The genesis of one man’s love for the big American automobile started on a cool spring day in 2007. Approaching from behind, on the rain-spackled streets, the big American automobile appeared to be a steel grey in colour, reflecting the atmosphere. But after I parked and examined it closer, I was able to experience the glories of pearl coat paint for truly the first time. Peering inside, the expanse of leather and that Family Ford Steering Wheel beckoned.
After the requisite test drive and some minor haggling, the Family of Fine Cars set of keys were dropped into my hand and my long and ongoing acquaintance with this now-extinct species of motorcar was underway. Little did I know at the time that not only would it be the start of an enduring relationship with this varietal, but also would be centre-stage for many memorable, and seminal, moments of my family’s life.
Fittingly, it became very much a family car for the duration of its eight-plus years with us. My spouse used it extensively, appreciating its cavernous trunk for visits with her family, where often canning supplies, tools, and bulky gifts were swallowed up in the ‘boot’ with ease.
Speaking of the trunk, I added a custom ‘brougham’ touch by affixing a vintage Ford ‘V8’ emblem over the keyhole, accustomed as I’d become to concealed ones on a vehicle of this dignity and bearing.
Also fittingly, it became an exceptional road car. Some memorable vacations were had in Miss Vicky, the moniker my spouse came to bestow upon it. Over 3000 km (over 1800 miles) were spent exploring our neighbouring province of Alberta. Even though at the time it was already an ‘old car’, it never gave us any mechanical problems on this or any subsequent sojourn, including an 1800 km trip to visit the northern regions of our vast province of Saskatchewan. On this particular journey, it handled irregularly paved highways and northern logging roads with equal aplomb; truly, one of the forgotten talents of this class of car was its grace (and silence) on gravel and dirt roads. A similar drive with my mother’s CR-V on gravel sounded like a hailstorm in comparison.
Later, it provided admirable yeoman’s work in helping us move into our first home. That patented Ford deep well trunk proved its utility time and again. The wide parchment leather seats provided both an airy expanse, and a spacious secondary trunk when called upon. It was also a unique joy to occasionally load the maximum six passengers into the vehicle; I think the added weight provided a ballast that perhaps provided a glimpse into a time when a carload of souls was a necessity, not a novelty.
One novelty, by a modern context, was its remarkable visibility. The eight-window design afforded shoulder-checking and parallel parking with ease. It had those flexible bumpers that wouldn’t shatter if you looked at them funny.
It was also there when our family grew, providing a ride home for our daughter two days after being born in the Regina General Hospital. Its gentle din of mechanical operation, always in the background, also facilitated her slumber during the first few difficult months, when a parent is trying everything to coax an infant to sleep.
Eventually a portly gentleman named Roy supplanted Miss Vicky, but a bittersweet epilogue to this story occurred some years after I handed the Family of Fine Cars keys over to its new owner and watched it rumbling away. On numerous occasions, I have remarked (to anyone in earshot), that I found it curious that I never saw my old vehicles around after selling them; in this case I did, but not under circumstances I found to my liking. Be careful what you wish for.
Miss Vicky was discovered at my regular mechanic’s shop one morning, its ticker having given out and its shoes about to be harvested for the rare whitewalls it would provide a new owner. In all likelihood, a subsequent owner forgot to regularly add a quart of oil between oil changes, and it perhaps seized up. It was an ignominious end for such a dignified motorcar, which provided us with such enjoyment and utility for its entire time with us. But it will be remembered fondly as our first family car and a vehicle that transported us in style with no complaints.
From the time of its introduction to our family, to its eventual departure, it was a reliable friend that put me in good stead with the automobilis americanus giganticus; a gateway to curating some of these charming vehicles, unique to their North American landscape.
I have a 1993, with less than 50K. Great car. Plenty of power, even with 190 hp. Roomy, comfortable, decent gas mileage, nice ride. I drive it almost every day, even on long trips.
At one point in my life I would never have considered a big car like this, again, having owned 1 or 2 in 50+ years of driving. Though I did admire these Crown Victorias, the first year models, for their bold, grilleless front end treatment and those lacey, wirewheel-look wheels. Whenever I see one of these I am tempted to track down the owner and make him (Would a woman own a car like this? I doubt it.) an offer. But I don’t. Instead, I ” make do ” with my 09 Crown Victoria ex-police car. I am told that my later iteration drives much better due to a different design in the frame and front suspension/steering, and the later engines (particularly the ones in police cars) were more durable.
These are quite good cars…for what they are, though. I have had mine nearly 6 years and have put nearly 90,000 miles on it for a total of 180,000…so far.
