Stateside Capri
I greatly enjoyed Marc Keiterling’s treatment of all things Ford Capri (C&SC, August). Having owned a ’74 model in my younger days, I can say that sighting another in the US was a rather rare occurrence, akin to seeing a fellow BMW 2002.
I saw the beautiful Group 2 cars in period magazines and was smitten by the slippery shape and intelligent packaging. For comparison, remember that in the USA we had the Mustang II and Chevy Monza, which made for generally forgettable performance vehicles.
The previous owner had made a few enhancements – notably cheap alloys, wider tyres, foglights, a chin spoiler and the obligatory ‘Capri’ windscreen banner. This was heady stuff for a teenager in 1977, when most of my contemporaries drove clapped-out GM or Ford muscle cars – great for straight-line performance, but not so keen on braking or handling. Although it was clearly down on power with its 2.3-litre ‘four’, its 90bhp propelled the lightweight Capri rather briskly. I frequently imagined myself to be one of Herr Neerpasch’s piloten – carving up Zandvoort and leaving Lauda’s BMW in my wake. It also went with enough alacrity to merit my first speeding ticket.
As you can see from the photo, the Capri performed rather well in wintry weather. The combination of the Ford’s good chassis balance and a manual gearbox allowed the driver to maintain decent control in adverse conditions (even without dedicated winter rubber). Sadly, the Capri was not well protected from rust, and I suspect my example de-molecularised into a pile of iron filings following my ownership.
I sold the Capri when I went off to university – and bought a used 1964 Pontiac GTO a few years later, but’s that’s a story for a different issue. Please keep up the fine feature writing and photography!
Matt Oleksiak
Via email