Don’t believe the hype: Not all high schoolers these days shun cars in favor of texting-friendly bus rides and Ubers. Meet Thomas Hundal, owner and builder of this 1996 Canadian-market Ford Crown Victoria.
Why this particular model? Thomas offers a list of reasons: “I enjoy the car because it doesn’t consume a lot of money, be it in purchase or running costs; it doesn’t attract the ire of CVSE, the provincial task force for vehicle safety that is oddly subjective and likes to target modified imported cars; and you can do whatever you really want with it for not a whole lot of money, be it drifting, autocross, drag racing, rallycross, road trips or even towing.”
And, as Thomas is finding out, the Crown Vic is also easily personalized. “So far, I’ve installed 550 lbs./in. GM G-body dirt track front springs, Bilstein dampers from a junked Lincoln Town Car, and SN95 Mustang GT rear lowering springs with hand-carved urethane upper perch locators to get the Mustang springs fitting snugly,” he explains.
Then there’s the home-brewed side exhaust and rear spoiler: “I have had ideas for some kind of rear spoiler for a while now, and in the end I just painted up a 60×6-inch piece of sheet steel that was bent at an angle lengthwise and riveted it to the decklid.”
What’s next? His plans include more mechanical upgrades–oh, and college in Ontario. Keep tabs on his progress through our message board, where he posts as G_Body_Man.
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