News

The pending closure of the Ford plant in St. Thomas, Ont., is another blow to Southern Ontario's manufacturing heartland, showing the impact of the economic downturn even on the healthiest North American auto assembler. And for admirers of the Crown Victoria vehicle manufactured there, it's the end of an era.

St. Thomas, a city of 36,000 south of London, Ont., was one of the smallest communities in Canada to host an auto assembly plant. The Ford facility opened in 1967, building the Falcon, and later the Pinto and Escort, among other brands. Output has dropped since its heyday a decade ago, but the plant still produces more than 100,000 vehicles a year, and employs more than 1,400 workers.

An icon will also see its sunset. St. Thomas will be the last city to manufacture the Crown Victoria - a rear-wheel drive behemoth known for its durability and capacity. Ford is phasing out the model. With benches for seats, it can cram in six passengers comfortably. Smaller families, changing tastes and the end of sales to the general public mean those benches are now likely to carry groceries or society's less savoury: the Crown Vic is a fleet vehicle only, serving police departments and taxicab companies. The sight in the distance of the car's distinctive rounded trunk, long front and wide body has caused many a speeding driver to slow down in the fear that a shadow police car lurks, waiting to hand out tickets. The Crown Vic is one of the last of the large sedans, a polarizing anomaly in the increasingly vanilla world of automobile design. Its drivers love it; those who don't drive it will do anything they can to avoid it.

The workers of St. Thomas will be among the more blessed of the newly unemployed - they have two years to prepare for the transition, will get a severance package of $75,000 to $100,000 and a voucher for a new Ford vehicle. They will also keep their health-care benefits. But it is still a blow to them and their families, and it marks the end of a proud tradition of craftsmanship.

Crown Vic devotees will still be able to pick up a used model at auction, and the sturdy vehicle will ply North American roads for decades to come. But that presence, too, will fade.