This month we’re turning our attention to a Ford that might not have the curb appeal of a GT40 or the notoriety of being a brand first like the Bronco (FoMoCo’s first SUV), but is no less iconic than either of those. While the Crown Victoria’s statement of intent was largely utilitarian, the full sized, rear-wheel drive, V8-powered sedan still had the key ingredients of great American automobile design.

Not only would that make the Crown Vic a hit with police departments and taxi companies around the country, it has also provided a great low-cost canvas for hot rodders looking to build a modern Ford that isn’t a Mustang or an F-150, and the factory-produced police package make these unassuming sedans significantly more capable than the low-key bodywork might suggest.

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Though builds as involved as this 500-horsepower, manual transmission-shifted example are fairly rare, the commonality of parts between Panther platform cars and Mustangs offers builders the opportunity to create something unique without breaking the bank. (Photo Credit: eBay)

While the nameplate and the Panther platform that most recently underpinned it have gone away, Ford’s big four-door left a lasting impression on American motoring. Its evolution from a basic options package to one of the most recognizable shapes in modern motoring is a legacy worth celebrating, so here we’re looking back at how it all took shape.

The LTD Era

Though the Crown Victoria really started to register with the motoring public in the 1980s, the origins of nameplate date back much further.

In 1955 Ford introduced a new configuration for the two-door Fairlane that was sold alongside the hardtop. This new model featured a unique roofline typified by a stainless steel band that “crowned” the roof, considered by Ford to be an homage to a Victoria carriage used in the latter half of the 1800s. The Fairlane Crown Victoria would only be offered for the 1955 and 1956 model years though, after which the name would go on hiatus for nearly two and a half decades.

As fuel economy was becoming an increasingly important factor in vehicle sales toward the tail end of the 1970s, Ford looked to reduce the sheer girth of their full-sized LTD lineup by ditching its dated chassis, which traced its origins back to the 1960s underpinning the Galaxie 500, for something smaller and more modern.

Dubbed the Panther platform, this full-sized, rear-drive, body-on-frame layout was brand new from the ground up and chopped 15 inches of length and roughly 400 pounds of weight from the 1980 LTD without a significant sacrifice to interior space, resulting in better handling and improved efficiency.

Sitting at the top of the LTD food chain for the 1980 model year was the LTD Crown Victoria, which served as the Ford counterpart of the Mercury Grand Marquis and took the place in the model lineup formerly held by the LTD Landau. Like the Fairlane model from the mid-50s, the LTD Crown Victoria featured a metal band that ran across the roof of the car from the B pillars, though this time around it was accompanied by a padded vinyl roof as well.

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Though short on dramatic flair, the utilitarian simplicity and heavy duty hardware that underpinned the Panther platform made these vehicles a hit with fleets. (Photo Credit: The Truth About Cars, Daily Turismo)

Though the LTD’s new Panther platform wouldn’t accept Ford’s big-block engines, it didn’t spell the end of V8 power in the company’s full-sized cars, as the Windsor small-block would become the default powerplant. Ford’s 302 cubic-inch, 5.0-liter V8 was standard issue, while a destroked 4.2-liter V8 as well as the larger 351ci Windsor V8 would both see optional availability during the early 1980s.

The Crown Vic Comes Into Its Own

In 1983, as part of a major model shift within the company, Ford moved the LTD to the mid-sized Fox platform and split off the full-sized LTD Crown Victoria into its own standalone model. Yet because Ford had earmarked the LTD Crown Victoria for eventual replacement by the upcoming Taurus, the first generation model saw relatively few changes throughout its 13-year production run.

Despite this lack of alteration, the LTD Crown Victoria proved to be a consistent seller for use by fleet services due to the simplicity of the design and the low repair expense offered by its body-on-frame platform.

The LTD Crown Victoria’s V8 power and rear-wheel drive layout also caught the interest of various police departments across the country, prompting Ford to create the Police Interceptor package. Designation production code P72, the package would be applied to both police and taxi fleets.

In 1992 the Crown Vic would see a major redesign for the Panther platform Ford. Now officially called the Crown Victoria with the LTD designation dropped, this heavily revised machine showed a new emphasis on aerodynamics with a significantly improved drag coefficient.

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In 1992 the Panther platform received a stylistic and mechanical overhaul. Though the Crown Victoria and other Panther vehicles saw regular updates year over year from then on, this would prove to be the only major redesign during its 33-year production run. (Photo Credit: Ford Motor Company)

Offered exclusively as a four-door sedan, the redesigned Crown Victoria also came packing Ford’s new DOHC 4.6-liter V8, which had been first introduced in the Lincoln Town Car a year prior. More efficient than the pushrod 5.0 it replaced, the new mill offered a similar amount of torque as the outgoing Windsor engine while delivering significantly more horsepower.

Paired with an overhaul of the steering and suspension systems, along with an upgrade to four-wheel disc brakes, the 1992 Crown Victoria was a substantial step forward for the Panther platform. And like its predecessor, it too would spawn a police package.

Now officially named the Crown Victoria P71, the Police Interceptor’s powertrain remained unchanged from its civilian counterpart, but a number of other upgrades were brought into the mix to increase the sedan’s capability.

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Though the Police Interceptors did not gain any power output versus their civilian counterparts, upgrades to the chassis as well as durability improvements make the P71 a substantially more capable vehicle. (Photo Credit: Ford Motor Company)

Considering the rigors these vehicles would go through on a daily basis, much of the police package focused on increased durability. An external oil cooler was added to keep engine temperatures down during extended high-rpm driving. To allow for more aggressive transmission shift points through the package’s recalibration software, the gearbox itself was beefed up to tolerate the additional abuse.

To improve off-the-line acceleration the Crown Victoria’s a 3.27 gear supplanted the 2.73 rear axle as the standard, while Ford’s Trac-Lok rear-end with 3.55 gears would become optional.

On the handling front, the P71 used Ford’s severe-duty shocks paired with high rate springs that not only provided flatter handling, but also raised the car’s ground clearance by 0.8 inches versus a standard Crown Victoria. The rear sway bar from the LX Sport was also used in P71 models.

Lastly, the Police Interceptor’s trademark roar was delivered by a T-409 stainless steel dual exhaust system which, unlike the civilian models, lacked the noise-reducing resonators of its civilian counterparts.

Legacy

From 1992 to 2012 the Crown Victoria received a steady stream of updates throughout the years that included a significant refresh in 1998 and a move to a hydroformed steel chassis in 2003. But for the most part, the mantra of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” seemed to characterize Ford’s approach to the Crown Victoria, and with the model becoming the archetypal police car of the modern era, it’s not hard to see why.

But after more than three decades of Panther production, the platform was truly starting to show its age. With Ford facing ever-tightening emissions and fuel economy standards, the rear-drive V8 Panther platform was faced with a future that it simply could not adapt to. Ford began to wind down Crown Victoria production at the turn of the 21st century, but the last example wouldn’t roll off the line at the St. Thomas Assembly plant in Southwold, Ontario until September 15th, 2011.

While that’s undoubtedly a bummer for fans of rear-drive V8 Ford sedans, we can take some solace in the sheer number of them that have been produced over the years. Almost 10 million Panther-based Crown Victorias, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Cars were built between 1979 and 2011, so don’t expect to see these beasts to vanish from America’s roadways any time soon.