(first posted 12/4/2017) When I call this the last fresh Crown Vic, I realize the Panther cars received extensive chassis revisions in 2003. But by then, Ford had all but given up trying to broaden the Vic’s appeal and attract new buyers. Both inside and out, the ‘03s looked almost identical to the ‘98s. Compare that to these 1992 models: the venerable, 1979-vintage platform underneath was married to a new and thoroughly modern engine and sleek, aerodynamic styling. Very fresh indeed.
Perhaps a bit too fresh for a very conservative customer base. Although Ford tried to appeal to younger buyers with the Touring Sedan model – covered here by Brendan Saur – the full-size, American sedan was still beloved by older private buyers, as well as the typical fleet purchasers. The grille-less front, therefore, came as quite a shock to those customers and was hurriedly revised for the new Crown Vic’s sophomore season. It’s not as though it was that shocking a visage, considering the Taurus had worn a similar fascia for six years, but for a Crown Victoria it was a bit of a surprise.
A more pleasant surprise to all Crown Victoria buyers was the application of Ford’s new Modular 4.6 V8 under the hood. Not only did the new 4.6 boast more power – 190 hp and 260 ft-lbs, up 40 hp but down 10 ft-lbs – but it also had improved fuel economy, up 1 mpg combined to 18/26 mpg. Selecting the dual exhaust from the options list netted an additional 20 horses.
Although the other bits and pieces under the new wrapper were getting quite old, Ford made tweaks to the suspension that tidied up the handling and eliminated some of the floaty feel of the ’91 models. Auto journalists were impressed with the mechanical improvements Ford made, such as firmer shocks and four-wheel disc brakes with optional ABS, and found the Vic’s revisions to be more extensive than those made to the ’91 Caprice. There was still body roll and lifeless steering, of course, but the Vic now felt more buttoned-down.
Like the grille-less front fascia, the Touring Sedan was a one-and-done affair, disappearing for 1993. You could buy a ’93 CV with the Handling and Performance Package and also select the dual-exhaust option, but there was no longer a separate sporty trim level. The Touring had been somewhat of an anomaly–the first specific sport edition of an American full-size, body-on-frame car since early 80s offerings like the Oldsmobile Delta 88 Holiday and Buick LeSabre Sport Coupe. Its sedan body style made it even more of an outlier. Alas, while sport sedans were becoming more popular, with few exceptions that popularity didn’t really extend to the full-size segment.
The Crown Vic had been freshened up quite nicely inside, outside, and underneath. Ford hoped this redesign would help reverse a troubling shift away from the full-size segment, which had shrunk to 9.1% of the US market by 1991, a far cry from 32% in 1973. In 1991, the median age of full-size buyers was 63, while 45% of full-size buyers were aged 65 or over. Suffice it to say, the segment’s demographics portended trouble for the future of the full-size segment.
At least the ’92 saw an immediate increase in sales, despite its apparently controversial mug. Production rocketed up from 76k and 84k units in ’90 and ’91 to an impressive 152,373–better than arch-rival Caprice, even without a wagon. Numbers settled back down to around 100k units annually in ’93, neck-and-neck with the Caprice. And to prove the segment was in decline, the Crown Vic didn’t even see a huge bump in sales after its main competition was axed in 1996.
Younger buyers and families were too busy snapping up SUVs and minivans, or were comfortable with mid-size sedans. Ford was fortunate to have the hot-selling Explorer and Taurus to cater to these buyers, as well as the less successful Aerostar and later Windstar minivans. As a result, the Crown Victoria settled into a defined role in the Ford lineup–fleets and conservative buyers only need apply. The ’98 restyle brought conservative styling, the Modular V8 became only marginally more powerful over the years in the Crown Vic, and there would be neither a Ford version of the Mercury Marauder nor a fresh new interior after ’98. Crown Vics were only for people who already owned Crown Vics. And that’s why the ’92 was the last fresh Crown Victoria.
