Ford Crown Victoria |
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Wikipedia: Ford Crown Victoria
Subtopics Ford Crown Victoria Emergency Services Vehicles Page Sections History Reference Desk Photographs Documents Article Index Merchandise |
History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Ford Crown Victoria page on 30 September 2017, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Ford Crown Victoria (or simply Crown Vic) is a rear-wheel drive full-sized four-door sedan that was marketed and manufactured by Ford from the 1992 to the 2011 model years over two generations. Discontinued in 2011, the latter day Crown Victoria began production in 1991 at Ford's St. Thomas Assembly plant in Southwold, Ontario, Canada. Dropping its previous LTD prefix, Ford instead revived a nameplate once used on a two-door version of the Fairlane sold in the North American market for the 1955 model year.
The Crown Victoria shared the Ford Panther platform and major powertrain, body, and suspension components with the Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis. Along with its rebadged Mercury and Lincoln variants, the Crown Victoria was the final full-frame rear-wheel-drive passenger sedan produced in North America. The durability associated with its layout popularized the Crown Victoria with taxicab owners and commonly used police patrol/pursuit vehicles in North America.
1955-1956
The first use of the Crown Victoria nameplate by Ford was in the 1955 model year as part of the Ford Fairlane range. Separate from the Fairlane Victoria two-door hardtop, the Fairlane Crown Victoria was given its own B-pillared roofline, with a stainless-steel band "crowning" the roof, an interpretation of the "victoria carriage" bodystyle. The first time Ford used the "victoria" as a naming convention was in 1932 on the Ford Victoria 2-door coupe and the larger Lincoln Victoria coupe. A variant of the Crown Victoria, the Crown Victoria Skyliner, replaced the front half of the roof with acrylic glass. For the 1956 model year, along with the rest of the Ford model line, the Fairlane Crown Victoria received the Lifeguard option package.
For 1957, the Crown Victoria and Crown Victoria Skyliner were replaced as the flagship of the Ford Fairlane line by the retractable-hardtop Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner.
First generation (1992–1997)
The Ford Crown Victoria was released for sale in March 1991 as a 1992 model. In an effort to widen the market of potential buyers for the vehicle, Ford made two major changes, removing the LTD prefix from its name and postponing all fleet sales of the Crown Victoria for 14 months. As with its chief competitor, the 1991 Chevrolet Caprice, the 1992 Crown Victoria featured a major exterior redesign, focusing on aerodynamics and fuel efficiency; the coefficient of drag was reduced from 0.42 to 0.34 (nearly matching the 0.32 of the Ford Taurus).
Due to a shift in demand for family-oriented vehicles, the LTD Country Squire station wagon was not included as part of the redesign. While the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable continued in production with the option of three-row seating, the role of the Country Squire (and Mercury Colony Park) was largely superseded by the Ford Aerostar, Ford Econoline/Ford Club Wagon, and the Ford Explorer.
During their launch, the Ford Crown Victoria (and Mercury Grand Marquis) were involved in a unique loophole involving CAFE. Though produced in Southwold, Ontario (which otherwise made them domestic automobiles), Ford changed its supplier network in order for the two vehicles to be classified as "imports", which classified the full-size sedans as part of the Ford imported CAFE fleet (alongside the Ford Festiva).
Second generation (1998–2012)
In November 1997, for the 1998 model year, the second (and final) generation of the Crown Victoria was introduced. Following the lack of acceptance of the radical styling of the 1990-1996 Chevrolet Caprice, the Crown Victoria moved further away from its 1992 redesign. Instead of borrowing design cues from the Taurus, the Crown Victoria shared many of its body parts, including its entire roofline, with the more popular Mercury Grand Marquis. To differentiate itself from Mercury, the Crown Victoria was given larger headlights, different bumpers, and a rectangular grille. The interior design saw little change aside from a new steering wheel. The redesigned 1998 Crown Victoria went on sale December 26th, 1997.
Mechanically, a revised four-link suspension with a Watt's linkage was added to the rear axle; while not a change to independent rear suspension, general road handling manners improved at the expense of towing capacity. Larger brakes necessitated the standardization of 16-inch wheels. Police cars (P71/P72) switched from full wheel covers and dog-dish covers held onto the wheel by four nubs (on HD Steel Wheels) to a design with center caps that attached onto the lug nuts; these were sourced from the Explorer SUV. Under the hood, coil-on-plug ignition replaced the traditional spark plug wires; a first for the 4.6 L 2v Modular V8, this was a design borrowed from the 3.4 L V8 used in the 1996-1999 Ford Taurus SHO (and the 4.6 L 4v used in the 1993-1998 Lincoln Mark VIII & 1996-1998 Mustang SVT Cobra).
