What was my Crown Victoria's past life? 

I have spent 28 years in police work, and I am semi-retired, these cars where what most departments had as patrol vehicles. They took abuse and were easily repaired. I drove the same car (2000 Vic) for about ten years before being promoted and receiving a new Ford Explorer which all sergeants drove at my agency. My old car was in such good shape it received a new power train and was put back in service for a year or two before becoming a spare vehicle for five years, after 18 years of service, it was sold. I drove this car the most and for years it was my take home car. I jumped at the chance to buy it and now we are enjoying our retirement together......LOL.... I drive it daily and I have been bringing back to life a little at a time since it was a marked patrol vehicle it saw its share of abuse. I truly believe these cars will become collector cars at some point since they already have a large following. Good luck with your car and enjoy!

The Ford Crown Vic is an American icon through the 90's and 2000's, its in nearly every Police movie, series or show from these periods or as a taxi in the Big Apple. It is as iconic as the Checker Marathon taxi was from the 60's to early 80's. Unfortunately despite these cars being part of American street furniture and culture for dacades they are really work horses, and these types despite being fondly remembered do not survive in big numbers. Most have a hard harsh life and end up crushed.

Amazed at the amount of history you've managed to uncover. It has led, in police terms, a sheltered life and will hopefully live a very long life in your care.

I've actually got two Crown Vic P71's as daily drivers. There isn't a better car for running up serious miles. They will be missed.

Really interesting history. Probably not being a "hero" car saved it from disaster. Very cool.

For those of us in the USA, if you're a car person you have a soft spot for the "nobody bought them but police" models. Dodge Diplomats, the beached-whale Caprice (which GM taunted us with the "you missed the genius" Impala SS street cars) and these, maybe the ultimate Crown Vics. As ubiquitous as they are, they seem to fall of the road all at once. Great to see one cherished.

My first Crown Vic experience was an interesting one. We arrived at JFK at about 1AM , we jumped into a Yellow Crown Vic. taxi to go to our hotel next to the Lincoln Center. Hitting the freeway the driver nailed it driving at well over 100mph. What surprised me was how well the car handled. On the bad side, the back seat started to bounce violently, making it almost impossible to stay in the seat as we were thrown from one side of the car to another. Anyway we got to the hotel in 20 minutes where it should take about 35

Nice to see the heater core was done, thats a PITA job that involves removing the dash. Sounds like that car was well cared for, thats really nice to see as some agencies don't. Some of these cars are straight up flogged and put away wet. You got a solid ride man!

I wander if there is an American RU-vidr currently looking for the history of an ex police diesel Astra from the U.K.??!! 🤣

My late brother was a retired policeman. He told me that the Crown Victoria was a favorite with the force. They held up very well. It's GM Caprice counterpart was less reliable and also tended to break in half. I hope that you have a goodly amount of cash to keep that beast fed with gasoline.

Probably the most interesting car you've owned in terms of history Matt. Looking forward to see how the paintwork turns out with a good detail. Hope you and your family have a great Christmas 🎄 and New Year.

20 years ago I got arrested in Dallas and had a ride in the back of one of these - complete with cuffs. I was on holiday from The UK and had may too many Coors and JDs at Billy Bobs near the Stock Yard in Fort Worth. Just got driven around and dropped back at my motel as the cop reckoned it was too much work to process a Brit for a misdermeanor. Thanks Sheriff J W Pepper!

It looks like you've hit the jackpot with this one. I'm so pleased for you, especially after the trials and tribulations of quinton. 👍

I wish you a lot of happy kilometers with your Crown Vic.

Good stuff, its great to unravel the history of a 'new' used car. Some British police forces do keep the odd unmarked car on the fleet for a long time as they are good for surveillance duties as the car becomes older. I know of one police force that still had an unmarked 1999 Volvo S70 on the fleet until very recently, in fact it might even still be there.

Awesome story. I hope you get to talk to the guy who drove it. It’s a shame to see these finally getting phased out. I still see them in my area (Alabama), but are more frequently getting replaced with Ford Explorers.

