Panther body thread?

Panther body thread?

Picked up this lx sport recently for $2k. Just finished the jmod on saturday and that combined with the 3.27 gears is nothing short of sublime.

Crown Vic sold a "sport" edition? what was different compared to a regular LX?

also, posting muh boat

Probably suspension bits and gear ratio if I had to wager

>The "LX Sport" trim also debuted, including standard leather seating, rear air suspension, dual exhaust, a center console with a floor mounted shifter, 5-passenger seating, revised springs, shocks, and stabilizer bars for sportier handling, as well as monochromatic exterior treatment and 17" 5-spoke alloy wheels. The LX Sport also used a 3.27 rear axle ratio (open differential) as opposed to the standard 2.73 rear axle ratio found on non-LX Sport civilian models.

maybe its just me, but it seems like adding air suspension to a "sport" model, would be counter productive

It soaks up bumps really well though, if they used it in conjunction with the other improvements they probably thought the ride was equivalent to European and Japanese models
I had a box panther Country Squire that had airbags in the rear and it road like a cloud, only the biggest of potholes(tank traps) we're felt

>stabilizer bars for SPORTIER HANDLING
dangit I love panthers

Dude how long have you had that car. I can't even remember how many times I've seen it posted here over the years

I can't believe the LX Sport didn't get a LSD. On the mid '90s Town Car if you got the Sport(might have been called touring) package you got the LSD but it removed traction control since it was a brake based system.

Shit, yes, you must have had that forever. I recall seeing it back in like...2009.

Yeah, kind of irritating. Weird thing is though, my lx sport has no traction control even though it has every other option available.
I've had like 6 panthers over the years. Pic related was mine from 2008-2010. It had been in a wreck prior to me owning it and it ended up getting a 3.27 LSD, I assume because they just got a junkyard axle and threw it in. It was very enjoyable. Im thinking about an lsd unit for my current one at some point.
Pic related was nice though, drove it to California from Texas and back. Was a very nice roadtrip car.

Also it's worthy to note that Ford really does some annoying things every now and then. Like how they made the Marauder, an absolute masterpiece of a vehicle, but sold themselves short and didn't add the blower to the cobra engine they put in it.
Just like they didn't add lsd to the lx sport. Or put the mustang cams in the lx sport.

I don't really claim any brand allegiance, but I tend to like Ford products more than GM products, despite the fact that I own a corvette. So it's kind of annoying that they sell things short like that.

Dropping my 09 P71 soon boys, I'm hype. Ordered springs from coil spring specialties.

All the 'sporty' Panthers had air ride including the Marauder. It's a weird thing for sure, but then again that same tidbit also includes "stabilizer bars for sportier handling" because standard Panthers have NO rear swaybar stock.

'course, the LX Sport is a parts-bin car just like every other Panther, there's nothing unique about it- air ride, dual exhaust, heavy duty suspension (all of them were 'revised' from 2003 onwards), etc. are all easy to find on Town Cars and P71s, and the revised interior is a mishmash- individual bucket seats for the front can be found in both P71s and Marauders and Marauders have the floor mounted shifter as well.

Shit's infuriating, I've been watching my local junkyard for months to try to score an 03+ cup holder and the one time I finally get down to see a new arrival within a day (because the cup holders are always gone within 24 hours, it seems), it's a fucking LX Sport with the center console so it's useless to me.

so many cheap crown vics out there buds, its hard not to snatch em all up

>literally no cheap ones around here
ree

Fucking kek, I remember now. My 2003 lx cup holders were fragile as glass.

Thing is, it's not even a matter of fragility, just convenience- I've got an '01 and the cup holders in the 98-02s are ATROCIOUS. Hard plastic all around, no drainage if you spill something, which you will because they're literally less than an inch deep and have a shitty rubber tab that's supposed to hold drinks in (it doesn't). Oh, and the power point is uncovered and right between the cup holders and right behind the change tray so good luck avoiding drinks AND pennis from falling in. I took this a while ago as reference for how fucking shallow they are- that's a standard roll of electrical tape in the hole.

It's gotten to the point where I found one of these stupid goddamn things in the shed and clipped it onto my drivers' side door cubbyhole just so I had someplace to stick a water bottle, because good luck putting it anywhere else in the front- bench seats have zero support so the drink just rolls everywhere anyway and putting it on the floor is a great way to have it disappear into the presumed alternate dimension under the seat, because I'm pretty sure wherever the floor leads under there sure as fuck isn't anywhere on Earth.

