Once upon a time, it was the flagship of the Ford lineup, the Crown Victoria. Police departments just plain loved it because it was just plain big. Drop a big engine in it, bolt some lights on top, and that car could haul!
But you won't find one in a Ford dealer's showroom anymore. Well, if you look really hard, and really fast, you might find one of the less-than-80 2007 Crown Vic cars across the country that are still on a dealer's left over lot, but you won't find any 2008 models.
That's because they are all going to fleet customers like business and governments, particularly police departments. Seems the Ford 500 and the Taurus interiors got bigger along the way and that ate into the Vic's marketshare, to say nothing for non-Ford nameplate competition from the Dodge Charger police car version and others.
At the end, fleet deals made up 95% of the Crown Victoria sales, almost entirely to either police departments or taxi cab fleets. But the model line had its share of troubles along the way too.
Fire dangers under the dash in 2003, 2004 and 2005 models hurt the image. Gas tank explosion claims made by police departments created huge ill will problems for Ford, to the point that Ford reportedly warned them that it would just stop selling the police model if they got any more lawsuits.
Still, in its best day the Crown Vic was still something of a lemon and now its day has gone. A lot of former owners are probably just murmering "good riddance."
If you've got a Ford lemon, we can help. Lemon Motor Vehicle Law cases is what we've been doing for 30 years. It's the reason Ford doesn't like us. We're kinda proud of that.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.