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I had a beat up 86 CV with the 302 once. It was my 3rd favorite car to drive (1st 82 Club Wagon XLT, and the 2nd a 1977 Ford LTD). I loved that car and wish I had kept it.
I have a close friend who got rid of his '90 Grand Marquis a few years ago. I can't even begin to explain the amount of destructive abuse that car took from him. It was insane.... he would throw it in reverse while going 50mph forward so he could lock up the tires, constantly locked up the e-brake, rev limit it in neutral and then throw it in gear, every possible way to do burn outs, WOT the engine nearly every time it was driven... the list goes on and on. And these were things he would do every time he drove it over the span of about 5 years or so.
Funny thing was the car ran absolutely perfect right before it was killed with 170k on the clock... murdered actually... You wouldn't have even known it had taken any abuse, it was unbelievable how good it ran. He killed it by one of his throwing it in reverse tricks... the transmission tail shaft snapped. It was actually an easy fix and I helped him buy the few things necessary to fix it... however he just wasn't up for the project and junked it. He regrets that decision and all the abuse he gave it to this day.
Again, words cannot describe how bad that car was treated and it still ran like new. It was a truly epic automobile. Besides being able to withstand abuse the car was extremely comfortable, surprisingly good on gas and I really liked the styling.
The only items routinely replaced on that car was the tires that were constantly being destroyed lol.
I would buy one of them in a heart beat if I had the room. Like Mitch states, the 302 is an excellent all around engine. It has more than enough power for the average driver. They last forever and can sip gas if you run them correctly.
I am hard on my car, but this is ridiculous. I maintain it well, but I floor and race it all the time. However, I do not intentionally destroy it. I did exactly the same thing your friend did when I worked for a rental car company. They weren't my cars, so I wanted to see how much they take. Still, I have never done this to any of my own vehicles that I paid for with my own money.
They are all good cars, but I too have heard that the 1986-91s are better because of a better EFI system. The early "venturi"? carburators had some issues, as did the early EFI systems used up through 1985.
Someone mentioned the 2-doors... those were pretty rare. An old family friend had a 1980 Crown Victoria that was a 2dr (back in the mid 80s) and it never gave her problems... she then she upgraded to a 1985 Crown Victoria sedan... again, another reliable car. Her last car was a 1989 Continental (the FWD model) and it was a good car too save for the air springs. She passed last year, but her husband kept the car.
Overall, the 79-91 big Ford and Mercury were good, as were the 1980-89 Town Cars.... and were definitely one of the better 80s American cars.
I am hard on my car, but this is ridiculous. I maintain it well, but I floor and race it all the time. However, I do not intentionally destroy it. I did exactly the same thing your friend did when I worked for a rental car company. They weren't my cars, so I wanted to see how much they take. Still, I have never done this to any of my own vehicles that I paid for with my own money.
LOL.... yeah man, you wouldn't believe the things done with that car. Literally a miracle it survived as long as it did. He would bring it home with shredded tires and his dad would say... "Tommy!! What the hell happened to the car?!?" the classic reply, "I ran over a brick!" hahaha....!
When the tailshaft snapped I pulled the drive shaft yoke off of it just out of curiosity. He had slammed it in gear so many times that splines inside of the yoke sleeve had actually shifted a few millimeters due to years of torture... a visible shift, you could tell because the tailshaft splines didn't span the whole length of the yoke sleeve.
Last edited by Innovator831021; 12-31-2009 at 12:44 AM..
They are all good cars, but I too have heard that the 1986-91s are better because of a better EFI system. The early "venturi"? carburators had some issues, as did the early EFI systems used up through 1985.
Someone mentioned the 2-doors... those were pretty rare. An old family friend had a 1980 Crown Victoria that was a 2dr (back in the mid 80s) and it never gave her problems... she then she upgraded to a 1985 Crown Victoria sedan... again, another reliable car. Her last car was a 1989 Continental (the FWD model) and it was a good car too save for the air springs. She passed last year, but her husband kept the car.
Overall, the 79-91 big Ford and Mercury were good, as were the 1980-89 Town Cars.... and were definitely one of the better 80s American cars.
I've actually forgotten they've made them with 2 doors, they are definitely alot rarer than the 4 door's, didn't they drop the 2 door models before the 1988 restyle?
I also thought Ford did a better job restyling the front/rear end's of the Crown Victoria's than Chevrolet did with the Caprice's, I didn't care much for the Euro headlights on the 1987-90 models
The 2 dr cars were a little better looking, but they were good cars. My Brother still drives his 86. 300,000+ miles on it and still running. it just now is starting to smoke a bit on start up. And he isn't easy on it. When he bought it new, everyone thought he was a cop at night coming up behind them. Made trips at night fun!!!
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