Autoblog

Despite the lack of a formal announcement (nor any real surprise), the Detroit News has the inside scoop on Ford's plan to close its Ontario plant after production of the Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car ceases, likely by the end of 2010.

The 2.6-million square foot facility currently employs over 2,400 workers and has built a number of models, ranging from the Pinto to the Escort.

Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) president, Buzz Hargrove, admitted to the News that, "There's nothing we can do to save St. Thomas," but we think there is. Convince Ford that the livery market is still dependent on the Panther-platform stalwart, despite New York City's vow to make all of its taxis hybrids in the next few years, and revamp the current car to be all things to all cops by fitting a new V8, a custom, police-friendly interior and anything else the boys (and gals) in blue could want.

[Source: Detroit News]

click above image to view more pics of the Ford Crown Victoria

According to Ford sources who gossiped to Ward's Auto, the Ford Crown Victoria won't be available on retail lots after 2008. From 2009, the only folks who can buy one are police and taxi drivers. Even that frontier is being threatened, with police departments snapping up Dodge Chargers and Chevy Impalas. New York's taxi fleet has to go hybrid by 2012, and Ford is pushing the Escape Hybrid to replace 2,500 Vics on Big Apple streets.

If you've got to have a full-sized rear-driver from the Blue Oval, the Mercury Grand Marquis will still be available. The Marquis is apparently much more popular with the public than the Vic, with nearly 38,280 Marquis' sold by dealers in the first nine months of this year. Compare that to the Crown Victoria, which moved 3,000 Vics to retail buyers in all of 2006. I guess this means we'll have to start looking out for Charger headlights in our rearview mirrors at night...

[Source: Wards Auto]

click image above for high-res gallery

In a sign of the impending apocalypse, Michigan police departments are steadily switching from the stalwart Ford Crown Victoria to less expensive FWD Chevy Impalas with more efficient V6 engines. Oakland county plans on saving $220,000 per year in lower fuel and vehicle costs by making the switch. Wayne County, which includes Detroit, began switching to the Impalas in 2005. While the Crown Vic looks almost cool in interceptor guise, the body-on-frame tank on wheels isn't exactly fast with its 239hp V8 engine, so the Impala should at least equal its velocity in high-speed chases. The county fleets will be transformed over a number of years, but the strategy may be short-lived due to the pending arrival of the RWD Impala in 2009 or 2010.

Time will tell if the Impalas will hold up as well as the RWD Crown Vics, especially when the FWD cars jump a curb at speed, but for counties struggling to keep funding, hundreds of thousands of dollars per year is hard to pass up.

[Source: Freep via Jalopnik]

Many fans of the Ford Motor Company are longing for some form of the RWD Interceptor concept to become a production reality, and little do they know, such a vehicle is on the way. Well, it's not exactly the Interceptor concept, but spy shots of the 2008 Crown Victoria show that the original Police special will receive the Ford corporate three-bar grille when its refreshed. If the more masculine front clip isn't enough for you to spring for Ford's fleet maestro, then check out the new "special edition" badging complete with a crown adorning the colors of the Italian flag. The only other visible difference on the '08 donut delivery vehicle of choice is a puzzling strip of chrome at the bottom of the lower fascia which looks like a bling goatee. No word yet on powertrain, but the existing 4.6L V8 and a four speed automatic are good bets.

It's difficult to understand why Ford would go to the trouble of doing anything other than a full remodel of the Crown Vic. However trivial the costs of the updates, given that the Vic is now available for fleet sales only, we can't see anybody looking at the 2008 Crown Victoria and saying anything other than.... TAXI!

Click the Read link to see the full view of the Vickie's new three-bar grille.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

Over at The Blue Oval Forums, the new vehicle inventory manager for Hamden, CT's Bob Thomas Ford posted word that the ordering guide for the '08 Crown Vic came in and the car is now only available to fleets. This is good news for taxi/limo companies, government users and police departments, who are guaranteed at least one more year of the car in its current form. If you wanted to buy an '08, you're outta luck, however. Fret not, as used (and identical-looking) ones are not hard to come by. We'd be looking for a retired police car, ourselves.

Speaking of the police, the '08 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor has a few new features for the upcoming model year. The 4.6L V8 is flex-fuel compatible and will run on E85, a tire pressure monitoring system is now standard equipment, and remote keyless entry is now offered as an option. According to a poster on CrownVic.net, the cops won't be ordering Driftwood Beige cars any longer (good for us, because we find the beige cars to be essentially invisible when parked roadside), and 3.55 gears will not be available on 50-state-emissions-legal cruisers. Other than that, the cars are the same as they've been for many years.

