@Caddyman: you must have escaped the cracked plastic coolant passage in the intake manifolds. We did quite a few of those for a few years. Other than that virtually indestructable. The frame construction is great for commercial service but lacking in the daily driver passenger sedan niche. I’ve had a CV, GM, and Town Car. My LHS had more back seat legroom, as big a trunk, peppier but was a smaller car with better mileage.
I’ve always found the Panthers absolutely dreary to drive, my wife doesn’t like driving the TC because it floats on the road. She prefers the road feel of a Taurus, and I suspect much of the motoring public feels the same way.
BTW, all the P71s I’ve found when looking for a car were vinyl floor, industrial fabric seats, no lux options. Are there P71s out there in more “civilian” form?
@Caddyman “An Awd Panther would have been a simple and popular addition.”
Just a question. How can a rwd based sedan chassis be made into a 4wd/Awd configuration by adding a transfer case without dramatically altering the entire dynamics of the car ? If you remember the early AMC Eagle attempt at doing this gave you a vehicle that resembled a truck and handled terribly. If it’s a truck to begin with, yes. Fwd is easier to convert as the front drive transaxle is compact to begin with.
I doubt that such an addition would be very popular compared to a fwd conversion which has been a proven good handler with low center of gravity. This is the selling point of the new Taurus with Awd. That it would be “simple” males me ask, how?
I’m not certain due to a fuzzy memory but it seems to me that I remember an article a few years ago where a Ford exec said they were dropping the CV because of new Federal regulations related to side impact and rollovers.
The exec said the cost of re-engineering a dated platform led them in another direction.
I wonder how much FOMOCO spends a year engineering cupholders…
The Colorado State Patrol cars are not that bad…Carpet and vinyl rear seat, front buckets (only CV model that comes with individual buckets) are plain looking fabric but VERY comfortable and supportive, with an adjustable lumbar feature…Cruise control, AM/FM radio. You can buy a center console that fills the space between the front seats once occupied by computers, gun racks and other police equipment…The P71 package suspension is miles away from the floating cloud TC Lux ride…Huge $150 each shocks, heavy sway-bars front and rear, high-rate springs make for a solid, firm, stable ride…Starting in 2005, they have variable ratio Rack & Pinion steering. And Yes, like the old VW beetles, they will stay on the road for a long time to come…
