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Estate Find: 10,000 Mile Crown Victoria

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An estate sale find like this 1985 Ford Crown Victoria here on eBay is among my car-related bucket list items. Not specifically a Crown Vic – you all know me too well for that – but something German that was Grandma-driven and barely traveled further than from the garage to the corner store. With only 10,000 original miles. this two-door comfort cruiser has a Buy-it-Now of $12,000 and the reserve unmet. 

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The seller says that the vehicle was special ordered from the factory but doesn’t offer any details on what options set it apart from the 12,000 other Crown Victoria coupes produced. The interior does look like that of a new car – and quite luxurious – but it’s still hard to believe this cost over $15,000 when new.

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In addition to the engine bay and interior looking like new, the Crown Victoria still has functional A/C and wears its original tires. The listing doesn’t mention if the car has sat idle for the past 10 years or if it’s been used, but I suspect some reconditioning work will still be needed, even with the near-new reading on the odometer.

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Another perk to estate-sale finds: chrome finishes and rubber strips still appear as new, just like on this blunt front end. Although this is an impressive find, the $12,000 BIN seems like an ambitious ask for a nice but not desirable car. Still, if the reserve is set at about half that price, this could be a car worth bidding on if you want to relive the experience of the Blue Oval’s high-end offering in the 80s. Would you spend your hard-earned cash on it?

Comments

  1. Avatar Charles

    These cars have a following. There is always some one who is looking for an older full size Ford in good condition with very low mileage. It will probably find a new home without much of a problem. We had the Mercury version of this car. One year only (1985) they had throttle body fuel injection. 84 had a carburetor, and 86 used the tuned port injection system that was used for several years on everything Ford. The throttle body equipped cars ran well and were trouble free.

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  2. Avatar RON

    At half that you have yourself a nice new 5-7 year daily driver in comfort and with gas prices where they are fairly economical transporter that you can use up at 1000 bucks per year. What kind of foreign designed piece of crap can you buy new for that and may have to fight them and feed them in the next 5 years!!!!

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  3. Avatar Slim Chance

    One of the finest “rides” ever to come out of Ford.

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    • Avatar Fred Hubler

      I think the panther platform will definitely go down in history as one of the best cars of all time as far as overall, daily duty drivers are concerned. You don’t sell the same basic chassis from 1978 to 2012 in those numbers without doing something, or a lot of things right. My parents are on their 3rd one (1981, 1985 & 1992) and they’ve been great. They are kind of one of those cars you take for granted until 10 years after they’re gone & then you think to yourself, “you know, I really miss that car!”

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  4. Avatar Davnkatz

    We bought a 1985 crown vic – fleet version – and kept it for almost 15 yrs. Just under 200,000 miles on odometer. Best car we ever had, even having had a head-to-head collision. 4-dr of course. I just might have to jump on this.

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  5. Avatar Blindmarc

    We’re these 302 powered, 351?

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  6. Avatar grenade

    They made around 160HP if I remember correctly. Slugs. Boat like ride. Grandma’s car and at 12K?
    Better leave it RIP

    :)

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  7. Avatar Glen

    I’d want to change 31yr. old tires, even if they look new on the outside. I wouldn’t just throw them away, though. I don’t know if it has any collector value, but it looks like it just drove off the showroom floor. Take care of it, and this car will last a long, long time.

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  8. Avatar Gary I

    I drove a 1978 LTD two door with a 351 and an FMX transmission in about 1994 or so. It was a lot faster than people gave it credit for being, fun car. I threw it together with spare parts from two different cars for less than $400. Electrical problems I couldn’t sort out sent it to the scrapper in the end.

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  9. Avatar Bobsmyuncle

    Love it!

    This is the sort of thing that I stumble upon a few times a year, and no kidding it stereotypically happens on Sunday mornings on my way home from work.

    I’ll see some pristine but entirely mundane old car in the right lane on the highway. I always slow right down beside them with the window down and give them the big thumbs up.

    Usually I get a look of utter confusion in return.

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  10. Avatar St. Ramone de V8

    Sure like seeing these survivors from estate sales or wherever. Sometimes mundane cars or econoboxes, but just cool to see something untouched. Don’t think this one, as nice as it is, should fetch 12 grand, but it sure looks good.

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  11. Avatar jim s

    i would want to drive it and that would run up the miles. a lot of nice land yachts on ebay now. great find.

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  12. Avatar angliagt

    These came with both 302 & 351’s.

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    • Avatar Charles

      Earlier models could be bought with the 351. In 85, the 302 was the only engine available in this car. The 302 would remain as the only engine until the modular engines was introduced.

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  13. Avatar alphil

    I had a slightly later crown vic with automatic (EOD),that trans was and still is crap.Many complaints.I had electrical problems with it too.BUT,when it was right,it was a great,comfortable,driver/cruiser.Not too bad mileage for a boat,18+hi-way,about the same as my 99F150 with EOD…..To be fair,I don’t really know if this year is comparable mechanically to a 92′,but again the crown vics are nice cars.If Charles is right,I’d like to have this for 6-7K. IMHO,12K is way too high.Make that 14K after tires,belts,fluids,flushes,freon,on and on

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  14. Avatar Jeff Staff

    Bidding is still a long way from the asking price. I think the seller would be wise to perform some documented maintenance to increase the chance of a sale.