We haven't heard anything regarding the Vic's sister sled, the Mercury Grand Marquis, so tell grandma and grandpa not to worry themselves just yet. Meanwhile, at Ford dealerships, salesmen will be happy to show you a shiny new Taurus in lieu of the Crown Vic. It's worth noting that when Ford consigned the last-gen Taurus to fleet sales only, it essentially marked the car's death knell since it was discontinued completely the following year. As such, we could finally be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Crown Victoria as we know it.

Thanks to Bryan for the tip!

[Sources: Blue Oval Forums, CrownVic.net, Ford]

Even if you hate drifting, you 've got to admit that when the slides are executed with flair, it's pretty entertaining to watch. That's how we felt when we first saw the the video above. In it, Team Panther's 600+ horsepower Ford Police Interceptor puts on a great little show during last year's One Lap of America competition. The announcer's a bit intrusive, and we wish we could hear more of the sounds coming from the car, but it's really fun to watch when the white cop car gets into a groove, lights ablaze.

[Source: YouTube]

Ford's SOHC 4.6L V8 isn't exactly known for its potential to make big power, and saddling it with over two tons of mass means that Crown Vics aren't exactly feared on the streets unless they're being driven by a police officer. Sal Mennella from Power Surge Performance (a shop specializing in Ford PCM tuning) developed a solution for this problem, however, in the form of a supercharged 5.4L that he snagged from Ford's defunct Lightning sport truck. As delivered from the factory, this engine was usually good for about 330 rear-wheel horsepower - a substantial improvement over the sub-200 RWHP provided by the stock motor.

As if that wasn't enough, the stock Eaton blower was replaced with the substantially more efficient Whipple supercharger to provide more boost. The stock heads and throttle body remain, though, as do the stock cast iron exhaust manifolds. This combination produces nearly 540 horsepower at the rear wheels, as well as a dead-flat torque curve that maintains more than 500 lb-ft over the entire duration of the dyno pull.

This has us convinced that Ford should offer a GT500 version of the CV - just so long as it promises not to offer them to law enforcement agencies.

[Source: Crownvic.net]

The Crown Victoria will live! That's the word, according to a recent article in Law and Order magazine, which puts to rest rumors of Ford killing off its body-on-frame, V8-powered, RWD sedan, loved by police and loathed by anyone who's gotten the gumball machine treatment.

The Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (CVPI) will continue to be produced in its current form through 2008, with a redesign due in 2009. The new model will keep the same dimensions as the current vehicle, with measured revisions to add both performance and safety.

A posting on CrownVic.net brings to light some interesting facts about the CVPI, with regard to airbags (i.e. how do you get side curtain airbags to function properly when there's partition between cop and criminal), the importance of ballast, what level of performance is necessary and a host of other geeky tidbits.

Although this may be good news for both Ford and our boys and girls in blue, it doesn't bode well for Dodge, whose Charger has been the up-and-comer in a number of precinct garages.

[Source: Jalopnik via Crownvic.net]

As we reported earlier today Ford's Australian arm has announced a big investment that includes aid from the Australian government. It will result in the development of an engineering and design "centre of excellence" for the Asia Pacific and Africa region, as well as new product plans that may, just may produce the next Crown Vic in the U.S.

Blue Oval News has posted Ford's press release, which states the investment amounts to almost $1.4 billion USD. In it Ford details plans for a new global light commercial vehicle architecture that would be exported to over 80 countries, as well as an all-new Falcon and Territory. The Falcon and Territory would ride on a new large rear-wheel drive platform, which has led BON to speculate the next Crown Vic could come care of the Aussies. For that matter, the next Ford Ranger could also use Ford Australia's new light commercial vehicle platform. Of course, for either of these imports to happen a solid business case needs to be present, which, as we've seen with other Aussie immigrants like GM's GTO, is a difficult case to make. 

[Source: Blue Oval News]         

No doubt many of you have already begun seeing Dodge Charger police cruisers patrolling your neighborhoods. As soon as Michelle Wingard of Amherst, OH (population 14,000) saw a Charger with a light bar trolling in her neck of the woods she made a B-line to the precinct to get a closer look. Thanks to the openness of the Amherst Police Department the resulting article is a terrific look at how officers are reacting to the new sheriff in town.

If the law boys in Amherst are anything to go by, the Charger police cruiser is a big hit with its 5.7L HEMI V8, spacious interior and tight-yet-comfortable handling. The only niggle one sergeant mentioned was the car’s habit of briefly pausing when quickly shifting into Reverse, which Wingard witnessed first hand as the officer turned the car around to chase down a speeding Ford Escape on their test drive.

Kudos to Wingard for a great read that comes off less like overthought automotive journalism and more like talking to your best bud about cars.

[Source: NewAgeMusclecars]