1956 Ford Crown Victoria
Posted on 09/27/2002 6:09:46 PM PDT by Shermy
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. and the Arizona Attorney General on Friday said the auto maker will install and pay for fuel-tank shields on Crown Victoria Interceptor police vehicles.
During a press briefing, Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano said Ford will offer an upgrade kit, which will include the shields. The company also said it will offer an optional trunk package, which is designed to help police officers carry sharp-edged heavy equipment more safely. Additionally, Ford will offer a trunk pattern that can be placed in the truck to show how equipment should be mounted in the trunk.
Upgrade kits will be available beginning in October.
Ford also said it is starting a new Web site, cvpi.com, which will contain information on police safety and serve as a communication line between the company and law enforcement.
All police department orders of Crown Victoria Police Interceptors will be built with the fuel-tank shields from today forward, Ford said.
Sue Cischke, Ford's vice president of environmental and safety engineering, declined to say how much the shields will cost the auto maker. The company hasn't determined how much the trunk package will be, but it will be offered "at cost," she said.
Ford's decision to offer additional safety features on the Crown Victoria comes three months after Ford and the Arizona Attorney General appointed a technical task force to test the safety of the vehicle. They also formed a " Blue-Ribbon" panel that looked at ways to prevent accidents among police officers.
The Crown Victoria has been under scrutiny amid concerns of gas-tank fires in Crown Victoria police cruisers, which are used by thousands of police officers nationwide. At least 11 officers, including three in Arizona in recent years, have died in accidents where the car's gas tank exploded following a collision.
Critics say the Crown Victoria's danger stems from the placement of its gas tank, which is between the rear bumper and the rear axle.
Cischke said the task force used crash tests at 75 miles per hour and computer-aided tests to identify sources that can puncture the tank.
Although Ford has agreed to supply the shields, the company said the task force hasn't been able to start testing fuel-tank bladders -- which helps absorb fuel if a leak occurs -- because they haven't been able to get them from Fuel Safe, the supplier of the bladders. The company has told Ford that it doesn't have any available because it has a commitment with the Phoenix police department to supply the equipment.
There are about 350,000 Crown Victoria Police Interceptors on the road. Ford is aiming to have them retrofitted by January.
Police Cruisers Reevaluated After Explosions (Ford Crown Victorias)
That's all fine and good, but just show me how to correctly position two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts so they don't shift excessively during high speed pursuit and sudden braking.
1956 Ford Crown Victoria
Right up there with Jocelyn Elder's "safer guns and safer bullets?" :o)
Hey, don't mess with Jocelyn. She wrote the book on safe gun-handling!
If I can, and it's not more than say $50, I'll buy the kit and install it myself in my Vic.
Again though, name a car that can survive a 70+mph rear impact without some incidence of explosion.
also this is interesting regarding Ford's future
Jaguar's $500 million loss, problems with other upscale brands slow company's turnaround-- Ford Motor Co.'s luxury car business is stuck in a ditch.
Jaguar Cars Ltd., the British automaker Ford has been reviving for more than a decade in hopes of making it the linchpin of its global luxury-car strategy, is on track to post roughly $500 million in operating losses this year, say senior company officials.
"Operating-wise, Jaguar is going to have a difficult year," Ford's Chief Operating Office Nick Scheele said in an interview at the Paris Auto Show. "Let's say it's about a half a billion" operating loss.
Jaguar's financial woes -- widely rumored around the industry before Scheele confirmed them here Thursday -- come as its partners in Ford's Premier Automotive Group are struggling.
The group's troubles are another blow to the automaker's turnaround plan and raise doubts about whether Ford's collection of luxury brands can deliver one-third of Ford's corporate profits by mid-decade, as promised by ranking company officials and expected by Wall Street.
This Vic DID NOT BURN.
Good pix.
The Vic's may not be perfect, but they're pretty darn good.
Coming from carriage-speak for a four-wheeled, two-passenger carriage (with coachman's perch) in automobiles a "victoria" is a four-seater, two-door luxury car. Often, the victoria will have no front passenger seat, or a swivil-seat for easy backseat access.
Early electrics in the form of self-drive buggies were also called victorias. I don't know why. Must have sounded good to the marketers.
I wonder how many cops driving their Crown Vics think back to Queen Victoria. Damn, she was uugly.
Anyway, that beauty you showed us is a true "victoria."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.