Photographed in Santiago de Querétaro, México in October 2016.
Related Reading:
COAL: 1997 Ford Crown Victoria LX – It’s Complicated
Curbside Classic: 1994 Chevrolet Caprice Classic LS – Last Of The Best
Curbside Capsule: 1992-96 Buick Roadmaster Sedan – Who Needs An SUV?
CC Capsule: 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis LS: For Grandpa’s Retirement, Grandma Gets a Grand Ma
The original 1992 Crown Victoria looked really good. The only thing that was an improvement on subsequent facelifts was the wide taillights for 1995. The rest frankly suck, and the biggest failure was the use of the Mercury roof starting in 1998. Not only did it make the Ford look stodgy, it killed off the major distinction between the two makes and became another nail in Mercury’s coffin.
This was my favorite rear on the Aero Vic. This rear and the 92’s front would have been a perfect combination. The rear of the 93-94 would not have been bad except for that reflector that ran across the lower lip of the decklid, which had an oddly psychedelic reflector pattern under the red plastic.
Yes. I thought the styling of the 92 Crown Vic was very interesting. The front end reminded me of a Ford Thunderbird and an Infinity Q45.
Here is my story of the first time that I encountered this car:
I enjoyed the 70’s TV show The Streets of San Francisco starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglas. The Karl Malden character drove Ford LTDs
There was a reunion show in 1992 called Back to the Streets of San Francisco. Sure enough, Karl Malden’s character drove a dark blue 92 Ford Crown Victoria…I thought it was beautiful!
The next week I was at a Barber Shop getting a haircut, and sure enough a dark blue 92 Crown Vic drives by. I remember the barber saying..”Wow! What kind of car is that? Is that a Jaguar?”
I responded by saying, “no…that’s the new Ford LTD.” I didn’t know at the time that they were no longer called LTD Crown Victoria.
That reflector strip looked so homemade! Definitely retrograde.
Like you, JP, I preferred the styling of the of the ’92.
I thought that red reflector strip looked really cool! It seemed to light up even though it was just a reflector, and there seemed to be several spinning disks along the strip which is part of why it looked like an add-on from the auto parts store.
I didn’t care for the slanty taillight look that came later, with the number plate no longer out of the way on the bumper. The squared-off lights on more recent CVs looked better too.
I really liked the 92 and considered that grotesque grille on the 93 a huge disappointment. The 93 had one benefit, however, and that was the swap from the old AOD transmission to the new AOD-E (for electronic control), which was a much more pleasant unit to live with in that it lost that hard torque converter lockup immediately upon the shift into 3rd of the older unit.
I had understood that retail sales of these sort of collapsed with this generation, so was surprised to see that sales actually increased. My anecdotal experience was when my mother was shopping for a new one in the summer of 93. Every Indianapolis-area Ford dealer I went to had maybe two of them in stock, usually white or silver (two colors Mom would never consider). I always wondered if they sold poorly because they were never in stock or were never in stock because they sold poorly.
During the 1992 model year I bought a new Taurus wagon. Wish it could have been a Crown Victoria wagon instead; a wagon version could have been a handsome car too.
Whenever I see a Crown Victoria of this vintage, I always look at the grille first, to see if it’s a ’92. Usually I’m disappointed.
Last week, however, while driving a rural road near Edenton, NC, I saw a fast-moving Crown Vic approaching me from behind. Sure enough, it was in fact a ’92 — the first one I’ve seen in quite a while. It looked to be in pretty rough shape, but the guy was really driving it like a bat out of he–; he was clearly a local. He passed me and disappeared out of sight.
I understand that the traditional CV buyers preferred a grille, but the fake-looking excuse for a grille on the ’93s virtually defines the term “afterthought.” It was the worst of both worlds. Ick.
