LexFather

Well hell the same could be said for Nissan. They were basically bankrupt and saved by the French, Renault. Clearly the plan worked. Now Infiniti will use Benz parts and engines.

What is completely different is there was a focused plan to get Nissan out their mess whereas Mercury has floundered and gotten basically nothing but rebadged Fords for decades.

I don't know ANYONE who has bought a new Mercury outside of Mr. Johnson who bought a Maurader years ago. Contrast that with Nissan where I know tons of people with one.

mmarshall

A repost, Mike......looks like you hit the send button twice....#28 and 31.

IS-SV

"Chevy Caprice/ Buick Roadmaster/Cadillac Fleetwood, yet it was GM, not Ford, who actually went bankrupt and needed both Government money and a classic buyout to stay in buisness. Second, the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis/Town Car was a source of profit for Ford, not a loss....."

1. Now that's a lot of crap cars in 2 sentences.

2. You will find no evidence that the Crown Vic/Grand Marq/TC were a source of any profit. That level of P/L disclosure has never been and will never be reported by Ford Motor Company and is not required by SEC.

mmarshall

Your opinion noted, and respected, but a lot of buyers didn't consider them junk. I wasn't impressed with the build quality of the Caprice/Roadmaster/Fleetwood, though....except the tough frames.

IS-SV

Ageed, but most are dead or would like to spend taxpayers money to get one (which is a low margin sale at best).

If I want a tough frame, I get a truck (which I have bought before).

mmarshall

Interesting that you brought that up. Some cops, like of not, have police-spec Tahoes, which of course, do have tough frames. They sit higher than the Crown Vic, though, and (can) tip easier.

IS-SV

Yes, we see them around here in the city of Sunnyvale. None have tipped over, rollovers in that redesigned current edition/generation of GM SUVs are rare.

Och

iTrader: (3)

A lot of cops here in NYC miss their Crown Vics and caprices! Now only higher rank officers get to drive the Crown Vic, everyone else is stuck into FWD wimpalas. A police Chevy caprice is a very very rare sight now, in the last couple years I only saw one.

Speaking of Caprice, remember it's sibling, the proper Impala?

mmarshall

The RWD Impala SS.....a classic. The later SS models are are unibody/FWD....and full of torque steer.

Threxx

There are only four selling points to this car:

- Big cargo and people capacity
- Truck-like durability in the suspension and chassis including when being repaired from a fender bender (takes a lot more to total a Crown Vic than most unibody cars)
- Very cheap and very easy repairs
- High comfort level as long as a 'water bed' like ride doesn't bother you

For the above reasons it continued to sell well for utilitarian fleet sales. It was very cheap for Ford to make and Ford hardly had to invest any R&D dollars in it.

It was an embarrassing car for the Ford name to be on when viewed from our perspective. Yet from a industrial/commercial standpoint, it made sense for both Ford and the companies that were buying them from Ford.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

That Impala was THE car I wanted to get before I bought my GS. It's one of the only few American sedans that I really liked. The body is sleek and the potential that car had was amazing. I want.

speedflex

I'm happy for those who are this car's intended market that they can still have this car for a time but I just don't care. Ford, as a whole, is heading in the right direction with their newest products and that doesn't leave them with a reason to continue Mercury in its current form. The only Mercury I've ever cared about was the Cougar. Heck, I wish Ford could somehow resurrect it as a dramatically different looking but equally muscular version of Mustang.

I8ABMR

what a joke. This car is a POS any way you look at it. I cant believe the poor performance and the even crappier interior quality. The design team should be shot in a public square. LOL

<VENOM>

Your right about the Crown Vics, now that Im living in ATL, home of the high mileage cars, a friend of mine just picked up a Crown Vic with 100k+ on it and it's relatively rock solid.

LexFather

[QUOTE=I8ABMR;5748344]what a joke. This car is a POS any way you look at it. I cant believe the poor performance and the even crappier interior quality. The design team should be shot in a public square. LOL[/QUOTE]

What did you expect? The car is what 30 years old? I will quote this next time you try to get mad about a brand you like.