LA Sheriff Still Has 429 Ford Crown Victorias in Service Because It Stockpiled Them

[Reynard]

https://www.thedrive.com/news/stockpiled-ford-crown-victoria-cop-cars-still-serve-in-california-for-now

 

 

As one of the largest police forces in the country—and the largest sheriff's department—the LASD has been one of the Crown Vic's top users for decades. The department guaranteed it would remain so into the sedan's twilight years with a huge last-minute order of 600 cars in 2011, the final year of production, as accountants reckoned it'd save money in the long run.

[Xander Wildeisen]

Crown Victoria suspension systems have been a hot item on the custom side of the car world. 

[Andy J]

Kick-backs maybe?

[George Albright]

Never mind the sun and sitting has ruined all of the cars runner components 😬😳

[George Albright]

I almost forgot!! Global warming in California completely destroyed them! 

[TexRiv_63]

Many police departments did this with 1994-96 Chevy 9C-1 Caprices, which they liked a lot better than the Fords. There was also a lively business refurbishing those cars with new drivetrains to keep them in service while parts were still available.

[Farmallregular]

37 minutes ago, George Albright said:

Never mind the sun and sitting has ruined all of the cars runner components 😬😳

According to the article, 429 of them are still in active service.  The picture was from when they were first delivered, not ones sitting for all this time...

[EmTee]

You got me!  I read the title quickly and thought that the LASD had swapped this into some of their Crown Vics... 

 

[3macboys]

2011 Crown Vics - the joke was they built twice as many that year with half as much paint.  The plant is now gone, replaced with an Amazon warehouse.  They weren't great cars and took a ton of maintenance but they were like your favorite pair of jeans and t-shirt-comfortable and predictable, of course after a near 20 year run they should have been.  As a side note take a look at the 1992 version, then 95 and the final 2011, actually quite a change over the run.

[58L-Y8]

Not just a favorite for law enforcement agencies, the Panther platform Crown Victorias were the standard for taxi and livery/limousine operators.  The 4.6L V8 and chassis were extremely durable and serviceable, racking up 200-300K miles with ease.  I was attending used car auctions at the time the word was out the Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis/Town Car production was ending, good examples were hot cars those buyers paid premiums to get.   The supply is dwindling now, but some few still turn up.  

[rocketraider]

Rarely a month goes by someone doesn't see me out in me 02 Grand Marquis and ask if it's for sale.

 

No, because I'd just have to replace it and there's nothing newer out there that makes me want to go in debt to own it.

 

Horrible GM and Mopar dealers here have convinced me I'll never own anything they sell. The GM dealer also has all the Asian franchises except Toyota so those aren't options either, and European dealers are 50-80 miles away. So I stick with the Grand Marquis. 

 

It suits me.🙂

[TAKerry]

A local junk yard had a contract with the state police. The yard was very well organized and they had all of the police cars in one area. It was kinda cool see a hundred or so police cars in one spot in various conditions. Some wrecked with no usable parts to cars that looked like they were driven in and parked.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

12 hours ago, rocketraider said:

Rarely a month goes by someone doesn't see me out in me 02 Grand Marquis and ask if it's for sale.

 

No, because I'd just have to replace it and there's nothing newer out there that makes me want to go in debt to own it.

 

Horrible GM and Mopar dealers here have convinced me I'll never own anything they sell. The GM dealer also has all the Asian franchises except Toyota so those aren't options either, and European dealers are 50-80 miles away. So I stick with the Grand Marquis. 

 

It suits me.🙂

 

 Fits me, Glenn.   Just a different one.  1992 Roadmaster sedan.  No reason to have anything else.

 

  Ben

[TTR]

A friend here in town has a last year (1996 ?) full-size Impala SS he bought new and never yet registered. Always garaged with less than 100 miles on the clock.

One of these days I/we will have to find a new custodian/home for it.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

56 minutes ago, TTR said:

A friend here in town has a last year (1996 ?) full-size Impala SS he bought new and never yet registered. Always garaged with less than 100 miles on the clock.

One of these days I/we will have to find a new custodian/home for it.

 Seems like a waste!

 

  Ben

[TTR]

1 hour ago, Ben Bruce aka First Born said:

 Seems like a waste!

 

  Ben

I agree and have told him more than once.

I’ve never understood the concept. 
He also has 3 H-D Sportsters he bought new about 20 years ago and never registered or rode more than few miles each.

[JACK M]

429 cars or cars with 429s?

I suspect the latter.

[EmTee]

20 hours ago, TTR said:

One of these days I/we will have to find a new custodian/home for it.

It will either need to remain a museum piece, or require lots of recommissioning work...

 

 

[TTR]

1 hour ago, EmTee said:

It will … … require lots of recommissioning work...

Exactly, just like any motor vehicle that’s been sitting inactive for years, let alone decades, be it decommissioned when new or used, i.e. “ran when parked backyard/barn/driveway/field/forest/garage/museum/storage/warehouse/etc find”.

 

 

[EmTee]

19 hours ago, TTR said:

He also has 3 H-D Sportsters he bought new about 20 years ago and never registered or rode more than few miles each.

At least those can just be filled with fluids and driven, since they leaked like a sieve when new! 

[TAKerry]

2 hours ago, EmTee said:

At least those can just be filled with fluids and driven, since they leaked like a sieve when new! 

If theyre evo motors maybe not. Apparently you have never seen a British motorcycle! At one time my garage floor could have been a super fund sight!!