I still cannot believe how Ford dropped all development of this type of sedan in the 2000s, particularly given the Chrysler 300 and its derivatives. And it’s not like Ford did not have a potential ace up its sleeve…
Will, thanks for writing this. Despite having owned a ’92 Crown Vic, and finding a great example back in May, I haven’t been able to develop any motivation for writing about it.
The grille on the ’93 and ’94 models did rather suck, although it was refined enough for ’95 to ’97 to dull the eyesore. The tail lights of the ’95 to ’97, as stated earlier, were the best. These always had a minor ’60s vibe to me.
I liked my ’92 and my later ’01, but I can’t say I miss them much.
I’d have to say that at least 50% of the 1992-2011 Ford Crown Vics ended up being cop cars and taxi cabs. Especially in the later years. In fact, in 2008 Ford restricted the Crown Vic to fleet sales only. A lot of customers went for the Mercury Grand Marquis instead of the Crown Victoria. A situation not unlike what happened in the 1980s with the Mopar M-bodies where the Dodge Diplomat/Plymouth Gran Fury went to fleets and most retail customers bought the Chrysler 5th Ave. There are still plenty of Ford Crown Victoria (Police Interceptor) cop cars (last manufactured in 2011) in service. Definitely a proven design.
I owned a ’92 Vic for over eight years. It was an extremely reliable car, and I always appreciated the eight-window design for visibility.
Mine was the pearl amethyst with the parchment leather interior. It was a very visually pleasing car, with nice lines and good ergonomics and driveability. I rarely had any issues with this car. It bombed through ungodly amounts of snow and returned respectable highway mileage.
And it swallowed a month’s worth of cargo. I always thought the ride quality was comfortable yet a bit unsettled, so moved on to a Roadmaster later.
I waited (in vain) for an F150 without a grille. A bridge too far, I suppose.
I don’t think I’ve ever driven one of this generation, but been in the back seat of plenty of them. Taxi versions, that is, not the police versions. It was always enjoyable to look and try to see how many miles were on them, usually it was closer to half a million than zero.
Great write-up! I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts regarding the Crown Victoria’s position at this time.
I’m surprised this generation Crown Vic hasn’t seen more coverage here, given many our viewer’s affinity for the Panther platform.
I realize the likely buyers of the 92 Crown Victoria “needed” a normal appearing grille, yet this write-up shows that sales jumped in 92…and quite significantly, so I have to wonder how many potential sales were lost.
About a year or two ago, while thumbing through a copy of Hemmings Motor News, I ran across an ad for a Crown Victoria station wagon that used this aero body style as it’s basis. I don’t remember the wording of the ad, but guessed the car in question (or maybe the ad did say?) had been used as a coroner’s wagon or a flower car for a funeral home. It was a white wagon.
I currently drive an 09 Crown Victoria retired police car, it’s not too bad for a very large car, it even has me thinking of upgrading to a Grand Marquis. Then I remember how much it costs to fill that tank every 2-3 weeks.
It probably wouldn’t have made much difference but I think the Crown Victoria name conjured up a bit too much brougham connection for a car that was as aesthetically different from it’s predecessor as the Taurus was from the Fox based LTD. I know it’s usually frowned upon to rename models, but this is an instance it would have been positive. Same with the Caprice to lesser extent(it’s styling was more geriatric from the getgo than the Aero Vic), the name Impala was positively nostalgic by the 90s, the bathtubs should have just been called that from the start.
I agree that the 96 rear was better than the original, I’m a sucker for wide taillights. The 98 restyle was barely even a restyle, it’s the 92 Grand Marquis body, with a mild facelift(same hood and fenders) and new taillights. I always found them retrograde, the 98s look like a more rounded 91, they didn’t even fit well within Ford’s late 90s new edge styling language, just as the box ones didn’t fit in the lineup with the Aero models.
The 92-97 GM front fenders and hood were not carried over to 98 and in fact neither were the rear quarters and trunk lid.
