Ford LTD Crown Victoria
The Ford LTD Crown Victoria is a line of full-size cars that was manufactured and marketed by Ford for North America. Introduced as the flagship of the Ford LTD model range for the 1980 model year, a single generation was produced through the 1991 model year. Throughout its production, the LTD Crown Victoria was marketed as the Ford counterpart of the Mercury Grand Marquis. The model line was offered as a two-door and a four-door sedan, alongside the woodgrained Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon.
For 1983, as part of a revision within all three Ford divisions, the LTD and LTD Crown Victoria became separate model ranges, with the latter becoming the sole full-size Ford sedan range.
For 1992, the model line underwent an extensive redesign. Ending the use of the LTD prefix, the sedan became the Ford Crown Victoria; the Country Squire wagon was discontinued in favor of other styles of family vehicles. From 1979 to 1985, the LTD Crown Victoria was produced by St. Louis Assembly in Hazelwood, Missouri. In 1985, Ford shifted production to St. Thomas Assembly in Southwold, Ontario, where Ford and Mercury full-size vehicles were assembled until 2011.
Overview
For 1980, Ford reintroduced the Crown Victoria nameplate as a luxury trim package for the all-new Ford LTD, taking the place of the LTD Landau. Taking its name from the Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria of 1955-1956, the LTD Crown Victoria borrowed a distinctive styling feature from its Fairlane counterpart: a targa-style band across the roof atop the B-pillars. For the Fairlane, the band was bright chrome; to modernize its appearance, the LTD Crown Victoria adopted a band of brushed aluminum.In the landaulet-style of the Lincoln Town Car, the LTD Crown Victoria was fitted with a half-length padded vinyl roof, with the brushed-aluminum band covering the B-pillars. In the style of the original 1965 Ford LTD, the LTD Crown Victoria featured a "crested" hood ornament. The first time Ford used the "victoria" as a naming convention was in 1932 on the Ford Victoria and the Lincoln Victoria 2-door coupes.
As with the previous-generation LTD, the LTD Crown Victoria directly competed against the Chevrolet Caprice and the Pontiac Bonneville. Originally slated for replacement by the Ford Taurus in the early 1980s, the model line saw relatively little change throughout its production. As the decade progressed, concerns over fuel economy eased, which allowed further development of full-size cars. For 1988 and 1990, the LTD Crown Victoria saw a number of revisions and updates. In early 1991, the redesigned Ford Crown Victoria was introduced as a replacement, which marked the end of the Ford LTD nameplate in North America.
Chassis
The Ford LTD Crown Victoria uses the rear-wheel drive Ford Panther platform architecture. As part of a major downsizing over the 1973-1978 LTD Brougham/Landau, the LTD Crown Victoria shed 18 inches of length and nearly 1000 pounds of curb weight. Although much smaller than its predecessor, the LTD Crown Victoria would carry over the basic suspension design of its predecessor, with a live rear axle suspension and double wishbone independent front suspension. Brakes were of a vented disc/rear drum configuration.When introduced in 1980, the LTD Crown Victoria was produced with the two smallest-displacement engines previously available on the LTD, the 4.9 L and 5.8 L Windsor V8s. In the interest of fuel economy and CAFE regulations, the 460 V8 was shifted to truck use while the 400 V8 was discontinued altogether.
In 1981, Ford would take steps to further increase the fuel economy of its full-size cars. From the Lincoln Continental/Mark VI, all Panther-platform cars received the 4-speed AOD overdrive automatic transmission, replacing all previous 3-speed automatics. The engine line was revised: the 5.8 L V8 was restricted exclusively to fleet sales, with a 4.2 L version of the 4.9 L V8 becoming the new base engine. The 4.9 L V8 saw major changes, with the carburetor replaced by throttle-body "electronic central fuel injection". In contrast to competitors from General Motors and Chrysler, the LTD Crown Victoria was sold exclusively with a V8 engine.
As the LTD Crown Victoria became a stand-alone model line for the 1983 model year, the 4.2 L V8 was discontinued altogether, leaving the 5.0 V8 the only engine available on American models with a 5.8 carburetor V8 engine also available, but only on fleet-usage models, particularly police cars,. For 1986, the throttle-body fuel injection system was replaced by a multi-port "Sequential-Fire" fuel-injection system with a redesigned air intake; the system was based on an OBD-1 compliant Ford EEC-IV computer.
