For decades, Ford’s Panther platform cars have been internet enthusiast darlings. Durable, huge, and historically cheap, these metallic slabs of Americana are rugged, hoonable sedans with just enough powertrain commonality with Mustangs to offer hot rod-ability. While a high-performance variant, the Mercury Marauder, was briefly offered, most fast Crown Victorias are homebrew efforts. Not this one, though. A Bondurant driving school Ford Crown Victoria is up for auction on Bring A Trailer, and it might just be the ultimate Panther platform car.
As reported by Bangshift, Bondurant had 18 of these special, numbered Panthers, although the number 13 was reportedly skipped, presumably for superstitious reasons. This one wears the number 19, meaning it’s the last of the bunch. On each and every one, Roush yanked out the stock boat anchor 16-valve 4.6-liter V8 and dropped in the 320-horsepower 32-valve quad-cam 4.6-liter V8 from a 1999 Ford Mustang Cobra. From there, the front bumper was spliced with that of a 1997 Mustang Cobra, a rear spoiler was fitted, and the cars gained both bucket seats and a wicked set of alloy wheels. On the premise of the motor and coachwork, we’re talking about the same basic ingredients that made up the menacing 2003 to 2004 Mercury Marauder, except a few little additions made these Crown Victorias way cooler.
Oh hey, what’s this? Yep, that’s a Tremec T-45 five-speed manual transmission. Look, the 4R70W four-speed automatic that came in Crown Victorias of this era was smooth, but its wide-set ratios mean that a five-speed manual has real performance benefits in addition to extra engagement. Right behind the shifter sits a console-mounted handbrake, which is a bit surprising because no Crown Victoria came with a handbrake of this sort. That’s because the Bondurant Cobra Vics used Ford Contour center consoles that just about fit atop the tunnel.
Circling back to the powertrain, while Mercury Marauders came with 3.55:1 axle ratios, this special Vic has a 3.73:1 axle ratio. Combine that with the five-speed’s closer ratios, and second gear has an effective ratio 34.9 percent shorter than on a Marauder. Cowabunga it is. Add in a high-capacity radiator, an oil cooler, and a limited-slip differential, and you end up with a powertrain that’s ready to party.
Despite gaining a Watt’s link age for 1998, the Crown Victoria was never much of a handler. However, a few clever tricks should make this boat corner better than you’d expect. The battery has been relocated to the trunk for improved weight distribution, the anti-roll bars are beefier, the Eibach springs are stiffer than stock, and the tires are square 265/40R17 Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar summers.
As these party-spec Crown Vics were meant to be hooned on track, each one received a full roll cage, racing harnesses, a dedicated fuel cell, and a halon fire system that might punch a small hole in the ozone layer if it were to go off. There’s also a nifty switch on the dashboard to kill the crude Y2K-era Ford ABS system, and a battery isolation switch. Needless to say, this thing’s pretty much ready to rock.
If there’s one downside to this Bondurant Cobra-swapped Crown Victoria, it’s cost — these cars are exceptionally rare, so this one certainly won’t be cheap. The high bid at the time of writing sits at $27,500, and there are still a few hours left on the auction. Granted, with just 600 miles on the clock and legendary pedigree, this might be worth breaking the piggy bank for.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer)
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Wouldn’t exactly call the stock engine a boat anchor-a buddy had an an ex cop car ’02 CV (iirc 245 or 260 hp) as much as a mustang of its time, and enough to easily lay some rubber and while not a rocket it was reasonably peppy for its time. Not my cup of tea but that car was solid and comfortable freeway cruiser and with the cop suspension handled better than you’d think.
This would be fun as shit.
Neat but would still rather have an actual Marauder…they are special
Stock CVs and Grand Marquis are handsome vehicles. The Marauder is just gorgeous.
And for the price this sold for you could get the nicest, lowest mile Marauder out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv36Hatr4qs
It just popped in there…
Dropping in the 32V V8 is something Ford should have been offering as standard equipment in at least the higher end Panthers such as the Lincoln Town car.
It still baffles my mind to this day that while Cadillac was offering the 32V Northstar and the LT1 V8 in the B-bodies, Ford somehow thought the 190-239hp 16V SOHC V8 was somehow competitive in the Town Car.
It would have been nice, but the 2 valve 4.6 wasn’t that bad considering it was the 90s. It made decent torque, 260-280 lbs-ft. I’ve had 3 Panthers and they’re acceptably quick for what they are.
If you wanted 32 valves there was the Mark VIII, Continental, and LS.
More reason the Lincoln Town Car should have been granted this powertrain from the start. Lincoln was the first division to have the 4 valve 4.6l, back in ’92. Add to that the precedent set by the Navigator and Aviator getting 4 valve V8s while the Fords kept 2 valve (later 3v) motors.
