Photo from Wikipedia
The Florida Panther is a cougar, or mountain lion, which is the state animal of Florida. According to Wikipedia, there’s a population of over 200 of these felines in Florida, a number which is growing thanks to conservation efforts.
But here at CC a Panther is a car, and definitely not a Cougar. And the population in Florida probably numbers in the many thousands, even almost a decade after the last one rolled off the assembly line. On a recent trip to the Sunshine State, I snapped a few pictures of a car which in California, where I live, is only occasionally seen on the roads, and then usually in the guise of a taxi cab or police car. But in California, most Panthers are Ford Crown Victorias, whereas in central Florida, the Mercury Grand Marquis prevails, with a strong showing of Lincolns as well. I’d say the Crown Vic came a distant third. When I took this picture, there were two other Grand Marquis waiting at the same intersection.
Here’s another nice Grand Marquis, the nose plastered with “love bugs”, which are a ubiquitous central Florida species at this time of year. In the background is an example of the type of car which seems to have replaced the RWD American sedan as the vehicle of choice in this area, an imported CUV. While GM and Ford, as well as Honda and Toyota, crossovers are common sights, there seemed to be a disproportionate number of Kias, Hyundais, and Nissans on the road … I imagine they are considered a better value. Perhaps the Kia Sorento will be a worthy CC in a few decades.
Finally, here’s a pair of near-identical Town Car twins, or perhaps I should say siblings as they are obviously not the same age. I suspect the hose seen on the ground was used to clean off some love bugs.
FYI, the Sorento is not imported, it’s built in Georgia.
But funnily enough, the Grand Marquis and Crown Vic were built in Ontario, Canada, after 1986, so are technically imports. And the Town Car moved up north as well after 2007’s closure of Wixom in Michigan…
I guess I meant import nameplate. From what I read on CC and have seen in my recent travels in the US, Latin America and Asia, it seems like Kia is taking the mantle from Toyota (and before that Ford) as the true global brand.
Assembly and labor only represent 10-15% of the total cost of a vehicle.
So, what about the other 85-90%?
Where is that from?
Where do the profits go?
I’m wondering why a vehicle assembled in Georgia, make it Georgian.
The Sorrento wasn’t built in Georgia. It was built in South Korea, then assembled in Georgia.
The window sticker shows where parts content is sources. More and more, it is in North America for cars assembled here. But, your point is well taken.
“Where do the profits go?” That is also not so simple, as shares in many large corporations are traded around the planet, including the USA. In the case of KIA motors, about one third are owned by Hyundai Motor Company. As a further twist, 17% of Hyundai Motors is owned by KIA Motors, 67% held by outsiders. Yes, in the case of Korean brands, profits may go mostly to South Korean entities. Where the other supply chain profit goes is not taken into account.
A pic of my “Florida Panther”; a one owner “Condo Car” for a retired gentlemen and his wife, in Sarasota, FL.
When he passed away, his wife sold the Florida condo and the LTC that was parked under the condo. She subjected me to quite the rigorous and detailed interview, concerning what my intentions were for her husband’s car, before she agreed to sell it to me. She then dropped the price four hundred dollars for me.
I have long been curious as to how Ford Division almost completely lost the retail Crown Victoria business after 1991. During the box era, the CV was very commonly seen in the driveways of older buyers. But after the 1992 redesign retail versions became scarce as Mercury came to monopolize that market.
My mother was looking for a new Crown Vic in 1994 and you were lucky to find two or three in the lot of a large dealership, compared with rows and rows of Taurii, Mustangs, Explorers and F series trucks. In later years even those disappeared. I remember seeing two LX models at a dealer later in the run when they added the buckets and console, but they were rare birds.
Is it that buyers stopped buying so dealers stopped stocking? Or did Ford dealers with much hotter products to sell just quit bothering while Mercury dealers were happy to take up the slack?
When I bought my Crown Vic in 2007, very few dealers stocked them, but the Vics that were on dealer lots were mostly well-equipped. (I bought an LX Sport, and priced out two other CVs with the High Performance suspension).
But many Mercury dealers still stocked base-model Grand Marquises (there’s no normal-looking plural for ‘Marquis’) at that time. I remember many dealers were advertising new Grand Marquis for $18,000 – $19,000 — which, on a per-pound basis, could not be beat in the car market. I don’t know what came first, the customers or the inventory, but Mercury absorbed the Traditional-but-Bargain-Oriented customer at that point.
And I had a few Ford dealers that tried to sell me on the Taurus instead.
I remember those days of plenty of discounted Grand Marquis’ and Town Cars, but few civilian Crown Vics. I guess the geezers didn’t want to look like they were driving cop cars.
And, yeah, still lots of them down in Florida. The sequence for geriatric transportation seemed to be Grand Marquis, PT Cruiser/HHR, and, now, Kia Soul.
In 2009, my father and mother went looking for a car. As they are Ford folks, they went to look at the Mercury Grand marquis and the Lincoln Town Car (the local dealer was a F-M-L dealer until Mercury died). My dad test drove both of them and ended up buying a 2009 Taurus SEL. He wanted to like the TC and Grand Marquis BUT that left foot dead pedal drove him nuts. It stuck out way to far for his comfort. Plus he said he was surprised that as big as the car was, the lack of interior room was astonishing.