I always said that if you were to give a non car person pictures of the front of a 91, 92, 93-97 and 98 up and ask them to put them in order from newest to oldest most people would probably rank them 92, 93-97, 98+,91, at least until recent years when the massive grille thing became the norm.
Great, concise piece, Will. Yours was a premise I don’t think I’ve ever considered before – nicely done. These were, indeed, the last, new Crown Vic. And now they’re gone.
Another well done piece, taking me on another trip down memory lane. Gosh I love this site! A few thoughts:
1. Most of the later CV’s went into Police and Rental Service. The roofline was changed in ’98 because Law Enforcement Agencies complained about the low roofline of the CV. Many Grand Marquis were sold to LEO’s prior to ’98, but they went primarily to supervisors and into undercover duty.
2. In Oregon, a typical service life of a CV unit was 175K miles in State Police Service, followed by another 150-200K miles in taxi service. To say they were durable and reliable would be a gross understatement.
3. The 4.6 V8, at least in it’s initial form, was NOT a step forwards for this car. The “old” OHV 5.0 V8 (still offered in Mustangs and T-Birds) produced more HP, Torque, and was more durable/reliable until Ford addressed some of the 4.6’s teething issues. To add insult to injury, a 9C1 Caprice with the GM 5.7L could literally run circles around a ‘Vic, and had handling and brakes to match. It wasn’t until GM pulled the plug on the B-Bodies that Ford became dominant in Law enforcement Fleets.
4. Towards the end of the line, GM and Ford attempted to morph the big cars into a Luxury/Sports Sedan. Ironically, GM succeeded with the Impala SS, which met with reasonable sales success. Naturally GM pulled the plug on the entire product line not long after the car was introduced.
All that being said, we’ve had three Panther’s in the immediate family, totalling close to 500K miles of service between them. I loved my last Grand Marquis, and missed it dearly after I sold it (with over 200K miles on it). This pic was taken the day I delivered it to it’s new owners. They still have the car as a DD.
1. Ford switched to a shared body shell purely for cost reasons. Previously they had shared the entire front door and thus had the exact same opening for the officer to enter and exit. Yes the roof slopes a little sooner on the 6 window CV however the difference in actual door opening is minimal and it is not like you had civil liberties organizations running around and threatening law suits if dept didn’t evaluate how easy or hard it was for officers to “accidentally” bounce someone’s head off the C pillar in the mid 90’s. The officer I knew at the time the switch was made preferred his old 6 window car due to its better visibility.
3. The base 4.6 did make more power than the 5.0 that was offered in the civilian Panthers in 1991 and the carb’ed 5.8 usually only found in police cars outside of Canada. Yes it was down on power compared to the Mustang’s 5.0.
Around here most agencies abandoned the 9C1 before GM pulled the plug. At the time of the introduction of the Aeros and Whales my friend worked for the combined purchasing and shops for his local county and city. It was a recent agreement and the county had traditionally used Fords while the city bought Chevys. So when the boxes went away they both continued with their preferred brands. Come 93-4 and the city started purchasing Fords too.
1. True, it was cost saving, although the tool/die was already paid for in the ‘Vic. I’m not familiar with individual LEO opinions of one style vs. another, but I was involved as a bidding vendor during this timeframe. There was a strong preference for the square roofline amongst those Purchasing Agents. Considering major fleets accounted for over half the annual sales volume, it was an easy decision for Ford to make.
3. Even the 5.0 offered in the F150’s offered more HP/torque than the 4.6. The 5.0 benefited from roller cams and various other upgrades in ’92, which I thought odd timing, knowing the mod family of motors would ultimately wind up in all of those product lines.
On the left coast (Ca, Or, and Wa), the 9C1 had a hammerlock on the Police Car biz until the Caprice was retired. Much of this had to do with parts commonality when equipping and maintaining a large fleet. Same when all those agencies switched to CV’s. We still see a number of CV’s in public service on the roads today.