And in the Mark VIII along with those 32 valves you got an IRS.
It was a different motor for a different car. The Northstar needed RPMs to make power. The 4.6 2V is happy to putt around at 2K all day. Can you wind it up? Oh definitely. But unlike the Northstar which needs to be taken to 6K every once in a while, you don’t really have to do that with the 2v. And for Town Car/Grand Marquis owners it makes sense.
This is cool, but $48,000 cool? I’m not so sure without the Terminator drivetrain.
Wake me up when someone drops a Coyote into a Town Car Executive L (long wheelbase). I want the passengers to have plenty of room to stretch out while I send my landship off the line like an F-15 getting ready to vertical climb.
Honestly, I’ll be very disappointed if someone hasn’t already Coyote-swapped an Executive L. The greatest of the Panther bodies deserves only the best under its hood.
I’ve seen Coyote swapped Town Cars, but not sure if any were the L.
No you need torque in that boat, so go 7.3 Godzilla
This one isn’t an “L”, but it’s very well done: https://carsandbids.com/auctions/K1xRM4pd/2003-lincoln-town-car-executive
https://www.fordmuscle.com/features/chris-jewells-coyote-swapped-murdered-out-lincoln-company-car/ not an L but definitely shows it can be done.
When I was working at the Sterling Axle plant one of the Ford engineers had a Marauder he supercharged and swapped a 5 speed into. It was still a boat but a very fast boat.
I saw one in person once at Rollin’ on The River several years ago, shortly after I found one on eBay and it ended up selling for like $12k and unfortunately I only had $2,500 to my name then. Cobra Vic’s fuckin rule.
600 miles, one lap at a time!
I was able to attend the high performance driving school back in ’06 or ’07, what an awesome experience ripping around in the CTS-V cars they had at the time. Although the highlight will still be the 10 passenger van trips around the track so the instructors could talk about the facility all while increasing lap speeds until both vans were racing around, fun times!
This is pretty much what I’ve always wanted to do a with Buick Roadmaster Wagon.
What fun.
Where were you a month ago when I was trying to sell mine?!?!
My Grail is a 94-96 with the LT1 and trailer package for the LSD. But they seem to go for unreasonable amounts these days.
My grandpa had a 95 with every option checked. LT1, LSD, leather couches. Thing was an absolute boat that floated down the highway, but would light the rears up on demand. Such a fun and comfortable car
I want one. Go Fund me page and I will give rides to members
I remember when Bondurant auctioned these off and I’m pretty sure they said they couldn’t be registered for the street. But this is the second one of these I’ve seen with plates, so apparently not. Then again Arizona is a state that’ll put license plates on a Little Tikes car if you pay them.
On a related note, the 1980s predecessor to this is what led to the development of my model car (for which my handle is named after). Bondurant wanted to take several people on track at high speed, so he took several Fox-platform LTDs and stuffed them with the V8, 5-speed, bigger brakes, and beefed up suspension from Mustangs. Ford brass went to the school for some hands-on high speed experience with their cars, saw Bondurant’s LTD trainer cars, and liked the idea so much they they put it into production as the rare ’84-’85 LTD LX (minus the 5-speed, sadly). Ford even used Bondurant in their ads for the car.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/66/4d/6d/664d6daf63deb477d04d8ac154a67387.jpg
I’ve always appreciated his insistence on keeping the A/C on the 4-door LTD-stangs. Many racers remove it for weight savings for better vehicle performance (Ford itself even offered an A/C delete bracket), but he knew keeping the driver from getting heatstroke was pretty good for performance too!
You could manual-swap a Maurader for less money. The 03+ panthers (and all Mauraders) have some platform improvements over this anyway, i.e. rack & pinion steering vs recirculating ball.
Those seats with full racing harnesses…they don’t really inspire confidence.
The seats aren’t the greatest but my main concern is that it’s difficult for me to classify a harness with only four points as “full.”
On closer inspection, these don’t look like 5-point harnesses. Still, harnesses are typically used on seats designed for them, so I question the application here.
The auction description calls them “four-point” as well, so I’m pretty sure there aren’t fifth belts hidden somewhere. The other photos show a similar setup for the rear seats, too. This looks like an efficient setup for assuring that the lap belts will work their way upwards way too high.
The owner can drop another ~50lbs from the car by removing the stab-proof steel plates from the backs of those P71 seats.
Now that we all know the secret formula, expect a few homebrew versions.
600 miles means every rubber bit is shot through with dry rot and needs to be replaced. Well, not like it matters since this will never be driven. Half the value is in the triple digit mileage.