Ford Capri

[Vapin' Joe]

I had two, a 1600 Mk1 Facelift and a 1600 Mk3.

I always fancied the Mk2 but never got to own one. Ford have long since stopped making cars that are in any way desirable.

 

[stephec]

I had two, a 1600 Mk1 Facelift and a 1600 Mk3.

I always fancied the Mk2 but never got to own one. Ford have long since stopped making cars that are in any way desirable.

I always thought the MK2 was the worst looking one of the three, apart from the black JPS specials, but I've seen a few pictures lately of nicely restored ones that look really good.

 

[Conrad_K]

I drove Capris for a long time. Ford brought German-made Capris to America from 1971 to 1974, and then Capri IIs from 1976 to 77 or 78. Most of the Capris I encountered were 1972 or 1973 models, almost all "fully optioned." The 1974s were usually stripper models with the giant impact bumpers.

My first Capri was a 1972 model, only 4 years old when I bought it in 1976 for $50. Someone had taken the 2-liter engine and transmission out, but it was in nice shape otherwise. I dragged it home and dropped in a 302 Ford V8 and a C4 automatic. It was quite the ride for a 17-year-old. I drove various V8 Capris for 20 years after that, and so did my girlfriend, who later became my wife.

Over the years I had at least twelve of them, some just for parts, others licensed and driven. A few more V8s, some 2600 V6s, and a few 2-liters. The 2-liter cars were actually more fun than the V8s, you could hammer on one without risking "go directly to jail" if the police noticed.

 

[Exlaser2]

I had two, a 1600 Mk1 Facelift and a 1600 Mk3.

I always fancied the Mk2 but never got to own one. Ford have long since stopped making cars that are in any way desirable.

I have to say my father in law has a new Ford puma . It’s a great car , roomy and terrific to drive . I was very tempted to buy one myself BUT the elephant in the room is its wet belt engine . It’s a complete bag of poo. 😢

 

[mustang1]

The best thing about the new Capri is the name revival. Can you imagine a Corvette or Mustang SUV?.... Oh wait....

 

[Drago]

I'm looking forward to the new Ford Orion SUV.

 

[Cavalol]

Absolutely love Capris. Had a Mk2 1.3 with a 1600 XFLOW fitted, then a Mk2 1.6 (OHC), a Mk3 3.0S, manual (dog rough, but what a car!) and a 1.6 Laser. My old neighbour (many years ago) worked for Ford and had a Daytona yellow 3000E, I think it was the 'Mk1.5'.

 

[PeteXXX]

2025

 

[VinSumRox]

I worked at the local Ford plant in Essex for a builder in the late 70s, seeing the place it was amazing any cars where completed. The Capri was known as the Dagenham dustbin for a reason!

 

[Cavalol]

That looks hideous. There was another AI (or something) generated Capri that looked a lot better, tbh.

 

[presta]

I worked at the local Ford plant in Essex for a builder in the late 70s, seeing the place it was amazing any cars where completed.

Ford's engineering labs at Dunton used to head hunt from our place, and I knew a couple of guys who went there. One loved it and the other hated it, but as they both told essentially the same story I'm tempted to think it's true.

Rick: "It's great, you don't have to do any work! Everyone just sits around reading the paper all day."
Tony: "It's terrible, you can't get any work done, if you try to do anything the unions will have them all out on strike"
Tony designed the test rigs they used for soak testing engines to destruction by running them non-stop 24/7, but if the night shift workers didn't want to do anything, they'd get a hammer and smash up the test rig, then put their feet up and go to sleep: "Oh, it was broken like that when I got here". This kept happening time and time again, but his boss told him he had to just bite his lip and keep repairing the kit so as not to upset the unions.

That looks hideous. There was another AI (or something) generated Capri that looked a lot better, tbh.

This one?

 

[Gunk]

Ford's engineering labs at Dunton used to head hunt from our place, and I knew a couple of guys who went there. One loved it and the other hated it, but as they both told essentially the same story I'm tempted to think it's true.

Rick: "It's great, you don't have to do any work! Everyone just sits around reading the paper all day."
Tony: "It's terrible, you can't get any work done, if you try to do anything the unions will have them all out on strike"
Tony designed the test rigs they used for soak testing engines to destruction by running them non-stop 24/7, but if the night shift workers didn't want to do anything, they'd get a hammer and smash up the test rig, then put their feet up and go to sleep: "Oh, it was broken like that when I got here". This kept happening time and time again, but his boss told him he had to just bite his lip and keep repairing the kit so as not to upset the unions.


This one?

View attachment 773781

So a 1974 Capri from the front and a 2024 Supra from the rear

These clumsy retro reboots sum up the state of the car industry at the moment, it’s all looking to the past for inspiration. There seems to be a complete lack of original thinking.

 

[Drago]

TBH I ever thought the original Capri was all that.

 

[VinSumRox]

Ford's engineering labs at Dunton used to head hunt from our place, and I knew a couple of guys who went there. One loved it and the other hated it, but as they both told essentially the same story I'm tempted to think it's true.

Rick: "It's great, you don't have to do any work! Everyone just sits around reading the paper all day."
Tony: "It's terrible, you can't get any work done, if you try to do anything the unions will have them all out on strike"
Tony designed the test rigs they used for soak testing engines to destruction by running them non-stop 24/7, but if the night shift workers didn't want to do anything, they'd get a hammer and smash up the test rig, then put their feet up and go to sleep: "Oh, it was broken like that when I got here". This kept happening time and time again, but his boss told him he had to just bite his lip and keep repairing the kit so as not to upset the unions.

Sounds about right. I worked at Dunton as well, digging up fire sprinkler mains...
Used to watch drivers doing strange repetitive manoeuvres on the test track and other make cars being brought in in covered wagons with all the car badges removed.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

A couple of cousins worked at Dagenham back in the seventies. They used to tell me it was quite common to drop a bolt between the links on the chain driven assembly line to bring it to a stop.