(first posted 9/9/2014) Coming upon an early Panther-based Ford LTD Crown Victoria is pretty rare out here in Rustopia. Most of the ones that got inherited after Grandpa passed away were used up long ago and sent to the Great Junkyard Beyond. But here’s this one, looking mighty good given that it’s hovering around 30 years old. What I liked most about this Panther was that it was just purchased (evidenced by the temporary plate) and that the new owner wasted no time tricking out the interior in her favorite Japanese kawaii character.
The incongruousness of it all really appeals to me: a stalwart, leviathan American rear-wheel-drive automobile in menacing black paint with a wonky padded black cloth (I think) top, bedecked inside with color-keyed Hello Kitty accoutrement. Who knew that you could get Hello Kitty floor mats and steering wheel covers? I sure didn’t. But serious props to the quirky young woman who owns this car for unapologetically marching to the beat of her own drummer. Is it sexist of me to assume that a woman owns this Crown Vic? Probably.
That this car is clearly a survivor raises its Curbside Classic cred even further. It made me really want to talk to this car’s owner about her new ride. Would it have been creepy of me to hang around this car waiting? Definitely.
So I took my photographs quickly and moved on, wondering all the while about this big Ford’s model year. Ford facelifted its LTD a little for 1983 and tacked on the Crown Victoria name, and then left the car pretty much alone cosmetically until 1988. This one’s no newer than 1985 given that it lacks a brake light in the rear window.
I was a teenager when these LTD Crown Vics were new. They looked like rolling anachronisms to me, selling primarily to people I judged as clinging desperately to an automotive era gone by. Front-wheel-drive compacts and mid-sizers was where it was at, baby. Or at least where it was definitely going. And so I barely paid attention to full-size cars, to the point of not recalling ever having noticed a Crown Vic with that cloth roof before. The vinyl half-roof had to be much more common. But look, here’s that cloth roof on the cover of the 1986 Crown Vic brochure.
I think this car looks better with those faux wire wheels, as they befit the roof’s elegance. But elegance probably had little to do with why this old LTD Crown Vic became someone’s Hello Kitty ride. Its very survival has made it distinctive and, therefore, desirable among a certain demographic. Just check out how this car looks to be twice as long as the Chevy Venture parked next to it. My twenty-years-newer Ford Focus would look like a clown car next to this big Ford.
I’ll admit it: even though I spent no time thinking about these cars when they were new, I wouldn’t have minded becoming this car’s next steward today. But it looks like it landed in good hands.
Related reading: Cars of a Lifetime: 1985 Ford LTD Crown Victoria, Curbside Classic: 1989 Ford LTD Crown Victoria
For some reason, I’ve never been a fan of these Crown Vic Ford LTDs. It’s not a bad looking car overall, particularly in this nice survivor condition. I’ve just never liked the front end look it had. It’s like it was trying to imitate the Lincoln look in a smaller, more economic package, hence its acronym LTD, Lincoln Type Design.
Without the blue oval, a quick look at the front end might say “Chevy.”
This one harked from the T-Square and Triangle era of car design. Hardly a compound curve on her.
When the Panther was first unleashed, it wasn’t as big a success for Ford as the downsized 1977 full sized cars were for GM. The smashing success of the GM cars seemed to have taken all the buyers for this kind of car, or so it seemed by the early 1980s. Chrysler failed to find buyers for their downsized full sized cars, and it seemed the new Ford Panther cars confirmed this as a trend. When we look at the market for full sized cars, the early 1980s market for them was oversaturated. GM invested in it, and was rewarded for it by being first. And, those cars were excellent. Chrysler hacked into it using existing platforms, and failed – but they didn’t heavily invest into it. However, Ford did create the Panther platform, and struggled to recoup that investment at that time.
What this means is that by the time this vehicle rolled off the assembly line, it seemed as if it really was the last full size traditional Ford. The car hadn’t changed because updating it would have seemed like spending money on a big investment that wasn’t returning what was put into it. Ford was really hurting during the pre-Taurus years. The situation was so bad, Ford was FOURTH in sales, behind Chevrolet, Buick and Oldsmobile! Dearborn retired Henry Ford II, Iacocca was gone, and it was bleeding money and market share. What we now know in hindsight, wasn’t a certainty during these years. This car reflects a company that had circled its wagons and rationed its assets and was concerned over its immediate future.