Not gonna lie – I think the grand marq roofline is a lot nicer looking on these cars. I thought the 92 restyle was a weird way to try to retrofit Taurus style to the big car, especially in the greenhouse. Then again, if you go go hard, which is why the grille redo looked so ugly. I think the final CVs with the formal roof and real grille were just right. I would like to pick one up soon before they’re all gone.
“…..I would like to pick one up soon before they are all gone”.
I wouldn’t wait much longer, most fleets seem to be dumping the last of their CV patrol cars. However, if you don’t mind settling for a Grand Marquis, there are quite a few here in northern Florida in near pristine condition….if you don’t mind sorting through models with vinyl half roofs. Yesterday I passed through a small town that between 2 used car lots there were 4 or 5 Crown Victorias or Grand Marquis.
As a bit of CC effect, one car lot had an immaculate, white Buick Century station wagon….with factory optional wood grain sides stickered at $2,000.
My dad owned a ’92 Crown Vic and after he got it people thought it was a Taurus. He really liked it and went on to buy two Grand Marquis before Ford stopped building the Panther.
The HPP package was available as a stand alone package from Job #1, my first was a very early (4/91) car so equipped. It was one of the packages that included the dual exhaust, which was never a stand alone option on the aero cars.
The aero cars, other than the 90 Town Car did have a new chassis that had very few carry over parts, the frame was substantially stiffened, the rear suspension and axle housing were all new and up front it got new spindles, hubs, rotors and upper control arms.
I really liked the early grille less model, that along with the bigger greenhouse made for a more modern looking design. The cars were continuously improved over there production run and I know that the last series of law enforcement vehicles came with an improved rear suspension featuring a Watts linkage. They were very smooth and quiet, rode well, but not too quick.
This is an interesting car from the wider perspective of Ford’s model range and indeed the whole market. The fact that sales didn’t rise when the Caprice was dropped is pretty telling.
The later years where investment was limited in response to low sales and margins is reasonably comparable to the last years of the Falcon where the range of body styles withered away and cost-cutting in development was evident.
I have read a little of the story (from the Ford Australia staff’s side) about Ford looking at building the 1988 NA model Fairlane in the US instead of this 1992 Crown Vic and would be interested to know if anyone in the US knows about that.
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I remember when it was first introduced in early 1990s, it was a oversized Ford Taurus, but used the same aging Fox chassis. For me the significant part of the upgrades was the independent rear suspension and the V-8 engine with overhead cam. I recall one of the car magazines called that engine had the refinement of Lexus V-8. Nevertheless Ford had been milking the model for over two decades until government mandate on stability control killed the production of Crown Victoria. I was told Ford engineers had determined it was too costly to upgrade stability contrail on this vehicle. Ford continued producing this vehicle to fleet owners who could except from stability control for few years after mandate was in place.
I remember when it was first introduced in early 1990s, it was a oversized Ford Taurus, but used the same aging Fox chassis. For me the significant part of the upgrades was the independent rear suspension and the V-8 engine with overhead cam. I recall one of the car magazines called that engine had the refinement of Lexus V-8. Nevertheless Ford had been milking the model for over two decades until government mandate on stability control killed the production of Crown Victoria. I was told Ford engineers had determined it was too costly to upgrade stability contrail on this vehicle. Ford continued producing this vehicle to fleet owners who could except from stability control for few years after mandate was in place.
While the Fox and Panthers did share a couple of chassis components like tie rod ends, the Fox is a unibody platform while the Panther is Body On Frame construction. While the 92 Crown Vic did share the body mounting points, basic dimensions, and ~1/2 of the front suspension components from the 1979 design much of it was new for 92. You are correct that the Panther died because of the stability control mandate, however, there was no exemption from it which is why in the US spec Panther (and Ranger) died at the end of the 2011 Model Year. There were a handful of 2012 Panthers made, all Crown Victorias, but they were all Export Only, specifically for the Gulf Council Countries.