Best looking years for these. The greenhouse sets off the body lines perfectly. All used up here in the NE, very sad. Had a similar experience with my 2003 VUE. Sold it to relative of a friend. After they took it to their mechanic, I expressed to them that checking the coolant level, watching for the low level light and keeping an eye on the temp guage occasionally would be a good idea. Completed ignored and blew head gasket. All my fault- sold them a piece of junk.I babied this vehicle from day one and it still looked new. Ugh
I did the same. Sold a car with a single, simple quirk to a coworker. New owner goes on to ignore it, and I was the bad guy b/c it wouldn’t start. I got tired of hearing them complain. Walked out to the car (dead in the employer’s parking lot). Corrected the problem in 20 seconds and it started up even after months of sitting there.
Friend did the same with another vehicle. Hey, this car needs a quart of oil from time to time. It really needs this gasket replaced but check the oil often until you do. Naturally new owner neglected it and burned up the engine and complained friend sold them a bad vehicle. -eye roller-
These days I prefer to sell any car down the road. Don’t want anyone I know to own one of my former cars. I can make it last for years more but the average person might kill it in a week.
Nice story. I’m not a big car guy, I suspect our old BMW 528 was the largest car (not including trucks) we’ve owned, but I sometimes think that one of these would be practical and cheap to run. On a recent neighborhood walk I saw three Panthers, not counting a couple of police cars which are still used here, but all were Mercuries. Odd.
The Crown Vic was pulled from the “must stock” list before the Grand Marquis and then they paired the line up down to the “Fleet LX”, police and taxi configurations with no retail cars available. So yeah the GM was the only retail choice for a number of years.
Miss Vicky earned her stripes and admiration. I’m sorry her retirement was cut so short.
The sharp folks her at CC have noted this before, but your story provides yet more evidence for it: 4-door pickups are the new Panthers. V8 RWD body on frame? Check. Three abreast bench seat? Check. Big rear storage? Check. Live axle ride improved by a load? Check. V8 thirst deemed acceptable given the vehicle’s virtues? Check.
In the automotive phylogenetic tree, the Panther became an extinct branch, having been made so by two very different branches that split the Panther’s traits but collectively outcompeted it: the FWD unibody sedan and those pickups.
You could get most, but not all, of that functionality from a more efficient ’07 Accord, or similar everyday functionality (but more in reserve) from a 2WD crew cab F150 while spending far more. Getting both out of the same vehicle? Well, there are some Miss Vickies still around.
Miss Vicky earned her stripes and admiration. I’m sorry her retirement was cut so short.
The sharp folks her at CC have noted this before, but your story provides yet more evidence for it: 4-door pickups are the new Panthers. V8 RWD body on frame? Check. Three abreast bench seat? Check. Big rear storage? Check. Live axle ride improved by a load? Check. V8 thirst deemed acceptable given the vehicle’s virtues? Check.
In the automotive phylogenetic tree, the Panther became an extinct branch, having been made so by two very different branches that split the Panther’s traits but collectively outcompeted it: the FWD unibody sedan and those pickups.
You could get most, but not all, of that functionality from a more efficient ’07 Accord, or similar everyday functionality (but more in reserve) from a 2WD crew cab F150 while spending far more. Getting both out of the same vehicle? Well, there are some Miss Vickies still around.
Thanks Petrichor. The car certainly did carry out its duties well. It may have consumed more fuel (although it could hit 32 (Imp.) MPG on the highway), but for $3100 (CDN) it more than delivered on its ROI.
As I mentioned in my article on the Roadmaster, utility is a highly-valued commodity in the rural west.
I think someone had a humorous anecdote about a fellow who had (many) 70s Lincolns, one of which was his ‘field car’. Hard to imagine an ’07 Accord performing a similar function today.
In Europe they use old diesel Mercedes as “field cars”. I suspect many of them are old taxis because of the cream colored paint and vinyl seats.
I guess it proves you don’t need a $80,000 brodozer to work the fields.
I think older cars sometimes had more ground clearance to them.
I wonder if those old diesel Benzes are running on some home-made biodiesel.
I currently own my fifth “Panther” chassis FoMoCo car.
At age 65, given my “longevity challenged” donor DNA, it just might be my forever car. Other cars may come and go; this one is a “keeper”.
I have no problems with that.
I suspect that Paul may not approve.
I’m younger than you, so a Forever Car may not be feasible at this point, but I have thought of another long-term Panther ownership along the lines of a fin de siecle Town Car.
