One of the great mysteries of the site is ID'ing Crown Victorias. I tried to compile information on yearly changes for the 1998-2011 models. There is one website which does a good job.

http://www.pontiacperformance.net/TechArticles/CV_Year-to-Year_Changes.html

I've tried to compile the visual changes to help, but hope that add information that is missing. I skipped the 1992-97 models since they are easier to tell apart.

Body Codes:

P70 – LWB Sedan (2002+)
P71 – Police Interceptor
P72 – S/Commercial/Fleet/Taxi Sedan
P73 – Base Crown Victoria
P74 – Crown Victoria LX/LX Sport
P75 – Crown Victoria Toruing (1992 only)

Changes by year:

1998: Exterior features – Chrome slotted grille
- Chrome bumper strips
- Chrome door handles
- Body-colored mirrors
- Black B-pillar
- Chrome trunk trim
- red/amber taillights
- Chrome taillight trim
- body-colored back panel
- “Crown Victoria” badge on left rear panel
- 16” concave steel wheels with round holes
- single exhaust (High performance package adds dual)
Interior features – flat rounded headrests (since 1995)
- half-moon steering wheel, round side top, flat bottom

P71 differences – Body-colored B-pillars
- Black mirrors
- Black back panel
- dual exhaust

P72 differences – Body-colored B-pillars
- Black mirrors
- Black back panel



1999: P71 changes – black, glossy, slotted grille
- black bumper strips
- black door handles
- body-colored B-pillar
-“Police Interceptor” badges on left rear panel
- retains chrome trunk and taillight trim
- Street appearance package offered (adds chrome slotted grille and trunk trim, body-colored back panel)

P72 – black, glossy, slotted grille
- black bumper strips
- black door handles
- retains chrome trunk and taillight trim

P73/P74 – no changes?




2000: P71 changes – black, flat, slotted grille
- all-red taillights
- black trunk trim
- black taillight trim
P72 – black, flat, slotted grille
- retains chrome trunk and taillight trim
P73/P74 – no changes?



2001: P71 changes – black, honeycomb grille
- no bumper trim
P72 – black, honeycomb grille
- no bumper trim
P73/P74 – Sports Appearance Package added ( body-colored slotted grille and body trim, dual exhaust)




2002: P71 changes – ?
P70 – New LWB model added based on P72 – Added 6” to wheelbase for extra rear seat room, has longer doors
P72 - ?
P73/P74 – LX Sport replaces Sports Appearance Package

2003: - New body frame, suspension and braking system require wheels to be spread out, so all models get new wheels that are pushed out from frame and appear flatter.
- New wheel covers needed to fit new style wheels.
- New interior door panels also added
- New high headrests
- New wiper arms
- 3-point seatbelts added for middle rear seat

P71 changes – 17” wheels
P70/72 - ?
P73/74 – ?




2004: Half-year change – Revised steel wheels with larger rectangular slots
P71 changes –
P70/72 - ?
P73 – No bumper strips
P73/P74 – Black mirrors
- Body-colored B-pillars (mid-2003 change)
- All red taillights
- Sunroof available

2005: - New steering wheel; square top, round bottom
- whip antenna added to right rear fender (only year to have this feature)

P71 – ?
P70/P72 – Black taillight and trunk trim
P73/P74 – ?

2006: - Back to no external antenna
- New steel wheels with round holes on flatter wheel
- new wheel covers
- New instrument panel

P71 –
P70/72 –
P73/P74 –

2007: P74 – no chrome bumper strips

2008: - Fleet sales only
- LX Sport model discontinued

2009: - New body side moldings
- Flex-Fuel badge

2010: Base Crown Vic P73 discontinued
- New body codes P70 = P7A
P71 = P7B
P72 = P7C
P74 = P7E

2011: New bulkier headrests

Wheel designs:

1998-2002:


2003-early 2004:


Late 2004-2005:


2006+:


Steering wheels:

1998-2004:


2005+:



Rear Child Seat Anchors:




If you see anything that can be added, please comment.

Which (perversely for a Crown Victoria) seems like a rare and interesting to spot car: http://www.mcsmk8.com/92-P75/92-P75.HTM

Wonder if there are any out there in a movie?

very nice.... somehow ironic that the pics are all marked GM-Classics...

Crown Vic is a mystery for me too, that list of changes is sure gonna be helpful ( unlike the Grand Marquis, the only change i was aware for that devious ticket giving machine was the amber turn signal that went out for 2000 )

pics for the side moldings
older ones ( 2008 and under )

2009-2011

Hi all

New to the forum, looking around trying to figure out how it all works.

May I add my Crown Vic website for more ID help? I confess that due to everyone and their sister-in-law now having a web presence, it isn't as current as it once was, but there are still plenty of photos and things to help with IDs.

www.crownvicsetc.com
www.crownvicsetc.com/CrownVicRef.html

(Remember also that the Mercury Grand Marquis ended in 2010, not 2011)

Absolutely, thanks for adding the links. I started this thread to help us ID Crown Vics on the site, especially since our expert Ford guy is less active. You have a couple tidbits I was unaware of, so it helps.

Oh good!

I didn't know about this thread until i needed to look back at some old comments


A little question

1992 model Crown Vics had [P72] as the fleet destination (Taxi and Police cars had this chassis code, taxi's ID'd by Commercial Taxi Package and police cars just [P72] (I thought they were always named Police Interceptor?)

Should the 1992s be separated back or no?

