Before and After

"That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms" (thatbastardkurtis5) 08/08/2015 at 17:11 • Filed to: None

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Today seemed like a good day to take a ride to my local Pick N Pull.

My P71 has a lot of cosmetic issues, most of which can’t be cured by a junk yard. But it does have one that I believed could be:

This black panel on my deck lid, while really being the least of my trunk’s issues with that giant dent hole thing there, has a few broken screws and won’t sit flush. It annoys me. It eats away at my soul.

So I took a look online, and Pick N Pull’s Johnston location had 5-6 Crown Vics of the correct vintage. Armed with that information, I set out.

The first car I saw was a gray 2004 (I should have taken pictures, but oh well). Interestingly, it was an LX, not a P71. Infact, it was an LX Sport, with a console, floor shifter, and bucket seats. Naturally the console was gone, and I couldn’t use the panel because it was body color.

The next car was the one I ended up taking parts from, a white 1999 P71. The fact that the cars were basically the same for like 13 years is fantastic, by the way...there aren’t too many cars on which you’re going to pull parts for a 2008 from a 1999.

There was one issue with the car, but a lucky one: the black panel had chrome trim, and a pair of tail lights to match. A few minutes of effort and $70 later (eBay wanted $100-120 just for the center section), here’s the result:

I’m pretty pleased with the result. Every part is in slightly better shape than what came off, including the backup lights. Plus the chrome trim really cleans up the back end of the car to me, I liked the black, but I’ve got chrome window trim, so this isn’t my only chrome.

Now to set about finding a set of bumpers and saving pennies for my paint job.

RazoE > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 08/08/2015 at 20:18

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I still prefer the all black tails, but if you likey.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > RazoE 08/08/2015 at 21:23

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I didn't dislike the black, and I think I could pull off the chrome and swap the black back on if I wanted to...but I actually like the chrome better than I thought I would. Dresses up an otherwise very un-dressed up car, haha.

boxrocket > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 08/08/2015 at 22:14

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One of my favorite P71 features are the amber turn signals in the back. Regular cars (AFAIR) used all red. Ick.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > boxrocket 08/09/2015 at 07:47

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What I thought was a little odd was that my old lights were the all-red style, and use only two bulbs. The “new” ones from 1999 have the amber indicator, but used 4 bulbs...so right now the amber is just along for the ride. I'll have to see what each bulb does, if one does tail and brake lights and the other does turn signal, I'll move it to the amber socket and have amber signals.