>Eventually associated with being the classic American police vehicle, the Crown Victoria did not actually earn that status until the second gen design in 1992. The first generation LTD Crown Victoria from 1979-91 was less popular for police use, in fact falling behind the Caprice and Diplomat. One reason for this was likely the fact that most police LTDs were equipped with the Ford 351 V8 which did not receive sequential multipoint fuel injection (the smaller 302 V8 had adopted it on Town Cars since 1980 and on LTD/Grand Marquis in 1986). Instead, all 351 engines from 1980 to '91 used the unreliable variable venturii carburetor, which began life as an ill-conceived economy measure during the second energy crisis at the start of the decade.
>>28733178Highway patrol cars would have used the 351, probably city patrol and detective cars were 302 equipped. Cops back in that time were upset about losing their 70s big block rides, no more 460, 440, etc highway patrol cars.
>>28733178The real reason was that Ford Special Service LTD's were weak sauce compared to the Dodge, or even Chevrolet, offerings while also being equivalent in price to the others. At the time the Michigan State Police tests were the go-to for data on the various police offerings and Fords were always dead last in all performance categories. Dodges usually "won" while Chevrolet was competitive enough that some tweaking could put them back in the running for best performing. Fords were usually so far off the pace that they would have required significant changes to be in the running and Ford obviously just wasn't interested in the police market because they fielded the same shit every year, such as the 5.8/VV/MCU/C6 combo in the Pursuit LTD's. The 5.0/EEC-IV/AOD LTD's were considered as the "Patrol" version.
>>28733178They only used the VV carb on 302s in 1980-81 and it was then replaced with throttle body injection until the adoption of sequential multipoint in 86. But the 351 kept using it all the way to 1991.
>>28733205>Dodges usually "won"Highway patrol Diplomats with the 360 engine were rockets because the car was more comparable to a Fairmont size-wise with a bigger displacement engine than either the Caprice or LTD.
>>28733215>They only used the VV carb on 302s in 1980-81Not actually "302s", this was when Ford temporarily had an evil debored 255 V8 for economy reasons. This was used in all Fox and Panther platform vehicles in 80-81 aside from the Town Car. The Mustang regained its 302 in 82 but the rest didn't until the following year.
>>28733178Cops actually preferred Chrysler products like the Plymouth Gran Fury because of their durability and superior ride quality.
>>28733837i suppose the performance to weight ratio as well>>28733219
>>28733837quality control on these was improving by 82 as Chrysler's financial condition stabilized
>>28733178i owned a 91 grand marquis with the 302
>>28733837>>28733178I love these tanks like you wouldn't believe.
Meanwhile the Chevy Impala/Caprice never gained much traction with departments in the salt belt, due mainly to rust issues. But West Coast and inland southern agencies, and the Federal Government seemed to like them okay.
LTD Crown Vic sales were relatively stable, averaging 110,000 to 130,000 most model years however assume nearly half each year were police/taxi vehicles. The Grand Marquis didn't have that and relied only on retail sales. Since LTD production figures don't differentiate between fleet and retail, one can assume that the latter was close to GM production totals - total 1982 LTD production was 128,053 and Marquis production that year was 71,837. Therefore it's safe to assume retail LTD production for 82 was similar.
>>28733178The 351 was offered in retail cars up to 1982 but few were ordered with it, certainly under 15% of the total volume. It seems highly unlikely that dealers even bothered stocking 351 equipped LTD/Marquis (sure not with the economic conditions back then) and one could only get the engine by custom order.
>>28733233The LTD and Marquis in fact didn't lose the 302 in 80-82, but the 255 was available as the base engine. I believe the smaller Fox platform Fords had no 302 during that time. Ford fortunately didn't offer the LTD with a six like those horrible horrible six cylinder Caprices.
>>28733945they didn't have any six cylinder engine except the old shitty 200 I6 which was too long to fit in the Panthers properly and was only being used in the truck line by then
>>28733837I beat a few up in my day.
>>28733878I own a 91 LTD CV with the 302 Don't have a good image handy that won't get me for GR15 so I'm posting the autism clip again https://files.catbox.moe/k65onk.mp4
>>28734556she'll buff out
>>28734556those hubcaps are worth a bit now for what they are
>>28734604Of course,everyone lost their pair by taking the corner too fast.
>>28734586i miss blue and orange incandescant-lit dashboards
>>28734586that's so funny to me because my grand marquis was a grandpa car to me lol. my speedo only went to 85. towards the end my doors wouldn't stay shut so had to keep the doors closed with the steatbelts (too broke and unknowledgeable to fix back then unfortunately
>>28733215mustangs were the only cars with sequential injection, in 93 trucks with 5.0s got them but even HO town cars and continentals were batch fire
>>28735260It's very much a grandpa car but it's my grandpa car and I love it, even though every single time I go to the tail of the dragon I end up cooking the brakes and destroying either the rotors or bearings or....I also had the 85 speedo, one of my friends managed to find a cop car at a junkyard so I got myself the 140mph speedo, yeehaw
>>28735423https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_LTD_Crown_Victoria#PowertrainNo.>For 1986, the 5.0 L V8 underwent further revision, replacing the throttle-body fuel injection intake with a redesigned multiport "Sequential-Fire" system (distinguished by its large cast-aluminum air intake manifold), raising output to 150 hp.[1]
the early Panthers were rolling malaise turds and barely drivable. they improve significantly in 83 onward.
