Welcome to the Crown Vics ETC blog!

On April 6, 2000, I purchased a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria LX HPP with 23,490 miles. I decided to start a little website for it featuring a running log of my experiences with the car. Vic 1.0 was retired in 2015 due to rust and electrical issues. Vic 2.0 was a 2006 P71 in Blue Pearl that belonged to my boyfriend. It was a Ford demo and never saw actual police use. It was damaged in September of 2018 with well over 186,000 miles. It was replaced by Vic 3.0 in October 2018, a 2008 P71 in Silver Birch with 120,971 miles. To read posts prior to 2010, click a link at right, or go to Crown Vics, ETC.

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Classic Ford ‘Crown Vic’ Police Cruiser Becomes Vintage

SOURCE:  Milford Daily News - J.Phelps


Once a staple of police departments across the country, Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers are nearly all off the road.

The classic cop car is still featured as one of the main photographs on the Ashland Police Department’s website. But the department recently got rid of its last “Crown Vic,” a 2010 model used by K-9 Officer Chris Alberini and his partner, Dax.

The Crown Vics were known for being spacious, powerful pickup and great visibility, said Ashland Police Chief Vincent Alfano.

“It is the quintessential police cruiser,” said Alfano, who has driven a Crown Victoria, Explorer, Taurus, Charger and Chevy Caprice for work. “The Crown Vics stand out as the most solid, reliable workhorse. They had all the horsepower and handling that you needed and it was just very comfortable.”

Natick, however, still has a 2011 Crown Vic in service used by the high school resource officer. And the Franklin Police Department has four of them, although none are used for patrols.

Ford Motor Company has made police cars since the 1950s. The Crown Victoria Police Interceptor was introduced in 1983. By 1998, the model dominated sales of all pursuit vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, according to Ford. But the company stopped making the Crown Victoria in 2012, prompting many departments to switch to SUVs or Dodge Chargers.

“It truly is the end of an era and a bittersweet moment as we bid farewell to our ‘old faithful’ Crown Victoria,” reads a post from the Ashland Police Department.

Alberini now drives a 2014 Ford Police Interceptor Utility, commonly known as an Explorer, with all the necessary equipment for Dax.

“The K-9 cruiser was not used all three shifts, so its service life was extended,” said Alfano.

Many departments are now using one of the other sedans made by Ford, or the Dodge Charger or Chevy Tahoe.

Alfano said police cruisers built around the body of a Ford Taurus work well for detective and administrative work, but lack the space needed for standard patrol work.

Cruisers now mostly come standard with all-wheel drive and meet tougher rollover standards.

MHQ in Marlborough outfits cruisers for many police departments, including the Massachusetts State Police. Now, Ford police cruisers come standard as hybrid models.

40 states competed for the American Association of State Troopers’ best police cruiser contest

Natick police received the last Crown Vic outfitted by MHQ in May 2013. The company put a decal designating it as the “Final Edition Crown Victoria.” Many MHQ employees signed the inside of the trunk to mark the occasion.

Of the four Crown Vics left in Franklin’s 28-vehicle fleet, three are used by detectives and one is used by officers to go to court assignments or training events, according to Police Chief Thomas J. Lynch.

“These vehicles do not accrue mileage as fast as regularly deployed Patrol Division vehicles,” he wrote in an email to the Daily News. “As the four remaining CVPIs accrue mileage, years of service and eventually meet our vehicle replacement policy, they will be replaced with Ford Police Interceptor utilities or sedans.”

For many years, Hopkinton School Resource Officer Phil Powers drove the department’s last Crown Vic. He often joked he’d retire with it.

The car now sits in the parking lot waiting to be traded in or fixed up to be used for details.

“I got attached to it, because it was a very nice car,” said Powers, who has been with the department for 31 years. “They are going to be extinct very shortly.”

He got to keep it longer than most because his duty as school resource officer didn’t require a front-line car.

“What I like about it was you could see a lot better,” Powers said. “You didn’t have as many obstacles in the car. There was more space than the Explorers. They were closer to the ground.”

Alfano said many veteran officers, like himself, miss and have a soft spot for the Crown Vics.

“I wish in the perfect world that Ford looked at engineering a four-wheel drive version of the Crown Vic,” he said.

Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 508-626-4338 or jphelps@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @JPhelps_MW.