Today I lifted the car and went underneath to change the starter, noticed it was leaking a bit of oil and proceeded to poke my finger through the oil pan! The engine was sealed up so well the pan rusted!!

Yes I’m going to buy another Panther – there is a nice black 08 on the Ford lot up the street…..

Sounds right to me. Luckily the Crown Vic is durable enough as a used car, since the money for niche RWD sedans from Ford will be years (maybe over a decade) away. Its gonna take a long time to turn this ship around.

In the meantime…

Wouldn’t kill Ford to slap a GT500 motor in a special edition ‘09 Vic. You know, just to give a proper goodbye to American Iron like Buick did with the GNX.

Yes, it’s all terrible that Ford did this, but it also cannot fix what it’s done wrong over night. There is a RWD world program in the works as well as a world Ranger probably coming to the states (and constant rumors of a mid-sized F-100). Ford’s goal – and it is the correct one – is to rid itself of redundant, old, orphaned platforms. However, development cycles don’t always align perfectly, and the products like the Fiesta, which launches here in early ‘09, were in development before Mulally took over.

In the meantime, while all these niche products (and a RWD sedan is currently niche and may barely be able to achieve even half of the retail sales the Accord or Camry enjoy now, no matter how you spin it) are being vetted, Ford has to focus on becoming profitable. A one-hit niche wonder will not save Ford (it didn’t save Chrysler). Supporting a dealer network that sells a couple thousand CVs and GMs a year is not helpful in that task, either. Launching the Fusion, Flex and F-150 successfully is helpful. Once the core – the bread and butter – are fixed up and righted (ie – aligned with their EU counterparts in the case of cars and given significantly new powertrains and updated designs in the case of trucks) and sales stablize and grow… then we get our niche RWD sedans back.

It’s slow work. Ford’s former management screwed things up pretty bad, and it will take 4-5 more years to have a full line-up again. We’ll talk in about 2011.

I drove a Ford Aerostar in college – let me tell you what can happen in the back of a minivan whose back seats fold nicely into a bed-like state…

This was improved somewhat over the years; they went to R & P steering I believe the year after your ‘97, and made some watts linkage and hydroforming chassis improvements afterward, especially for the ‘03 year.

But there is no doubt that despite these paltry improvements the platform was merely hosed for its profitability and would likely have been canned around the same time as the GM B/D body cars had it not been for the aforementioned profitability and the fact that GM pulled the plug first.

What on earth will the police use after ‘10? I can’t see police departments happy with only Impalas and Chargers.

Never tried the tutu, though…

1) Grand Marquis – slightly better interior than Crown Vic
2) Crown Vic
3) Taurus
4) Impala

Having said that, I would never buy any of them for my personal use. The Marquis/Vic cruisers would be good for long highway trips but that’s about it. And don’t get me started on the Impala, yeesh.

Without a sworn statement, I am not buying it. You’d have a better chance getting laid wearing a tutu.

And they know it. The new-ish Taurus/Sable haven’t set the market on fire as they’d hoped. Its fun to trash on the Panthers, but they sell as well or better (Marquis) than their FWD, Volvo-based replacement.

If you don’t understand why, you’re probably one of the many who hasn’t driven a Ford, lately! :-)

As far as the Grand Marquis, my dealer still sells more of them than any other automobile – excluding the Mariner, of course.

I absolutely love my 2002 Grand Marquis – this means I’ll have to order a 2010 from the factory, whether my wife likes that or not.

We’ll be a two Grand Marquis family after that for a number of years – my family usually gets about 15 years out of each one.

Try not to be a bitter Panther fan, but Ford really, really blew it on this market as well.

They have proven themselves over many years and many miles.

I haven’t heard any news about this in months.

Nothing about a Ford RWD large car either…

What’s the deal?

I thought you were going to say something else…

Of course, the key to me liking these vehicles is being ‘driven’ in them and not driving them…

Panther, RIP – you served us well.

The Crown Vic is already a fleet only vehicle. It hasn't been marketed at retail for a long time.

The Grand Marquis is barely on life support. They are hard to find and buy even if you did want one.

Panther, Ranger, Minivans … the list of product lines Ford has left onthe mountain top to die is just horrific.