Now is it just me, or do these cars have really big gas tanks? Especially for something that is technically considered a "compact" I always use the first gen (1981-89) Town Cars as an example, 18 gal in those vs almost 23 gal in our V6 & V8 models.
They are quite big.
I should look into this issue. Last I filled up, I was down to only being able to fill with ~14 gallons from "empty" to full. Assume level sender issue.
Actually, I think the Fox Thunderbird and Cougar were and still are considered mid sized cars. The Crown Victorias and Town Cars are only maybe a foot or so longer.
The scary thing is my wife's 2012 Mustang is almost the same length as my Thunderbird.
The fox cars were considered to be compact in the day. They are classified by interior space, not overall length or outside dimensions.
You want your car to look big, line your bumper up with a f150 short bed.
This! Size class goes by passenger compartment sq footage + trunk sq footage, and at a total of 107 sq feet, these cars are at the top of the compact size class.
Gas tank size may be related to intended (or at least marketed) use of the vehicle. The Tbird/Cougar was intended as a Grand Touring car made with road trips in mind and marketed against luxury sport Euro cars. The TownCar was not marketed as such.
My TurboCoupe has more than a 600 mile range when exclusively highway driven, enough to get from Dallas, Texas to St. Louis, Missouri or from New York City to Detroit, Michigan on a tank of fuel. Kind of amazing, when I think about it.
Mark VII's also had the same BIG tank. You suppose the Town Cars might have been limited to a smaller 18 gal tank due to the BOF construction??
I'm sure there were some spacial contortions needed to get around the Town Car's frame.
I read that the mid 80s BMW 5 series Alpina had a 29 gallon (110 L) tank, up from the stock 535i's18.5 gallon (70 L) tank. That would be an expensive fill-up!