Cracking update, Matt! Great to hear of the Vic’s history. Looking forward to seeing more of it in due course. Best wishes from a wet and windswept Wirral.

That's fantastic, amazing luck to speak with that Cop at the station. Thank for the update Matt. I can't wait to see the Vic in the metal at shows in the future Matt

Brilliant story, fantastic that you know now its background. The help you've received from the Beachwood police is so typical of the attitude in the US. Imagine asking the same question here ... Very much looking forward to seeing how you get on with Lady Vic! PS What's happening with your V8?

Greetings from Glenn in Cleveland Ohio USA! I want to say that many of these cars also did radar patrol on the freeways as well as city. Several times in the news, some of them were rear ended on the freeway and caught on fire. I imagine the new tank is reinforced. I live between The City of Beachwood and The City Cleveland Heights. Cleveland Heights had an entire fleet of Crown Vics in that shade of Green with white tops and some had a black header panel over the front grill. Cleveland Heights detective cars were all black and some were all green (same shade as yours). * In response to your reply in my last comment, I don't have a dash cam. I am looking into getting one in the near future.

As a Panther-body lover I’m so happy to see you driving this. They are unique yet very easy cars to live with and they get in your craw and you just got to enjoy one all the time. If you happen to need more answers respond and I’ll email you. I have some good idea who used it but I’m going to inquire first before sticking my foot firmly in mouth lol

Whoa, Matt! Amazing that you’ve been able to uncover so much history on that car. Looks like you lucked into a really good vehicle even if it wasn’t your first choice of cars to buy. Can’t wait to see it all cleaned up. Back in the late 90’s my father-in-law had one of these in a similar color as a company car. It had been ordered by one of the managers but passed on for some reason. I think said manager got ahold of a Mercury Grand Marquis instead. It was a relatively base spec car but with the performance suspension: 16” alloys and low profile tires. He had a car mount cell phone and a Nextel phone at the time, therefore 2 cell ariels on the back. By sheer chance his license tag began with the letters “HP”. North Carolina State Highway Patrol cars of the time had tags that began with “SHP”. When he drove on the highway, traffic parted like Moses at the Red Sea. He loved that car and held on to it as long as he could.

I had a 2000 Base Model I got in 2010 with 53k miles on it bought it for $4k, Then I found a 2002 LX in 2017 with 63k miles and bought it for $2500 when people were giving these things away. If you really want to dress up your ride, look for some Mustang Bullitt rims from the early 2000s as you can pick up a decent set that's been sitting in someones garage for the last 10 years or so. I got a set with 4 good tires for $400. You would have to get spacers, but it totally spices up the car to look like a Sports Sedan. I slapped some Flow Master 50's for a nice low key growl with a K&N intake system. tinted the windows, upgraded the stereo to Bluetooth. Sure it still looks like a big Grandpa car to the ordinary eye, ( which is fine cuz I'm old) but real car guys know what this car represents.

"A huge relief to find out it wasn't a complete rust bucket" That aged well 😁😁 Quite funny to watch these old videos before "The Sills" were discovered

When I went on my only trip to New York, I was adamant I wanted to travel in a Crown Victoria yellow cab. I waited on the pavement letting the Japanese varients pass until spotting a Crown Vic and flagging it down. The taxi that pulled up behind us gently nudged us in order to get out. It didn't seem to phase my driver one bit. It's a different world over there!

Congrats on the Crown Vic, wonder how many are in the UK, especially an Interceptor. What a great backstory! The history of a car is so important- almost as important as the car itself. Awesome you managed to find out so much! I live in London, Ontario and often pass by the old Ford assembly plant in St. Thomas, just 20 minutes from London. Sadly, it was torn down a few years ago and I believe a new building going up will be used by Amazon. Unbelievably, there are still a few Crown Vics being used by London police and OPP!!

