End of an Era: As of 2012, no more Crown Vics

In June, Ford Motor Co. invited the heads of some of the nation's largest police fleets to Dearborn to talk about the future of police cars.

For nearly two decades, that market has belonged to Ford's Crown Victoria -- a vehicle that departments from coast to coast have come to respect for its toughness and reliability. Now the Crown Vic is running out of road.

"They told us that 2011 would be the last year they build the Crown Vic,"
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About 85 percent of the approximately 75,000 police cars sold in the United States each year are Crown Vics.

The story by Bryce Hoffman in the Detroit News

The Crown Vic has my car (it's also the NYC cab). There was still one or two Chevy Caprices rattling around, but they were in sad shape. Now you see a fair number of Chevy Impalas.

Back in Baltimore, I was warned that front-wheel drive isn't practical here because they're not as tough. And nothing in the world is driven more roughly than a non-take-home cop car.

As a cop, I was shocked by how horrible Crown Vics handle. Especially in the rain or snow, you really had to be really careful. Plus they're big, which makes them harder to get through tight spaces and alleys. In Amsterdam, the cops had souped-up Volkswagen Rabbits. Not very American, but man those things could fly.