Ford never seemed to have warmed up to the Panther throughout its run, even when the other makes and full size competition left the traditional full size, rear drive, V8, BOF market to finally pay off that late 1970s investment. Ford management seemed to have been fully convinced that this kind of automobile was headed for extinction, and so never really embraced its potential.
All the fun of making this kind of car was didn’t seem to be there anymore. The action shifted to aerodynamic cars with FWD, SUVs with huge profit margins, and F-150s. The big sellers weren’t the cars which ended up painted yellow or black and white.
Yet, the Panther finally repaid its costs a decade after it debuted. The market for this kind of car shifted into its favor and warranted its continuance. But the sting of those early 1980s, and the lingering smell of extinction kept Ford from investing into this market beyond a simple face lift. These cars didn’t get a real update until 1992.
Today, the Panther is recognized as a desirable classic. Its last decade of manufacturing, and with Ford’s annual updates on the Panther, had turned it into a dependable, full size road car which offers an appealing blend of ride, handling and power.
Yet Ford never really challenged the market into recognizing this. It took the next generation of owners to discover what the Panther could do.
They were named after the department that produced them, Lincoln Thunderbird Division.
I too have never been a huge fan of the ’79-’89 LTDs, prefering the facelifted ’88-’91s. The front end of these ones looked a little too busy, and had a sort of “pissed off” face to it. But this one, with the all-black and heavy chrome accents tones down the look a little.
There’s currently a blue one like this parked in the yard of a local guy who’s big into stripping cars to become demolition derby cars. It would appear that he’s decided to keep the good-condition LTD to drive, as it has plates and hasn’t been touched in the month pr so it’s been there.
“…the Great Junkyard Beyond.” Ah, yes. And that shot of the hood with the clouds reflected in wax-worn paint is full of pathos. Old, outmoded and dreaming of a better place…
I don’t see a center high mounted stoplight in the rear so it has to be pre 86
That vintage Crown Vic’s interior always struck me as rather…spartan. As in “here’s a couple of bench seats, a steering wheel, some air-con and a radio – have fun” type of car. The interior accommodations always seemed a bit lacking, in my opinion. The Grand Marquis, in comparison, offered a bit more interior flair. The GM’s interior trim just seemed a lot more luxurious than anything that came in the Vic of that era.
I rather like the interiors of these. I like to think of them as clean and functional!
I think that was intentional from Ford. If you made the LTD Crown Vic very plush and luxurious with top of the line equipment and comforts then you starve the Grand Marquis of customers and any relevance(yes back then the GM was not simply just a Vic with leather seats, it was a step above the average Vic and as close to a new Lincoln as a lot of folks could afford.)
If you could get a Vic with everything offered in a Grand marquis but for lower cost then why bother buying the GM in the first place?
Silver gauges! Duh?
On the other hand they did have the CV LX back then which you could pretty much get optioned like a MGM LS, auto climate control, leather or velour, split bench, vent windows, full power options, traction-loc and towing package etc (I know this since my ’87, while it was in some ways a low option model, had a manual describing the other options). The interior on the pictured car is far nicer than the one on my ’77 Buick Electra. Granted I have the base 225, but it has vinyl on the door panels whereas these are upholstered. It also looks to have the auto climate control (I think I can make out numbers on the temp controls in the console), and a split bench seat (my ’87, and my Buick, are both full benchers, and my ’87 didn’t even have power adjustments-did have chrome handles and levers for everything though, which is another kind of quality). They weren’t that spartan.
Consumer Reports, in its 1985-6 review of the cars, recommended the CV over the MGM because it was slightly cheaper and its non-silver instrument panel more readable.
Both sold in large numbers in the 80s. It was not until the 90s, possibly the mid 90s, that Crown Vic civilian sales plummeted. I think by that time (unlike in the 80s) Crown Victorias had become far more synonymous with taxis, police cars, fire chief cars, parks and rec department cars, and other service type sedans. In the 80s, we must remember, there were a lot of different cars that filled that role: Crown Vics, Caprices/Impalas, Dodge Diplomats, etc. So where the frugal FoMoCo RWD BOF loyalist in 1986 might have snapped up a CV, he’d have bought a Mercury by ’96 because “I don’t want my car to be confused with a taxicab”.
