More Crown Vic reviews?

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I guess my original post for this was lost a while back. I'm almost set on buying a retired Interceptor...i'm actually looking for someone who KNOWS 4.6's who might be interested in checking some out with me. If anyone is up for that, PM me a number and when i get the cash together and start picking through what's out there i'll get with you and we can roll down and see what we find. So far i can't seem to find any negative feedback about these cars other than they're big and people in front of you will drive slow like you're a cop lol.

[Stangman]

www.crownvic.net

I too would love to have an old black or while retired police car... Would go well with my Mark Viii

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Yeah i finally got my registration over there accepted a couple days ago but i haven't posted anything yet...just reading up on what's already there. I'm pretty sure i know what i'm looking for...i just figured if someone local knows 4.6's good enough to hear it run etc i would take them along. I've never owned or worked on one myself.

[CNTLOSE]

Just a quick suggestion...try and buy either a Highway Patrol one or from an agency you know does good maintenance...if you are wanting a P71. Our cruisers get a complete check-up and service every 200 hours. Other agencies just go by miles or when they "think" it needs it. If your not set on a P71 the CV Sports were nice ones. Color matched grills, nicer wheels, dual exhaust, etc...

[Stangman]

I believe you need to find one with low miles on it too Dave... Since these cars get a lot of idle time...


Or, Buy a nice Mark Viii and do a coil spring conversion on it :bigthumb

Plenty of room inside, comfy, plenty of power when you need it, built on the T-bird chassis

[plated]

lmk when your ready to buy i know a guy that deals with them and always has a few for sale

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I do like the Marks but i want 4 doors for the kids...Idle time is one thing that has me concerned because even if it has lowish miles you know there's probably twice as much run time on it just sitting idling. I've talked to a couple random Union Township officers and they both mentioned that they have very strict maintenance routines. I'm still not sold on getting one yet, i wanna drive one and see how i like it.

[Katmandu]

I've owned several over the years. Pretty much indestructible cars.

As shown above, www.CrownVic.net is the place to go. I was one of the original Moderator's there about (10) years ago or so. I go by P71_Interceptor when I stop by.

The last P71 I had was a 97. ALL Blacked out and had a few mods. Shoulda keep it!

Check it out....

http://katmanduonline.net/albums/MyOldP71/


http://katmanduonline.net/albums/MyOldP71/photos/photo5.jpg

http://katmanduonline.net/albums/MyOldP71/photos/photo10.jpg

http://katmanduonline.net/albums/MyOldP71/photos/photo11.jpg

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

That's what i'm looking for, but '03 or newer. I'll settle for white if i find one clean enough but i really want black.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Car 1:

'02, white with blue interior, 78k,

Car 2:

'03, white with grey interior, 105k,

Car 1 is $400 more than Car 2.


My question is, considering the price difference vs. mileage difference, and the revised suspension on the '03, which is the better deal? I know there's a lot more to it than mileage when you consider idling time and abuse, but is 105k "safe" on these cars/engines or should i just spend a few extra bucks for the 78k and have a bit lower miles? How much better is the newer suspension on the '03? Would i be better off saving a few bucks with the '03 and getting the updated suspension, even considering the extra 30k miles?

[69428SCJ]

What about a Marauder, have you considered those? It's got the Mach 1 engine and a better suspension set up than a P71. I understand if you're considering price also as they still command a decent amount of money. I might be biased as I own one, but it's my favorite car to drive from my fleet!

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Yeah i would kill for a Marauder but they're WAY out of my price range. I really wanted to score a black P71 and do a sort of Marauder clone deal but i don't mind the white with black accents. Maybe somewhere down the road i may look into swapping a 4V engine into it or maybe even a 5.4 or something...who knows.

[CNTLOSE]

The suspension difference is night and day. When I received my 2003 brand new I could not believe the difference in handling when going into curves. Transmissions are the weakest link in these cars...IMO. If the transmission is good the motor should last you for a long while.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

See i want the better handling but is it worth an extra 30k miles? I figure paying $400 extra is worth getting 30k less miles.

[bobtsgt]

thats also an extra 30K miles on the suspension as well. I would go with the lower miles. Do the J mod to the tranny and be done.

