- When it comes down to heart attacks,
I've probably had a few in my life.
I mean there was a heart attack when a tetherball
came flying at my face in the third grade,
and then ultimately my appendix exploded.
That was a little bit of a sad story,
mostly because I had to end up watching
Adam Sandler movies for seven days
and I'm honestly not sure what hurt more.
- (cheers)
Cindy and Scott are newly-weds!
Whoop-de-doo!
- Another time was when I tried to impress myself
with a little oversteer turn
and I almost went into a ditch with the good old Datsun,
I really almost cried that time.
And last time was when I was driving around
and the damn cop car headlights screamed up
behind me behind a Walgreens parking lot,
and my knees weak, my arms were sweaty,
there was nearly vomit on the sweater
because Wisconsin was so cold and turns out
it was actually just some 35-year-old in an old cop car.
Son
of
a
biscuit.
That was not enjoyable, I was not happy about that at all.
I'm Alex, Alex.FI on Instagram,
and today we are gonna be talking about the car
that gives us panic attacks
as we're driving our summer project car around.
The car that for some reason always looks
just a little bit thrashed in the oddest little places.
Like, why is the hood dented?
The car that somehow is the fastest damn car
in any street racing game in the history of the world.
And I'm not entirely sure how.
It doesn't matter what kind of hyper car you have,
they're still keeping up with you at a buck 95, okay.
The car that for some reason happens to be owned
by way too many people that enjoy giving others an ulcer.
We gonna be talking about, ladies and gentlemen,
you wanting to own a Ford Crown Victoria.
(upbeat music)
(tires squeal)
(siren blares)
(engine revs)
And if this is your first time jumping
into a Fitmen Industries video,
what you gonna do about that?
That's a double wave.
Hello there, friend.
Don't forget to subscribe, so I can keep making
banging videos like this.
And if you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires or suspension, be sure to hit us up
over at fitmenindustries.com,
where we literally have everything:
your American Torq Thrust, Satan lover.
Sorry, I'm just a little still angry about that.
But, if you have, you know,
a Crown Victoria and you need some wheels,
you can go check it out over there.
Or if you have any other car, you can go do that too.
When taking it back to the history of cop cars,
there's really only one that's truly given
me the heebie-jeebies.
It's not the Charger, you can spot that brush bar
a mile away.
And it's not the Ford Escape, you just got to keep
an eye on the old two tone matt vinyl.
It's the son of a (beep) Crown Victoria, okay.
It's the final boss of cop cars,
the flood of the car scene,
the illusive man of the modified car world, okay.
The Crown Victoria started its BS life in 1992 to 2012,
but there's an older version.
But that really hasn't seen the light of day
in four or five decades.
There was a 1955 to 56 Fairlane Crown Victoria
that had a neat roof, big roof actually,
had some color toning, it was pretty good, pretty pretty.
And there's another one, 1980, all right.
That one was in Men in Black, okay.
It was big, wide, went upside down in a tunnel.
I tried doing that with my Hot Wheels,
but I could never really figure it out.
Ford would use the LTD nameplate in that second gen
for the Crown Victoria to replace Lander at the time,
before ultimately the sub model became its own gem
to shine in 1983.
These cars were big and these cars were heavy.
And if you can find a Station Wagon variant
and slam it on the ground,
we'll officially become best friends.
The first official generation of its own nameplate,
again when it came back, was in 1992
and it's the one we all know.
It got sleek body lines for better aero,
a supply chain management plan that allowed the car
to be available practically everywhere at launch.
Took actually an extra 14 months to make that happen.
In the attempt to capitalize
on the American family moving
towards family-oriented vehicles,
who knew,
Vikkie would only be offered as a four door.
They found ways to make this chassis fit as much
other stuff as possible without anyone really
noticing, like doors and hoods and headlights.
They avoid the gas guzzling tax
because they classified the car
as an import through Canada,
which put it in the same imported fleet as their Festiva.
Don't hate the player, hate the game.
It did well enough to warrant the damn cop mobile,
which is the one we're actually talking
about a little bit, okay, and I'll tell you why.
All right, this generation is iconic in its own right.
First off, it's comfortable as hell
and if you've ever ridden in a non-cop version,
you know what I'm talking about.
But the best thing is that it came
with a 4.6 liter modular V8.
You can throw an exhaust on it, sounds like a muscle car.
