"Vicky"-1987 Ford LTD Crown Victoria

[hemihotrod402]

"Vicky"-1987 Ford LTD Crown Victoria

This is my second attempt to make a readers ride thread, the first one was insanely unorganized with a lot of randomness.

Okay, this was formerly known as "The Assault Vehicle", but when the girl you are trying to hook up with suggests a different name that sounds better, you just go with it (It sounds better as a female anyway). It was my grandfathers car; he purchased it new in 1987 and someone in my immediate family has put almost all of the 95k miles on it. Everything is manual (windows seats, locks) and is the BARE Minimum of what it had options for (although there is a passenger Mirror). Currently Its not exactly the most popular car at school, but when it gets done I intend on winning best car for senior year. Here are the pics of it when I started:







I was 15 when the car was signed over to me, and as soon as I got it, I started to plan my course of action. I redid the entire stereo system, which Consists of a JVC headunit paired with Pioneer speakers in the doors and rear shelf. I got speaker grilles out of a ranger, and just cut the perforated holes that are in the door panels.





The next point of action was really a headache. I got a universal cold air intake along with Ford Racing Valve Covers. The Intake went in fine, but the valve covers were annoying. We get the gaskets glued on, dismantle the top end of the engine, bolt them in, stick the upper plenum on to find that they don't fit. My dad had to come out and fix it, because I was pissed off that I had just paid $180 for valve covers that wouldn't fit. We ended up cutting the throttle cable bracket to fit the drivers side, and put the orignal valve cover on the passenger side (oil fill was in wrong location) and just putting on the oil cap. Im planning on a box upper manifold so I can put the other ie on. And I also lost the hood insulation.









I then found the rear PI sway bar for 50 bucks, and sanded and primed and painted it. But still wasnt happy with the handling. So I upgrade the front swaybar bushings to urethane and now the thing handles like a BMW!





My latest Project invloved the finding of the 79 LTD script tailights. I found them for 10 bucks at the Goodguys Blue Suede Cruise in Norwalk, OH for 10 bucks. They were in sad shape so I did my best to fix them up. That write up is here:
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?t=31069
But here they are in their completed state:





Night Pics:

[hemihotrod402]

I made a to-do list before prom this year, which involves the following:
79 Landau Grille Blacked Out
Headlight Bezels Blacked Out
Dual exhaust with glasspacks
140 MPH Speedometer
Wheels/Tires

For wheels, I am going with Coys C-5 Polished Aluminum; 17x8 with 4.5" backspacing.



I have almost all of the money needed set aside for these upgrades, its just finding the parts. Wheels and Tires will wait til spring, because its getting to close to winter.

[79lincolnlover]

Looking forward to seeing further progress on this "Vicky"

[packman]

Those wheels are gonna look really nice!


Packman

[Bowman85merc]

your car is going to look really nice when your done with it, you seem really determined.


Oh, and is that a yellow Maverick i see , looks wicked, whats the story on that.

[87_crown_vic]

uh oh... another car named Vicky.... at least my first one was named Vickie... John's white 86 is Vicky though... either way... welcome to the site

[86VickyLX]

Great... another Vicky. She looks really good. Did you upgrade the front sway bar to police as well? That will definitely help with handling. I believe that the wagon bar is a little bigger but hollow and will work about the same as the police bar. You need a 140 speedometer in her. I forgot how empty the cluster is without all those numbers jammed in there Keep her alive mang. I believe that all of the later year boxes came with a passenger side mirror.

[fordktpjoe]

Oh, and is that a yellow Maverick i see , looks wicked, whats the story on that.

Not a Maverick....That's an AMX.

[87gtVIC]

Looking real good so far, keep it up.

[hemihotrod402]

Not a Maverick....That's an AMX.

DING DING DING!!!! We have a winner. Its a 1977 hornet AMX. That would be my dads new play toy. He ordered one brand new in 1977 by just looking at a picture. Street raced the thing around toledo, and had to sell it due to money problems. He found this one two years ago in Elkhart, Indiana for two grand. The only catch was the interior had a mouse nest in it and reeked of mouse piss. Also whatever could be chewed up, was chewed up. It has a 360, custom suspension, Lakewood traction bars, and a 4 barrel. Ive driven it, and it rides alot better than the crown does.

[gabegt90]

looks great mang nice progress so far. yeah putting on custom valve covers on does not work out some times lol

[hemihotrod402]

Great... another Vicky.

sorry! i guess its just kind of a generic name for these things. I have found a 86 country squire at the u-pull in oak harbor, im going to see if it still has the front bar, Im also hoping to find the speedo out of a cop car

[87gtVIC]

also grab the fender braces that tie together the core support to the fenders...check if it has the under body frame braces as well.
oh and only a speedo up to year 89 will work for you because after that they turned electric.

[88Vic]

Just wondering why you couldn't take back the valve covers, did you buy from an individual? I'd like to custom paint my valve cover on my car, pretty sure there isn't any aftermarket for a 1.0L 3cyl Metro lol.

Also those bumpers look perfect, as far as I can tell not a scratch on them and they could be shined up to a mirror finish, very nice.

[hemihotrod402]

im going to hit the bumpers with chrome polish, there is some minor pitting starting but otherwise they are flawless. The place where I got the valve covers is about 2 hours away (jegs) and I knew that I was going to upgrade the engine in the future, and I would find a way for them to fit. They look to badass to take back.