2008 Ford Crown Victoria P71: First Impressions

"That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms" (thatbastardkurtis5)
07/25/2015 at 14:03 • Filed to: None

Okay guys, I just made it home with my P71. It’s got a cop motor, a 281 cubic-inch power plant. It’s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks, and somebody removed the catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Thunderbolt mobile or what?

I’ll say right away, the paint looks a lot better in photos than it does in person. It’s not nearly as bad as the ‘03 P71 I looked at, in that a lot of the scratches on this car (and there are a lot) are only marks in the clear coat and will buff out. But a coat of paint is in the plans before the end of the summer. Overall I’m actually pretty happy with the exterior...it’s not rusty, it’s all one color, and the car is very straight.

That dent on the trunk is the single biggest mark on the car, and unfortunately there’s no open space underneath it to pop it out. The previous owner did, however, give me another trunk for the car (light blue, from a MA state trooper’s car), which I’ll use when it gets painted.

As is the case with a lot of former police cars, the roof is the roughest bit. There are big gougey scratches, along with three holes which were plugged with silicone. Neither of those are things I’m concerned with.

I put these two pictures together to show that a) it has a Borla exhaust, and b) that exhaust has no cats. When I started the car, I noticed that the check engine light didn’t turn on at all...I figured that meant that somebody had pulled the bulb to shut it off (I wasn’t worried about that because I had the cats if I needed to reinstall them). But when I got home with it and took a look with my code reader...there was nothing. And when I look underneath, you can see something plugged into bungs on the exhaust (which is all new-looking stainless steel, quite nicely done)...I assume then that it has some CEL eliminators to prevent the o2 sensor codes it should be sending for the lack of cats. I’ll have to find out if RI does a visual test for the cats, or if having no codes will let it pass inspection...I’m planning to reinstall the cats eventually, since it’s a bit louder than I’d like, but having more than 5 days to do it after registration would be nice.

And here’s my quite nice dark charcoal leather interior. Somebody swapped it in from a Crown Vic LX, and it’s in really good shape...no rips and no wear, really. Only problems I have in here is the A/C cycling (seems to be low on refrigerant, but it also pulls the idle way down low when it cycles on) and the odometer comes and goes.

So there’s the pictures, and here are my impressions from driving it:

The ride is actually pretty good, and the car seems to handle well for it’s size. It always takes me a while to get comfortable with a new automatic transmission, but this one seems to work nicely...on the highway you can get on it and accelerate without making it downshift, which I like. The engine runs really smoothly and sounds great, and it just occurred to me that I didn’t take a picture of it. It’s pretty clean and original looking under the hood, with the exception of 2/8 of the coil packs are Accel pieces.

My main takeaway from driving it 130 miles home, however, was exactly what I thought would happen: nobody wanted to pass me. I mean even when they were close enough to see that I had an out-of-state license plate, nobody wanted to pass me. An Acura SUV from New Jersey was flying up on my left going probably 85 to my 75, checked way up on his brakes, got in behind me, and followed me the next 15 miles until I got off the highway. I’ll put on my Clan Fett decal and a Ford Racing plate frame, maybe that’ll help the idiots out when deciding if I’m a cop or not.

So as for things to do, I’ve got a couple. Sorting out the A/C is something I need to do like now, since I’ve got black leather interior. Paint is probably the next thing, unless I need to get the cats back on, at which point they’re second. I like it a lot though...even though my wife already hates it. Eh, she’ll come around eventually.

DISCUSSION (21)

Matthew Phillips > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 14:30

Wait.... Should I not be putting regular in my P72.....

04sneaky - Boxers. Blowers. Bikes. And bitches. > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 14:40

I’m confused, cops always run 87/89 in these due to cost. The cats shouldn’t have anything to do with that. They get eaten up by E15, not the octane of fuel.

Another question? Are these still 2 valve motors even in ‘08? I know the GT swapped to 3 valve in ‘05, but these didn’t to my understanding?

MM54 > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 14:40

Very nice!