Also, the six window styling of the CV did not seem as popular with retail buyers as the 4 window MGM. I can also report that when my mother was looking to buy in 1993, you were lucky to find maybe 2 or 3 Crown Vics on the lot of any big city Ford dealer. Row after row of Taurus, Tempo, Mustang and F series, but hardly any CVs at all. L-M dealers had a much better selection, but Mom had been happy with the service from her Ford dealer and wanted to buy there.
I’d have to agree it was less popular. Though, to me, it’s far more distinctive. (Which is good because my ’97 has the six-window treatment.) When they went to a common roofline in ’98 it was one more step to becoming essentially the same car; at that point it was superflous to offer both.
Spartan? The cloth interior shown is a luxy extravaganza compared to the vinyl in my ’89 …
Johnny, do you still have this car? Anyway you would sell that front bench seat ?
A lot of drivers would long for an interior as clean and simple as this one with out all that techno crap that is perceived as luxury. Take note MB… . 35 years old and still going strong with just faded paint.. A lot of luxury cars now fail just after a 3 year lease. No my name isn’t Scotty Cramer..
This one appears to be no newer than 1985 due to its lack of a high mounted brake light that appeared in 86.
I bought an 85 Vic from my mother, triple navy blue. I was never a fan of these wire wheelcovers, which my car had. This one has the extra cost roof treatment which made the C pillar a bit more vertical and made the back window slightly smaller. This treatment improved the look of these quite a bit.
Fans of these prefer slightly newer models, 1987 and up. There were a few weaknesses in these earlier models that were fixed later, and the port injection added about 20 much-needed horsepower.
Ooh, right, CMHSL. I fixed the article. I’ve never noticed a CV with that formal roof treatment. Hm.
That formal roof was not cheap. My mother really liked the look, but not the price. Her car had a $14K sticker price, which I thought was obscene for a Ford sedan in 1985. It was fairly typically equipped, not loaded, but certainly not a stripper. IIRC, that roof treatment (and whatever else Ford packaged with it) ran another $2k or so.
Actually you mistakenly wrote it’s NO OLDER than 1985 instead of newer.
facepalm. Fixed.
the formal roof. the answer to a long running question. i bought an 84 in 98 for my wife and proceeded yo drop 1990 mustang gt motor in it along with the anti roll bars from a 1988 cop car. the one thing i dsliked about it was that roof..and i only saw one othe time. in a junkyard. IIRC the roof consisted of a fiberglass extension piece grafted on to the body and covered with that roof. i do admit the full roof looked better than those toupee roofs…
Wonderful cars. My parents had a very well equipped ’85 with the aluminum wheels; it plagued them with emission device issues. I had a ’86 with a 351 that had been a highway patrol car; awesome ride and handling but drank like a sailor on shore leave. My in-laws had a red ’87 that was as reliable as the sunrise.
They had their quirks such as dual drain oil pans and spark plugs that were a pill to access
Wonderful cars that make for great memories.
I always liked these cars and their Lincoln cousins. They were not too big and so easy to handle with that small steering wheel.
When I lived in Memphis and delivered pizzas, 2 different customers had 2 door LTDs of about this vintage. BOTH were painted that “root beer” metallic brown and for a time I was hoping to get one of them from it’s elderly female owner.
Since moving to Florida I have occasionally seen the LTD and Grand Marquis of this style for sale on Craigs. VERY occasionally, a 2 door comes up and even more occasionally a wagon. I (foolishly)passed on a Colony Park about 2 years ago because I didn’t want/need a wagon at the time.
BTW, I saw a late 70s LTD that was NOT a Crown Victoria recently on Craigs. When Ford downsized their full-sized car for 1979 there were 2 trim levels: the “regular” LTD was cop- car spartan to the point of being a strpper, and was distinguishable by it’s one headlight per side of the grille and sedan that LACKED a vinyl half roof. The Crown Victoria was the upper trim with all the bells and whistles and TWO headlights each side of the grille from day one.
I’m still (occasionally)looking for a nice, pre 88 2 door.
For 1979 it was LTD with the single headlight per side and LTD Landau with the dual light front end. In 1980 the single headlight front end moved to the new low cost LTD S while the regular LTD and the new LTD Crown Victoria had the dual headlights. For 1981 the S and the single headlight front end was dropped. In 1983 the LTD name moved to the Fox body car and all the full sizers were LTD Crown Victorias.
