Hello all! my dad recently bought a '98 Crown Vic a few days ago Got it from an older lady who didn’t drive it too much and put 66,000 on it. Car is pretty immaculate inside and out and is the LX trim… only thing that confused my dad and I was the single exhaust. We have 4 of these cars now and the other three have dual exhaust… I would have thought that the LX would have dual too but I guess not. Is there any rhyme or reason why this car only has the single exhaust ? I thought that the base model had lesser HP but maybe Ford changed that along the way? Anyway, just curious about this 
And yeah… we might be a little crazy having 4 of them now. But damn they sure are reliable… minus the window motors.
I can’t speak to the exhaust system configuration, but folks posting here say the same thing about that car, at least for the earlier versions, the Crown Vic has developed the reputation as a well designed and reliable vehicle. That model is purchased by cities for the police force, and that may have something to do with it. The city’s spec the functionality, the economy, and the reliability in their fleet purchase orders, and so that limits the possible configurations the car can sport, so the design doesn’t change much year to year, which tends to make it more reliable. The police probably need to have the automatic window function so they can roll down the passenger side window from the drivers side to talk to pedestrians at times. And the ability to lock the windows from the driver’s position, say if they have a suspect in the back seat.
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Dual exhaust was always an option and it is one of those options that dealers find easy to pass on to customers. In the early 90’s, the single exhaust was rated at 210 hp and the dual was rated at 220 hp.
Single exhaust systems do last longer as they heat up faster and burn off corrosive gases sooner that dual exhaust systems. The extra hp of the dual only comes into play at wide open throttle.
But then, there is the “cool” factor.
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Single exhaust was standard across the board for all but the P71 Crown Vics. If you opted for the trailer towing package you would get dual exhaust (among other things). Starting in 1998 (I think) the trailer towing package went away, but replacing it was the “Handling/Performance Package” which got you most of the P71 mechanical parts (dual exhaust, bigger radiator, oil cooler, bigger/wider tires,HD suspension , HD torque converter, bigger transmission cooler, and 3.27 gears.
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that’s all really interesting stuff. . Well either way I love these cars and the reliability and the gas is pretty respectable for what you are driving. The first one my parents got over 12 years ago had 28,000 miles at the time and now it has 300,000 and is still on the original engine and transmission just amazing really. Little maintenance goes along way on any car.