Memory Lane....is populated by Panthers

[fordnmerc]

I added up the number of Panthers in my family over the years and as of now it stands at 13, with number 14 to come soon. Here are some pics and a few details.

1982 LTD 2 door. Black with red cloth interior. The 302 and automatic overdrive. Lousy variable-venturi carb. Had an am/fm radio and that's about it. Didn't even come with rear bumper guards from the factory. Still a really sharp car, though.

1989 LTD Crown Victoria base. Medium Sandalwood with Light Sandalwood cloth interior. Had cruise and cassette but no vinyl roof. Bumper rub strips front and back but no bumper guards.

1998 Crown Victoria base P73. Spruce Green with light gray cloth interior. I bought it new in September of 1998, had just driven it off the lot in the first photo. Later sold it to my mother. Unfortunately, in June of 2002 she was hit head-on by a kid in a Subaru that you can also see in the picture. He was looking in the backseat to check on a cat that was IN a carrier and he crossed the center line. She had a guardrail on her right and had nowhere to go to get out of the way. She only had some bumps and bruises and minor airbag burns. Stupid kid was okay too. The Vic only had 17k miles on it.

More to come....

[fordnmerc]

1990 Mercury Grand Marquis GS. Dark blue, white vinyl top, dark blue cloth interior.

1998 Crown Victoria P71 Interceptor. Former New York State trooper car.

Three GMs....the most Panthers that I had at one time. This image is actually from Google Maps from our street in 2014.

1986 Mercury Grand Marquis GS. White with blue vinyl roof (removed) and blue cloth interior.

1995 Mercury Grand Marquis LS. Medium Willow Green Metallic with Willow Green leather interior, analog dash. (On the street.)

1996 Mercury Grand Marquis LS. Medium Willow Green Metallic with Willow Green leather interior, digital dash. (In the driveway.)

[fordnmerc]

Didn't have photos left of these 4, so I found images on the 'net that were virtually identical....except for my crude photoshopping of the black carriage roof.

1991 LTD Crown Victoria LX. White with black carriage roof and light tan cloth interior.

2004 Crown Victoria base P73. Arizona Beige with light tan cloth interior. My mother's car that I also owned for a while after she quit driving.

2004 Crown Victoria LX P74. Light Crystal Blue with Medium Graphite cloth interior. Highly optioned, including 10-disc cd changer in the trunk. Purchased in 2004 for $17,100 total, including tax, with 4k miles on it. Sold it several months later for $17,000.

1991 Mercury Grand Marquis LS. Gray, with gray vinyl roof, and gray cloth interior. Purchased for $1500 in mid 2010 with 85k miles. Was told by the small-time dealer that the a/c worked fine. It did not. We got the last laugh. He said he had his mechanic go all through the car. Another lie. I found a bag of old coins stashed behind the spare tire by a previous owner. Including a couple of large cents from just after the turn of the year 1800. Sold the coins for $300. Drove the car all over the U.S. from Old Orchard Beach, Maine to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Astoria, Oregon. Did one oil change and put in one new battery. Was just about to turn over to 100,000 miles when we sold it in Astoria in December, 2011 for $300 because of an unknown electrical short that we couldn't track down. That car climbed up to 'Cloud Cap' on Mount Hood in Oregon about 4 months before we had to get rid of it.

[fordnmerc]

That brings me to the latest.

2000 Mercury Grand Marquis LS. Silver Frost with light gray cloth interior. Purchased for $500, but found a ten dollar bill behind the trunk lining and five dollars in change scattered all through it. Nice car, but torque converter is failing.

Will soon be looking for a black 2004 P71 Interceptor.

[sly]

I wish I had pics of the ones I grew up with. Especially the '79 351w LTD-S Tudor. There was also an 85 Grand Marquis, 87 Grand Marquis (because the 85 was wrecked by a drunk kid in a 84-87 wagon that pushed the car over the curb completely into the yard), and a 90 Grand Marquis. The 79 was a hand me down from my mom's mom's mom (maternal great grandmother) to my mom. The rest were cars my mom's parents had as company cars except for the 90. That was a personal car my grandparents had.

Of course we know about the 3 I have now.

[knucklehead0202]

Far as I know i'm the first and only panther owner in my family, although we've had a smattering of fox-chassis vehicles, although those were mostly mine too, lol.

I've had a '98 p71 and my 2 90 CV LTD LX's. I've started, and intend to continue, this tradition. Many more panthers to come!

[DerekTheGreat]

Oo, I like that black 2 door..

