UPDATE: Crown Vic Monster Truck

Yesterday I decided to run a quick errand, and half way to my destination, I started hearing a rumble.  At first, I thought it was the Subaru in front of me.  Then when I pushed the gas pedal, I came to the realisation that the sound was coming from MY car. 

Exhaust gasket #2 has failed.  And Vic sounds like a Dodge truck with an 8 foot lift kit, chrome everything, and lots of decals.

If you look back through the WUWV archives, you will see that Todd and I replaced one back in 2006.  So it took 6 years for the other one to rot away!  I think I still have a replacement gasket in the trunk, as I bought two, figuring I'd need the second one done soon.  Six years isn't exactly "soon". 

Taxi Guy is on vacation, so Vic will have to wait until later this week to get fixed.  I guess this will be a good time to get rear brake pads, and see if the e-brake can be sorted out... again... I have had that emergency brake setup fixed a billion times, and it always stops working. 

As for Todd's '06, it had been acting strange.  Todd kept having to turn back during his morning commute because the car would barely run.  But when we took it out on weekends, on longer drives,  it was fine.  Finally, it got so bad one day the engine light went on, so now there was a code to read.  The problem?  The throttle position sensor. 

2/7/13 - Another 1,000 Miles...

Sun Sets Over the California Highway Patrol's Fleet of Ford Crown Victorias

An article about the CHP's fleet of Crown Vics, once again supplied by "2-Car Joe H." down in Florida...

Sun Sets Over the California Highway Patrol's Fleet of Ford Crown Victorias

(1/30/12) As you may have heard, Ford has ended production of the venerable Crown Victoria, the mainstay vehicle of American police and taxi fleets for decades.

The Crown Vic assembly line shut down last September, so we found ourselves wondering: What will replace the Crown Victoria in the California Highway Patrol's fleet? Hoping to find an answer, we dropped by the CHP's Fleet Operations facility in West Sacramento, California last weekend, hoping to see what the CHP has purchased now that the Crown Vic is no more.

On one level, our visit was a failure: Instead of finding the CHP's replacement vehicle -- the Interwebs say the Dodge Charger is a likely candidate -- we instead discovered that the CHP is hoarding hundreds of Crown Victorias for future use.

But as metaphor, the trip was a stunning success. We happened to arrive in West Sacramento at dusk, just as a firey sunset was exploding in the sky behind the CHP's motor pool parking lot. It was oddly beautiful.