Ford Capri

[Steve]

Spotted just a mile and a half from my home today.

 

[aeronca65t]

Always a nice car and with a variety of engines available.

I had a 2.0 version years ago but never licensed it......I just bought it cheap to resell at a profit.

We have at least one that races with us but you rarely see them on the street any more. That one, with the wide-body flares, looks particularly nice!

 

[Basil]

The first car I ever bought new was a 1974 Capri. Metallic Green with Black Interior and a black vinyl top. It was actually a very nice little car. Very similar to this one but black int/top:

 

[LarryK]

Unfortunately, I bought the Mustang II Mach 1, instead of the Capri. Might of still had the Capri, now worth more.

 

[Steve]

Bas, the Mk1 Capris like the one you had always hit the spot for me. Drove several Mk2 and Mk3 versions but the Mk1 always eluded me. Looks-wise the Capri was spot-on.

 

[catfood]

I didn't know they were sold over the pond. In later years they became a bit of joke car over here (inverted hedghogs) and you very rarely see one on the road. Only ever drove one one and wasn't particularly impressed but it was a bit of a wreck that a friend was working on to flip and make a quick quid.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

MERCURY Capri this side of the pond. I am going back in the memory banks....MS 3.1 eye think...weren't fuel fillers in C pillars on Brit versions? Or was that one of the Marks later than this?
I worked for Lincoln-Mercury at the time these were popular...and after I left there, did a lot.
The big issues were A) Dagenham transmission, B) ringing prop shaft, C) horrible front end design.
Prop shaft was fixed (really) with a full face shield, drill a hole in the back of the shaft, rotate 180 and drill a hole in the front...then use an early version of two-part spray expandable foam, insert the nozzle in the back, on a lift, have your assistant pull the lever...and when it bubbled out the top hole at the trans end, stop...when dry, trim it off.
They had a two-piece, three joint shaft on the very early ones..could never get them balanced..change them all over to single piece..and got the ringing.
The nasty issue was sun roofs.
When they were assembled, there is a shelf to catch water ingress, with a drain hose at each rear corner. Unfortunately, whoever had the responsibility on the line to feed the hose down and THROUGH the hold forward of the wheel housing....didn't. The were bent over, sealed off.
Pouring rain, 36 degrees, poor driver comes off the freeway, hits the brakes at the end of the offramp, and a gallon of very cold water came out of the catch basin, and right down his neck.
Oh, the screaming we heard.

Front end, while most cars of the era had lower control arm positioned by a radius arm headed rearwards, these depended on the forward mounted sway bar to hold the control arms in place. Rubber dongle pressed into the cast control arm, had to remove the inner pivot bolts to feed the arm onto the angled outwards front mounted sway bar, then use everything you could muster to try to get the last arm back in far enough to get the pivot bolt back in.
And do the sway bar bushings at the same time..because all 4 bits wore out together..rapidly.

I remember them well..."The sexy European". Right.

 

[glemon]

They sold a lot of them back in the day, and there don't seem to be any of them around anymore, at least in the rust belt, don't know about the rest of the world. I always thought they were a neat little package, especially with the v-6, bigger than a B-GT, but I am sure they would look pretty tiny on the road today.

 

[Billm]

Out here on the left coast I haven't seen one in YEARS-
They were great looking cars, loved the MkI !!
BillM

 

[SaxMan]

Matchbox used to make a purple one that was always a favorite of mine.

There's a guy who has one about 8 miles from my house...I'll pass it on one of the loops I do on my bike.

 

[DrEntropy]

Had one of the six cylinder ones, standard trans, yellow. with black interior. Went to drive it home one eve and as I put it into reverse the shifter broke off with about an inch of it still showing. Drove home with a set of Vice-Grips for a shorty shifter. Went to the local dealer a day later and they had a supply of shifters in stock! Said they'd had a rash of broken ones and decided to keep 'em on hand. That car rusted kinda quick, too. We did re-do the body after about four years and sold it off.

 

[AngliaGT]

Steve,

That appears to be a MKIII - never imported here (officially).

- Doug

 

[JPSmit]

Saw this posted today:

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c.../what-iconic-ford-capri-would-9677257?ref=yfp

kind of a cross between the updated Jensen and a current Jag.

 

[Steve]

Interesting...

Doug, the car is a MkII apparently, the guy told me that he'd grafted a MkIII front end on to the car a few years back.