The LTD S was intended primarily for fleet sales. It replaced the Custom 500 for 1978, disappeared for 1979, then returned in 1980. There was also a similar-in-concept LTD II S all three years the LTD II was built (1977-79). In 1979 only the LTD II S was offered for some reason, not the LTD S.
The Standard Catalog that I have covering 1976-86 does not show the S being dropped for 1981. It shows it continuing on into the “all fullsize LTDs are Crown Victorias” era — as the LTD Crown Victoria S — through the last year covered in the book (1986). There is no separate production breakout for the S after 1982, however.
The single-headlight front end may have been dropped after ’80 even if the S wasn’t. I hadn’t realized that ’79 was the only year it was used on base LTDs, and that it was gone completely after ’80. I had assumed that at least some LTDs kept using it right up until 1982.
I was going by the brochures at oldcarbrochures.com. Since those are aimed at retail buyers they may just have dropped the S from the retail order sheet and you could still buy them if you ordered enough of them. In 1992 there was a Crown Victoria S.
My father purchased an ’80 LTD S from an old lady’s estate auction in 1993. For being the base model, it did have a full (low grade) vinyl roof and wire wheel covers.
Having the two different front end looks for 1979 continued the practice from the last several years of the previous generation, when the upper-level models had a fancier grille with hidden headlights while the lower-level models had a plainer grille with conventional headlights. In both 1979 and earlier years, the lower-level base models were the successor to the pre-1975 Galaxie 500 (positioned against the Chevrolet Impala) while the upper-level Landau models were the successors to the pre-1974 LTD (positioned against the Chevrolet Caprice). Even though Ford had folded everything under a single model name while Chevrolet had not, there was still a clear distinction within the fullsize Ford lineup that corresponded to the two Chevrolet models, to the point of having a noticeably different appearance.
With the low end of the fullsize market in decline, Ford would ultimately decide that it was no longer necessary to have a distinct series aimed at the low end (as would Chevrolet a few years later). Based on the chronology that Eric provided, for 1980 the base LTD no longer had distinct front end styling, and by 1983 everything had been swept under the Crown Victoria name.
There’s one of the non-crown vic, one headlamp per side LTD’s in my neighborhood. Oh, and it’s a 2-door. I have pictures. Holding them for a potential article. Lovely survivor of a car that I always admire when I drive past; wish I could find out who owns it!
Memories! My first car was a two-tone navy/sky blue ’87 sedan. It had the towing package, Traction-Loc and dual exhaust, but cloth full bench with unsplit armrest, AM/FM, crank windows, and a/c but not the fancy climate control. I had bought it with memories of my grandfather’s final cars, an ’86 and ’88 MGM LS which I had just missed getting due to his death when I was 13.
It certainly was not as roomy or luxurious as my ’87 Brougham, but other than that I would say it was more nicely appointed and the interior was more durable and solid than either my ’77 Electra or ’93 Fleetwood. It still has the quietest engine I’ve experienced, the GM models have all been throatier. May not have been quite as well screwed together as the GM models as the hood used to shake on the highway. It also didn’t corner as well.
My dad had hoped I’d learn a little about car maintainence on the thing but it was pretty tough to service. The plugs issue Jason noted killed that dream. I suppose somebody who has worked on a newer car would disagree but I found the engine compartment on the thing crowded.
It got t-boned at about 40 mph when I negligently floated through a stop sign. I was unharmed, the frame was pulled out, and it went another 50k with no sign of lingering issues. I sold it to an older, disabled vet who needed a bigger car for access and bought the ’87 Brougham. My ’77 has been in the shop significantly less than either of them despite sitting in a field for several years….hmmm
I liked the ’88-’91 design better, but these did say “Ford” to me. On the other hand I liked this generation of MGM better, with the understated Lincoln look. The ’88-91 of that model looked smaller even though it wasn’t.
Guy I worked with when I was in high school had one of these in sky/powder blue, dark blue interior. That thing was legendary for randomly refusing to start until it was towed back to the shop. Then it’d work normally.
But . . . . but . . . . but . . . . Hello Kitty is the Antichrist!
Somehow, its fitting in a Panther.
