The Capri at 50
We trace the half- century career of Ford’s European pony car.
An anniversary special celebrating the 1969 launched Ford Capri.
T his year we celebrate half a century of ‘the car you always promised yourself’ – a European Ford model inspired by an American design that went on to become a peculiarly British icon.
The story of the Capri begins with the Mustang, which was conceived as a response to the changing economic climate of the USA in the mid-’Sixties. The baby-boomer generation was coming up to car-buying age and as college attendance became more common, they were also becoming more affluent. This meant they were more likely to be buying new rather than used cars and as fashions changed they would be wanting something more modern than the massive 'Fifties land yachts their parents had bought as family cars.
The four-seater layout was settled on early in the project since the Thunderbird had proved that a two-seater layout would limit sales, while the mechanical layout was to use as many carry- over parts from existing models as possible.
One significant strand to the brief was the decision to create essentially a single model but to offer it with a massive range of trim and engine options – ranging from a 122bhp 2.8-litre six amusingly dubbed ‘Thriftpower’ to the 4.7-litre ‘Windsor’ V8.
To say the Mustang was a success was an understatement: within four months of its introduction some 100,000 Mustangs had been sold and it reached the million mark by March 1966. As predicted, the average buyer’s age was 31 but still some 16 per cent were in the 45-54 bracket, suggesting the car had a wider appeal than originally thought. A more interesting statistic is that 71 per cent of cars were ordered with V8 engines
Unsurprisingly, the success of the Mustang was widely emulated by Ford’s competitors in the USA but also by other parts of the FoMoCo empire and as early as 1964 it was decided to develop a smaller version of the pony car for Europe.
Under the codename Colt (sticking with the equine theme), Ford of Britain in Dagenham initially completed the development work, and like the Mustang the brief was to take the essentials from the mainstream saloon range of the time. The Dearborn top brass examined current and future products, deciding that the forthcoming Escort would be too narrow to permit the full range of V6 engines planned, which meant the chassis and mechanical layout was based on the MkI Cortina/Corsair, using its leaf-sprung rear end and MacPherson strut front.
Although development started off in Dagenham, as the car came closer to production the team worked increasingly closely with Ford of Cologne, following the recipe that had worked so well for the Escort.
It was the Corsair rather than the Cortina floorpan that was used for the new car, the reason being that its wheelbase was three inches longer than the Cortina, which with a slightly widened track at both ends would allow the passengers to sit lower.
Styling was of course crucial to the car’s appeal and if
anything the Capri is more successful than the Mustang, with its flowing lines and neat proportions giving it something of a Ferrari flavour – in MkI guise, at least. The early styling themes were developed in Dearborn and photos of the first prototypes showed a completely different upswept rear side window treatment, with the semi- circular horseshoe shape being a relatively late change.
With the design finalised, the project was given the green light for production in July 1966 when Henry Ford II signed off the budget of £20m.
The original aim had been to launch the car at the 1968 Earls Court motor show, but development was delayed by the last-minute decision in 1967 to change the style of the rear side window after most of the
bodywork tooling had been completed. This meant that the final approval didn’t take place until October 1967, with the first car leaving the line in November 1968.
As a result, the eventual launch venue was rather less glamorous than might have been expected given the car’s marketing thrust: the January 1969 Brussels Motor Show, where the Colt name was sidelined in favour of Capri, after it was realised that Mitsubishi had first dibs to the Colt tag.
Sales began the following month and like the Mustang, the advertising campaign was tailored to appeal to affluent young buyers who fancied something more sparkling than a Maxi or Cortina. The tag line ‘the car you always promised yourself’ became forever linked with the Capri and Ford’s product planners made sure you could promise yourself a Capri even if you weren’t as affluent as the brochures suggested: the engine range kicked off with the 1.3-litre ‘Kent’ crossflow, then the 1.6 litre Kent, the 2.0 litre V4 and the 3.0 litre Essex V6 also on offer.
Ironically, Ford of Britain management had been pretty much ordered by their US bosses to produce the Capri, without having much faith in it as a sales prospect: perhaps memories of the slow-selling Classic Capri still lingered.
As a result, the car had been planned as a low-volume model, production squeezed in alongside the new Escort at the Halewood plant, but Ford of Germany had become involved in late 1966, which resulted in the decision to offer models in Europe with the V4 and V6 engines offered in the Taunus, as well as parallel production of the car in Cologne. The car would also be produced in Saarlouis from 1970.
