Crown Vic news...

[KSMM03]

Recent article in the NY Daily news. NY police departments are being suggested not to procure the Crown Vic's due to its problem..

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/46450p-43714c.html

[LincMercLover]

Considering they've remedied the problem already... Morons... I wouldn't think nothing of it. Did you see the site? Any news source with that many banners on it isn't the BEST place to get news from.

Like I've said before, and I'll say it again, you hit ANY car that is at a dead stop from behind doing 70+ is bound to mess up somebody!

[RCSignals]

Good luck to them. Maybe they'll be happy with the pathetic V6 FWD Impala.

the brakes on the Dodge Intrepid caught fire in the most recent Michigan State Police Police vehicles test

[LincMercLover]

Hmm... didn't I say tanks once before? Oh wait, I got yelled at for that! Shh... :D

[SergntMac]

Okay...no new CV/PI in NY because they could fire up when crushed under extreme conditions, 13 times in 20 years now. But, doesn't that also mean that the well worn police cars presently on duty get a reprieve from mandatory retirement for another 50K miles while options are explored? Wondering how dangerous that is...

GOvernMEnt thinking, thank you Sen. Spano of NY.

[KSMM03]

Well, having once lived in the Empire State, I'm none too impressed with the things they do some time. You would think they'd get on Ford's butt to get the problem fixed once they became aware of it. But, no, that's not the way of NY politicians.

The site was the website for one of the "Big Apple's" papers.

[RCSignals]

Yes, the article seems more like a scramble of politicians to the limelight than a scramble to action. The script makes it as if they just woke up from a long nap and have no clue of anything that has transpired previously, steps that have been and are being taken, and that there has been a Federal Investigation by the NHTSA.

[gja]

OMG,
There is NOTHING funnier than my two buddies in the Manhattan South beat trying to get in/out of the "wImpala". They are both 6foot+ and have to make like contortionists to not smack their heads when they need do to so in a hurry. They BOTH hate the steering with a passion and have told me there have been more than a few incidents where they were not at all sure it would stop before impacting because the brakes heatsoak and lose their grip. All they want is a CV/PI or an old 9C1 back.....!

[Geo]

Well, NY can always rely on their many 1980's Plymouth Gran Furys (M body) they have still in service then. For some reason they hang on to them (they have been re-painted with the new logos/graphics aswell; I think I have a jpg around here somewhere).

GEO

[RCSignals]

Originally posted by Geo
Well, NY can always rely on their many 1980's Plymouth Gran Furys (M body) they have still in service then.

I think they were called "Caravelle" in Canada. Gas tank is behind the rear axle, under the trunk

[Geo]

Yes, that's where the tank is, just like a Caprice however if they don't mind Caprices, then they wont mind the Diplomat/Gran Fury/Caravelle Salon (Canada) M-body. I suppose the idea is that the crush zone is a little different as far as the relation of gastank to axle.

GEO

[RCSignals]

I suppose, but the gas tank on the Panther is farther out of the crush zone than almost any other car. Behind the trunk, and mostly above the rear axle.

The tank on the Caprice and "M-Body" is directly behind the bumper and in front of the rear axle.

Oh well

[Bigdogjim]

Lets face it when you sell the most of any product you are going to take some heat. IMHO
Big Dog

[Geo]

It depends what we identify as part of the crush zone. Some might say that the Panther's gas tank location is ideal and far from the impacting vehicle's force. Others might say that the Panther's crush zone (in relation to axle and tank) does not allow enough "breathing room" to facilitate a rear impact where the large trunk area crushes into the gas-tank which inturn crushes into the axle; this describes a domino effect where the rear bumper area collides with the trunk compartment area.

It is assumed that larger cars with larger overhangs (with tanks under the trunks) have less of a problem in this regard as there is ample crush-zone room between the bumper and tank AND between the tank and axle. A good example of this extreme would be a (74-77) Dodge Royal Monaco C-body (like the one on Hill Street Blues). A less extreme example would be the Dodge Diplomat (77-89) M-body which was largely based on the A-body Dodge Dart (67-76 in North America) where there is a overhang but much less. Ofcourse the current Mustang (79-04) is the example where there is virtually no crush zones.

I personally I am not dis-counting the integrity of the current revision of the Panther (which I believe started with the FN36 1990 Town Car) with the larger trunks but as a believer of Physics, almost anything can be made a notch better just in case. So aside from getting all the mods that which may not be present on the 03 Panthers that Ford made available to 92-02 Crown Vics for the tank and axle areas, this is the ultimate fix:

-cut the rather large trunk of the car and re-weld a new floor thereby reducing the effective cubic feet of capacity.

-remove Panther gas-tank completely and re-engineer a new tank (of a new design and dimensions) under the trunk area as it was before the early 90's revision.

-the new tank to be a racing cell complete with more than one bladder to protect against any impact or puncture (this way only the outer bladder gets effected).

Racing fuel cells were offered in Cobra R Mustangs and had even larger fuel capacity than it's respective regular tank.

Unfortunately, as a mass effort, it is too late in the ball game because Ford would most certainly change the design soon and with the Dodge Hemi Pursuits and GM working on a RWD 9C1 5.7L Sigma to combat the new Ford Galaxie Interceptor, there will be too much product out there to say that there is any longer a monoploy by Ford (which Ford knew was temporary anyway).

That's the beatiful thing about the Marauder though; it's a Fonz mobile. You can soup it up to match any design specification just like you could in the 50's.

Wath out guys, how much do you want to make a bet that Ford makes wagons again on the Panther platfrom to combat the 2005 Dodge Magnum Hemi wagon!

GEO