CC effect. This revelation recently sent kittyistes into meltdown.
http://www.zmonline.com/random-stuff/turns-out-hello-kitty-is-not-a-cat-and-never-has-been/
People are full of surprises & inconsistencies; I rather expected Hello Kitty in a Chevy Spark.
We had two of these box Panthers in the family, my father’s light blue 1980 and a brother’s beautiful two-tone cream and caramel 1985. They were durable, comfortable cars. Loved ’em both. This black one is a beauty. I sure hope Miss Kitty appreciates what she has.
Very nice find Jim! These were the favored cars of the CHP when I was growing up so I recall the front light signature extremely well.
I never realized the hood ornament had those little jewels on top, an interesting touch. And the red interior just all works so well with the black exterior.
At least in some years, the CHP Fords of this era had chrome wheel covers, which must have been the low-bid application for their heavy duty steel wheels.
Not dog-dishes…maybe they didn’t fit?
I always liked the pre-’88 hood ornament because it had a real art-deco Crown. The ’88+ seemed more generic.
It always reminded me of the hood ornament on my father’s 66 Country Squire.
Like this.
Yes!!
I always felt that was intentional, continuity and whatnot but also, as Jim Grey put it, because these really were being marketed, to an extent, to “people I judged as clinging desperately to an automotive era gone by”. “That looks just like the the hood ornament on our old Galaxie, Norbert!”
Oddly enough, when we bought my ’87 my dad, who had driven two Galaxie convertibles in the mid-late 60s after his friend flipped his XK140 when he let him borrow it at college) said the ’87 reminded him, in essence, of a sedan version of his old Galaxies. Which I suppose it was.
I like these better than when they came out. Back in ’79 they just looked like poor copies of the downsized Caprice. The details are much clunkier than the GM B bodies, see window frames and B pillar.
Why assume the owner is a woman? Maybe it’s like the Brony phenomenon:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2013/06/26/bronys_men_who_dig_my_little_pony_feel_misunderstood.html
I secretly harbour a desire to buy one of the first Challenger SRT Hellcat’s off the line and trick it out as Hell-No Kitty. The contradiction is appealing!
+1 always up for a bit of subversion at the intersection of gender,marketing and machismo myself! As for Hello Kitty accessories for cars, you can get everything, including Kitty shaped exhaust tips…
In the late 1980’s I was employed by an on-site inventory company. Our fleet of cars consisted of leased 2 or 3 year old Chevy Caprice Classic 4 doors…..and one older Ford Crown Victoria that somehow was purchased by the company.
The Crown Vic was THE favorite of many of my co-workers! To the extreme of hiding the keys to it, letting air out of one tire to immobilize it for the other guys & gals to pass on and pulling the coil wire loose so it wouldn’t start for anyone else. (Don’t ask me how I know this).
Even with almost twice the mileage accumulation of the leased “Shufflin’ Chevies” the CV was highly sought after. The 302 made more “Real World” power than the 305 Chevies, the automatic transmission shifter smoother, the driver’s seat was firmer & more comfortable than the Chevy, the kick- azz A/C of the Crown Vic (compared to the barely adequate unit of every Chevy on the lot) made it a “must have” in the extended hot & humid summers of New Orleans.
The curved creases on the front end cap always bugged me. The hood creases were designed for the cheaper 2-headlight version. For the higher-end 4-eyed version Ford had to curve the crease on the front end cap to make room for the wider headlight clusters.
I also once learned that in order to remove the bezel around the headlights to replace a sealed beam, it was first necessary to remove the grille. Yes.
Done it. Yet another quirk.
I can’t see one of these without thinking of my Grandparents. They had an 83 identical to the one in the 5th pic down….navy with those nice rims.
For 1986, the Panthers got FI 302’s, so those ran smoother. Also, could be modifed into a 5.0 HO motor easliy.
They had FI before 1986, it was just CFI instead of port EFI.
That roof is the Brougham roof option. Notice the considerable difference between that roof and the standard roof. The angle of the backlite is changed. I’m not sure who did the conversion, but from what I’ve seen, Ford did a plug much like Chrysler did with the M Body 5th Avenue. Perhaps ASC did it. The roofline was also an option on the Grand Marquis til 1991.
Well color me astonished. I’ve seen both rooflines before but never noticed that they were different.