In 2006, retail sales of the Crown Victoria dwindled to just 3,000, compared to 38,280 of its stablemate Mercury Grand Marquis in the first nine months of 2007. Starting with the 2008 model year, the Crown Victoria became available solely through Ford Fleet and the retail version was succeeded with its submate the Mercury Grand Marquis which was still sold for retail sales except the Middle East where this and the Mercury Grand Marquis are all retail cars; by 2007, approximately 95% of total Crown Victoria sale had been to fleet customers.
For 2009, Ford narrowed the available Crown Victoria's in North America by one more model. The Standard (P73) model designation was discontinued in favor of the LX. The LX now included 5-spoke alloy wheels that were used before for the LX Premium Sport and Handling package. These wheels are used in favor of the 9-spoke design the LX has used since 2003, purportedly due to the Lincoln Town Car using 17" wheels standard, as well as the Police Interceptor and the Taxi/Commercial (P72) model.
Reference Desk
The Crittenden Automotive Library's "Reference Desk" is a collection of materials that cannot be shared due to copyright restrictions. Information from these resources, however, can be shared. Go to the Reference Desk page for more information.
| Type | Title |
|---|---|
2000  Book | Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis 1989-1998 Repair Manual: Covers all U.S. and Canadian models of Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis; Chilton Book Company |
| Date | Document Name & Details | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| November 2002 | On-Site Adult Air Bag-Related Fatality Investigation Vehicle - 1993 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |  PDF - 518KB - 13 pages |
| classified date 1994 | Calspan Remote Air Bag Fatality Investigation Vehicle - 1993 Ford Crown Victoria LX National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 3.1MB - 21 pages |
| September 1997 | Calspan On-Site Air Bag/Child Fatality Investigation Vehicle - 1994 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 262KB - 27 pages |
| April 1996 | Remote Air Bag Report Vehicle - 1995 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 277KB - 10 pages |
| May 1997 | On Scene / Vehicle to Vehicle / Front to Back 1995 Ford Crown Victoria LX National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 218KB - 19 pages |
| December 2004 | Child Air Bag Related Fatality Investigation / Vehicle to Vehicle 1997 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 2,747KB - 21 pages |
| February 1998 | Remote Investigation/Passenger Vehicle vs. Heavy Truck/Front to Side Impact 1998 Ford Crown Victoria, Four Door Sedan National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 170KB - 13 pages |
| September 1998 | Remote, Redesigned Air Bag Special Study 1998 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 373KB - 9 pages |
| October 1998 | Remote Air Bag Deployment Report Vehicle - 1998 Ford Crown Victoria LX National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 324KB - 9 pages |
| classified date 2001 | Special Crash Investigation Report Case Vehicle: 1998 Ford Crown Victoria, 4-door sedan (police car) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 6.5MB - 119 pages |
| classified date 2001 | Special Crash Investigation Report Case Vehicle: 1999 Ford Crown Victoria LX, 4-door sedan National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 3.5MB - 99 pages |
| May 1999 | Redesigned Air Bag Special Study (RABSS) SCI Technical Summary Report RABSS Vehicle - 1999 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 127KB - 10 pages |
| classified date 2000 | Special Crash Investigation Report Case Vehicle: 1999 Ford Crown Victoria, 4-door sedan National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 34.4MB - 93 pages |
| September 2002 | On-Site Advanced Occupant Protection System Investigation Vehicle - 2001 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 695KB - 25 pages |
| March 2003 | On Site Advanced Occupant Protection Investigation / Vehicle to Vehicle 2001 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 1,659KB - 22 pages |
| September 2002 | Remote Advanced Occupant Protection System Investigation SCI Technical Summary Report Vehicle - 2003 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 656KB - 14 pages |
| 21 February 2003 | Vehicle Safety Compliance Testing for FMVSS 208 for Occupant Crash Protection: Sled Test 2003 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 7.4MB - 208 pages |
| 22 July 2003 | Safety Compliance Testing for FMVSS 124: Accelerator Control Systems 2003 Ford Crown Victoria National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 1.6MB - 62 pages |
| 31 July 2003 | Safety Compliance Testing for FMVSS 401: Interior Trunk Release 2003 Ford Crown Victoria 4-Door National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 1.2MB - 21 pages |
| 12 August 2003 | Safety Compliance Testing for FMVSS 207: Seating Systems 2003 Ford Crown Victoria 4 Door Sedan National Highway Traffic Safety Administration | PDF - 13.2MB - 153 pages |
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
|---|---|---|
| 18 December 2000 | AutoLign Introduces Two New Bumper Fascia Applications | AutoLign |
| 3 October 2002 | Summary: Crown Victoria Investigation October 2002 | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
| Type & Item # | Name | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Die Cast x2 - Johnny Lightning 363-08 | 1955 Ford Crown Victoria | Limited Edition First Shot, small scale, lavender & white chrome/unpainted, production: 7,500,  |
