CAPRI TURBO
The Capri Turbo was actually built, but only by Ford-Germany and in very limited numbers. Imagine if it had boasted an RS badge and was sold to the UK market...
Ford did build a Turbo Capri, but not as many as you'd think.
If you are a British Ford enthusiast, the turbocharged Capri III (made only in 1981 and 1982) is probably the least known of all derivatives. It was only in production for a short time, it was only ever built in left-hand-drive form, and it was officially never sold in the UK. Nor was it well known in its native Germany, for only 200 were ever built, all of them being sold on the Continent.
Deep down, Ford always intended the 2.8 Turbo to benefit from the great publicity which was currently being garnered by the flamboyant Zakspeed -built ‘silhouette’ race cars of the late 1970s. Although the aerodynamic add-ons in the Turbo gave
an impression of these two cars being related, in fact they had absolutely nothing in common except their name. Even so, the ‘halo’ effect of one (the race car) must surely have helped the other.
The key to this development was Zakspeed, the much-respected German tuning concern, which was based at Niederzissen, for all 200 of the Turbos manufactured were part fettled there, by the modification of partly completed production Capri 2.8i body shells which had been transported just 50 miles down the road from Cologne. This modification, in fact, involved the use of glassfibre outer wing/wheelarches, which were glued rather than riveted into place – which sometimes caused some quality problems, especially on finished cars. They were then returned to Cologne for completion, on the normal Capri assembly lines.
It’s important to realise, however, that these cars were not powered by turbocharged versions of the 2.8i (in the end, it would only be the totally unrelated Tickford Capris which were so equipped) – for the Turbo had a carburetted engine. Except on the very first cars (which were 3000S types, soon to be made obsolete), the base car, indeed, was a Capri 2.8 Injection. But the power unit was actually based on a carburetted version of the Ford-Cologne 2,792cc V6 engine, complete with a single downdraught twin-choke
Weber unit which was normally being fitted to the contemporary Granada at this time. Zakspeed completed the tune-up by fitting a KKK turbocharger. Even though the maximum boost provided on this very limited-production model was only 0.4-bar (6psi), this was quite enough to push peak power up from 135bhp (normally aspirated) to 188bhp (Zakspeed Turbo rated), for this model retained a high compression ratio of no less than 9.2:1, which was quite ambitious (though successful), for an earlygeneration turbocharged machine.
This overhead valve engine, in fact, was so lusty that no less than 150bhp (Capri 2.8i peak levels) was already being developed at 4,000rpm, at which point the power curve was still thrusting confidently upwards: peak revs, in fact, were at 5,500rpm.
No changes were made to the familiar, beefy, old four-speed gearbox of the 3000GT or original 2.8i types (in fact there never was a five-speed Capri Turbo, for this transmission was not available until after the Capri Turbo had been withdrawn), though a limited-slip differential was always optionally available in the (Atlas-type) rear axle.
Because this resulted in a torquey – rather than a peak-output – turbocharging tune, the Turbo had easy-to-find, exhilaratingto-use, stump-pulling performance for which Ford-Germany claimed a top speed of 134mph, and 0-62mph/0-100kph acceleration in 8.0secs. As far as we can see, there were no independent tests (certainly not published in the UK), but both these, surely, were conservative figures – for tests showed that the 150bhp 2.8 Injection model was almost as fast.
Aided and encouraged by Ford Design in Cologne, Zakspeed went all out to make the Turbo look obvious and sporting, so it attached a deep front spoiler under the front bumper, and an even more flamboyant plastic rear spoiler on the hatchback. Flared glassfibre wheelarches were also added. The visual effect was completed by the chunky 6.5in (some cars even had 7.5in Ford Motorsportstyle four-spokes) alloy wheels and the 235/60-section tyres.
Except for the use of Ford RS-branded velour seating, and an Escort RS1600i type of four-spoke steering wheel, that was about the extent of the conversion which, crucially, left the braking and suspension unmodified. The result was a melange, by no means as elegantly done as the Ford-UK 2.8 Injection car, and although it did its job (and all 200 cars were sold in the year in which they were marketed), it never became an icon in the way that the British model most certainly did. Except for the Capri Tickford, however, this was the fastest of all factory-approved Capris – yet there was no obvious category in which it could go motor racing, and we have not traced any successes in that field.
Do any such cars, as genuinely built by Zakspeed, exist in the UK? We don’t know, but if you’ve got one then get in touch!