News to me as well.
The more-upright LTD Crown Victoria version came late to the game.
It was marketed as the “Brougham Roof” option.. and ( for 1984-1985 only ) consisted of a heavily-padded FULL-vinyl roof – from down the front windshield pillars rearwards to cover the entire roof surface. These Ford versions also featured standard, long, slim ‘electroluminescent’ coach lamps in the center pillars between the front and rear doors with a bright and brushed trim bezel.
Fun fact: These coach lamps were identical to the ASC-third-party-supplied lamps and bezels that GM used in the 1982-84 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency Brougham Sedan, the 1985 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royal Brougham Sedan and 1988-90 Chevrolet Caprice Classic LS Brougham sedans.
( ASC = American Sunroof Corporation )
For 1986-91, the Brougham Roof option on LTD Crown Victoria became much more like that of the Mercury, as it then became the rear-half roof covering only, versus the full roof of the 1984-85 versions. The 86-91 versions lost the previously-mentioned electroluminescent coach lamps, and used the same brushed aluminum wrapover band, as was used on the standard LTD Crown Victoria half coach roof from 1980-91.
Over at Mercury, the more-upright roofline was marketed as the “Formal Coach Roof” – and was optional on 4-door body style of the 1981-82 Marquis Brougham and Grand Marquis trim levels, 1983-91 Grand Marquis GS / Grand Marquis LS trim levels ).
This was a vinyl rear-half roof, with heavier full padding with French seams and a closed-in Town Car-style rear window creating a more-formal silhouette.
** On both the Ford and Mercury models, the 1983-87 versions of these roofs were more-sharply defined and angular at the edges. A keen eye, however, will notice that the 1988-91 versions ( as the cars themselves received mild front and rear bumper flush-tucking and front grill header taillight revamp ), the Formal Coach / Brougham Roof option underlying structure also received an ever-so-slightly more rounded appearance at the outboard edges of the sides and above the rear window.
Speaking of the rear window – the rear window glass part number prefix with this option for both Ford and Mercury models begins with “E0VY” – and if you know anything about the then-Ford parts numbering system, that’s a rear window part number that is the same as the 1980-89 Lincoln Town Car and 1980-83 Mark VI four door body styles..
** Both the Ford and Mercury Formal Coach /Brougham Roof styles were done in-house by Ford Motor Company. They both had fiberglass extensions and shells and moldings sourced via supplier-contract by a company called “Cincinnati Fiberglass Company”. Any Crown Victoria / Grand Marquis earmarked to receive the more-formal roofline option were finished off at the Saint Louis MO assembly plant – across town from Cincinnati Fiberglass. It was all about physical location logistics with these cars and their assembly.
Exactly right. Inside, the Brougham-roof cars had filler panels covered with headliner material that covered where the normal headliner would leave off on back to the window glass. My son’s 89 MGM has this roof.
Interesting. I know Ford did that with the Lincoln Versailles, but never noticed it on the LTD Crown Vic. Perhaps this is another reason why I like the looks of the ’88-’91s better, as most seem to have the more upright roofline with thicker C-pillar.
Seeing the photos and discussion for this article is the first time I’ve realized that the Brougham roof is actually a full-length roof on the ’87 and older cars. (Or at the very least on the ’85 and older like pictured.) On the ’88 to ’91 “rounded corner” cars, the Brougham roof is a half vinyl just like the standard. Compare the tan car above to the black featured one.
Interesting!
Oh the memories…
My parents had a 1982 Crown Vic almost exactly like this one. Theirs had the half vinyl roof. Their hubcaps looked the same except the center emblem was held in a round center, not the hexagonal like the one above. I remember the stereo had an amplifier under the dash near where your right knee would be. This dial was the fade control but if you pulled it out, the amp kicked in. It had a really good sound when all of the speakers were whole… at least to my 16 year old ears. I learned to drive in this car. We would take family trips all over the place in it. Even when they finally retired around 1997, it rode really nicely. Very comfortable with ample power. I remember though the A/C was awful and it seemed we were replacing window motors constantly. One summer, only the back windows worked and the A/C didn’t. Mom was not happy, so nobody else was either!
A black Crown Vic?
Its like something Matlocks evil twin brother would drive.
Or yours. 🙂
The AntiCaprice?