    Like 0
  15. Avatar PRA4SNW

    To me, this car looks weird as a 2 Door. Not to mention giving up a lot of convenience.

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  16. Avatar Mike

    I had a Mercury Grand Marquis, that was a coupe, I bought it used, with 100K on it, I pay 500.00 for it because the owner’s wife ran over a sewer cover in a back ally and punched a hole in the transmission pan, she drove it for another 1/2 mile before it stopped pulling. The Old boy towed it to his house set it at the top of the driveway with a for sale sign on it, I saw it before he could walk back to the house stopped and bought it on the spot. Towed it to Dad’s garage, put a tranny in it, and drove it for a few years until the motor acted up, dropped a Long Block and the tranny rebuilt and drove it until it needed body work. Worked it over in the old shop, repainted it, repaired the chrome, and now it sits in my collection barn, but I will still drive it, my Wife still loves to drive it.

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  17. Avatar Jim Marshall

    I sold these new and they were good cars. I had an 82 used Crown Vict and an 84 used Merc Grand Marquis that my wife drove. 12 K for one in this condition doesn’t sound to bad.

    Like 1
  18. Avatar Charles

    I sold these new also. These were really durable cars. The 84’s were prone to transmission problems. By 1985 the bugs were worked out and this was a good year for these cars. As for the slug factor, yes they were no race car, however they will stay up with traffic and never break a sweat. I can’t even count the number of times that someone with an import passed us going down a hill, only to loose 10-15 MPH climbing the next hill while the old Mercury maintained the same speed never needing to downshift while running the cruise control. The only weakness in 85 was an ignition switch issue which was recalled and an updated switch installed that corrected the problem. The automatic overdrive helped with the performance of these cars compared to the C4/C5 that it replaced.

    The 85 Grand Marquis (same as the Ford) that we owned served as a family cruiser for several years, and 190K. When the kids were old enough to drive the car served as the high school cruiser. One child wrecked it. We had it repaired, and it went on to run well for several more years and three teenagers. The first wife got it in the divorce, and she would drive it for a couple more years. She sold it to the fellow who owned the garage that did the service on our cars, and he drove it for a while.

    At 325K miles the engine was tired, and he installed a re manufactured short block in it. He overhauled the trans while installing the engine. The car was later sold to a fellow who lives in town, and although he is up in age now, he still drives it around some today. That was 18 years ago. The car still looks very presentable. At this point it is really difficult to predict just how long one of these old Box style Panther’s will last.

    As far as the 12K asking price, it seems a little high, however there are people out there that are looking for just this sort of survivor car. The price would be about right for this car all sorted out with new tires ready to roll.

    I just went through the process of making a low mileage 80’s survivor road ready again. I have a 1982 WS7 Pontiac Trans AM with 25K miles on it. I am the second owner and have owned the car for three years. When I got it, it was all original except for the battery. The OE tires still have plenty of tread, and show zero dry rot, however they were as hard as bricks, with no traction. By the time we serviced everything and got the car road worthy I had invested 4K into the car plus the purchase price. It is a sweet little 145 HP slug, and feels just like a brand new 82 that was pulled from a giant zip lock bag after all of this time.

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  19. Avatar Keith

    I had an 87 CV a couple years ago….last year of the RWD, first year of the 302 EFI. Black with red interior. Very nice shape (had it repainted), sold it for about $4k. $12k seems like a lot of money for this car. I’ll be curious to see what it actually goes for.

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    • Avatar St. Ramone de V8

      Weren’t ALL Crown Vic’s RWD? All those cop cars?….

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      • Avatar Keith

        Ugh my mistake, meant to say last year of the 2 door Crown Vics. Correct that they continued to be rear wheel drive well after these models.

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  20. Avatar Charles

    All Crown Vic’s are RWD. The last year that they were built was in 2011, and the last one off of the assembly line is on display at a Ford dealership and Saudi Arabia.

    http://www.drivearabia.com/news/2011/09/17/last-ford-crown-victoria-built-sent-to-saudi-arabia/

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  21. Avatar Jim Marshall

    After I had the 1982 Crown Vict about 6 months or so that I purchased used from the dealership I worked for in sales I was checking the oil after a road trip from Fl to the N.C. mountains and looking at the sticker on the valve cover saw 4.2 liter instead of 5.0 that I just took from granted as the standard V8 in this car as it had every option available. I was very surprised and the way the car performed on the trip especially in the mountains it was hard to believe it wasn’t a 302 but a 255. Ford stopped offering this downsized Windsor engine the next year but I must have gotten a good one for I couldn’t tell it from the 302 that I had plenty of occasions to drive from selling them.

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  22. Avatar Alan

    I bought one of these in similar circumstances about 10 years ago. 86 Crown Vic Coupe, white with blue guts. Bought new, man of the house died in 89 when the car had 24,600 miles on it. I bought in ’05 with 27,300 on it for 700 bucks. Yep, 700 bucks. Of course I spent a small fortune on it because everything that was made from rubber was original and shot! Ended up with around 5 grand in her, which was fair.

    This one will be the same way…it will crumble before your eyes…..need to buy it for around 3 grand tops..

    Like 0
  23. Avatar glenn

    i always looked at this as a bargain basement two door town car and it drove like one they are wonderful cars to drive and run forever with proper care.

    Like 0

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