[EmTee]

5 hours ago, TAKerry said:

Apparently you have never seen a British motorcycle!

Actually, I had this:

 

 

It didn't leak to the point of puddling on the floor, but the crankcase was always wet... 

[Marty Roth]

1995 GRAND MARQUIS -

I still have my Dad’s last car, bought new in August, 1994 to replace his 1992 which he Also passed to me. I kept both for a time. The ‘95 was probably six years old, garaged with A/C In Plantation, Florida when not driving, and driven home to New Orleans with less than 30,xxx miles. I still use it on Special occasions, have it registered as “antique” (although it doesn’t feel that way), and actually once used it for an AACA National Tour when our earlier vintage cars couldn’t accommodate my wife’s wheelchair and roll-ator walker, along with a week’s worth of baggage.

 

The 1992 and newer Grand Marquis/Crown Victoria , with the 4.6L OHC V8 and lockup OD Transmission seems “bulletproof”, can run like a scalded cat, is amazingly comfortable, and still able to return better than 25 mpg on regular 87 octane when driven sensibly - and replacement parts are readily and affordably available from many sources.

 

A while back, I had the chance to buy the Police Special version of the last year Crown Vic, chauffeur-driven for a local previous Sheriff, extremely low mileage, all the luxury and police options, but I didn’t have an extra  proper storage and had to pass.

 

I have seen examples of this chassis still driving well with more than 300,xxx miles.

[Reynard]

It's not unusual to see some version of this model (Ford, Lincoln. or Mercury) any day of the week in town, originally civilian or a former police car.     Almost as indestructible as my '89 Jeep Cherokee with 326,000 miles!

 

 

[wilson24]

I wonder what it will cost them to convert them to electric?

[Jack Bennett]

LA is one huge city, and it isn’t hard to believe that much of the area covered by its Sheriff’s Department is rural and remote to the city.

According to the piece, there are “hundreds” of Crown Vic’s still in service, and the “429” seems to reflect the number, and not the engine displacement, of cars still in service.

Nor is it hard to believe that a Deputy Sheriff , sitting in a completely stock 2011 Crown Victoria, parked in the lot of a rural shopping mall, doesn’t attract a lot of attention.

Since the danger to a law enforcement officer is increased exponentially at the end of a high speed chase, and the officer, driving a naturally aspirated, 2011 Crown Vic, in pursuit of a 2023 Mustang or Porsche, chance of  actually catching them is reasonably unlikely.

Thus, reducing the possibility of the Deputy being injured as the result of a successful chase is one consideration. Another is the funding of a well populated Sheriff’s Department, which can only be helped by voters held aghast by seeing one of their own driving a classic cruiser, in pristine condition, and kept running by a endless supply of 2011 Crown Victoria donor cars.

Now, I rest my case regarding the serviceability, and continued expenditure of good money, on car a scant decade old, and will retire to my garage to work on my 100 year old Dodge Brothers Roadster, or maybe go outside to work on one of my other 90+ year old cars🙄.

 

 

[Perichbrothers]

 We got a nice 1999 grand marquis with 155k miles for $1400 back in 2009 for the wife’s daily driver/work commuter.  She hated it at first!

Wasn’t as cushy as the 1990 Lincoln TC…

After a year she loved it…

Fast forward 14 years and 256k miles, now my two oldest kids share it as their daily and joke it will be there sisters first car!  

Tires, brakes, ball joints, fuel pump and the intake manifold is all it’s wanted. And a p71 sway bar…

 

We moved to the PNW and the rwd sucks in the ice and snow, but otherwise a great platform.  I’ll be on the hunt for another CV or GM when the time comes!

TP

 

[rocketraider]

One of my younger cousins is a Virginia State Trooper. When he was in the Academy in 2010 he took his driving training in a Dodge Charger, and figured that's what would be assigned to him.

 

Graduation day, the new Troopers were told they'd find their cruiser with their name on the windshield. And there sat a Crown Vic Police Interceptor with his name on it. Boy wasn't happy.

 

He griped to me about it was slow and big compared to the Charger. Told him it had a hotter 4.6 and tighter suspension than my Grand Marquis, and the Marquis would fly low and go exactly where you pointed it. 

 

After a few weeks it was broken in and, while not quite as quick as the Charger, he got used to it.

 

After the CVPI was phased out, the VSP transitioned to Taurus Interceptors and then the Explorer-based Interceptor Utility. He's in one of those now and hates it. "God I wish I had my Crown Vic back!"

 

John's 5'8". His buddy who graduated Academy with him and was assigned to this area is 6'4". Garrett says "you wish you had YOUR Crown Vic back, think about me!" Apparently those Explorers are kinda cramped for a tall Trooper.

[3macboys]

37 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

 

He griped to me about it was slow and big compared to the Charger

All wheel drive hemi Charger - those who have driven them will know, the Ford products don't come close to the grin factor in the Charger.  The Taurus you can't see out of,, tiny mirrors and small back window.  The Explorers are decent but unless they are all wheel drive can be a bit of a handful in wet/snowy weather.  When the Crown Vic's first came out they had some neat posters - one was a take on the old west - something similar to in the West all you needed was a gun, a badge and 220 HP - yup thats all they had at the start of the run out of the 4.6

[EmTee]

I always liked watching the pursuit scenes with the '68/'69 Belvedere on "Adam-12".  Loved hearing the dubbed-in sound of that big-block Chrysler! 

 

 

Wasn't the same after they switched to the Matador...