Oh, you dredged up lots of memories with this one. My mother bought a new 1993 LX version which I bought from her in the fall of 2005, with about 60k miles on it (IIRC). These early high-trim versions were great drivers and with standard front and rear sway bars handle much better than their reputation would suggest.
We absolutely got our money’s worth out of ours – maybe another 10 years, and it had the stuff to handle three teenage drivers before I took it over again at the end of its life. Which came when it had about 30 nagging things wrong with it and a transmission that was becoming reluctant to shift into OD. Don’t ask how many miles, as a broken odometer was one of those 30 nagging things.
I sold it to a friend for $500 as a temp ride while he looked for a good used car. He drove it for a year. Nothing else broke on it. His total maintenance was a pair of wiper blades. Then he sold it to CarMax. For $500.
I loved the look of the 92 without the grille and especially without the trim strip on the trunk with the odd multi-segmented reflective strip. I will say that I liked the wheels on the 93 better – the ones with the center hub that stuck out a bit.
OH, one thing – these early ones developed a taste for oil at fairly low miles – hardened valve stem seals, as I recall. I learned that one day when the oil light flickered on not long after I got the car. It was down 3 quarts!! My prior vehicle (94 Club Wagon with the 351) never used a drop between changes at 2.5x the miles, and lulled me into a laxity in checking dipsticks. The Vic (our name) demanded a quart of oil every 1000 miles for the entire time we owned it.
I really wonder about the oil consumption thing. I’ve ocassionally seen the smoke trails indicitive of valve guides, but not that frequently. I’ve had two of the earliest of earliest, those that use the 302 bellhousing and oil consumption was never that bad. I also had a 93 that never really used any oil and the friend I sold it to never complained about too much oil use and he took it to over 230K the last I heard.
Mine needed a little oil as well. I suppose it’s better (for those in the know) than the later gasket issue.
I’ve ruminated a lot on all these Ford engines which had these strange Achilles Heels on what were otherwise rock-solid, stout engines.
Thank you for sharing your story.
I realize that this puts me in a small minority, but I much prefer a plush velour cloth interior over leather. Another preference of mine that puts me in the minority is the preference of a column gear shifter (which, of course, your Crown Vic had), if only because that type of gear shifter makes it possible for a car to possess big center armrests.
When looking for my first new car in the late 2000s, I had really wanted a Panther. But by then, the Crown Vic was no longer being sold to retail customers, and the Grand Marquis was only available with leather. I ended up buying a Buick Lucerne and was very pleased with that car for most of the ten years I owned it. Unfortunately, a bizarre reliability issue occurred during the last year I owned the Lucerne in which the car’s floor would get wet. (This problem would recur in spite of repeated repairs.)
As a replacement for the Lucerne I purchased a 2020 Ford Fusion, which I am loving thus far. The Fusion is obviously a mid-size car, but changing supply and demand conditions present in the car market severely limited my choices compared to 2010, and I concluded that purchasing a used car was too risky. Among new (2020) cars, I would have given serious consideration to the Toyota Avalon and Chevy Impala were it not for the fact that neither offered a cloth interior. Among the cars (and SUVs, which I also looked at) that did offer cloth, none of them had a velour interior. I thought that the Fusion and 2020 Honda Accord had nicest & most comfortable cloth available. And since the Fusion had that extremely subjective “special something” which the Accord did not have, I went with the Ford.
Anyway, I’m glad that you experienced many good years with a Panther. Heck, even those upside-down Caprice bathtubs–which were inferior to the 1992 to 2011 Panthers in every way–are more appealing to me than 95+% of new cars on the market. Give me a roomy car with velour interior, big center armrests, a comfortable ride, a tape player, a CD player, and (the much more modern option of) SiriusXM radio. There’s nothing more I could possibly want in an automobile!
Thanks – I agree on velour being a big plus. My Roadmaster had it, and it was glorious.
I also find myself in ‘violent agreement’ with you on the qualities you find appealing in a car.
My former brother-in-law was given one of these as his hire car when we visited Florida in 2009. Well, I say given. The Hertz rep told us there were two cars left and I chose the other one first. He absolutely hated it and was constantly harping on about how much better our Chrysler 300 was, but little did he know that within a few days I was envious of his choice as it was so incredibly comfortable and just so laid back to drive. I regret not choosing it even now.
Agreed. Just because Chrysler made a ‘large car’ in 2005, doesn’t mean they recreated the charms of the old-school big American car.
