I just took delivery of a used 2001 Ford Crown Victoria P72 Ex-NYC Taxi with all equipment except taximeter last night.

Today I cleaned up the rocker panels and the pounds of crust of NYC roads which was on the inside of wheel wells (ICK). I have no before picture but it had an insane amount of grime on it.

Cabbies also leave alot of garbage inside in the weirdest hidden places (like 20 or so tissues that were crumpled up in between the seat rails). At least I'm halfway through the cleaning, the interior still needs alot of cleaning.. put a coat of Meguiars wax on the car today - too bad the car has been repainted poorly at least 2 times before due to fender benders and medallion car requirements.

Anyway, the car was $2625 and has 171k miles on it. It runs great and should make a nice commuter car.

Well here below are 2 pics of the car, and boy oh boy is the vinyl seating luxurious. - I think an interior upgrade will be in the works and someday the partition must come out.

I still need to find a proper sized plug to fit the hood where the taxi medallion was removed, gonna use tape for now to cover it up so water doesn't get in the engine bay when it rains.

Other than a transmission issue (needs to be warmed up for a good minute or so before it will go in drive, thats ok as I warm up my cars anyway normally), its as good as can be for what its been through.

And no I'm not going to impersonate a NYC taxi anytime soon but I think I'm gonna leave the rates on and all the lights on the car as long as I don't get pulled over for it, I'm not gonna be picking people up off the street or anything.

Might work out well as a movie prop for somebody too.

 

Awesome pick. When I was in NYC a few months ago you would not believe the amount of taxis everywhere. Everywhere you look there's a taxi. For $2600, not bad!

 

Now THAT'S a cool beater...Hey, those don't have the Police Interceptor package on them, do they?

 

dude i want a crown vic too!

those things just won't die!!!

 

Nope. Ford also has a special "taxi" package.

Nice find man, aside from the bright yellow, it will make a nice commuter!

Paint her white, and with the black grill and wheels, (keep the partition) people will think you're a cop! Watch as you speed by and they simply move over. Also, if a real cop sees you speeding, he'll just think you're one of his boys and not think twice!

It's late...

 

The taxi has the same engine as the police package (P71) and civilian Crown Victorias, a 220hp 4.6L engine which has mustang gt heads (2001 was the first year of the slightly more powerful engine, a 20hp boost over 1998-2000)

The police package has a higher speed governor then the taxi package (P72), has dual exhaust (which is supposed to add 10hp), and a better rear axle ratio (police package has 3.27 or 3.55 depending on how its ordered) while I've only got 2.78 ratio, same ratio as a civilian one bought at a dealer

Crown Vics are slow compared to other things (for example a Chevy Caprice with an LT1) but there are supercharger kits out there if needed.

If things break, I can replace the original items with better aftermarket parts, so this car should work out well.

The wheels should shine up nice once I can wipe off the brake dust and get the centercaps sparkling.

It should be fun cruising around with people in this, but I won't be able to register it till Friday at the soonest so for now I can look at it/clean it, and go up and down the street.

 

Any idea what color it was originally?

 

The car has always been yellow, factory color, just resprayed over and over due to collision work and very stringent requirements of NYC TLC laws. 3 times a year taxis have an inspection of almost 200 items and most fail for some item and have to get reinspected. It can be anything as little as a tear in the back seat that will fail inspection.

In NYC most cabs have horrible paint and mix-n-match doors from various cars.. you can get a whole cab painted in NYC for $300 so it's done frequently, I'd say for the worse.

I bought the car from the original corporation who bought it new for taxi usage.. in December 2000 it only had 5 miles on it Now, 171880 miles..

The roof and rear trunk decklid look to be the only panels on the car with original paint, thank god I have some quality paint somewhere on the car!

LOL, in the glovebox and in the trunk of the car I have a book of car wash coupons, probably 50 of them all from the same place, $2.50 car wash for taxis taxes included.. NY has alot of bargains for the people who make the city run.

I'm only 60 miles away from NYC so in commute or in a parking lot it'll just look like I'm lost in Connecticut or bringing somebody here, it's all good, I can keep it the way it is now indefinitely and nobody'll think twice.

 

Sweet man, find someone going to the same place as you and you could make a buck or two!

 

Dude, that's too awesome... Great buy!!!

 

"It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."
"Hit it."

 

one word buddy.....SWEEEEET

 

Dude, that is awesome! I would've never thought owning a taxi would be cool or even fun, but now I'm envious....

Did it come with one of those crown air fresheners? Beaded seat covers?