Last Crown Vic Retired from CHP

OK-this thread doesn't deserve any more than 3 pages.......................
 
Always thought the CVPI looked extremely sharp in CHP livery. :)

Although the PIU have become the "de facto" replacement for the CVPI, the new V6s are nowhere near as easy to work on as the old 4.6L; particularly when they're transversely mounted, and that timing chain driven water pump has got to be one of the stupidest ideas of modern engineering. You're looking at ~$3,000 when you factor in parts and labor, and a lot of times, that car is just going to get junked over a bad water pump unless someone is mechanically capable enough to do it on their own.
 
Always thought the CVPI looked extremely sharp in CHP livery. :)

Although the PIU have become the "de facto" replacement for the CVPI, the new V6s are nowhere near as easy to work on as the old 4.6L; particularly when they're transversely mounted, and that timing chain driven water pump has got to be one of the stupidest ideas of modern engineering. You're looking at ~$3,000 when you factor in parts and labor, and a lot of times, that car is just going to get junked over a bad water pump unless someone is mechanically capable enough to do it on their own.
My sister's 2010 Taurus just got ended by that water pump and replaced by an 05 Camry. We sold it to a mechanic I used to work with and he's going to do the water pump.
 
That's amazing I have seen a few beat looking gmt800 sfpd units but never any gmt400s or square bodies. But I don't spend much time in San Francisco.

Right now the hottest selling decommissioned police vehicle in my neck of the woods is the GMT 900 PPV Tahoe. I always have to look at the plates to see if it is a in service vehicle. We have a lot of unmarked ones in service.
 
My niece was a state trooper for about 15 years. (She now teaches classes at the trooper training school) When she started as a trooper, they were mostly all Crown Vics and she liked them. When the state started switching over to Mopars, she wanted one because she thought the Crown Vic was a "grandma car". She said the incident of repairs was a lot higher on the Mopar vehicles, but they had a higher top end.
As a Ford Tech, we had a new Crown Vic police car come in for final inspection. This car was completely ready to go into service except the communications had to be installed in it. It was quite humorous for me to take it out for a drive down the highway and watch all the oncoming cars do a nose dive as they stepped on their brakes. I wondered afterwards what I would have done had there been an emergency and a bystander waved me down because they thought I was a cop.
 
Right now the hottest selling decommissioned police vehicle in my neck of the woods is the GMT 900 PPV Tahoe. I always have to look at the plates to see if it is a in service vehicle. We have a lot of unmarked ones in service.
yeah they are expensive i was gonna buy one but i ended up with my 01 suburban and installed a cop style push bumper and it's good enough for me.
 
just wondering, is there the same crown vic love given to ford’s latest police cruiser, the explorer?
 
just wondering, is there the same crown vic love given to ford’s latest police cruiser, the explorer?
No, lol, and I still maintain that the only love the P71 got was because people bought them dirt cheap. They are also one of (the?) last V8, RWD, body on frame pseudo-luxo-barges, and those things are super appealing to certain people for mostly emotional reasons.
 
just wondering, is there the same crown vic love given to ford’s latest police cruiser, the explorer?

No. From a personal standpoint, I'm not a huge fan of the Police Interceptor. If you're looking for cheap, stripped down, no frills, basic transportation that's durable and easy to work on, I can see the appeal. Some CVPIs were damaged in transit, repaired by dealers and sold to private buyers; if you wanted a CVPI, those were the ones to buy IMHO, that have never seen fleet service. But they were also about as common as hen's teeth and you had to be really lucky to find one - especially an SAP (or Street Appearance Package), which was basically a base model Crown Vic with all the fake chrome, creature comforts and the police package.

Export vehicles were a whole different story; the "commercial" version sold to taxi fleets in the U.S., known as the P72 (later P7C), were the bread and butter of exports to the Middle East. They had ALL the features of a CVPI minus the steeper rear axle ratio (pre 2003 3.08 or 2.73 post 2003 when the CVPI got 3.27 or 3.55), plus cloth 40/20/40 Town Car seats (power driver/manual passenger) with rear AC, aluminum wheels and AM/FM/CD. For $17,500 all day, every day they sold like hot cakes and outsold all entry level sedans from the Japanese competition.

The next step up was the long wheel base P70/P7A, where you got all the same features with 6" of additional rear leg room, minus 15 horsepower because it had single exhaust (vs. H-pipe duals on all others). If you wanted additional touches, the base model P73 offered keypad entry, extended length door moldings that went up to the front fenders, floor level interior lighting, rear map lights and an illuminated glove box. If you wanted automatic climate control, power driver's seat, an overhead console, premium sound, etc. you stepped up to the LX version. Then of course, you had the LX Sport.

The Grand Marquis was basically the same, except the long wheel base version known as the "GSL" was a fully loaded, top of the line LS with 6" of additional rear legroom minus 15 horsepower.

Rumor had it that the Ford dealer in Saudi Arabia, the world's number one "Crown Victoria dealer" by volume at the time, offered to buy Ford's St. Thomas Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada to continue production of the platform.

These cars were the last of a dying breed of affordable American land yachts, with body on frame construction and a traditional V8 rear wheel drive setup. Conservative styling, split bench seats and a column shifter were the appeal to me, as you drove down the road completely isolated from your surroundings. Of course back in the day, you had finer touches like opera lights/coach lights and the seats were a lot more plusher, but Ford continuously "de-contented" this platform to pinch all the pennies they could.

Having grown up around full-size Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles, and with GM not making them anymore, that was the "love" for me. But times have changed, and going off topic; brands like Cadillac and Lincoln, who once competed head on with the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce, now have a huge identity crisis. When your best seller is a dressed up Tahoe (as much as I love those trucks), and your idea of "remodeling" is removing the crest surrounding your logo and pushing out front wheel drive crossovers, there's a very serious problem that needs addressed, and let's not get into the alphabet soup naming strategy. What's the point of Buick anymore, if all Cadillac has to offer is entry level "luxury"? I don't even know what Lincoln's "best seller" is these days other than another dressed up Ford.
 
Other than their cheap cost, I never understood the affinity for this car.


Other than their cheap cost, I never understood the affinity for this car.

It was the last traditional American Car.

It was the direct descendant of the Model T. Generation after Generation.

It was the last of the traditional Police Cars.

The Chrysler 300 and Charger are the closest thing now but they are tiny inside in comparison and a recycled M-B E-Class can hardly be considered traditional American.

It was outdated and a dinosaur but people love it for what it represents more than what it is. I suspect it was as much a victim of the truck revolution as anything. Ford tried with a recycled Volvo (500, Taurus) but the truth is it was the last of it's breed.
 
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It was the last traditional American Car.

It was the direct descendant of the Model T. Generation after Generation.

It was the last of the traditional Police Cars.

The Chrysler 300 and Charger are the closest thing now but they are tiny inside in comparison and a recycled M-B E-Class can hardly be considered traditional American.

It was outdated and a dinosaur but people love it for what it represents more than what it is. I suspect it was as much a victim of the truck revolution as anything. Ford tried with a recycled Volvo (500, Taurus) but the truth is it was the last of it's breed.
The Marauder was the best of it.
 
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