At the end of its production in 1991, the LTD Crown Victoria was produced with the 5.0 L V8. Although a option on the Mercury Grand Marquis, sales of the 5.8-liter V8 was restricted to fleets, with most sold as part of the Ford police package. 1991 Panther-platform cars with the 5.8 were the very last American cars sold with a carbureted engine.
Body
When introduced in 1980, the Ford LTD Crown Victoria was produced in both two-door and four-door sedan body configurations. As with the standard-trim LTD, the LTD Crown Victoria was produced with quad-headlight front bodywork. Similar to the 1979 Ford Mustang, the car had the 4 eyed quad headlight arrangement in the front facia. This was one of the final classical "eyed" cars to ever be manufactured. For 1983, the exterior was given a minor update, with a redesigned "eggcrate" grille, also adding the Ford blue oval; the taillamps saw a minor update because the LTD script was removed from them. For 1980, the coupe assumed the role of full-sized coupe when the Thunderbird was downsized and shared the chassis with the smaller Mustang.For the 1988 model year, the LTD Crown Victoria saw a revision to the exterior and interior. In a move to modernize the exterior and improve its aerodynamics, the edges of the front and rear fenders were rounded off. The design of the bumpers was updated to better integrate the corners into the fenders. The design of the trunklid was changed to fit wraparound taillamp clusters while the front turn signals and parking lamps were integrated into a single cluster with the quad headlamps. The grille was redesigned from an eggcrate style to a waterfall style with the Ford Blue Oval centered. The interior was updated with new front and rear seats. In 1987, Ford sold 5,527 two-door sedans ; due to declining sales of the body style, the two-door was not included in the facelift, making the 1979-87 coupe a minor collector's item.
In 1990, the interior again saw major changes as the dashboard of the LTD Crown Victoria was redesigned. Nearly identical to that of the Grand Marquis, the new interior features a driver-side airbag as standard equipment. To streamline production costs and increase its appeal after 11 years, the standard equipment list of the LTD Crown Victoria added many previously optional features, including air conditioning, which was made standard in 1987, power windows, locks, tilt steering, and automatic headlights. For 1991, the LTD Crown Victoria saw a minor exterior change, as the parking light lenses were changed in color from amber to clear.
Trim
From 1980 to 1982, the LTD Crown Victoria existed as a trim package within the LTD range. As Ford made the LTD Crown Victoria a stand-alone model line, it inherited the same trim lineup from the full-size Ford LTD.As a base model restricted for fleets and police sales, the LTD Crown Victoria "S" was available, coming with either V8 engine. Distinguished by its vinyl roof delete, steel wheels and bright wheel covers, and lack of chrome roof band, the S model was equipped with very few features, such as a vinyl bench seat, hood ornament delete, manual windows and locks, and AM radio. While mostly sold to fleets, the LTD Crown Victoria S was also sold to the general public, as station wagon version was also available in this trim level.
The standard LTD Crown Victoria was intended for retail markets, coming with the 5.0L V8 engine as standard. In addition to the landau-style vinyl padded roof with targa-style trim and wire wheel covers, the model featured full carpeting, reclining cloth bench seat, and AM/FM radio.
Above the standard LTD Crown Victoria, Ford offered an Interior Luxury Package and in 1986, the option package became the LTD Crown Victoria LX. Featuring split-bench cloth seats, the option included upgraded interior carpet, additional sound insulation and power-operated features, and upgraded stereo systems. On the exterior of the LX, the option was distinguished by cornering lamps, two-tone paint, and aluminum alloy wheels.
Variants
Station wagon
From 1979 to 1991, a station wagon was produced alongside the four-door sedan as part of the full-size car line. Trimmed nearly identically to the top-trim LTD Landau, the wood-paneled Country Squire consisted of the majority of sales; an LTD Crown Victoria wagon without the wood sides was available in deluxe as well as in base "S" trim.As with its predecessor, the station wagon came equipped with a dual-hinged tailgate; it opened both downwards like the tailgate of a pickup truck or swung open to the side. Also standard were a roof rack and dual side-facing jump seats in the cargo area, expanding seating capacity to eight. As the demand for family vehicles in the late 1980s and early 1990s had shifted from large station wagons to minivans, full-size vans, and to sport-utility vehicles, sales of the big Ford station wagon rapidly declined; only 3,865 were sold through 1991. For the 1992 model year redesign of the Crown Victoria, the station wagon was dropped from the model lineup.