1985 FORD CAPRI LASER
Accidents, violence and resurrection: the tale of a lucky Laser
1985: Kevin Barrett
My brother worked for Ford at Dagenham and I had already owned a Capri MKI XLR and then an Escort MKII. But I saw an advert for a Capri Laser edition, sold the Escort and put that money towards a deposit. I chose Rosso Red. I got the car delivered on Christmas Eve 1985, so it became a Christmas present to myself. I worked at Midland Bank and needed reliable transport but, of course, the Capri was always going to be a bit more than that. I was footloose and fancy free, it was the ideal car for anyone like me at that time. I actually saw my car before it was delivered. I was passing the dealership in Romford and there was this bright red Capri in the window. it had arrived early and, as there were a few days before the delivery, they’d put it on display in the showroom. It looked great.
I had some extra locks fitted, because the standard Ford door locks didn’t have a good reputation. I think I spent £100 on them so I could feel safe when I had to park it in London or on the streets while I was at work. This was after it got keyed a few weeks after delivery.
Then a neighbour accidentally left the handbrake off his car and it rolled down the hill on the road where I lived, thumping the Capri’s nearside front wing, which required replacing.
I married Amanda in 1994, but she was never keen on the Capri. It’d been out of production since the 1986, so it was hardly the height of fashion. But we
used the car for holidays – the big tailgate came in handy – and also for picking my nephews up from school in the late Eighties and early Nineties.
However, the Capri began to accumulate a few faults, so I put it into the garage at my parents’ place thinking I’d have time to sort it out later, but it didn’t happen. In 2007 a neighbour called me and said the garage door had been opened and she’d seen some people hanging about.they’d smashed a side window in an attempt to steal the car – but a dead battery had defeated their plan. Having keyed every panel of the car and kicked in a headlight, they had scarpered. I couldn’t get my head around it and I couldn’t leave it there, so I got a jump-start and drove it back to my house, where it had to live under a cover on the drive.
It sat there for two more years before the realisation came that I hadn’t got the time or the skills to sort it out. I posted a message on the Capri Club online forum. I eventually identified Jeff Cohen as ‘the best bloke by far’, and a deal was done.
Summer 2009: Jeff Cohen
With my son Simon just beginning a career as a motor mechanic, we felt Kevin’s Capri would make a perfect project for both of us. We did the engine work, but the biggest factor affecting the car’s return to the road was the full respray required to obliterate the vandal damage and the uneven fading of the original paint. The body was sound, so we bit the bullet. With the car back from the paint shop, we started the process of finding the parts required.
Simon and I worked tirelessly on it together, fitting a single-choke Weber downdraught along with other things. New tyres, and a set of self-applied Laser graphics, were the final additions, the car sailed through an MOT. Since then a new camshaft has been fitted and the car has been stored in perfect conditions between periods of use. We kept Kevin up to date with the restoration work and of course, he has asked me for first refusal, should I ever sell it. He really enjoyed owning it, and I’m so glad we were able to take it on and preserve it.
James says…
‘This is one Capri with a priceless history for Kevin, Jeff and Simon. The fact it’s a Laser makes it even more appealing to us. Prices of the lesser models haven’t gone too silly and the brilliant club support means you could still pick up a project car and turn it into a seriously special classic.’
‘The vandalised body was actually sound, so I bit the bullet’