Can we trade exhausts? Mine’s far too rusty to come off in one piece but I’d really like to ditch the cats.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > 04sneaky - Boxers. Blowers. Bikes. And bitches.
07/25/2015 at 14:43

Yeah, the cats won’t matter...I was paraphrasing Elwood Blues, except he said “and it’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run on regular gas”, which wasn’t applicable to my car.

And you're right on it being a 2v.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Matthew Phillips
07/25/2015 at 14:44

Nah, just a Blues Brothers joke.

whoarder is tellurium > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 14:47

I would be concerned if they’re running o2 simulators...

Otherwise, great lookin car.

04sneaky - Boxers. Blowers. Bikes. And bitches. > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 15:05

Shame. As abysmal as the 3v is, it’s leaps better than the 2v. PI or not.

04sneaky - Boxers. Blowers. Bikes. And bitches. > whoarder is tellurium
07/25/2015 at 15:22

O2 mil eliminators you mean? Or they could be running spacers. Either of which are,giving you false O2 readings, which will affect your STFTs and LTFTs. No way around that other than a tune to shut it off.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 15:28

I test drove one and like you said, other drivers are scared shitless of you!

I had people keeping like 5 car lengths and refusing to pull out in front of me

love the color on yours! Really fun to drive car

whoarder is tellurium > 04sneaky - Boxers. Blowers. Bikes. And bitches.
07/25/2015 at 15:45

Yes... a tune would be ideal. High flow cats + o2 spacers would be good too.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 15:48

I got it. lol

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
07/25/2015 at 16:49

It was nuts. Like even when I was in Massachusetts, they didn’t want to pass a ‘Rhode Island cop’. It's a lot of fun to drive though, and super comfortable. I like it a lot.

boxrocket > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 17:57

Congrats!

Instead of painting the extra trunk, pay someone to do paintless dent removal (aka PDR). I had Dent Wizard do my Mazda after I got it, and you can’t even tell there were dents there now (and I’ve done body work myself before, but lack the tools and expertise to do PDR well).

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > boxrocket
07/25/2015 at 18:15

Well, the thing is that I examined that dent a bit further. It’s a dent, but more than that, it’s a bullet hole. You don’t see it until you get close, but it’s filled in with silicone and painted...there’s a hole there from a bullet that you can stick your finger in. Kinda neat.

boxrocket > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 22:50

That's kind of neat actually! Maybe after you have the new one in place the old one could be a cool garage decoration, if the silicone and stuff was cleaned out.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/25/2015 at 22:51

It was strange for me because the town I was in used Chevys (Impalas) and never once have they had a Vic. But it didn’t matter.

I want to get one before this nice little novelty wears off.

jkm7680 > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/26/2015 at 13:55

Looks great! Was there a partition in the car? If so, I suggest you remove the door panels and clean everything.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > jkm7680
07/26/2015 at 14:02

No, there doesn't appear to have been one...I'm still trying to figure out exactly who owned the car, whether it was the MA state police or a city. If it was state, it has to have been a detective car or something, since the dark blue is its original color and the patrol cars arrived light blue.

jkm7680 > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/26/2015 at 14:07

I’m guessing that it was an unmarked car, you said there are mounting holes where a lightbar would go?

The original interior would have helped though, if there was a cloth rear seat then it was probably a detective car, if there was carpet and cloth rear seat it probably would have been state.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > jkm7680
07/26/2015 at 15:05

I was actually able to look up the window sticker, it had vinyl in the back to begin with. The holes in the roof are interesting, there are two inline near the back and one off center towards the front...so no light bar up top I guess.

Agreed on it probably being unmarked, there’s no evidence of decals of any sort on the car.

jkm7680 > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
07/26/2015 at 15:15

So yeah, I’d have to go with that also. Detective cars from what I’ve seen normally have cloth rear seats and carpet but that’s just in my area.

Somebody on here was doing Carfax requests so there’s that also. You could also contact the PO and ask where he got it from.