The Ford Panther platform has been a money-making machine for Ford for about three decades. Underpinning such modern classics as the Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car, and Mercury Grand Marquis, the Panther platform was the last body-on-frame large sedan made in America. We were sad when Ford shut down production, sad, but not disheartened. 

For you see, the Panther platform has a lot of die-hard fans all over the world, including our neighbor to the north, Canada. While trlling YouTube, we came across this video of two supercharged Panther sedans at the dragstrip, both boasting Vortech superchargers. You’ll be surprised at who comes out on top.

There were only ever two Panther platform vehicles ever built with any semblence of performance; the Crown Vic Police Interceptor, and the Mercury Marauder. A Grand Marquis is more Grandpa-mobile than Marauder, so you’d think the Police Interceptor in this drag race would have an advantage. Doubly so when you factor in the supercharger.

But the older ‘96 Mercury Grand Marquis had other ideas, laying down the hammer for a blistering run of 13.35 seconds in the quarter-mile. Meanwhile the supercharged Crown Vic managed a less-than-impressive 14-second run. We know which car we’d rather have to make our getaway in.

Though the Panther platform is now out of production, there will be plenty of lightly-used (less than 150,000 miles) models to pick up at police or city auctions for years to come. Who knows, maybe we’ll end up writing about your Crown Vic one day.