In the end the 2009 Taurus satisfied their needs. The car is very roomy, the trunk has a lot of room. They can get in and out easy. Plus the car is more powerful then the TC and gets good gas mileage due to it being a V6
These are so thick on the ground here in central Florida that one may not know that they are not being produced still. One cannot swing a dead cat without striking one….
I don’t know why, but they certainly ceded the market to Mercury for these. I guess, in hindsight, it was a good bet placed by Ford. The fleet market was the only one purchasing CVs, and the cop car image certainly did not help incent many purchases by the civilian market. The GMs were popular with the older folks, especially those who preferred the BOF/RWD “standard configuation” of how a car was supposed to be.
Apparently, large RWD/BOF sedans were only the first of many models the general public stopped buying, so they were the first of many that are not being produced. I have to answer that if buyers would have continued buying, dealers would have stocked them at any cost. When they no longer were in demand, tying up valuable lot space and floor plan money made no sense.
When GM dropped its RWD cars, there wasn’t any bump at retail for Ford’s RWD cars.
FWD Buicks is where the older GM buyers went. I had them on both sides of me. My 80 year old neighbors on one side still have a LeSabre.
Panthers in Florida are like Subaru Outbacks in Colorado. You’ll never lose a bet placed on whether one will be at an intersection with you while you wait for a red light to turn green. A good idea if you’re into those sorts of bets are adding an over/under dimension to how many as it’ll rarely even just be one.
yesterday (mothers day) I suffered behind an increasingly rare panther here in upstate NY. a white late model crown vic with dealer installed cloth top. white mudflaps, handi cap tag hanging from mirror. gliding along 10 mph below the speed limit.
Maybe it’s because I live in the suburbs of Sacramento, aka the “Midwest of California”, but Panthers don’t seem to be that uncommon on the road here. But they are definitely driven by a different segment of the population here than the ones in Florida. They are, as you say, mainly Crown Vics here, and the ones I see driven by civilians are more than likely ex-police cars. They seem to be popular with certain segment who wants a high performance RWD sedan. It’s got a cop motor, cop suspension, cop shocks, after all.
And then there’s little old lady who lives up the street from me who had an older “boxy” Crown Vic in her garage.
Probably fewer of them here in Santa Cruz than Sac, but most are definitely ex-cop or at least ex-fleet cars. Of course our PD still has quite a few CV’s in with the Explorer Interceptors, so the active duty cars are the most prevalent.
When we had a weeks holiday in Miami / the Keys back in 2012, I was happy to be able to rent a new Crown Victoria. I knew this would probably be my last chance to rent one, the last American sedan dinosaur. Body on chassis, RWD, V8, steering column change, huge boot. Had a happy week driving the CV. Great car, so different to our European cars, loved it.
As a daily car I will never own such a big wide car here in the Netherlands. I am sure it could not make the turn in one go into my garage which opens out to our small street.
A previous rental years before was a Buick LeSabre. Also loved that car, so much I took the trouble in finding one for sale locally. In the test drive that followed I learned USA roads are wider, and our towns are too small for these kind of cars.
My last Panther rental was during the summer of 2013, a Crown Vic which I drove from LA up the coast to Santa Barbara and back for a long weekend. I was shocked (but happy) that I was still able to get a CV, as I think the last ones rolled off the line in late ’10 or early ’11.
From what I can tell I’m in the minority, but I always preferred the older, “puckered” face and tail of the Town Car on the left.
Should you find the Ford Panther of your dreams while visiting sunny Florida, we suggest that you drive it to the Tallahassee Museum (still the ” Junior Museum” to the locals), where you can wander among the cypress trees, live oak hammocks and tea-colored swamps and see actual Florida panthers, as well as bobcat, otter, black bear and other native animals in something close to their natural habitat.
Reminds me of a cute story: We’re snowbirds and a few years ago we were traveling across Rt 60 from the east coast to Tampa….a very loooong boring ride. I spotted an official state installed sign that said “Caution, Panther Crossing”. When I told my wife what I just saw, she kind of slowly reached over and hit the door lock button.
I live in central Florida and can attest that Grand Marquis outnumber Crown Victorias, and 9 times out of 10 when you see a Crown Victoria…it’s ex-police.
Yet, looking around my church’s parking lot yesterday, I would say senior citizens are moving quickly to crossovers while their children are into 4WD pickups. I am surprised, though, by the number of single, senior, ladies driving small sedans.
Come to think of it, small sedans were formerly the default wrinklymobile. Ramblers and Darts were stereotypically right-lane cars.
In that era, a certain type of Grande Dame insisted on piloting her Caddy or Continental without benefit of chauffeur, but compacts were the generic geriatric.
The Crown Vic era was a departure from the norm, and now I guess we’re returning to the norm.
When their Grand Marquis give out, seems like seniors move to a Kia Soul. Kind of makes sense with the higher seating and better visibility, yet still easy to get in and out of.
The Florida Panther! I loved this! My grandparents (who had lived in Florida) were Panther fans, having owned four consecutive ones (a Ford, and then three Mercurys). In my mind, I definitely link these cars – in all of their iterations – with the Sunshine State. Nice piece!
The 1998-2002 and 2003+ Grand Marquis make for (2019) an incredible deal in terms of inexpensive used cars with legendary ruggedness and reliability. Picked one up last year and absolutely love it. Who cares that it only gets 19-26 mpg when I landed a low mileage example for only $2,100? If I had a storage building I’d buy a second one and mothball it. But I’m not your average millenial.