FORD COPS A PLEA

To the delight of police departments and taxi companies everywhere, Ford has decided that the Crown Victoria will live another half-decade, at least:

DEARBORN, Mich. — Inside Line has learned that Ford Motor Co. once again has reversed course and now is planning to extend the lifespan of its long-running Crown Victoria and the Grand Marquis to 2010 and beyond.

The full-size rear-wheel-drive sedans date to the 1979 model year, and have been updated — but never fully redesigned — several times in the past 26 years.

Ford had planned to replace the Crown Vic and the Grand Marquis in 2008 with new front-wheel-drive models based on a stretched version of the Five Hundred chassis.

Having owned one of these (an ‘84) I’m happy to see them sticking around. While big Detroit iron definitely isn’t for everybody (I eventually figured out it’s not even for me), I’m at least comforted by the knowledge that there’s still one car that’s made more or less the way they all used to.

Of course, if current trends continue, by 2010, every car bigger than subcompact-size will probably be back on a rear-wheel-drive platform, as traction and stability control technologies continue to improve. The benefits of rear-wheel drive (reduced mechanical complexity, better weight balance, increased controllability) are simply too great to be ignored. Even here in snow country there’s only about a dozen days a year when the added traction of front-wheel drive is truly necessary. Most of the rest of the time, a rear-wheel drive car–particularly one with traction control–is sufficient, and rear-wheel drive is infinitely more fun to drive the other 353 days of the year.

But it’s going to be tremendous fun to see what the automotive media will have to say about the Crown Vic–already well into its dotage–in another five years.

AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!

Got an itch to get in on some red-hot College of Cardinals wagering action? John Paul II appears to be recovering from his Soviet cold, but the books are now open if you want to lay down some cash on the next Vicar of Christ:

ROME (AFP) - As Pope John Paul II recovers in a Rome hospital from surgery to alleviate severe breathing problems, Irish bookmakers Paddy Power have begun taking bets on the identity of his successor.

The company has made 70-year-old Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Archbishop of Milan, its firm favourite as next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Tettamanzi, at 5-2, is ahead of 74-year-old Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, 3-1, and 68-year-old Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino of Cuba, 11-2.

Leading outsiders, according to the bookmakers, are Florence Archbishop Ennio Antonelli, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras — both 6-1 — and Cardinals Joseph Ratzinger of Germany and Claudio Hummes of Brazil, both 8-1.

Take it from me: Ratzinger at 8-1 is still a sucker’s bet. If you’d like my five-star Holy See Lock of the Week, contact me for further details. Over three and a half satisfied customers know we’ve got the picks that beat the big boards! Plus if you sign up for a full season, I’ll throw in the outcome of the Anglican “throw out the Americans” vote absolutely free. Who else can give you this kind of action?