Dear Town Car owners…

I purchased my 2001 Town Car in December of 2016 for $5,200 with 38,800 miles on it. Within a week, the oil light came on, but thankfully it was just a bad $13 sending unit.

Since then, I’ve done regular maintenance, and I’ve had to replace the following items due to failure: thermostat, a/c compressor, two power window motor/regulator assemblies, 4 ignition coils, rear air springs, and blend door actuators. The last two are common failure points.

In October of 2019, I hit a deer, but the car soldiered on just fine with some wrinkled hood and front fender metal and a headlight out. I replaced the plastic (fiberglass) header and the attached grille, along with a fender and hood from a salvage yard. I also had to replace the a/c condenser, as it got damaged.

Supposedly mine is part of the era with bad intake manifolds, but mine has never had an issue with it.

The car is currently approaching 148k, and the heater core leaks. I bypassed it, since the $2,000 repair quote was just too much. I use a little plug-in heater/defogger when necessary (I live in Central Texas). Soon, I’ll be putting this one up for sale, as I’ve inherited something else and will use my wife’s 2003 Corolla for commuting. I will miss this car, it’s roominess, and super smooth ride.

Random gripe: cup holder placement is awkward: hits my knee and blocks the hvac controls.

I'd love to find a 98-02 towncar without the vinyl top! They're my favorite generation of these cars. For some reason, the steering rack equipped cars just don't drive "right". I like the floaty boaty steering of the steering box.
 
There will never be another super low maintenance vehicle like the Panthers. Had a 88 Town Car [5.0]-99 Grand Marquis [4.6 with the HPP package]-then a 05 4.6 Crown Vic. Put over 300K miles on all of them and only did mostly plain old regular maintenance. Nothing major. Lived in NYC and commuted to upstate N.Y. every day.

Took the NYC potholes like a champ.

Weekends I did mostly gridlock driving going from Manhattan to the Bronx,Queens and Brooklyn.
 
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Town Cars were a favorite for commercial operations. Finding a good one has become difficult. They are excellent cars and if the common problems are addressed, do last a very long time.
The black car drivers up north ran those things for 400k, 500k or more miles. Lots of shops there specialized in town cars and fixed those things quickly and affordably for those working guys who needed the cars every day for work.
 
These were some of my favorite Town cars.

1973-lincoln-town-car.jpg


1969.jpg
 
The v6 actually was a Ford, unlike the v8 no matter what some posters in this thread think.
They probably are above average compared to other similar vehicles, like other Jaguars etc.
v6 has crank drive water pump non RFF heads, totally different…jaguar from the head gasket up.

you’ve never touched one of those cars i can tell
 
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Try to avoid Performance White or Oxford White, if you want to avoid the automotive equivalent of plaque psoriasis
I think the premium metallic whites were better at staying attached to the car

Is there a single manufacturer that makes a white vehicle that doesn’t peel? Toyota, Kia/Hyundai, Honda, and General Motors all seem to have problems with white paint flaking off.
 
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