We dare not speak of such things…
Also, I thought I WAS the evil twin?
Yup the good guys always drive Fords while the bad guys got GMs, James Rockford excluded.
In the Quinn Martin world, EVERYONE got Fords, or Mercs and Lincs.
The 2 door version of these cars were ugly as the proportions of the door, opera windows, and roof were all wrong. Not sure if all models had the really bizarre horizontal opera lamp vent thing after the opera window. I remember seeing the base model 2 door with the single headlamp per side, the faux running lights in the grille, and no vinyl tops. Really ugly.
These cars in sedan form always make me think of Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatos, slamming a VW Bug over and over again, representing this car’s chief clientelle very well. . . Older and with more insurance. Tawanda!~
I think they used black ones for the overlords in “The Handmaids Tale”too- in black they have a real sinister vibe. Maybe that is why the Hello Kitty stuff is on it?
I’ve had two Boxes (as the ’79-’91 cars are referred to on Crownvic.net), an ’87 CV LX with the formal roof and a ’91 GMQ GS. Both car provided me with fantastic service and made me the unabashed Panther fan that I am. My ’91 GMQ was probably my favorite of all the Panthers I’ve owned (8 and counting 🙂 ), she was one wonderful car to drive. Put a set of coil-over shocks on her and 225/60/16’s on steelies and she actually cornered decently. Sold her with 278k on the clock for $500.00, she was just getting too rusty. Hope to find her twin someday, one that has never seen a Cleveland winter.
I could help you with this . . . . .
ahh yes… the year was 1985. My first lawsuit for cutting the inside of my customers mouth with my crunchiness had just begun.
My lawyer who was a count from transylvania(one choclate cereal ball, two choclate cereal ball muh ha-ha-ha), was doing me no justice. And justice was what i needed. It wasn’t until i sold my 1991 caprice classic to a nice black man and his black step son in tacoma, wa who needed the caprice for a trip to d.c., that i was able to afford a new lawyer. A peckish birdly chap who would quite often exclaim, coo coo, and coco coco puffs, though his defense did work, as the judge soon commited suicide as he claimed to have been seeing cartoon cereal characters alive in his courtroom, as such my case was thrown out.
But as it were the 1985-1991 chevy was a classic to be sure. The blacks certainly like them and with donkey wheels on them. Very desirable for them i’m certain.
cheerios.
It would be great if Pedro could do a profile comparo of the downsized LTD and Marquis vs their GM counterparts. I think then even the Ford afficionados would see how GM got the proportions right, Ford not so much.
Paul did one a few years ago but I can’t find it now. It shows pretty clearly that GM is the one that got it all wrong with the wheels not in the right place, resulting in way too much rear overhang and almost none up front. It’s at its worst on the Bs with the droopy look accentuating the excessive rear overhang.
Good try. Obviously it’s a subject we’ll never agree on. The Panther’s 2″ less wheelbase came out of the front end, making the proportions worse. But maybe I will have to do a full-on comparison post.
I’d love for you to do a full on comparison post, but I doubt you will since the facts about the “overhang ratio” won’t support your claims. The Panther does have a shorter wheel base, though not as much as you claim, but the overall length is also less.
I think I agree with PN on the wheelbase. Of course the Fords had shorter wheelbases than B and C bodies on the big pre-Panthers, too. I think it has some to do with the wheelbase and something to do with the fact that GM went for a more sculpted look while Ford went for square, again continuing with pre-downsize themes. It just worked less well for Ford on the downsize.
I agree with Carmine. I had a beautiful ’85 Grand Marquis LS, white with medium blue half-roof and dark blue top-line “cloth” interior. The two biggest weaknesses were the horrid silver gauges and the old throttle body fuel injection.
This was my 85 MGM LS I owned in the early 2000’s…one of my most expensive used cars at $1600.
Had an 85 Grand Marquis Panther two door, white with a blue leather interior, and half vinyl roof. It got 25mpg on the highway no matter the speed or load. The handling was nautical. Recall driving on a wet set of curves in Wahington State and learning to counter oversteer. A great long distance cruiser with fine seats.
The contrast of the sober, all-black look with the Hello Kitty is interesting to say the least. But while normally I’d consider Hello Kitty accessories to be the kiss of death for a car, signifying an owner who just wants to “cute it up” and probably neglects everything else–the color coordination here and the general condition of the car give me some hope.