That history sounds absolutely right for a Government vehicle, Fleet maintenance programs are almost always run well. As I have seen some vehicles go to auction with almost no miles I can tell you that it was probably assigned to an employee who used it for infrequent assigned duties. Where I was employed, I saw a parts delivery truck removed from duty with 39,000 miles on it, and sent through Surplus sales on its Age alone. (16 years) Nothing what so ever wrong with it, Sounds like a very well maintained car. Cheers Matt.

That Fire Panel sounds like quite the life saver. It's installed to prevent Police Interceptors from going up in flames when rear ended, i just discovered. Have a google for yourself and see. The service story makes any carlover smile. Buying a car that's been cared for like this one, is what we're all dreaming of. Congratulations Matt. A beautiful colour, low milage, and well kept car it seems. You hit the jackpot.

2002 and earlier Crown Vics had a habit of catching on fire when struck from the rear. Several cops burned to death in the U.S. in their Crown Vics. There was eventually a recall to install a fire suppression system under the fuel tank, and some of the tanks were replaced with ones that has rubber compartments in them, kind of like a race car fuel cell, to minimize fuel leakage if the tank was ruptured. All this was made standard in 2003. All government owned vehicles in the U.S. will have a fleet number that is assigned when the car is bought new, and stays with the car for as long as it is government owned. I am a retired government fleet mechanic. Government cars are well maintained, but because they are often driven by many different drivers, they are rarely treated very well, since the drivers do not own the car or care what happens to it. Where I worked, at the City of Chandler, AZ fleet services department, police cars were routinely retired at 100,000 miles, and most were turned into the central warehouse for auction. And city department could requisition one for their use for free, other than they had to pay for any repairs the car might need to make it safe and roadworthy. Fleet services would keep a few of the best ones around for loaner cars. A strange thing happened with Crown Vics. While 2011 was the last official year of production, when various fleet departments, including government fleet departments discovered that Ford was discontinuing production, the ones who could afford it placed orders for as many as they could afford, as there was no adequate replacement. Ford decided to keep building them until they had fulfilled all the back orders, which they finally did in 2017, six years after it was officially discontinued. Sadly, the very last one went to Saudi Arabia. Because there was no good replacement for the Crown Vic P71, the city I worked for actually had to get an exemption from the city council to continue using them long past what would have been their usual lifespan. Cars were refurbished, engines and transmissions were replaced, whatever it took to keep them safe and roadworthy and usable as police cars. I am retired now, and while the city still owns a few Crown Vics, none of them are still being used as police cars. They had to switch over to Ford Explorer SUVs, which most cops hate. They are nowhere near as reliable as the Crown Vics, and are constantly breaking down.

I have a 2009 Crown Vic Police Interceptor SAP, purchased it with 62k in 2017, currently has 117k been a great car, I have the 3.55 axel, rug, bench seat and cruise control, was a NYS MTA car.

Isn't it just great finding about the histry about a car, that's a great story on your Crown. I just found out my 97 Cordoba Vario estate was bought from new by a flower shop in Castellon Valencia, delivering flowers. and I have found the actual shop and spoken to the owner , who would now love to by the car back...No Chance of that

That is one Mean Green Machine! Ironic that you had to do your own detective work to find out it was driven by a detective but you certainly put those leads to good use in the end!

That's great that Darren was able to find out about the car! I live in a small midwestern town not too unlike Beachwood, and while the PD has active duty cars that are newer, they do keep hold of some older cars on the fleet. It very likely depends on budget, which can be stretched in small towns.

Good bit of *detective* work learning all that! Fascinating to know so much historical info is available about a particular car! Matt, I know you will soon have to sort out how to do amber rear turn signals - I sure you know there was a variant of those Crown Vic taillights that had the amber lenses already built in. I think they were for a later model year.

I love the colour, (or should that be color!), love the wheel trims, love the the car's proportions and love the way people have been so kind in helping you find out it's very interesting history. Reminds of a happy trip to New York. Looking forward to seeing more on this wonderful car.

I don't know what it is about the Crown Vic, I just love them, and that name, it's just so cool.

