Ford Crown Victoria

Quite discreetly, Ford has recently pulled the plug on the very last of the “real” American cars, when the final Ford Crown Victoria left the assembly line. So more than a simple post, here is an homage of sorts to an era now over.

A little history

To say the truth, even when the Ford Crown Victoria and its rival the Chevrolet Caprice appeared twenty years ago, there were doubts about the future of these huge dinosaurs, still built with separate frames and fitted with transmissions to the rear wheels. Somehow, they succeeded in surviving longer than many may have thought, thanks to the faithfulness of many Floridian or Californian seniors, who have never driven anything else than this type of cars for their whole lives, but whose market was getting smaller year after year; and even more significantly due to the high demand from law enforcement agencies and taxicab operators.

In March 1991, both the Ford Crown Victoria, which dropped at this point its traditional “LTD” name, and its fancier counterpart the Mercury Grand Marquis received a brand new body, more rounded and aerodynamic than their dated predecessors, but still based on the “Panther” chassis used for full-size sedans since the late Seventies. This followed a similar move by General Motors, which had just updated its line of full-size models – Chevrolet Caprice, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser and Buick Roadmaster, and the earlier introduction of Ford’s luxury model, the Lincoln Town Car, also based on the Panther platform. Despite its older underpinnings, the Crown Victoria enjoyed a brand new 4.6-litre “modular” engine, and optional ABS and traction-control systems. Its styling was an apt balance of modern and conservative, and this proved perfect as the bathtub-like body of the Caprice had been poorly received. Within months, the Crown Victoria led the market well ahead of its GMC rival which, after a botched restyling, disappeared following the 1996 model year. From then on, the Crown Vic’ became the only option for a traditional V8 automobile in its price range.

For the 1998 model year, the styling of the Crown Victoria was largely revised, and the car benefited from an improved suspension. While the general public was less and less attracted by the heavy car, it was still hugely popular with policemen – to whom Ford proposed the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor version – and taxi drivers. It also enjoyed a healthy following in the Middle East, which actually had soon become its only export market. At the end of the 2007 model year, the Crown Victoria stopped being available to private buyers in America, those being redirected towards the Mercury Grand Marquis, and remained only available for fleets and export markets.

In 2008, Ford decided to concentrate the production of all its Panther-based cars in its St. Thomas plant. The Canadian unions were rather anxious about the future of the car, or more specifically those of thousands of workers at this Ontario factory. Ford reassured them by announcing that large amounts of money would be invested to update the car. This was nothing but a lie. The last Mercury Grand Marquis was produced in January 2011, the brand being discontinued. It was followed by the last Lincoln Town Car in August, the car not being in conformity with new safety regulations imposed by Washington on all cars built for model year 2012. Though the Ford Crown Victoria was also affected by these new rules, it was maintained in production until September to fulfil foreign orders. On September 15, 2011, the very last Crown Vic’ left the assembly line of a factory due to close.

About the models

Model: Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
Year: c.1997
Maker: Motor Max
Scale: 1/18
Distributed by: Motor Max, ref. 73125
Acquired: brand new, in February 2005, in Manila, Philippines

A nice surprise among Motor Max range of traditionally poorly assembled and painted die-casts. Their Crown Victoria certainly isn’t outstanding, but very few reproaches can be made to it. A rare feature for a model in this price range, it offers four opening doors. My rating is 13/20.















Model: Ford Crown Victoria
Year: 1998
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.52 of its Taxis du Monde press series
Acquired: brand new, in March 2004, in Souillac, France

Altaya could hardly avoid proposing a Crown Victoria in its series about world taxies and cabs, as the large Fords have replaced the traditional Checkers as the iconic transportation of the New Yorkers. Its die-cast has been provided to the Italian distributor by Ixo. Again the rendition of the large car is accurate enough to be worth 13/20.







Model: Ford Crown Victoria
Year: 2002
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.70 of its Taxis du Monde press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2004, in Souillac, France

In its pursuit for more money pocketed from its faithful customers Altaya has extended its taxi series by offering new decorations to models already proposed earlier in different forms. The Crown Victoria was one of those, being sold a second time as a Dubai taxi. Decoration is somewhat simpler than its New York’s counterpart’s, but overall level of quality still deserves a 13/20.

Ferguson TE-20

A little history

After refining for almost three decades his concept of a tractor’s hydraulic linkage, to which could be firmly fitted a variety of agricultural equipments, British engineer Harry Ferguson was ready to launch full-scale production. Sure enough, he had already seen tractors built under his name by David Brown, but this Ferguson Black had only seen a very limited production run. He had also entered into an agreement with Henry Ford, thanks to which the American company was able to use Ferguson’s patents for its own Fordson tractors. The deal was ended after World War Two by Henry Ford II, grandson to the company’s founder, who nonetheless continued to make use of Harry Ferguson’s inventions – this situation was uneasily settled out of court.

