2001 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor

How bad is the 25% at night? I don't need a pic, just asking your opinion.
 
If you don't have good night vision, it can be problematic. The biggest problem with 25% at night isn't actually seeing out the side windows, it's reversing - especially if you're using a rearview mirror that's either an autodimmer or has dimmed with age. Can't see out the rear windshield via a mirror very well at all in the dark, especially if you don't have really bright reversing lamps.

I usually turn and look back, of course, but many people don't. Even then, if the rear glass isn't clean it can easily be a problem. Something to think about.

Of course, the benefit is that the sun won't bake your car quite so badly. :dunno:
 
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This looks quite brilliant and makes me even more eager to read Pt. 2 of the buying guide!
 
Thanks man. I've had a few cars with tinted windows but I bought them that way, so I never knew the actual percentage. I'm toying with the idea of tinting the windows in the F150 before I sell it, but I don't know if it would be worth the cost.

Also, my friends CVPI has finally died. Another spark plug stripped out, but instead of actually firing out of the head it just rattled around, dumping shattered bits of ceramic into the combustion chamber. To add insult to injury, his back-up vehicle is an S10. :lol:
 
Well, the CVPI made the run from North Dallas to Houston (257 miles) in three hours flat including two very brief stops along the way. 12 of 12 speedtraps were defeated.

Mom seems to like the car, but has only seen it at night and has not seen it during the day or driven it yet. Seems to like the ride so far. Dad thinks it's kind of interesting.

He's not going to get to drive it, though. :p
 
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If your mom doesn't like it I'll take it off your hands. :D
 
Spectre said:
Well, the CVPI made the run from North Dallas to Houston (257 miles) in three hours flat including two very brief stops along the way. 12 of 12 speedtraps were defeated.
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12 speedtraps in 250 miles? JESUS that's aggressive. Now the question is, were these speedtraps defeated by appearance, electronic countermeasures and detection, or seat-of-the-pants excellent driving?
 
Appearance only - I didn't lift off for any of them. Half of the officers waved to me/waved me past. No ECM in the car this time, either. There was only one way to find out how speedtrap resistant the car was, after all.

After the bad news on Friday morning, I was afraid the car might have lost its mission (among other minor issues, all secondary to my mom's health) but it seems it hasn't. WHEN she gets into a clinical trial down here, she's looking at having to be here for a couple of days every three weeks. That means the car's still got a reason for staying in the fleet, and I can finish it up (I brought it down uncompleted due to time issues.) Mom should get the paperwork to sign and return for it this week, and then it'll technically be hers.

She didn't get a chance to drive it, but she did like the back seat (already Lincolnized) and the ride quality. Irons out Houston's terrible pavement fairly well - and nobody gets near the thing. As far as those two objectives are concerned, it's a success.
 
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Lincoln Town Car Cartier front seats. Yes, leather dye will be applied later.
 
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Stereo upgrade - Pioneer Premier DEH-P310UB.

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Kind of looks like it belongs there. Also does the Saab-style Black Panel trick, which should help at night on long trips.

Also, updated the Lincoln seat pics above.
 
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That steering wheel is GROSS. Is that a damned chunk missing out of it?

God, put a granny cover on it or something.
 
EyeMWing said:
That steering wheel is GROSS. Is that a damned chunk missing out of it?

God, put a granny cover on it or something.
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I bet it is still better than most Lincoln steering wheels of the mid to late nineties. :p
 
As much as these cars make me have mild panic attacks, do double-takes in the rear-view mirror, and slow down slower than I should be going...I have to say......

YAY SNOW!

It looks like a big ol' snowball.
 
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Nice stereo! How has the car been so far? The Steering wheels on the later Town Car models looked a bit better, but not by much. Should be easy to replace though (though you would need to find one that matches the color of your dash).
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That style wheel cannot be easily retrofitted to the 2001 CV - I am missing the support electronics for it, and I'd lose cruise control. Car's been good so far, though bashing through ice and snow drifts seems to have done no good for the ABS system - I went to help an older friend of mine who was unwilling to drive in snow and ice and had my ABS go offline after running through an ice ridge on a street. Once it warms up this week, I'll be investigating.
 
Probably just a bad sensor, or a corroded connection. This happens alot where I live.
 
Yeah, or I might have had some chunk of ice smack one of the sensors, something like that. I'm figuring that it'll be a bad wheel speed sensor or a cut wire, something like that.
 
Well, had a chance to jack the car up this weekend, didn't find any obvious problems with the ABS system. I ordered in the special ABS diagnostic tool that many of these domestic cars require, and after I pick it up Monday I'll find out what the problem is; many Fords, GMs and Chryslers do not display ABS error messages on standard OBD2 scanners but instead require special scanners that can read those codes. Mass-market scanners that can do this were released, but they have since been discontinued as few people bought them - apparently people would rather get their ABS systems serviced by their local dealer. I picked up one of the units that's being closed out.

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The other objective was to replace the rear shocks, which have been wonky since shortly after I picked the car up. Turns out that only one was still even vaguely functional; apparently very late in the car's life the police had the blown OE police-duty shocks replaced with 'whatever the local quick-lube place could get for cheap while they were changing the oil.' Said quick-lube shop installed Monroematic-Plus shocks for a civilian CV. Monroematic on top and new Ford Motorcraft police shock on bottom:

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Unfortunately the CVPI has springs that are far more powerful than the civilian CV and a CVPI will kill civvie shocks pretty fast - which my car has done. Monroe specifically says to not use these on the police cars, but some idiot ignored that. Of course, they could have just thrown some shocks on it just so that they could sell it... Anyway, both showed that they had been leaking oil for a while and only one still had a gas charge.

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Both shocks have been replaced with the proper spec Ford Motorcraft units intended for the police cars - the ride is greatly improved and the ever-increasing wallow is now gone.
 
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