[thecollector]

http://cincinnati-oh.gov/pubsrv/pages/-6259-/

Go to the city auction and pick one up cheap, keep some money in your pocket as a rainy day fund for if it needs something. The march auction for Cincinnati will cover 3 months so there should be a lot of inventory. No use in paying 4 or 5 grand for the same public auction car you can pick up yourself for $2k or less. The remarketing margins on those cars can be insane, I've seen them bought for as little as 800 and turned for $3,000. OE suspension parts on many had no zerks, and ford had issue with Diffs so having some money set aside is smart regardless of miles. You could Buy one thats rough and have plated mend it the way you want it, just keep a watchful eye for rust. Ones that have been hit don't get driven up @ auction by shady Used car lots so they can often be the best bargains.

Good luck, post a pick if you pull the trigger on one.

[excopcar]

Try excopcar he has had about 9 ex p-71's crown vics, he's on crownvic.net also.LOL. He's the crown vic king.

[excopcar]

Here's excopcars old p-71.

[JET50213]

Tranny is definitely the weakest link. You should also consider that departments are keeping cars in their fleets longer due to the economy. We have several now with over 100,000. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to find lower mileage cars.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I've got one picked out...just waiting for tax refund money to get here. I checked it out yesterday, it has decently low miles for the price. It's white with blue interior, not what i wanted but it's so clean i can't pass it up. I'll post pics when i get it but that probably won't be for another weeks or so.

[marauder]

A lot of people think my online name is for the Mercury Marauder. Though that's not why I chose the name online, I would love to get my hands on one some day. They are getting harder to find under 15k now, most that are either have 100k+ or are on rebuilt titles. If you look ANYWHERE in the USA on autotrader there's usually only 10-15 listings. Man I want one so bad with the trillogy motorsports blower on it.

Anyway, that said, the Crown Vic LX Sport is essentially the Marauder with the SOHC 4.6 instead of the Mach 1 engine. Just the fact it has the floor shifter instead of the granny shifter on the column makes it feel a little more like a muscle car than a grandpa ride. I gotta say though, I'd take an all black LX Sport for a daily and be almost as happy as if it were a marauder.

[CNTLOSE]

See i want the better handling but is it worth an extra 30k miles? I figure paying $400 extra is worth getting 30k less miles.

Mileage IMO in these cars is not everything like it is with personal owned cars. I have seen P71's with 20k miles on them and I would not even think of buying them for $3k. The service history is the biggest thing. A car with 70k miles may have 5000 hrs. on it, while a 100k mile car may only have 3500 hrs. on it.

If you drive them and they are both solid I would easily go for the newer one. If you can come across a good deal on a CV Sport I would go that route.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Turns out the '03 has some rust issues, which i'm avoiding like the plague. I did run across another '02 this morning that i'm going to look at. It seems like there's a price jump from '02 to anything '03+ and most of the '03+ are the ones with 150k+ on them, and if they don't have that many miles then they're $6k which is out of my price range.

[CNTLOSE]

Your best bet is to buy one at auction. You can get them cheap and usually they just need a good detailing...for the dealers that is a $3000 mark-up...lol. I bought our last traffic car at auction a couple years ago to resell. It was a 2000 with 99k miles on it. I paid $2450 at the auction and sold it a week later for $3400. All I did was peel the decals off and clean the interior. That is what helped fund my last '94 project car.

[excopcar]

Hey ss coupe here's a crown vic p-71 i found you might like man. I think it's a 1999 year model all police package still on her.

[excopcar]

It's at zeigler's auto sale's on blue ash road buy deer park. Next door to lucky's drive threw.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Yeah looks good but im holding out for at least an 01 so it has a PI 4.6 in it. I need all the extra power i can get in these boats lol. Ive got it narrowed down to 2 cars, both 02's and under 100k and about the same price. One is white and really clean the other is black but i haven't seen it yet. Ive got my hopes up on the black one.

Jesse if you know where a late model Mark is let me know ive been thinking about that and im not opposed to it even though i really need 4 doors.

[excopcar]

Get an old cop car and we will drop a new 5.0 motor in it and you will have ton's of power and a 6-speed.LOL..................

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

That would be pretty sweet...i'm sure some of the guys on the CV forum are already thinking the same thing. There's quite a few 5.4 swaps and i know at least one Triton V10 swap.