Buying Guide
Ford Capri MkII and MkIII
‘The MkII hatchback was as good-looking and easy to run as the MkI’
Until a few years ago, a cheap second- or thirdgeneration Ford Capri made for an affordable, unintimidating entry into classic car ownership. However, as values of the rarer V6s escalated and the fourcylinder cars have been picked over by breakers, now even less-powerful Capris are increasingly dear. There are still good deals to be had, however – it’s a case of sorting the solid cars at fair prices from the dogs being marketed at prices reflecting a fanciful ‘investment potential’.
Following the huge success of the Capri MkI, the MkII concentrated on the model’s strengths, becoming a more usable day-to-day car with bigger back seats and a hatchback, while being just as good-looking and easy to run. The MkII shares much with the later and more numerous MkIII, including nearly of all the mechanicals and a fair bit of the bodywork, but the 1978-on MkIII received quad headlamps, straked tail lights and a number of other aesthetic changes to make the car appear more aggressive. At launch, the available engines were the old Crossflow 1.3-litre Kent, the new overhead-cam 1.6- and 2.0-litre Pintos, and the famed 3.0-litre Essex V6. That line-up remained unchanged until the fuelinjected 2.8 Cologne V6 replaced the Essex in 1981. The 1.3 was dropped a year later. Naturally, Ford created plenty of trim levels to encourage neighbourly envy, following a predictable L, XL, GT and Ghia hierarchy at first, with the S replacing the GT as the sporty offering halfway through the MkII’s life. Limited editions were similarly frequent (though they often stretched the meaning of ‘ limited’), the most sought-after being the John Player Specialinspired MkII GTS, the MkIII Laser and – especially – the run-out Brooklands Green 280.