Also, starting in 2000, Crown Vics had latches inside the trunk for trunk release (although im not sure if it applied to all cars)

rtsbusman1997 - I may have to ask my boyfriend about the 1992 details, as he is 10 years older than me and used to buy/sell used cruisers. P71 has, since I started paying attention, been a police package vehicle. Seeing as 1992 was so early for the new body style, maybe using P72 was a carry-over from the boxbody years.

P72 was the general code until the 1993 model year, that I do know. The question is if the names were any different (that was the logic behind the 1992s not getting chassis codes on the site, that since they were all P72 it wouldn't make a difference if they had [P72] or not)

The 2003 B-pillars were black and transitioned to body colored. Pulled plenty of VINs to confirm. It was a mid-year shift. Here are just two examples of the many I pulled.

http://gtcarlot.com/colors/car/2829993-6.html - 2003 black.
http://gtcarlot.com/colors/car/34095353-6.html - 2003 body colored.

Both are LX. Base [P73] also had this change.

yeah it was a mid year change (summer of 03 I think)

little side note (if you didn’t see it): 1999+ Commercial Taxi Package models didn’t have chrome door handles by default, they had black ones standard (it would have to have been a special order)

@rtsbusman1997 also, 2000 brough rear child anchors on the decklid. Obviously it helps with models where the tail lamps are swapped.

This change occurred on Mercury Grand Marquis as well.

@night cub can you update your main post to reflect these verified findings. We now have to determine if the change was on all [P7]s. We know it was on [P74/73].

I made a graphic and added it, but I would not say decklid, as that sounds like the child seat is being anchored to the trunk on the outside of the car. Parcel Shelf would be the location.

some parents tired of " are we there yet ? " could agree with the location...

@night cub can you update 2004 MY for the base [P73] model?

New information indicates the base model lost the chrome on the bumpers & chrome surround on the door handles for MY 2004.

2002 [P73]: https://poctra.com/2002-FORD-CROWN-VICTORIA/id-AIqOy2lRp7AlrpPK/LONG-ISLAND-NY

2003 [P73]: https://poctra.com/2003-FORD-CROWN-VICTORIA/id-AYGAn2HfBGO9FnoW/ATLANTA-EAST-GA/Photos
https://poctra.com/2003-FORD-CROWN-VICTORIA-STANDARD/id-CyB7ZMk2UmVbv1Ji/DALLAS/FT-WORTH-TX/Photos

2004 [P73]: https://poctra.com/2004-FORD-CROWN-VICTORIA/id-AxtKclSHMPt4jIEq/ROCHESTER-NY/Photos
https://poctra.com/2004-FORD-CROWN-VICTORIA/id-AMSod2GMUh3affHt/PHOENIX-AZ/Photos

2005 [P73]: https://poctra.com/2005-FORD-CROWN-VICTORIA/id-AMpKQFrfkORKNnnr/LAS-VEGAS-NV/Photos
https://poctra.com/2005-FORD-CROWN-VICTORIA/id-AsdaYMpyRpnl7vli/CHARLESTON-SC/Photos

I did not see any [P73] after MY 2005.

Seems the P72/P7C existed to the end but there is hardly any information on the net about them. A reddit user posted his ex-government 2010 P7C.

Has 2009-2011 side molding. Black rear fascia. Body color B-pillars. Crown Victoria! Rear badge. Honeycomb grille. Black mirrors.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrownVictoria/comments/x7adpr/comment/inohy4z/
2FABP7CV7AX104305

I know Ford_Guy isn’t active much but this might be something to pass along to him.

Another really helpful find is that authentic taxi packages P70/A & P72/C have rear grab handles on the door panels while authentic P71/B do not.

I was perusing rental Crown Vics today and noticed that only truly authentic taxi packages seem to have this feature. Might be something we add to the top for differentiating real/fake taxis?

Here is a real retired P70. https://picturecarsltd.com/car/1809-ford-crown-victoria/
Here is fake P71 taxi mockup: https://inventory.cinemavehicles.com/inventory_item/c0145b/

Note the rear doors. P71 has no handle. P70 does.

I'm not sure where to put this and i don't want to clog this thread with mostly useless information but i found some second hand 2010-2011 P7Bs on a Saudi marketplace. These 3 examples are all "GCC Spec" export models that were retired from government use.

#1 - 2010 P7B: https://haraj.com.sa/11120717836/%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AF_%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%- 88%D9%86_%D9%81%D9%83%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7_2010
#2 - 2011 P7B: https://haraj.com.sa/11120701188/%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B9_%D9%81%D9%88%D8%- B1%D8%AF_%D9%81%D9%83%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7_%D8%A8%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%- B3%D9%8A
#3 - 2011 P7B (a relatively clean example): https://haraj.com.sa/11120544792/%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AF_%D8%A8%D9%88%D9%84%D9%- 8A%D8%B3%D9%8A_%D9%85%D8%AE%D8%B2%D9%86_%D9%85%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%8A_80%D8%A7%D9%84%- D9%81_%D9%81%D9%82%D8%B7_%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%B7

They seems to have the 40/20/40 seats with the rear A/C option, similar to GCC Spec P7C/P72s sold in the region. There's also the mis-matched chrome/black trim on the rear which i thought was just a silly repair job but i then noticed them on dozens of examples in person and online which seemed odd. Finally, a small thing but they slapped a translated boot release sticker on top of the original one.

Otherwise, mostly the same as North American spec models really.
----
Here's a GCC Spec P71 from 1998-2000 (i think) that was used by Bahrain, for reference:




Ribbed blue cloth seats with no rear A/C and the rear mis-matched black/chrome trim piece but in reverse (Not sure if factory or shoddy repair).

Again, this isn't helpful in most cases on IMCDb but i thought i would highlight them since few have appeared.