When Harry Ferguson had concluded his 1938 agreement with Henry Ford, he had hoped that Ford’s British subsidiary would have produced his own tractors, but this never materialized. The engineer had to wait a few more years until the end of the conflict brought a solution: many factories which had been in full swing producing armaments were now left without prospects. Ferguson approached Standard and in early fall 1946, the first TE-20 rolled out of the production line at Coventry. Initially powered by a Continental gasoline engine, the standard TE-20 was also produced as the specialized TEB-20 and TEC-20, narrow tractors designed to operate in fields and orchards which configurations would have rendered the TE-20 impractical. Later, the tall TEK-20 would be designed especially for vineyard work. Replacing the American-built Continental, the 1947 TEA-20 would introduce an advanced Standard engine, announcing the blocks used by the postwar automobiles produced by this manufacturer. A diesel engine would also be offered from 1951.

After Harry Ferguson carefully perfected its ideas over the course of many years, the TE-20 was ideally suited for all the tasks intended for it. Better, it is no overstatement to say that it announced all modern tractors. Standard was assembling thousands and thousands of the little grey machines, while a Ferguson factory opened in Detroit as early as in June 1947, and Hotchkiss secured an agreement to produce it in France from 1953. This was that very year when Harry Ferguson sold the whole of his company to the Canadian group Massey-Harris. In the process, the British engineer received shares worth sixteen million dollars from the new Massey-Harris-Ferguson (soon to become the world-famous Massey-Ferguson). He was not a man to retire, though. Through a new company Ferguson Research, he still toyed for a while with the idea of building a tractor but instead went on to design a four-wheel-drive transmission for high-performance automobiles. A Formula One car, the Ferguson P99, was constructed to demonstrate its viability. Despite the fact that this machine had mitigated results on the track, in the end the system equipped the Jensen Interceptor. Harry Ferguson wasn’t around to witness his last success, as he had died at his Gloucestershire home in October 1960. As for the TE-20, its production was stopped in July 1956, after more than half a million were built, many being exported throughout the world. An additional 60,000 had been produced as the Ferguson TO-20 in the United States while 50,000 Ferguson FF-30 were constructed in France by Standard-Hotchkiss until 1957.

About the model

Model: Ferguson TE-20
Year: 1947
Maker: Universal Hobbies
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Hachette as no.2 of its Tracteurs et Monde Agricole press series
Acquired: brand new, in June 2006, in Souillac, France

Large amounts of plastic rather than metal have been used to produce this die-cast, which despite this toy-like aspect is a good model: 13/20.

Peugeot 309

A little history

At first sight, the Peugeot 309 could have appeared as a slightly larger variant of the successful 205. Actually, it wasn’t even intended to be part of the Peugeot range. After the takeover of all of Chrysler’s European operations by the PSA group, and the subsequent renaming of Simca to Talbot, plans were drawn regarding the replacement of the Horizon. The engineers at the Talbot plant in Poissy designed the Arizona for this purpose, basing their car on the Peugeot 205. Its passenger compartment was retained, but its front end was modified, while the all-new rear was lengthened. Indeed, this rear end was designed to cleared identify the car as a Talbot and, once it became a Peugeot, made it look rather odd among the rest of the range. As for its engines, the Arizona would have enjoyed the very same blocks as the 205, that is to say its noisy Simca 1100-inherited gasoline engines and its advanced small Peugeot diesels.

This, as we know, never happened. Talbot’s sales were crumbling, partly due to the reluctance of Peugeot’s salesmen to sell anything else than Peugeots. The PSA group hence decided to scuttle Talbot in 1985, putting an end to the company’s hectic half-century history, during which it had borne four different names.

Nevertheless, a prototype of the Talbot Arizona had already been built. Unwilling to waste the money spent in its development and, a tribute to the work of Poissy’s engineers, acknowledging its qualities, Peugeot chose to start the production of the car under its own name. Here was for the brand’s, but the model’s moniker was a little more arduous to determine. In Peugeot’s range, the ex-Arizona would be squeezed between its cousin the 205 and the older and larger 305. I remember wild speculations about the car’s christening at the time, until Peugeot surprised everyone by calling it the 309. At the time, it was given as a rather deceptive explanation that the company’s notchbacks would from then on receive a “-09” name.

Based on the excellent 205, the 309 could hardly be a bad car and, from its introduction in October 1985, enjoyed a well-deserved success. Comfortable, aerodynamic, economical when fitted with a diesel engine, enduring with a gasoline one, reasonably elegant for the time, the 309 was offered in a wide variety of models that included an automatic transmission variant and a GTi fitted with the same potent engines as the famous 205 GTi. Production lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the 306. The 205 survived it and carried on for six more years. But was the 309 really gone? Not completely. A few more cars were unexpectedly assembled in India around 2000, following an agreement with the local manufacturer Premier, but this venture came to naught.

About the models

Model: Peugeot 309 GTi
Year: 1987
Maker: Norev
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Hachette as no.58 of its Collection Peugeot press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2008, in Souillac, France

An extremely poorly assembled model, as only Norev knows to make when catering for press series. The fitting of the rear “bubble” window is particularly disastrous. The paint is no better. Norev earns a 7/20 here for thinking its customers are just a bunch of idiots who don’t deserve better than this in return for their money.







Model: Peugeot 309 SR
Year: 1988
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.99 of its Nos Chères Voitures d'Antan press series
Acquired: brand new, in January 2008, in Souillac, France

Very correct rendition of the 309 by Altaya/Ixo, well worth 13/20.