Anyone in this thread got a link to a good "buyers guide" on the Panther platform? Differences between year, trims, things to look for etc? Thanks kindly - been wanting one for years, narrow ass alley parking means it's going to stay a dream for a while longer.

Dunno if there's a specific guide, but just Googling around will help greatly plus there's multiple Panthers specific forums out there with metric fuckloads of information. Typing as much as I'd like will be a pain for an hour or so cause I'm being a dirty phoneposter, but as a general guide:
>Ford Crown Victoria: the standard Panther body everyone thinks of
>Mercury Grand Marquis: Slightly upscale version of the Crown Vic but essentially the same car with different badges, all interior and most exterior parts (depending on year for lights, fenders and doors) interchange with the Vic. Both also have the same low/high trim levels, base and LX for the CV/GS and LS for the GMQ.
>Crown Victoria P71: the (in)famous Police Interceptor, built off the Crown Vic but classified as a separate car under most of Ford's own literature due to its fleet-only sales. The few speed parts it has (dual exhaust, 3.27 gears, rear swaybar) are available as rare options on civilian cars but can be easily swapped on from a junkyard car; most of the P71s unique parts are durability based, like external oil and tranny fluid coolers.
>Lincoln Town Car: Luxury model, lots of goodies as standard equipment including air suspension. Lots of unique parts inside and out, shares less parts with the CV/GMQ
>Mercury Marauder: Cream of the crop two year only model, a mix of a high trim CV and GMQ with the engine from a Mustang Cobra. Rare, costly, and still a 4000lb road barge.

The Panther platform started in the late 70s, but most cars you'll be looking at will be from 92 onwards, which was the first year of the 'modern' Panther (with modern in really big air quotes; IIRC the Town Car was updated one year earlier). The cars are split into two main generations, 92-97 for the 'Aero' body cars (the ones that look like Tauruses) and 98-2011 for the 'Whale' body cars. Crown Vic retained their outside appearance for pretty much the entirety of each generation, Marquis and Town Cars had both mid-cycle refreshes and semi yearly updates. If you Google for 'crown Vic yearly changes,' look for the page hosted at something like 'pontiacperformance.net'- the site is dead but Google's archive should still work and it's a good resource for yearly changes. Offhand, here's the big ones, a few might be wrong by a year or so:
>1991/2: first year of the Aero body, including the 4.6L Modular V8
>1995: Marquis facelift
>1998: First year for Whale body, 4.6 gains coil on plug ignition, Crown Vic receives Marquis' squared roofline and doors, Marquis gains CV quarter panels
>2001: 4.6 receives Performance Improved (PI) heads for moderate power gain
>2003: full suspension overhaul for the first time since the 70s, rack and pinion steering replaces recirculating ball, 4.6 receives new intake manifold, Marquis and Town Car visually updated
>2006/7: Drive by wire introduced, Marquis gets another facelift
>2011: End of production

Bigger sway bars, different gearing and possibly air suspension.

the floor under the drivers seat is a great place to keep extra stuff, i always have some emergency gas cash down there.

where you at?

Thanks man, helpful start.

So... it's been in an accident in the passenger side near the front?

I dug my 92 out of the woods where it's been sitting for a year and a half to be put back into winter beater service. I was going to demo it, but I sold my old winter wagon, and don't want to drive my Towncar or F250 in the salt so I've been slowly bringing this shitbox back to life.

NH, for some reason I beat up victoria's sell for more than grand marquis in better condition. All of the ones I see locally are beat to fuck.
Missed out on a really clean marquis for $1600 with 80k, for that money here you'd get a vic with awful paint and like 150k+ on the clock

Yeah man, you're not lying. I had a 96, 98, 99, 00, 03, and now and 03 lx sport. The pre 03s were durable but useless like you said. 03+ held drinks well but were fragile as fuck. The only one I feel is worth a shit is the sport/marauder console cup holders. They work well.

literally only a year.

Clean car by the looks of it. Great color for an aero too.

Oh boy, do I miss my cvpi. Why did I even sell her?

Maybe its to keep the price down?

Because it looked fucking retarded. What even are those stickers, that's just crud.