I love the original version of the aero Crown Vic the best. I have driven thousands of miles over more than a decade of Crown Vics. Very quiet, smooth and spacious. The 4.6 had adequate acceleration and cruising was easy. Older cars can be quite reliable provided that the owner learn to keep and eye on things, especially fluids, oil and coolant levels! Most non car people don’t realize that as engines wear they will burn a bit of oil. Over a 3,000 mile oil change period this could amount to a couple of quarts. All it takes is to check oil with every fill up. Whether or not you change it regularly you’ve got to check the level!
I’ve got an old ’96 Mustang GT 4.6 with 215,000 miles. Runs great, no smoke, idles smoothly at 600 rpm. Uses a half a quart of oil every 1,000 miles.
While I agree that the first version of the aero Panther is the best, I think all versions of the aero Panthers look great. Given the ubiquity of the Grand Marquis among seniors, I was very surprised to learn that the aero Crown Vics were not big sellers among retail customers. (At least, I recall reading something to this effect not too long ago on CC.)
And though the GM 1977-90 B-Bodies initially blew the boxy Panthers out of the water in terms of appearance, FoMoCo really closed the gap on this score with the 1988 refresh.
It’s true that buyers went hard for the 4 window MGM from 92 on. I still remember the terrible selection of Vics in Ford dealers in 1993. Taurus and Tempos as far as the eye could see and maybe 3 Vics. The selection was so much better at LM dealers.
Great color, though it really needed the rare blue interior to match. I’ve had a couple of aero nosed 6-Windows and I still think it is the best looking of the lesser Panthers. Miles better than the forced on grill of the other 6-Window Vics, and the 6-Window looks better than the 4-Window Grand Marquis body shell.
It is sad to see that it met such an ending. The one problem with the 6-window Vics are that they have an oil pressure gauge, but it is a dummy gauge. So it is very easy for someone to ignore, as the reading never changes as long as it has at least 5-7psi. It is possible to turn it into a real gauge by soldering a jumper around the resistor on the back of the instrument cluster and fitting the sender from an earlier Ford.
I forgot to mention that our first was also know as Miss Vicky.
Medium Amethyst Frost Metallic.
When I saw the (dead) car, it had the telltale sign of neglect: discarded wrappers and assorted detritus.
Great story and fitting tribute. I always liked the looks of this generation of Crown Vics, even when I was a teenager…and most definitely not within the normal target demographic for these types of cars. I’ve never owned a CV/Grand Marquis, but did own a few GM and Mopar leviathans in my younger (read: poorer) years. They all served me well and provided reliable and safe transportation at a time in my life when I could least afford any unexpected vehicle expenses. For that any many other reasons, I’ll always share your affection for ‘automobilis americanus giganticus’.
I was in the authors same situation with my 01 grand marquis that I had for 7 years while my family grew from 0 to 3 kids. Most of that time it was our familys main mode of transport (till moms sonata died and with number 3 on the way we got an odyssey which I also love). The grand marquis was like a 4 door el camino, that trunk swallowed EVERYTHING. Reliability was exceptional, and Mpg was averaged 22 in suburban driving and 25 highway. It was a great family car. Eventually its age and problems made it not worth fixing anymore and I replaced it with an accord which i chose over the fusion because I had become so used to the excellent visability of the grand marquis.
I could get a full set of tires (on rims) to fit in that trunk.
It was still a piker compared to my 79 Lincoln, which transported an entire rocking chair home from my parents’ house shortly after the birth of our daughter.
I’ve been a frequent visitor on the CC site for the last year and really appreciate the site. I enjoy the write-ups on the many daily drivers that never caught the attention of the automotive press but were ever present on our roadways. I’ve owned two Panthers: a ‘95 Crown Vic w/41k miles on it when purchased in 2018 and a recently purchased 2000 Grand Marquis LS with a mere 56k miles on it. Both cars were rust free and were/are used as runners and, in the case of the GM, to keep miles off of my 2019 F150. I gave the ‘95 to my college student son. Though I’d have never driven one in my younger days, with age comes wisdom – and better taste in cars. These are great vehicles, very comfortable and reliable. The GM required only a new set of tires to be road worthy. Great article, though it’s unfortunate your Vic met such an unceremonious end.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and share your Panther Love. 🙂
I always appreciate when long-time lurkers feel compelled to log in and provide feedback.
I agree that the Panther was often an unsung hero – it did gain some passing note, but only when it was on its way out.
With Paul’s acquiescence, I will run my article this fall on the last Crown Vic, which will be the 10th anniversary of the departure of this class of vehicle.