The interior reminds me pretty strongly of my first panther, a ’91 CVLX. Silver with the gray vinyl half-roof (standard, not Brougham) and that lovely blood red color. The seats may be identical though they’d changed the dash by ’91. Nice place to spend time, though my time with that particular car was short.
Hopefully this big black Crown Vic has many miles left, even if Hello Kitty is its copilot.
Captain crunch is awesome read his comment
My father had a navy blue ’85 Crown Victoria. Within the state of Connecticut it was one of the fastest vehicles you could imagine from nearly any Point A to Point B.
This may seem a bit incongruous for a car with a low-output V8 and a weak-kneed suspension, unless one knows that in those days the CT State Troopers drove blue Crown Vics.
Despite congested highways, if you came up quickly on someone hogging the left lane the other car immediately moved over. I’m sure they cursed when they saw the vinyl roof and alloy wheels, but by then you were well past.
It seemed to me that the truly outstanding, downsized 1977-on Chevies languished on the vine as they got older with each model year.
The elegant styling was Dulled Down to my eyes.
The 350 4BBL V8 engine disappeared; leaving us with the slacker 305 or even slower V6 engine.
The “Bent Back Window” 2 door coupe was cancelled after a couple of years.
The Panther based Fords and Mercurys just quietly evolved, with engine, suspension and steering updates every few years.
Eventually the Panthers morphed into the best full sized, rear wheel drive, V8 powered American car available to us.
I think most of us here on this website have a preference one way or the other on B-body vs Panther, and I doubt much any one says will change which camp they fall into. I know you have a preference for the Ford as clearly stated in your earlier post above and this post, but some of what you post here is somewhat misleading.
l would agree that Ford invested much more into the Panther than GM did into the B-body, but that doesn’t mean that the Panther became the clearly superior car. All it did was make the Ford more competitive. The 350 engines left the Chevrolet line-up after 1979, but the 305 was a good performer for its time. In fact most road tests from the early 1980s show that the 305 was comparable to the 351W in the LTD. Regardless, the 351W left the civilian US market shortly afterwards. Ford added CFI to the 302 in 1983, which helped the driveability, but the 305 Q-jet combo was certainly in the same league. All this did was bring the Ford on par with the Chev. Neither had a significant performance or fuel economy advantage, however, C/D did put the Caprice on its 10 best list in 1983, not the LTD Crown Victoria. By 1986 when Ford added the MPFI fuel injection to the 302, Chevrolet had also increased the compression on the 305 (in 1985) and added electronic timing control to the ignition. So while the Ford clearly had the driveability edge by this point, the higher compression 305 performed very closely to the MPFI 302. In 1989 Chevrolet finally added fuel injection to the Caprice and while only a TBI system, it was a rock solid system that I’d argue was just as good in the real world as the MPFI 302.
Where Ford really excelled versus Chevrolet was capturing the brougham market. Realistically by the mid-1980s most of the customers buying these cars wanted a big brougham land yacht. Ford just did that brougham luxury better than Chevrolet. Eventually Chevrolet copied Ford’s luxury with its equally tacky Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham LS, but it wasn’t quite to the same level as the Fords. FWIW, Motor Trend did a comparison of a 1989 Caprice and LTD Crown Victoria loaded with all the brougham goodies. Despite the fact the Ford won on paper with the best test stats, they still favoured the Caprice overall.
Like I said, we all have our preferences between these cars. I have owned both and I liked both cars, but I have my favourite too. That said, I won’t call one car clearly better than the other, despite each having their advantages.
The Ford vs Chevy debate is eternal.
Nice interior,like we`ll NEVER see again, but ‘Goodbye Kitty’.
Always love to get Jim’s take on things. I had a brown 84 with the same interior. That interior looks great for being 35 years old.
I currently have a 1985 Crown Vic that I need to sell, body and interior are in excellent shape, 302 engine. needs minor work as it has been sitting. I have no use for it as I have several other vehicles that are used regularly. the odometer reads 52000 plus miles, I believe, (but can’t be sure) it could be actual mileage, because I know the family that it came from, they never drove it after the father passed on. there are many people who want it, but no one has came forth to purchase it yet. Located near Sylacauga, Alabama