the $200 option may only cost $20. And it’s got a factory warranty. Contrast that to today, where you pay extra for a special paint color, or a flipped bit to enable navigation when the GPS hardware and display are already in the car, but pay many hundreds of $$ or even more.
Oops, forgot the 4th way you could get dual exhaust and that was ordering the 92 only Touring Sedan. It is essentially the car tested, 114 plus HPP but replaced the Crown Victoria badges on the fenders with Touring Sedan in script and two tone paint. On the cars that had the grey lower body the wheels were also grey instead of silver.
Not quite the CC Effect, but good timing on this posting, as I was thinking about this gen of Crown Vic (and Grand Marquis) just the other day. A brief round of errands around town resulted in even more than the usual number of sightings, several of which were Mercuries and as always, a couple were on duty in their black and white police livery. Hard to believe these things have been around for almost 30 years … at this point I think they may even outnumber similar vintage Corollas or Camries, or SN95 Mustangs, not to mention anything from GM.
The domestic, full-size RWD story is interesting. The last Ford Panther stayed in production for a long time (1992 – 2011) but its success was mostly due to GM abandoning RWD sedans after 1996.
Then, Chrysler actually brought back RWD with their stylish ‘gangsta slammed-roof’ LD for 2005 with a more powerful lineup of engines than Ford. If not for the Mopars, I wonder if Ford would still be building Panthers today.
Ford Panther platform was released in ’89 IIRC.
Typo – ’79
The Panther platform received regular and significant mechanical refinements over the years , even after GM left the RWD market. There’s virtually nothing interchangeable between the early and late Panthers.
Not likely, if not for the fleet market it’s very probable the Panther would have been retired the year the FiveHundred/Montego came out, which in effect did in fact replace it in those markets by way of its D4 SUV spinoff. That market still bought and by pretty much all accounts preferred the Panther to the LX when they were concurrently produced, and that was pretty much the only market interested by that point. People buy cars based on perception as much as practical reasons, and the 98 restyle was never a supermodel, and by 2005 it looked like a rolling anachronism, the modern Checker Marathon. It’s not like LX cars are what made the Panther lose appeal, before them to just about everyone it was A a cop car, B a taxi, or C grandpa car. Even ardent Panther lovers know it, as exactly 0% of them bought them new from Ford, unless it was the Ford county police auction.
I have always wanted a P71 police Crown Vic or a Mercury Marauder.
When it was introduced, its fresh look was amazing to its targeted sector of buyers. More its new V8 engine went for overhead cam while GM V8 stayed with pushrod design. But over years I noticed some of aged NYC Taxis had oil burning issue —other car I noticed was Toyota Cressida. Have been in the rear seat countless times, it is much tight foot room than today midsize sedans. I haven’t never driven this vintage and the newer one, wondering if its driving dynamic could really match its younger brother Taurus. According to the RT spec information, it didn’t have independent rear suspension?
What really puzzling me is its weight and towing capacity, only just over 4,000 lbs and towing capacity just 1,500 lbs. Quick searches in Google show the 2020 Camry weights 3,500 lbs, Highlander is 4,450 lbs and can tow over 3,000 lbs. Today vehicles are heavy and powerful yet relatively efficient. But the gains for small and efficient cars in 80s and 90s have all gone. The question is if we really need such large and powerful vehicles for our lives?
I’m not sure why the base cars had such a low tow rating but in the early years there was a tow package that gave you a 5,000 lb rating.
Pre 98 cars had a 5000 lb tow rating. This was reduced to 2000 lb in 1998. The only difference was the switch to the dynamically superior Watts linkage rear axle design. Its possible the Watts linkage wasn’t as strong in controlling lateral loads compared with the older twin diagonal control arms.
It’s been suggested Ford deliberately downgraded the tow rating to guide tow – minded buyers towards the more profitable SUVs. I’m not convinced, though.
You had to have the towing package with its 3.23 gears, dual exhaust, specific springs and shocks to get the 5,000lb rating officially. I don’t think that package made it until 1997. I do believe it was a combination of factors, very, very low take rate and the fact that they wanted you to buy an Explorer or Expedition.
Regarding the rear suspension effects on tow rating it is interesting to consider what they did with the control arms over the years.
On the box cars, the big tow package, and police cars had different lower control arms. Some of it was due to the fact that the sway bar mounted to them but they were thicker too. I think but I’m not sure that the uppers were a little thicker metal too.
For the early Aero cars they did change how the sway bar mounted and there was one control arm for all applications.
When the Watts link rear suspension came out they initially had a single control arm. However they later switched the upper control arms to cast aluminum for the Limo Prep package cars before switching back to steel, but thicker than the other cars.
Yesterday, at 5pm or so in north Scottsdale traffic, we stopped at a light. On the left was a white Celica coupe – the type introduced for MY 2000. My wife noticed it; it looked small, fun, sporty. Especially, she said, if it had a manual. It looked out of place too in mom/SUV traffic and the paint was dull with a dent in the right door.
I said “yeah, but look at that”. Next to us on the right was Mercury GM from an unknown year but it could have been the same year as the Celica. It was perfect in red metallic, no vinyl and not a Marauder. But the paint looked great. There were not dents; the tires were clean and new looking. That was a loved and cared for car; could even be an original owner. And it too stuck out among the mom/SUVs all around us. We may not have liked them but the Panthers were significant cars.
Speak for yourself, I love my two Grand Marquis. They have many virtues, especially the later models. Roomy, reliable, smooth, quiet, luxurious, and cheap to buy these days. Their only drawbacks are a slightly ponderous feel and the solid rear axle design which makes for a busy ride. Compared to an IRS car, you can feel the rear end jumping and clunking over the bumps
Agree, Eighteen Chariots.
I’ve owned 5 Panthers since 1992. I keep on coming back for more.
Here’s my latest Panther, a 2000 Grand Marquis.
Wow, that was my car.
Better write it up!
Like so:
CC effect at work – just this past week I bought a very nice well cared for 2003 CV LX Sport in Ice Blue with the buckets and console and the LX Sport specific 17″ wheels. I truly lucked out by checking FB marketplace!
Nice score, blue is the one to have in my opinion.
Agree!
‘Course I am somewhat biased; given what is in my driveway.
My 71-year-old Dad bought one new, and a few years later — 2002, I think — he bought a Grand Marquis. He loved both of them — big and roomy, plenty of trunk to stash his golf clubs and other stuff, and a V-8 that pushed the whole package forward with enough authority to make him feel like he had a substantial vehicle. Not my idea of a retirement car, but I always felt folks his age were the target market, not me. And for a lot of that crowd, the Crown Vic and the Marquis really hit the bullseye.
How our automotive perceptions can change over time!
40 years ago I would had made rude fun of my Mercury. A Jaguar XJ6 was my idea of an “old man’s car” for me to enjoy in my “senior years”.
Today, at age 65 and early retired, the Grand Marquis suits me well.
I saw this 92 LX in El Paso today about 4 hours ago.
2nd photo
I just purchased a 1995 Crown Victoria LX 16,500 miles original owner garaged! don’t want to drive it. It looks brand new. It will be Loved and Garaged. Also, have a 1989 LTD Crown Victoria LX, 1988 Lincoln Town Car , 93 Town Car, 2003 Town Car, very fortunate all of them, low mileage, garaged. Wonderful cars!