>>28735499>It's very much a grandpa car but it's my grandpa car and I love it, even though every single time I go to the tail of the dragon I end up cooking the brakes and destroying either the rotors or bearings or.the car was from the era of 55 mph speed limits, it's punishing you for going over 55
>>28735499hopefully he also got the cop brakes since they're way more substantial than the stock ones
>>28735575First year 79 models maybe not so bad but 80-82 LTD/Marquis have variable venturii carb 302s or even worse the 255 V8 (though most 255s probably went to rental rather than retail cars). There's not so many surviving ones because sales were poor during the early 80s recession and they were as you said awful to drive compared to later ones (also worse build quality). couldn't even get up a hill with the AC on and 0-60 time was probably like 18 seconds.
B-bodies not a lot better. The build quality was probably better than the Panther because GM had more money than Ford (who were really cash strapped in the early 80s) and the platform was two years older so they had more time to work out bugs, but similar abysmal engine roster with very very slow V6, shrunken economy 265 V8, 305 V8, even (god no) the diesel 350 V8 while the normal gas 350 was relegated to police cars.
>>28734556>>28734587>>28734604
>>28733837I rode handcuffed in the back of one of those.
>>28735580>over 55>on the dragon>in a fucking LTD
Why did police switch away from white, black, bronze, and dark grey to blue and white?
>>28737488different municipalities use different schemes. Florida state troopers have been black and tan since their inception, LA Sheriff have always been black and white, NYPD used to be black and green and then switched to blue and white in the 70s.
>>28734837wonder how many of them had the repro police wheels. those ones don't hold onto hubcaps as good as the originals
>>28735607I had a friend (may he rest in peace) who wouldn't talk to me for two weeks about how his '76 Catalina got totaled by an idiot driver. His dad subsequently let him have his V8 Caprice Classic, pretty standard for cop cars of the time (1984) and he felt it as a boring downgrade. In general I like the Panther for its dependability/longevity, but the ride quality is nothing special even without considering the weight. (Cop versions of that were tiresomely jittery even around the suburbs)
>>28737546*his first car, just as ridiculously, was a '72 Electra. We joked about how the hood''s expanse resembled the Serengeti plane. Good times.
>>28737546>In general I like the Panther for its dependability/longevity, but the ride quality is nothing special even without considering the weight.The Town Car had a better ride than the LTD/Marquis.
>>28737546>His dad subsequently let him have his V8 Caprice Classic, pretty standard for cop cars of the time (1984)cop Caprices had the 350 not the 305 lol. and anyway you were supposed to get a 454 equipped Suburban if you still wanted that big block 9 mpg goodness.
>>28735607I had a friend who worked at a dealership back then and he said in his experience the Caprices were assembled quite well and had good fit and finish compared to the Eastern bloc tier Cavaliers. GM clearly took some pride in the B-bodies because they have always loved big V8 boats and consider small cars an afterthought.
>>28733854Surprises American cops also drove these in the cities when they couldn't take a corner for the life of 'em. Would a more agile substitute not be preferable in such a situation?
>>28737659>the rust down near the front wheelYep, it's Illinois alright. Fuck road salt.
>>28737659These don't have a cage behind the front seats so they're probably detective cars.
A decade later, not a huge difference outside the CB radio option being gone and these LTDs having those infamous ignition switches that caught fire and were recalled.
>>28737662Lots of departments don't use cages. New York State Police only have cages in about 25% of their marked units. Cages back in the 80s were almost universally unheard of.
>>28735607The early B-bodies had huge option lists most of which was trimmed down in 80 to save money. The Panthers never got that, they were always kind of a grandpa car.
>>28737660Patrol cars usually get replaced every 2 years (they lead an extremely rough life after all) so it wasn't a big deal.
>>28737546>His dad subsequently let him have his V8 Caprice Classic, pretty standard for cop cars of the time (1984) and he felt it as a boring downgradetbqh cops also felt those cars were a lame downgrade over the big block 70s patrol cars
>>28738026GM had a "stepped" downsizing program. The B-bodies arrived in 77 and after that the next step was the FWD A-bodies which they planned as their family cars for the 80s.
>>28736412And now you're banned from going within 500 yards of a school or playground because of what you did, you sick fuck. Good jerb.
>>28738020Some departments (e.g. Baltimore) have purpose-built transport units (vans), so the patrol units generally don’t transport detainees to lockup, they just make arrests and then the van comes to the scene to transport the prisoners.
>>287380651000 feet.
>>28740077Personally, I hated the cages. They prevented the seats from reclining so if you wanted to sleep on an A-Line I had to park facing uphill. It tricked the brain into thinking I was reclining.
>>28740097nigga
