New York Metropolis’s taxi fleet lastly mentioned farewell to the Ford Crown Victoria earlier in 2023, however the huge, body-on-frame sedan lives on as a police automobile in Los Angeles. Town’s sheriff division purchased 600 examples of the Crown Vic earlier than manufacturing ended, and 429 are nonetheless in service.
“The Crown Victoria is a rugged and durable platform that has held up great over the years,” Sergeant David M. Davis of the LASD Fleet Administration Unit informed our associates at The Drive. Whereas it is not essentially the most fashionable patrol automobile within the division’s fleet, it stays fashionable amongst older legislation enforcement officers, who’ve spent nearly all of their profession behind the two-spoke steering wheel and the large dashboard.
One purpose why the LASD has managed to maintain older Crown Victoria patrol vehicles round for over a decade after manufacturing ended is that the sedan is just about constructed like a truck. It makes use of body-on-frame development (it shares its Panther platform with the Lincoln City Automotive and the Mercury Grand Marquis), and the final examples made have been powered by the tried-and-true 4.6-liter V8 engine additionally present in pickups.
And, as The Drive factors out, it helps that these patrol vehicles function in one of many nation’s warmest and driest climates. Whereas the solar bakes the clearcoat and creates Grand Canyon-like openings within the dashboard, the shortage of street salt retains the body and the physique rust-free.
Maintaining the Crown Vic round is turning into a problem, nevertheless.
“The biggest maintenance challenge we have encountered is the growing obsolescence of some mechanical parts that are needed for repairs,” Sergeant Davis informed The Drive. He did not specify which elements his division is having a troublesome time discovering. He added that it is laborious to foretell when the ultimate Crown Victoria will earn a well-deserved retirement as a result of the remaining vehicles range in mileage and total put on.
Ford ended manufacturing of the Crown Victoria in September 2011, the ultimate examples constructed have been 2012 fashions, and the 4.6-liter V8 remained in manufacturing within the E-Collection van by way of the 2014 mannequin yr. The mannequin wasn’t instantly changed, and the Panther platform died with it.
Los Angeles shall be out of choices if it needs to interchange the Crown Victoria with a sedan. Dodge is ending manufacturing of the Charger in 2023, so the legislation enforcement-ready Pursuit mannequin will seemingly retire at the moment as nicely. We’re left with the Ford Police Interceptor Utility, which relies on the Explorer, the Dodge Durango Pursuit, which is not lengthy for this world, and the Chevrolet Tahoe Police Pursuit Car (PPV).
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