Over in Germany the range relied on the V4 engines, in 1.3, 1.5 and 1.7-litre capacity, with the V6 offered in 2.0 litre and 2.3 configurations. In the finest Ford tradition, the options list was extensive and allowed buyers to personalise the car.
Marketing for the cars was centred around the concept of what the MkI brochures called ‘Capri Custom Planning’, with three specification levels offered for both models from the factory: L, X or of course XL.
The L-package was essentially a styling option, providing bumper overriders, fake air scoops in the rear wings, fancy wheel trims, brightwork on the lower body sides and a locking filler cap. The X-pack did much the same for the inside, adding reclining front seats, a shaped rear seat, handbrake warning light and an extra courtesy light as well as twin horns and two reversing lights.
GT buyers meanwhile, could specify the R-pack that brought sports steel rims, foglights, special paint and a black grille to the party, plus a flexible stalk map reading light and leather steering wheel. Oh, and you could combine them all to come up with an XLR. The brochures also listed a wide range of individual options, from cloth trim to automatic gearbox. The whole thing was a brave attempt at allowing a customer to individualise their car and as
such predates something like the BMW MINI by decades.
It was confusing though: there were some 32 different combinations of engine and trim level, so the MkI brochures picked out eight favourites for you. Presumably these were the more profitable ones for Ford Motor Company, which the salesman just happened to be able to deliver rather more quickly...
In 1970 the range was broadened with the introduction of the Capri 3000E (for Executive) model, which provided more luxurious trim and couldn’t be paired with any of the Custom Plans.
Meanwhile, a proper performance Capri appeared in September 1971: the RS2600. Using the Cologne V6 engine in place of the 3000E’s Essex motor, the RS2600 featured Weslake cylinder heads and Kügelfischer mechanical fuel injection for a headline 150bhp. A homologation special for European touring car racing, it also featured modified suspension with gas Bilsteins, alloy wheels and uprated brakes as well as lightweight bodywork and sports bucket seats. A less radical carburettor-fed version was subsequently introduced bearing the name 2600GT.
In 1974, the original car was updated into the MkII, or Capri II as Ford named it. More than a facelift, the changes involved some significant alterations to the bodywork, which gained a shorter bonnet and increased width, with the biggest change being the addition of a hatchback. An updated dashboard and folding rear seat were also added, with the car now offered in L, XL or GT flavours, with 1.3, 1.6 or 2.0- litre Pinto engines plus the 3.0 litre V6. The MkII continued unchanged apart from the legendary JPS- liveried black- and- gold special edition until it became the MkIII in 1977.
Although the MkIII was little more than a heavy facelift of the MkII, it was an attempt to keep the Capri competitive in the face of the newer opposition like the Scirocco and Manta and although the engine range was initially carried over from the MkII, the Essex V6 was replaced in 1981 by the injected Cologne 2.8.
Incredibly, even the long Capri options list didn’t include a fifth gear until 1982, while in 1984 the 2.8 Injection Special was introduced, with a limited slip differential, stiffer suspension, half-leather seats and RS-styled seven-spoke alloys. The 2.0 litre was now offered as the 2.0S with similar suspension, while the 1.6 became simply the 1.6LS.
By 1984 the Capri was lagging behind in a market that now wanted more than leaf springs and a pushrod V6 and European sales were discontinued. Ironically, sales remained sufficiently strong in Britain for the Cologne factory to continue production from 1984 to 1986 in right- hand drive form only for the UK market, the last examples being registered in 1987. A special run- out model was produced to mark the event, the Capri 280 which was essentially a 2.8 Injection with LSD, full leather Recaro interior, 15- inch RS alloys and special Brooklands Green paint which gave them the nickname ‘Brooklands’.
The Capri’s long life illustrates just how it was the kind of thing Ford did best and it’s never really been replaced, either. While the US market had generations of Mustangs and eventually decided to up the game with the current version, the XR4i, the Mazda- based Probe, the Mondeo- based Cougar and the Fiesta- based Puma all failed to hit the mark. In many ways the spiritual successor to the tail- happy V6 Capris was the fast and furious Sierra Cosworth.
In what is perhaps the cruellest irony of all, Ford’s current coupé offering is its first properly European version of the Mustang which started the whole ball rolling.