If you were to liken the Toyota Crown to a vehicle in America it’d likely be the Ford Crown Victoria or Lincoln Town Car. Sure, there are some differences in engineering, but in their purpose and overall image these cars share many similarities. Both are seen as quiet, comfortable sedans with a humble image and a loyal fanbase which includes lots of ‘mature’ owners. And like its Ford counterpart was for so many years, the Crown is the go-to platform for police cars in Japan.
While neither the Crown or Crown Vic could be considered a mainstream enthusiast car, both of these rear-drive sedans offer plenty of potential for those looking to take them beyond their quiet and sensible roots.
As I mentioned in my coverage from the recent drift event at Fuji Speedway, there were a handful of modified Crowns in attendance, including this radical machine out of Kanagawa Prefecture – a place known for its bitchin’ drift sedans.
The base car is an S170 chassis Crown Athlete V, and while the typical Crown you see on the street is about as understated as a luxury car gets, this one is anything but. First off there’s the wild color, which is actually based on an optional hue that Toyota offers on the new Crown.
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s a metal-flake hood, scraping stance, low-hanging aero, custom-built fenders and big-lipped Work wheels.
Under the hood sits the venerable 1JZ-GTE engine which came standard in the Athlete V version. While this motor wasn’t as heavily modified as some of the other 1JZs at this event, it had more than enough power to hold the big sedan in long, smokey slides.
Inside you can see that the factory automatic transmission has been replaced with a manual gearbox, but other than that the interior is amazingly stock. There’s no rollcage, all panels are in place, there’s a factory navigation system and the only major change is a Bride bucket seat for the driver.
And while some might mistake this thing for a VIP cruiser, once you see the battle scars that cover the body you know the Crown was built for more than sitting in parking lots and avoiding steep driveways.
As a nod to the model’s cop car image, the owner even fitted a pair of flashing red lights behind the grille and a siren which he turns on during his drift sessions.
Once again, this is one of those cars that makes me love Japan’s grassroots drift scene so much. How can you not be down with a bright pink luxury sedan that rips off deep, aggressive slides while sounding like a police car and making spectators grin from to ear to ear?
I love it oh so much.
Mike Garrett
Instagram: speedhunters_mike
mike@speedhunters.com
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
I've long had kind of an ambiguous feeling about cop cars, as I'm sure most car guys have.
On the one hand, they're just big, factory hot rods, but then again, they're used by "it's not my fault, I'm just doing my job" types to hassle us car enthusiasts when we go out and have fun with our vehicles. You know what I mean.
At least, I DID have a problem with it, until I remembered that although the Soviet Union was a monstrous Lovecraftian thing, it had a lot of cool equipment, and it wasn't the equipment's fault how it was being used.
Liking this.
Don't like it.
I love it.
did you pick this She.T car cause its pink, or because you want a a pink crown vic drift car? cause this car sucks, i hardly ever leave mean comments, but i think its justified when it comes to this POS car. plus no one asked for a history lesson on crown vics and crowns,
steelyknives We're sure you've heard of the phrase one man's trash is another man's treasure. We don't expect every person to like every car we write about, but still... there are plenty of other cars to read about on here if you don't like this one!
nielssan bingo
steelyknives wow, no need to be so aggressive...
Speedhunters steelyknives sorry, its just that usually cars here really stand out, i don't see anything special about this car. hey man, i was just being honest, that's my prospective
NICE! you should do a feature of ex-cop cars gone wild!
that would be cool!
no one cares that this car hurts you emotionaly.
Anyone remember the hks/vertex aristo? love the big bodies gettin down like the tiny coupes
Has anyone made a drift car out of a crown vic yet? cop shocks, cop engines, they are serious fun.
Love it!! These JDM boats have such nice lines to them :).
steelyknives and your prespective?
I guess they're right, not everyone will like every car this guys feature, they do get a really hard time with every car they post, just because there's always someone who doesn't like it, but guess what, who cares! Keep doing what you do best guys, great feature on a really weird car.
Speedhunters [img]http://i.imgur.com/O2vSr0A.png/img]
You missed the pun of cop powersliding thier cop cars in movies.
steelyknives Speedhunters but its a grass roots drifter from the other side of the world, a car that I'll never ever see here in the UK, what's not to like?