Wonderful news all round. Very pleased for you. Happy days 😊✔

As an Ohio resident I do know that annual MOT's are not required in all counties. Cities that do require an annual emissions inspection are Cleveland and Cincinnati. As for counties that require a full MOT, I am not aware of. As for the types of damage this vehicle experienced, the driver was not fully aware of the actual length of the vehicle, its like taking someone who drives a Renault Megan Saloon and then putting them in the drivers seat of a military Hummv. Its long with blind spots forwards and back. Unless you drive this beast on a daily basis a newbee will have trouble negotiating the length, same with a Vikie. All I can say is enjoy this ride! Countless officers are cursing Ford every day for dropping this fine product.

Wow, great update. What a car!!

Matt, that history is a great find and really makes the back story. In that colour as well it looks lovely, a real ‘keeper’. Well done!

Really love your content, always like Crown Vics. You are my "go to" car fellow. Keep up the great work.

Have been in several Crown Vic’s in New York. I remember them seeming absolutely huge compared to our cabs and then being amazed by how tight the rear legroom was. The big soft seats were comfy on the badly surfaced freeways. Having been in a Chrysler Voyager and head butted the roof on the same roads several times I was pleased that the suspension was soft and fairly well damped. The sound track of course makes it so much more exciting than getting into a Toyota , Vauxhall Vectra or Peugeot 406

Car-eology as you call it, is one of my favourite things about owning and learning about classic cars - so this video is right up my street. Fantastic that everyone was so helpful to you, it's a shame that often its very difficult to find out this information and stories about our cars these days, so really pleased you didn't come up against that!

The FIRE Panel is a retrofittable fuel tank fire protection technology available for the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. In order to reach the fuel tank with some object that would puncture or ignite the fuel, that object must first pass through a breakable, protective wrap containing fire suppressing powder that is installed around the exterior of the fuel tank. The puncturing of this protective wrap releases a "cloud" of fire suppressing powder that "inerts" the space around the fuel tank, thereby preventing the ignition of the fuel or quickly suppressing a created fire. This simple, highly effective technology can be installed in under 30 minutes without modification to the vehicle or dropping the fuel tank. FIRE Panel is currently in use on more than 25,000 CVPIs, and is also the fuel tank fire suppression installed on thousands of US military tactical and MRAP vehicles. If you get shot at or rear ended your car won’t blow up lol 👍🏻

Fantastic information

My 2008 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor was a Black and White patrol car from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department (Unit SD6542). It was assigned to the Santa Clarita Valley Patrol Station and it was driven hard. Still conducting research.

Being non standard color and kept in service so long I wonder if it's duties were more administrative. Like serving warrants . Prisoner transfer. Supervisor duties . Assigned to higher ranking staffers . Keep an eye on the rear bumper fascia panel they aren't attached so well and the lower edge will flutter and vertical cracks will develop and will disintegrate rapidly .

Fascinating history, thanks for sharing!

This was fascinating! Also I wonder what the detective thought about the car now being so far away in the UK with it’s new owner?! I love stuff like this, thank you for sharing Matt!

Beachwood has good money. I'm not surprised its this well maintained.

Great detective work! Provenance is so important.

Impressed with all that history you've discovered already and fascinating to hear it!

this is awesome to hear. I wish I could find more information on my cvpi.. sweet video!

I’m hooked Loving the Crown Victoria videos, always interesting to find out the history of a vehicle

People from Europe are always saying things like “why do Americans get such little power out of such a large V8?” And the answer is simple. Most Crown Vics went into service roles (fleets, taxis, government cars/police, etc.) and instead of being tuned and built for peak HP and performance, they were tuned to be lazy and de-stressed. The Chevy Small-blocks in the old Caprice and the Modular V8 in the Crown Vic may not put out impressive numbers on paper, but they will run FOREVER, even when abused and completely neglected. NYC cabs are probably the most abused cars in the world, they run 24/7, 365 in constant stop and go traffic, and if you’ve ever ridden in a NYC cab, 9 times out of 10 the driver treats the throttle pedal as an on off switch. It’s foot to the floor, slam on the brakes, foot to the floor etc. and those cars put up with a decade+ of that without missing a beat. I’ve seen Crown Vic listings for sale with north of 500,000 miles and still running. At 80,000 miles your car is barely broken in 👍

The cop who drove mine p71 in California simply left a forgotten business card inside the car. Having email contact with him turned out great, received history and pictures from the car on duty.