Drive it for 150,000 miles
and she'll sag like you got air suspension.
But in all honesty, the Crown Victoria was
just another four door car with a big engine.
Rear wheel drive made it do burnouts
and a small transmission meant it was fun to drive
like a teenager.
But just like all good things, it inevitably came
to an end in 2007 for us and 2011 for the fleet mobiles,
'cause there's a few of those.
But we're not here to talk about the history
of the Ford Crown Victoria.
If you want that, you need to go
read a book or something, all right.
Knowledge.
So you want a Ford Crown Victoria.
Well set down your favorite air soft gun
and grab your favorite flashlight
because we're here to talk about it.
The first few generations of the car really aren't
too much to scream home about.
They're Fords, okay,
so some had big engines, they have quite a bit of space,
they got a lot of trunk space and they all got hit
with a little bit of the funky stick,
if you look at them in 2020.
(coughs) What happened to my voice?
Really, we're here to talk about the second
official generation from 1998 right there to about 2012.
So most people see these cars everywhere.
Taxis, cop cars, limos and it makes people wonder, "Why?
"Why are they everywhere?"
And that's because GM ended production on quite a few
of the Victoria's competitors and they were all
just switching over to a front wheel drive system
and five people seating and all that sort of good stuff.
The Victoria was pretty much the only one
in the game left with a four door, affordable,
rear wheel drive, conventional setting system.
And once the Chevrolet Caprice got the old ax,
the Crown Victoria was legit the only option
for the most part for taxi companies,
that wanted a reliable four door sedan.
And on top of that because the Victoria was a fleet
vehicle and became the police interceptor,
production on these cars were massive, massive.
Most cop cars would retire after a few hard years
of being parked and left on for what seems like 24/7,
which meant that a lot of these cars would
additionally go to public auction to be sold off,
with many not seeming a whole lot of action besides
maybe chasing my 16-year-old self across
the middle school soccer field because there may
or may not have been a party that was busted.
That did not happen, I am just saying hypothetically,
I was a young buck once.
Either way, these public auctions make
these cars extremely affordable and a little bit devious.
Most Victorias are decommissioned cop cars,
which means they'll come with the old floodlight
on the side, all right.
They got the bull bar on the front
and they got the old classic two tone fenders
that are now faded with sticker marks.
This is the worst car you can buy as a teen, but also
the best car you can buy as teen, I'm just saying.
People see something they can joke around with
and with a 4.6 liter V8, now you have a recipe
for fun and or disaster,
depending on the type of person that you are.
If you're planning on owning one of these,
there's a couple two three things you need
to keep in mind.
And the number one thing is they are likely old cop cars,
so most motors have a lot of hours on them,
but not usually a lot of mileage.
It's important to keep in mind if you get
that information or if you can.
These cars had some misconceptions about exploding
due to gas tank failures, but this is actually
due to the fact with a lot of the, you know,
cop cars being put in high risk situations,
like being side ways on a highway
and it turns out that if you hit them hard enough,
they can go pop.
Victorias are pretty bullet proof,
they have insanely comfortable seats,
they do burnouts and they make for fun cars.
Not everyone loves them because they are
decommissioned cop cars for which the most part
give me a panic attack.
Pair that in the hands of a 17-year-old
and a few buddies and you know
they're gonna be camping a Walmart parking lot
in the evening night only to rip behind cars
at night to scare them.
If you're looking for wheels or Torq Thrust, always,
you can't really go too wide with these,
but you can still make 'em meaty.
Pair 'em with some Nitto NTs and you're set.
Lowering springs are incredibly common
on Crown Victorias, but you can also switch
it out to coilovers, if you're handy enough.
These cars can look good and if you get them lower
to the ground and you got some clean paint on them,
they look mint.
Clear out the headlights, maybe fill the bullet holes,
grab some American racing wheels
and you're pretty much set.
They're comfortable, they're reliable,
they're easy to work on,
you can lift them or you can slam them on the ground.
But they're literally everywhere.
You just need to be careful which one you buy,
because there's a chance just like an ever
so slightly chance that the car you buy has had
more history in its short life
than you probably ever will.
So what do you think about the Ford Crown Victoria?
Drop your thoughts below.
And of course if you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires or suspension.
Be sure to check us out
over at fitmentindustries.com.
And of course, I'm Alex from Fitmen Industries
and we will see you later.
Peace.