FORD CAPRI 50TH ANNIVERSARY
“THE CAR YOU ALWAYS PROMISED YOURSELF”
FORD’S EURO TRENDSETTER HALF A CENTURY ON
Great cars can surprise their creators, and, despite the confident slogan, Ford Europe was well and truly caught out by the success of the Capri.
Designed in 1969 as a European alternative to the successful American Ford Mustang, the Capri’s last-minute entrance on the final day of the 1969 Brussels Motor Show captured and presented 1970s chic like nothing else in the market, especially for the price.
Ford had cleverly identified a market sector for a cheaper, stylish, sport coupé able to seat four as a viable alternative to a two-seat sports car — a concept that the manufacturer would progressively develop over a 15-year period. Earlier Capris had been Cortina-derivative coupés, but this new European, with its own striking coupé styling, set the standard on the road and the racetrack. Its success was in part due to Ford basing it on proven mechanical bits sourced from its vast parts bin and a modified Cortina Mark II platform, along with a tempting array of trim and mechanical options. Engines ranged from a 1298cc four-cylinder engine with a modest 39kw up to the 69kw 1996cc Essex V4, which, with a different head, also powered the Transit van — hardly shattering performance options, but the best was yet to come.
Ford’s sporting intentions were quite clear when it also displayed another version of the Capri at its launch, powered by a detuned Formula 2 Cosworth BDA 1600cc engine. Sadly, it wasn’t offered in the production Capri. Several tuning companies thought that the Capri’s GT styling deserved more power and shoehorned the Zephyr Mark IV’S three-litre Essex V6 into some. In late 1969, Ford brought out its own V6 version, the 3000GT.
The Capri’s reputation as a potent open-road cruiser with a penchant for power slides was sealed. Not long after, Ford went motor racing, and both Ford Britain and Ford Germany developed their own versions.
Racetrack success came almost immediately. Dieter Glemser won the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) in 1971 with a Weslake Capri RS2600, its engine good for 194kw. It was the start of some epic battles between Ford Capri RS2600S and Schnitzer BMWS. In 1972, Jochen Mass took the ETCC title in an RS2600 Capri. In 1973, BMW returned with its ‘Batmobile’ winged car. Ford replied with a bigger engine and wings for the RS3100, the potent Cosworth V6 lifting power to 335kw.
The German Ford racing department was disbanded in 1974, and the Capri development was left to privateers. In 1978, Ford joined forces with tuning company Zakspeed, creating a turbocharged, 1400cc powered car producing 390kw, to challenge the dominance of Porsche in Group 5.
Surprisingly, there has been quite a scrap over who actually designed the Capri. The contenders are Americans Gil Spear and Phil Clark, and arguments from both camps over ‘Project Colt’, as Ford called it, have made it into publications from both groups.
Racing Kiwi Capris
One of New Zealand’s best-known racing Capris was the car that local champion Paul Fahey drove from 1973 to 1975. In the book Paul Fahey: A Celebration of a Kiwi Motorsport Legend, Fahey recalls how good the car was.
Before moving to the RS3100 for 1974, Ford Germany’s last touring car race with two RS2600 Group 2 cars was at Macau in 1973. Fahey purchased the fresher numbertwo car, fitted with a Weslake engine of just under 3000cc. The car arrived in New Zealand just in time to debut at Bay Park raceway, and it won first time out. Fahey was, naturally, thrilled with his new acquisition, despite its arrival in long-distance race trim with zero spares or replacement Dunlop race tyres.
“These [tyres] took several laps to warm up, but once it got going it was a wonderful car to drive,” Fahey said.
The pair created epic spectacles in 1975 against V8-powered opposition from Jim Richards, Red Dawson, Rod Coppins, and Leo Leonard in the PDL Mustang and the Halliday Capri V6.
In 1975, Fahey negotiated a deal with Ford to use one of the new Cosworth 3.4-litre V6 engines, with 313kw. Back to Bay Park, and Fahey watched Australian Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan break the lap record in his 3.4-litre Porsche Carrera. Fahey went out, and, just five minutes later, the lap record was his. The Paul Fahey Flying Farewell event at Pukekohe on 2 April 1975 ended 24 years of racing for Fahey — fittingly, he was driving the Capri, with the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship already his — and the Capri was sold.
Capris are duking it out in classic racing to this day. The class, along with the Open Saloon Car Association (OSCA) series, has been a saviour for an increasing number of well-preserved and interesting cars. Capris are duking it out in classic racing to this day. The class, along with the Open Saloon Car Association (OSCA) series, has been a saviour for an increasing number of well-preserved and interesting cars
Mad as …
It’s amazing just what machinery is hiding in personal collections around New Zealand. In just such a collection, this 1981 Zakspeed Ford Capri Group 5, chassis number ZAK-G5C- 001/81, is sitting like some dangerous and deadly caged animal just waiting for its moment to escape.
Group 5 regulations demanded nothing much more than that the car resemble the stock model above the wheel arches and that the motor be available in base form from the same manufacturer. The result? This fire-breathing, totally over-the-top, otherworldly, and frightening racer. The drivers back then must have been on something very strong. The car was so altered that it only made it to the sill height of the production car.
The car was originally built by Zakspeed to compete in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DRM; German Touring Car Championship). It was fitted with “the best of everything”, according to the current owner of Zakspeed, Peter Zakowski — the wild-animal simile is not without reason. In 1981, driver Klaus Ludwig took the championship in spectacular fashion with 13 out of 13 pole positions, 10 wins, a second place, and retired twice.
This car cannot compete in New Zealand because it is constructed using an aluminium tube frame, but it would be legal elsewhere, and the owner does have plans to compete it overseas.
The owner says, “Quite honestly, it is the most formidable race car ever built and even at 38 years young it still looks every bit as good as a current GT3 spec race car.”
In 1978, Ford joined forces with tuning company Zakspeed, creating a turbocharged, 1400cc powered car producing 390kw, to challenge the dominance of Porsche in Group 5