They have the Explorer they aren't bringing back the Crown Vic. I had heard the Ford was the #1 but I have no idea if there are published totals out there.

My dad used to own a Marauder.  I was heartbroken when he sold it.  It was a beautiful beast of a sleeper.

Boxy 80s era crown vic with pedestrian spearing hood ornament.

7.3 godzilla motor swapped in.

Probably the cheapest V8 RWD car available when you factor in cheapness and availability of parts.

If you want actual speed a swap to a LS is pretty easy.

Yea, and don't forget that drivers side police spot light with the big gyrating dildo black handle seen by the window.

I read the thread title and immediately pictured a Crown Vic based Ranchero type build.  A Vic-up style pickup.

I am sad.

Yeah, about that...  Chevy has drastically cut the pursuit package Tahoe to the point agencies are having to step away from them.  When you can sell one for twice the price on the civi market vs commercial leo, there's not a huge incentive to sell to leo.

I wish ford would bring an updated CV back on the market as a pursuit vehicle.  Upgrade the motor and the suspension.  I'd beg for one.  The things they could take and keep going is amazing.

Absolutely!

It has the name too.

MARAUDER

They are ok, but its super cramped once all the gear is in there. Would rather have a Tahoe if I was a LEO.

Around here the explorer is king of all cop cars.

I had a 1985 Crown Vic as a company car and it was a poor mans Town Car.  It rode great, had a lot of pick up and handled the road great.  A lot of room.  I spent many an hours at truck stops, napping in the back seat on a long company road trips.

In my mind they are vastly different even though I know the new Explorers are quite a bit bigger. Used to be they were basically a midsize and a fullsize but that line is blurred now. A couple cops I talked to mentioned how slow the Tahoe's were but after being around cops for a couple decades I don't trust them when it comes to vehicle opionions They are like the rest of us and all like different things.

As far as speed:  Charger/Caprice (new) then Explorer with turbo then Tahoe and last would be the CV.  A non-turbo Explorer is probably pretty close to a CV in speed.  Handles a little better though.  My charger handles better than any other I've used in the last 18 years but the trunk is tiny.  Our agency seems to have pretty horrible long term experiences with them.  They'll do great up until around 80-100k and then everything just seems to fall apart on them.  The Tahoe was the most practical when everything I needed to carry around with me on a daily basis was considered.  The CV came in a close second with a trunk large enough for a full size spare plus a family of 8.  But the CV is/was slow in comparison to most modern vehicles.  

The gas tank on the Explorer needs to be about twice the size it is.  Filling up 2+ times a shift is not uncommon if you're working one hard.

I had a 2009 ex cop and put a F150 377 in it ..... you would be shocked what I kept up with in Ortega Canyon here in So CA

What is a 377? 6.2?

Crowns were the best crappy all purpose fleet vehicles ever. We could run them triple digits up and down the interstate, idle all day and they were spacious and comfortable enough to spend 12 hours in. I don’t think there any disaster that I haven't driven a c/v in. Floods, fires, snow, monsoons, basically mudding….

I miss them. Once retired they all seemed to wind up being owned by thugs in the ghettos.

But to own one personally? Nah.

I've always said they were great cars because they do everything good. V8, RWD, double bench seats, big trunk, inexpensive drivetrain that's not really stressed, low maintenance, decent fuel economy on the non-PI/HPP models for the size of the car, decent amenities on the non-PI/Livery models too.

The trick is don't really bother with a P71/P72 unless you're a cheapass or just luck out and find one of those "chiefs" cars that haven't been beat all to shit and actually have the carpet and other things to help knock down NVH. Otherwise, IMHO, you'll always be better getting a civilian CV/GM/TC. If you want performance then just find the HPP or Sport models that have the lower gears and dual exhaust but they'll have much nicer NVH and amenities. Or just do those upgrades yourselves with a regular model. Parts are cheap as shit. Personally I like the higher gears as you can pretty damn good MPG on the highway. My best one trip in my '03 LX was 27mpg but normally would easily hit 25-26mpg. Stays around 18-20mpg around town. My '96 HPP with the lower gears but much better aero only did 22mpg on the highway.  

I never saw a benefit to getting a P71/P72 compared to a civilian version.

I think the sweet spot for a fairly unmodded daily would be a '06-07 Town Car. You get the best NVH reduction, nicer amenities then the CV/GM and it was just before they started decontenting the shit out of the panther line since they knew it was going only to policy/fleet use for the last few years. Obviously if you're just going to tear the whole car about to make a street rod that really doesn't matter but a stock or a TC with a stock coyote/auto would be an amazing all around vehicle. They only mod i've ever really had to do to my panthers is put a better head unit in. Other than that I've left them alone and driven them all over the country.

I saw a trio of tattooed crew-cut fat dykes shopping the other day and I thought if they were in a band it would be called The Crown Vics.

Rare, and stupidly expensive IF you can find one.

My current DD is an 05 MGM. Got it for $6800, with 58K on the odometer. Drove it from NC to TN to FL to VA to NY over two weeks. It has 68K on it now. When I did the 60K service, it still had the little yellow plug in the transmission pan from the dipsitck tube installation at the factory. I installed an Android Auto compatible head unit, backup camera, and front and rear dashcams prior to that trip. The only repairs that I had to do was replace the air ride components (fuck poverty coils, arnott air ride FTW!) when the compressor and bags crapped out due to corrosion, some rust repair on the door seams (it's a rust belt car) and have the A/C recharged.

@olds442tyguy

Do a 5 speed…

Volume up…

Attached File


You ain't kidding on the expensive part...

A 2 valve 4.6 is a piece of shit

Yup, @ToledoXJ swapped a MM.

I've owned a couple P71s, They are rocksolid vehicles.

If you find one with 327 gears, you can get low to mid 20s on the highway. My last one averaged 19 to 21 miles per gallon driving it to and from work every day; mostly country roads at 50 to 55MPH. And it still got up and moved well for a boat.

Once you start getting into the 355s and up, the MPG's drop, but they're still pretty dang good for that size car.

03 and 04 are the BEST years. Last of the non fly-by-wire vics, and I believe there were some other improvements thanks to the Marauders.

My last one (2003 P71, no rust).

I had a Mercury Grand Marquis. Going to my house the cars suspension would bounce. So I put gas shocks and added taxi front coils, this raised the front end. New rear springs and 1.5" spacers for the rear coils. The ride was incredible on the back roads leading to my house. I also added dual exhaust and added a H pipe with flowmasters and K&n cold air intake. It was fun

pics?!

lol