@truhidden https://youtu.be/QAWuHvVCI6g
Aussies have been doing it for years! Presenting: 1986 Holden VL Commodore BT1
steelyknives don't click if you don't like it. simple enough.
cool car or POS? It might be a hellova lot of fun, but it's not up to Speedhunters level.
mnchk1987 A lot of Mustang and Camaro ex-highway patrol pursuit ones out there. Sounds like a cool idea!
Speedhunters steelyknives but Speedhunters has higher standards. I don't care for many of the features, but I would not say they were unfit for this site, but this one? I'm with steelyknives.
cgpexcoupe steelyknives I had to click it to see how crappy it was.....
cutterjones13 Speedhunters steelyknives
Peter Kelly once said...
"Ever since I First walked into the HQ four years ago, my email, Facebook or Bebo (rest in peace) has always been full of messages saying that there are too many drifters, draggers, Nissans or Mitsis, and an equal number saying there are not enough drifters, draggers, Nissans or Mitsis.
No matter what we put in the magazine, some people will like it and some won't. All we can do is listen to you guys, stay on top of the scene and make a conscious effort to keep our minds open to new trends, new ideas and new people."
mnchk1987
Totally agree with that!
Indeed I was thinking (hoping) that this was an ex cop car gone wild ^^
cutterjones13
Not Speedhunters level?
I'm actually quite happy to see more grassroots stuff on here again.
Nice high quality -> high budget builds are nice but it is a lot nicer to see what normal people do with their cars and not car companies and high level Tuning shops.
What is speedhunters level? You're the same who said Mike was overselling Japanese grassroots drifting..
Ice Age I used to get pulled over for "random stops" all the time, never when I was breaking the law, just random stops every week.
Oddly enough, when I grew up a bit and stopped hooning around on the road (ahem, quite so much... time & place, etc), the "random stops" stopped happening...
Here's the thing, if you get a complaint from a member of the public, the police may not be able to ticket you for it, but your car is marked, and they'll pull you over every time they see you.
Also if your car is of questionable legality/roadworthiness you can't claim you are being picked on (yes, I know, I've claimed that exact thing myself...).
cutterjones13 i don't want to be rude, but could you specify what you mean as in speedhunters level?
For me Speedhunters is a site which i follow since the dawn of its existence, fine im primarily a lurker and enjoy the read, but it was always about the different aspects of car culture.
Be it high over the top dollar builds, or you average garadge build.
so as far as im concened the Crown fits right into the portfolio of speedhunters, we had a long time since there was and coveradge of a grassroots event and the cars that goes with that. so i think its fine and i enjojed the read.
take the owner of the crown, he makes tha car his own, as everyone who modifies his car, be it a set of rims or more. and speedhunters showcases it.
Greetz One
This is sick. A jap cop car? Illest of ill if you ask me. What a novel idea, truly unique sure to have people at a track talking, smiling and laughing at pure coolness.
Any pictures of the sunroof? The sticker placement on their is creative and i'd like a closer look!
Thanks guys, loving the grassroots posts.
I enjoy the grassroots stuff to!
I think sometimes we're guilty of expecting every car to be car of the year (myself included- I made comments yesterday to this affect)
If reading this article makes someone browse Ebay for a cheap drift car, or go turn a wrench in the garage tonight instead of watching TV, then it's job done IMO.
cutterjones13 its grassroots stuff like this that put SH at the level its at...stuff like this was at the foundation early on. welcome to low budget grassroots drifting the way it should be. i hope they post an entire section on drift missiles to show that not all jdm sideways slide machines have no dents or zipties... some even have their headlights ductaped onto their roof cuz their frames are sooo badly smashed.... but this is true drifting.
DaveT Such yes. Makes me want to get an 03-04 Mercury Marauder and throw some go-fast at it.
I like the car, love the jdm cutie in the floral skirt though.
xAsymmetric DaveT You and I would get along.
Apparently that car was run for one event then taken apart. Which is a shame.
These cars kick ass! wish we'd have them in my country =(
BTW, theres more on that N/A crown? driver must be real good to hold a big drift on a heavy car without boost!
Just an update on this car. Here is a pic of it's left side caved in: http://imgur.com/gFHnES5
@Alex oh nooooooooo!!!!!!!
the car was very good
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