It was a pleasant surprise to find this video since I have been living in Beachwood, Ohio the last couple of years. Great video and great car!

What a fascinating history about your lovely Crown Vic! Great video.

Some great detective work there, Matt! Well done Darren also for his work.

I get the impression that the Ford Crown Victoria was the go to choice for many police forces in the US for a dependable motorway mileage muncher, similar to how the Vauxhall Senator 3.0i 24v in the early 90s was for many police forces in the UK.

Interesting stuff, many thanks!

Really interesting learning about the history 👍

Hi Matt, glad it was positive news and you found out all about it. Hope it continues to serve you well. 👍

Great stuff Matt,top research on the ‘quiet ‘ unmarked Crown Vic.Thanks for the shirt signing at NEC too.Exciting stuff picking up from Southampton where I also picked up my super original wols 6/90 from Australia …ready for retro police action !

Great interesting video Matt, I'm happy you finally got the car you wanted. I wish I could afford to import a car, I think it would have to be a Holden HZ with a V8 that I was crazy about while travelling in OZ in the early 90s.

Very, very happy you got a carfax report! Even better it has no salvage or flood title! Especially flood; many vehicles involved in floods have been sold again under a different title. There is a used car place that has about one hundred of these up for sale in upstate New York (Saugerties). These are now used for taxi and transport services, used to transport passengers locally and those to doctor appointments. Hoping this goes through the MOT with flying colours.

Great video Matt, really enjoyed this video learning about its history it just makes the car have character and know what it has been through.

such a cool story matt!!, cant wait to see you get this on the road.

I bet it feels good to be able to say “My Ford Crown Victoria” 😄

Nice you’ve gotten all this history on it. I know where my crown Vic worked prior to me buying it but that’s literally IT. The place purges their records 🥺.

What a great video thank you 😊

I'm so happy for you to have found your dream car! Though I would be much more excited by that maroon '65 Pontiac Grand Prix (at the 9:51 mark) that seems to be in transit as well into the UK. Based on what you say, if the City of Beachwood owned it (which is really a small town at only 11,000 people or so, not a city like Chicago or even Cleveland where it is a suburb), the FBI wouldn't have anything to do with its ownership and use. That's two totally separate units of government, one at the local level, and the other at the Federal level that have completely different purchasing and disposal procedures. And if it was bought at a city auction, it would seem that it had its entire life in that City if the Carfax is accurate. Regardless of the police usage requirement, that may be the original owner from new. Carfax is great for some information, but there are often gaps, alas. If the police department can't lay claim or shed light to its history, perhaps the police force purchased it, and it somehow legally went into the use of, say, the city mayor or other official? Beachwood is a small place, and the community is not going to want to squander money on official vehicles unnecessarily, so this had to have been used by the mayor, or perhaps a building code inspector. Someone who is / was employed by the city, but needed transportation to perform their duties. A buidling inspector would be out and about frequently, and a very likely position where there was need for an official vehicle. This wasn't some status thing used by a pompous politician to look important. It was a workhorse. And yes, rust belt cars always raise an eyebrow or two, so glad you found one that survived that. I sold new vehicles at one time, and the dealership organization would sometimes resell "cherry" well-maintained trades, preferably without damage or accident history, but it WOULD take on trade and resell through its own networkl a car that had an accident as you mention where the airbag(s) did not deploy. Apparently an impact where airbags deployed suggested the car had a significantly more questionable future regarding reliability and durability. I'm sure someone else here would know for certain, but I suspect the "fire wall" charge of $500 relates to a recall of these vehicles around that time (2008). The cars had fuel tank rupture concerns brought forwards. These were the type of vehicle very likely to be rearended because when the police pull over a or assist a motorist, the police (or unmarked car as this is the case) is parked behind but over to the left a couple of feet so as to provide a buffer between the police talking to the motorist, and the traffic whizzing by at whatever speed. And as this is the US where many drivers ignore the speed limit, ignore laws against mobile phone usage, etc., oblivious drivers crashing into the rear of a stopped police vehicle is not uncommon and a grave job hazzard law enforcement can face. Fortunately, most states have adopted a "Move Over" law requiring motorists to move out of the driving lane and into the passing lane if possible, and / or slow down when approaching an emergency vehicle on the roadside. I am very interested to find out any more history of this vehicle.

