Being that a Mercury Marauder is not within my budget in the next few years, and Ford has decided to stop production of the Marauder in 2004, I decided to buy a Police Package Crown Vic and customize it to my liking.

Ok, I guess I better start at the beginning.  I've seen The Blues Brothers movie probably way too many times to count on my body parts.  I have always had the desire to own a bad ass Police Package Dodge like they had, but in today's day and age, it just isn't possible.  I was looking around the internet for a full sized car with a V8, and wouldn't you know it, the only being produced today is a Ford Crown Victoria (and the Grand Marquis).  While searching around eBay, I realized that there were a lot of ex-police Vic's around to be bought, so I started doing some research.

This is hands down, the best Crown Victoria site I've found to date. Go there now, create a FREE account, and have fun.  Beware, the first time you post, someone will tell you that you should have SEARCHED the site first.  So ignore them, and if you have a problem message me: TheBugBox

Originally, I was going to leave the car with that 'Police Car' look.  Steel wheels, tinted windows, and maybe a CB antennae on the trunk.  Well, after a few failed women abductions here locally by a Police Impersonator, I decided I needed to NOT look like a cop, as much as possible.  So rims were first thing on my list.  After MUCHO hunting, I found what I wanted, and Photoshop'd some rims on a picture of a Crown Vic, and this is what I came up with. I like it.  Not BLING BLING, kinda tough looking.

After much research I found out ALMOST NO RIMS are designed to fit our cars. The max width you can put on the front is about 9inches, and 23mm offset.  At that offset, it is a VERY tight fit. Ideally you would want about 8" wide with 0-20mm offset.  These rims I found were from www.winstonsarea51.com and are 17" x 7.5" with a 20mm offset.  The Kuhmo tires are not my first choice in tires, but definitely fit in the budget.  Cost?  $1353.00. That's rims, tires, 20 locking Gorilla lugs, mounted, balanced, and shipped. A couple hundred more than I planned, but I didn't want to have ANOTHER Crown Vic with Mustang wheels on it.

Ok. I finally got my car!  Here's this picture was taken only two days after I picked it up.  I have already put on my wheels and tires, and had the windows tinted. I also gave her a good overall cleaning.  The interior of the car was rather grubby when I picked it up, but after some Simple Green Ó, and a bunch of elbow grease, it has cleaned up rather well.  I even have the SHO console temporarily mounted in place, but the colors don't quite match.  I will drive around a few days, and decide if I like it.  Then I will mount it permanently. 

Picture and Link