When Ford announced the end of CV production a cab company purchased a fleet of brand new CV’s. Hurricane Sandy destroyed them in a flood before they were ever put into service.
Just a clarification: the 88 Holiday wasn’t a performance package. It was just buckets and console, plus trim items,
So much you can say about these. Notwithstanding their near disappearance from NYC Taxi service these are still in plenty of police and other fleets 30 years after the last redesign and 45 years after its chassis was introduced.
It always seemed strange to me that Ford never offered a larger front wheel drive car than the Taurus but in hindsight considering the size compress within GMs lineup maybe that was smart. These did seem more modern than the RWD Bs but maybe a little less interesting.
So two questions I wonder. Were the GM Bs really dropped because they needed more capacity in Arlington or because they were floundering in the market? And does Mercury live longer if there had been a more updated RWD Grand Marquis and or a better executed Montego?
From what I’ve been seeing on the internets there are still 2 CVs wearing NYC Medallions but the commission is working hard to remove those which the owners are fighting.
Technically the Grand Marquis did extend the life of Mercury since the only 2011 Mercuries were GMs. However that was more or less an accident since there were some delays on receiving parts needed to fill the final orders. That pushed out the build dates past the Model Year change over.
The GM RWD cars were dead at retail. The Roadmaster was less popular than the Le Sabre or Park Avenue, for example. By 1996, FWD wasn’t a novelty. Brand and dealer loyalists mostly shrugged and bought something else, if they even noticed that the RWD cars were gone. GM had plenty of other products for them and plenty of capacity to build those products.
GM probably lost some sales to Ford. Panther sales stayed level instead of declining, then resumed their decline. That level sales trend probably reflected GM buyers (esp fleet) switching to Ford.
A Mercury turnaround plan that involved sedans obviously was doomed. Ten years after Ford got rid of Mercury, Ford was completely rid of sedans.
I know this isn’t the typical recollection, but I associate a ’92 with the last time I went camping (in 1991) believe it or not in “downtown” (or pretty close to it) Waco Tx the end of October.
My Dad liked to camp, but since moving from the Northeast to central Texas we pretty much stopped…most of the year it is very hot, humid or typically both, but the end of October often marks the break with what I consider summer temperatures…not that it still won’t get hot in November or December, but you often get at least a respite from the high temp and humidity as northern fronts actually seem to make it down. Anyhow, I was riding in the “Waco Wild West” bicycle ride that starts downtown (not in the same campground, but close) and one noteable rest stop is near the Mars/M&M plant where they used to give free samples (not sure if they still do, I don’t ride anymore either).
Anyhow, the campground was in a rest stop right off I35 (the main interstate there) behind the gun and knife museum, though it wasn’t there when I woke up parked right next to our spot was a new ’92 Crown Vic, the first I’d ever seen.
My Dad never actually owned a Crown Vic, in fact he defected from Ford in the fall of ’78 when he traded his ’73 Ranch Wagon for a ’78 Caprice Classic Wagon. I know he looked at the ’79 Ford Wagon, in fact I was with him, but I don’t recall what it was that he didn’t care for about it (it was smaller than the Ranch Wagon, but so was the Caprice and everything else after the fall of ’78). Anyhow, GM abandoned the clamshell tailgate starting in ’77 so Dad tried a GM after a couple Fords. So he only had the full sized ’69 and ’73 Ford Wagons. Dad was to return to Ford for 3 Mercury Sables in a row (’89, 92, and 96) but never the large RWD platform again.
My brother-in-law had a couple, he is ex law enforcement, so he was very familiar with them but hasn’t owned one in probably 20 years…though I realize they stopped selling them back in 2011, 12 years ago.
Back when I was still working at the school I was working at before the pandemic there was a student’s grandpa that drove one of this generation and there was one that looked identical to this one in the article around my neighborhood.