Excellent investigative work, it looks like the car is suits you very well!

Amazing how much history you've found, that's great!

Mine is so tell of the same job title. 40k Miles. 10 years old. "surplus". I've owned it 10 years, still love her.

Recall on leaky rims. Recall on some light switch thingy. Best car, overall, that I ever had. Better than my old '66 Pontiac GTO.

Very interesting indeed, great content and story, looking forward to the next!

Have always really enjoyed your channel, great content, love the colour of this car, really suits it.

Looking forward to watching this over lunch later on.

Nice one Matt. It appears to have been well looked after in regard to servicing/maintenance. Have fun with it.

Great story especially finding all that history - well done 😊

Great history! Amazing you were able to find one of the police drivers!

Such a cool history the Ford. And such a good detective work from your part.

Really interesting Matt, I’m quite excited about the new fleet addition!

Very interesting video Matt. That car has certainly lived a life.

Well done , looks like a fine car. Very best of luck with it.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE that fern green colour man!! I'm VERY envious!!!!

Wow thats a decent amount of info on your car and some great detective work too 👍 its one smart looking Crown Vic.

I have 5 in my driveway atm. My latest was owned by the state of CA Dept of Corrections. Canine unit with a bit of dog hair

The P-71s had a recall for the front fenders rusting above the tires and the steel wheels, the paint would were off in a very sort period of time rusting the wheels. Great looking car, In my village in the US they are still work them, crazy! :-)

Interesting to hear the history of your P71. Great content.👍

Fascinating. Love finding out the history of vehicles.

I loved driving my 2002 Vic. It’s a different experience!

The interesting history is that when free trade got shoved down our throats Ford knew what was coming. The ongoing elimination of living wage jobs in the late great usa was well under way from the late 1970's. All the Crown Victoria's and Grand Marquis were made in Canada starting in 1992. The engines and transmissions were made in Michigan. I have a black 07 with 140k AND a white 11 with 144K. Best cars I ever bought with cash and do my own work except when the trans lost 3rd and 4th gear after a filter change. It had 125K so I figured it was time to rebuild it anyway on the 07. When people sell them they switch the clusters with lower mileage readings. Watch for it!

Perhaps after the winter has passed and cars are all sorted in the springtime, would be interesting to do a silly little cops n robbers skit with Ian's Fairmont and the Crown vic. Betty vs Viccy!

Mines an 08 p71, black and white with the pushbar up front. Bought it from a couple who got it from the police auction in their small Kentucky town. There it served as the chiefs car, where it racked up nearly 6k idle hours. I've been dailying it since I bought it back in March. Its only got 113k miles now, and runs great

I absolutely love the colour of that car!

Cool to get all that info 👍

Marti reports can take a while to receive. I ordered one via email and also one printed and mailed. I got my digital report in about 3 weeks, my paper report just shipped last week and I still haven't received it over 3 months later. Hopefully you picked the email option so you can at least get the information sooner. Hopefully yours has 3.55 rear gears and limited slip, my '99 P71 came with both and I was super happy with that. Congrats on the car man, its way cool to see one of those over the pond in the UK.

I read the fire panel deploys a powder like a fire extinguisher upon rear end impact. To prevent fire. There is a video on youtube of a Crown Vic rear ended...