By the time the last few years of the Mercury-ized version of the Ford Crown Victoria rolled around, every single Grand Marquis sold was an Ultimate Edition. Back in the late 1990s, however, Mercury shoppers had more choices. Including, apparently, a Safety Edition. Here is an example I found in a Denver self-service yard last week. (Read More…)
Tag: ford panther
Back in 2004, I was doing a typical East Bay highway commute to my job writing software documentation. Ten miles each way in a Tercel (I had my choice of an ’85 wagon or a ’90 hatch), and the ever-increasing numbers of badly-driven SUVs on the Dreaded Nimitz were making me feel quite vulnerable in my little rice-burners. I needed a more substantial daily driver, and it damn sure wasn’t going to be an 8-MPG truck with 64-ouncer cup holders. What I needed, I decided, was an ex-cop Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor! (Read More…)
Panther lovers will be sad to hear that this, the last of the black-and-white Crown Vic Interceptors, has gone down the line according to the Ford St Thomas Assembly Plant’s Facebook page. The last Panther (reportedly a Town Car) is scheduled to be built on Monday, and the plant’s “about 1,500″ workers will be laid off on the 12th of September. If you know someone who loves the Panther chassis, please be sensitive to their needs in this difficult time. Remind them that there’s always the used market, and that someday their beloved brutes will tear ass across a post-apocalyptic landscape, and be known as “the last of the V8 Interceptors.” This is going to be OK…
“Hipstamatic” photo by Adam Barrera, taken in front of the Thurman Cafe
This is my 2009 Lincoln Town Car Signature Limited. I bought it from Josh Lewis, the long-haired North Carolina socialite who runs Raw Autos.
This is “Panther Appreciation Week”, where I (and perhaps *cough* Sajeev *cough* others) will discuss our history with Ford’s perennial little big car platform and the many ways in which it has had an impact on American car culture. I will start, by talking about what the Town Car means to me.



Recent Comments
Bertel Schmitt - A huge load of revisionist history. My agency had the IBM account at, before, and after that time. However, in the course of that I had...
jimbob457 - An old saying I have heard more than once: “there are two things every young man should do once in his life – own a “classic” used...
burgersandbeer - Agreed on Doug’s writing. For some reason I found the line about the usb stick funnier than I probably should have.
glwillia - Assuming, of course, you can suck up the annual 4-figure repair/maintenance bills. Keeping the car garaged and washed helps quite a bit too.
markholli - It was not related to an impact. If I recall it was an electrical fire. The news story I read indicated that the driver was not aware of the...
markholli - @Mkirk I can’t tell for sure what’s happening in that avatar pic, but it looks like an 80 series restoration or possibly...
Kyree S. Williams - The 2013 Santa Fe looks like it was built better and has more-compelling styling, but then again, this generation of Sorento was developed and...
Kyree S. Williams - Huh. The Kia and Hyundai dealers where I live are very highly-regarded, and most all of them have excellent reputations. And this was even before...
Kyree S. Williams - We had a 2003 Kia Sorento EX, green with beige cladding and beige interior, fully loaded—and kept it until it died in a tragic rollover...
CJinSD - Looking at the JD Power VDS that you linked to, Buick is the only GM brand above Honda and Acura. Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC are all lower, although two of them...