Mom bought a panther used in the early 90's. I want to say it was an '87 or '86. Don't remember, we didn't have it long. It was a sand color with matching interior. Transmission died shortly after we got it. Poor so drove it that way until it disappeared, best it had was 2nd gear. Family friend had an ice blue '86 or '87 Town Car and that one is probably most responsible for my fondness of these. Dad always borrowed it. Had every option, vividly remember the digital dash & JBL sound stuff along with the Turbines.

[Tiggie]

The black 82 is my favorite as well. Sharp looking.

[tjc78]

Nice cars. As a family we have had so many Panthers I won't even list them all.

The two favorites of mine were my 89 LTC and Pops 93 Town Car Cartier.

Runner up would probably be the 81 Mark VI Givenchy two door.

[79lincolnlover]

My Panther history:

1. 1992 Crown Victoria LX (Bought in 2001. Scrapped in 2006.)
2. 1990 Crown Victoria (Bought in 2007.)
3. 1993 Grand Marquis GS (Bought in 2008. Sold in 2010.)
4. 1992 Crown Victoria Touring Sedan (Bought in 2010. Now a parts car.)
5. 1983 Mark VI Signature Series (Bought in 2011. Sold in 2016.)
6. 1994 Crown Victoria (Bought in 2016.)

[tjc78]

And a few pics, because.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

My grandparents on both sides of the family have had Panthers since the early 1990s.

On my mom's side, they had a 1993 Grand Marquis LS, dark blue with dark blue cloth interior. They had it up until about 2003 or 2004 when they traded it for their 2000 Grand Marquis LS. It too was dark blue, but with a gray leather interior. Both cars were only used on days when they had to go on long trips, and as they got older, that was rather uncommon. Most days they took granddad's 2001 F-150 Lariat. Both cars had less than 80K on them when my aunt bought them from the estate when they passed away. I help keep up some of the maintenance on both vehicles when necessary.



On my father's side, they had a 1994 Town Car Executive, tan with a tan leather interior. They had it up until around 2004 or 2005 when they traded it for their 2003 Town Car Executive. They got it tan with a tan interior. They also had a 1994 Ranger for launching their boat or taking trash to the dump, but otherwise it had a rather easy life, and was recently sold to a family member. The Town Car is used for any of their day to day activities.



Now my great aunt on my mom's side also had this 1988? Town Car. I believe she inherited from a lady who she cares for at a nursing home many years ago. It was originally that lady's late husband's car, so she kept it long after she couldn't drive. I believe it has less than 60K on it. As far as its disposition is concerned, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.



And of course, I have mine with a history that isn't finished yet. It's still got a long time to go, and I've still got some things to fix to make it look more presentable (getting a particular fender painted), but one page at a time! I've had it since 2011 and I have no plans to get rid of it.

[DerekTheGreat]

Nice base box Townie. She's an '89. You can spot those by their orange turnsignal lenses and that the Lincoln emblem is mounted on the grille instead of the header panel thing. Other smaller give-aways are that the headlight bezels are black in between the two headlights instead of clear and the funky taillight panel. They also changed the "Lincoln" emblem in the rear to match what is on the grille. Looks funky because it doesn't match the "Town Car" logo's font on the other side. Like they ran out of the correct emblems or something. Also the only year for the bladed style light bulbs, later style speaker connectors and glossy interior trim. I only am aware of these things because the GF drives an '89 and me an '88...

Edit: Oh yeah, the thermometer on the outside is also different. The best year in terms of visibility but the earlier years are more "Lincoln" IMO.

[Tiggie]

Definitely looks like panthers run in families.

My grandma had and still has the first, a 1998 CV HPP.

My uncle had the next, an 82 LTD Crown Vic four door. It became mine when he didn't want it anymore. I kept it about two years. Haven't seen it in a while.


I got an 87 CV LX basically for the tranny which was a rebuilt AOD. I pulled the trans and sold that to a member here. He then traded it for a early Panther Mark that was going to be scrapped. The 87 got scrapped in its place. RIP


The 88 was sold to me for $1 from my college English professor. It was almost dead. But I resurrected it with a TV bushing and some body make up. I owned the 82, 87, and 88 at the same time for about four months.


Took a break and just drove the 88 for a long time. It's my daily. I will likely drive it until it dies. I am guessing the AOD will kill it, or rust.

Then came the 90 which is basically a yard ornament at this point. Plan was to fix a little then sell, basically save from destruction since it's rock solid. But I like it. So now I am trying to convince the wife to let me build another garage to keep it inside.


It's now that I realize that most drivers see my cars as a progression of less and less desirable. But you all don't think so because you have Panther duesease too.

[DerekTheGreat]

I care not for what other people see when they look at my stuff, its mine after all. That 87 box CV looked great. Looks to have the optional roof too, ive never seen one with it.