What is Panther Platform?
Ford's rear-drive, body-on-frame full-size car platform from 1979 to 2012, used by the Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, and Town Car.
The Panther platform was Ford's full-size car platform from the 1979 to 2012 model years. It was rear-wheel drive and body-on-frame with a live rear axle, and it carried the Ford LTD and Crown Victoria, the Mercury Marquis and Grand Marquis, and the Lincoln Town Car. It was originally slated to end in the early 1980s, but it lasted 33 model years, one of the longest runs of any North American platform.
Every Panther car had a V8. The first generation, from 1979 to 1991, was the only one built as a two-door, a four-door, and a station wagon, and the only one with the Windsor V8. The second generation, from the early 1990s, was sedan-only and brought the Modular V8, the first overhead-cam V8 in a mass-produced American vehicle. The third, from 2003 to 2012, got a redesigned frame and suspension for better handling.
Body-on-frame construction made the cars durable and easier to repair after minor collisions, so they became fleet favorites as police cars and taxis, and the Town Car was North America's most common limousine because its frame could be stretched. Ford and Mercury versions were built in Hazelwood, Missouri, and then at St. Thomas Assembly in Ontario from 1986. The last Panther car, a Ford Crown Victoria, was built there on September 15, 2011, and the Crown Victoria was the final mass-produced passenger car designed with a separate frame.