The story of the Ford Capri

Remembering the Ford Capri

As you’re no doubt aware, Ford has announced that it will soon be launching an electric SUV called the Capri.

In some quarters, the return of a classic name has not gone down well, in much the same way as it didn’t when the Mustang Mach-E was announced in 2019.

Whatever your thoughts might be on this, the reintroduction of the nameplate seems to us like an excellent opportunity to look back on past Ford Capris, so that’s what we’re going to do.

Lincoln Cosmopolitan Capri

Ford has been calling cars Capri for longer than many people realise.

The name, which refers to an island off the west coast of Italy, was first used by Ford’s luxury division, Lincoln, in 1950.

Back then, it wasn’t applied to a complete model range, but to the two-door coupé version of the first-generation Cosmopolitan, which was powered by a 5.5-litre flathead V8.

Lincoln Capri

In the same year that Lincoln launched a new Cosmopolitan, it also applied the Capri name to a new model.

The situation had not changed as much as this implies, however, since the Capri was still essentially a Cosmopolitan, at least in its early days.

The styling was dramatically updated four years later, by which time the Cosmopolitan had been discontinued, and in 1958 a quite different third version came along, though, like the second, it was on the market for only two years.

Power was provided by a variety of V8s with capacities ranging from 5.2 to 7 litres, the largest of these being the new Ford MEL.

The first European Capri

Europe’s – or more specifically the UK’s – first car with the famous name was the Consul Capri, a coupé derivative of the Consul Classic introduced in 1961.

The Consul Classic was perhaps the strangest-looking British Ford ever devised, with US-influenced styling and a reverse-angle rear window which had also been used for the Anglia two years earlier, but seemed even odder in this context.

The Consul Capri didn’t exactly look conventional either, but at least its rear window sloped in the direction most people were familiar with.

It was powered by 1.3- and 1.5-litre pre-crossflow versions of what is now generally referred to as the Kent engine, which would also figure in later Capris.

Mercury Capri

No Capri review could be considered comprehensive if it didn’t include references to the cars marketed by the Mercury division, and there will be several examples here.

Like Lincoln, Mercury began tentatively, applying the Capri name to two-door hardtop (pictured) and four-door sedan versions of the 1966 Comet.

Standard engines in that year were a 3.3-litre straight-six and a 4.3-litre version of the Windsor V8 known as the Challenger, and the 6.4-litre FE V8 was available as an option with a two-barrel (but not, as with other Comets, a four-barrel) carburettor.

In 1967, the last year of this particular Mercury Capri, the 7-litre FE was added to the options list, but only for the two-door hardtop.

The Ford Capri Mk1

The car now generally, if not quite accurately, thought of as the first Ford Capri was revealed early in 1969, almost five years after the short-lived Consul version had been discontinued.

Mechanically, there was nothing about it that you couldn’t find in ordinary European Ford saloons, but its styling was of a different kind entirely.

The long bonnet and fastback rear, both suggesting a relationship with American high-performance models, were very exciting, and led to comparisons with the Mustang.

Ford’s advertising department called it ‘the car you always promised yourself’, and even went so far as to claim that the low seating position would make whoever was in control feel ‘pretty much like a Grand Prix driver’.

Kent Capris

Early Capris can be divided into those which had Kent engines – now with crossflow cylinder heads after a 1967 update – and those which didn’t.

Among those which did, there was a choice of 1.3-  or 1.6-litre engines (1300 L pictured), the former giving the car considerably less go than show.

In each case, there was a GT version with a larger carburettor and more power.

Non-Kent Capris

Many engines other than the Kent were also fitted to the first-generation Ford Capri.

Before 1969 was out, two larger units, both with ‘V’ rather than in-line cylinder configurations, had been introduced.

The first, arriving in March of that year, was the 2-litre version of the Essex V4, already familiar from its use in the Corsair saloon/estate and the Transit van. Smaller V4s were fitted to Capris built in Germany.

Six months later, the range was extended further to include the Essex V6 which, at 3 litres, had more than double the capacity of the 1.3-litre Kent engine.

American Ford Capris

From 1970, Ford Capris built in Germany were shipped across the Atlantic and sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers in North America, having been slightly altered to take account of local regulations.

Sales were inevitably slow in that first year, but they quickly ballooned, reaching 113,069 in the US in 1973.

The process continued with the Mk2, which we’ll be looking into in more detail later, but that car was less popular – US sales dropped to barely more than 4000 in 1978, its final year.

After that, the stories of the American and European Ford Capris went in different directions, as we’ll see.

Capri Perana

Ford Capris designed in Europe (a distinction which will become important later) have been retrospectively fitted with V8 engines for competition purposes, but, with two exceptions, roadgoing models have only been sold with four- or six-cylinder engines.

One of these exceptions is the Capri Perana, which from 1970 to 1973 was powered by the 4.9-litre version of the Ford small-block V8 commonly known as Windsor.

The manufacturer itself did not do the work, which was instead undertaken in South Africa by Basil Green, by then well known for his Ford conversions.

However, Ford was so impressed that it sanctioned the Perana and gave it a full factory warranty, and subsequently appointed Green as one of its dealers.

In Germany, Gerd Knözinger would later fit the Windsor to Mk2 and Mk3 Capris, which he called Mako and were available from Ford dealerships in that country.

Four-wheel-drive Ford Capris

Nearly all production Ford Capris had rear-wheel drive, but there were attempts to develop versions where the power of the engine was transmitted to the road via all four wheels.

The most publicly visible involved developing three such cars – one driven by Roger Clark, a leading British rally driver at the time – for rallycross, a sport which involves driving on courses with both sealed and loose surfaces.

Powered by 3-litre V6 engines, they were fast in a straight line and had phenomenal traction.

Unfortunately, as Clark pointed out, they were very prone to understeer, and since that couldn’t be dialled out using the technology being employed, the project was abandoned despite some promising showings.

Ford Capri RS 2600

This was the first of Ford’s RS Capris, powered by a modified version of the 2.6-litre Cologne V6 engine.

It was a homologation special, developed specifically to allow Ford to use even more highly tuned derivatives in international saloon-car racing.

As motorsport projects go, this one was very successful. In 1971, Dieter Glemser won the European Touring Car Championship in an RS 2600, and a year later Jochen Mass did the same.

Statistically unlikely as it may seem for a limited-production model, a standard RS 2600 manufactured in Saarlouis, Germany, became the millionth Ford Capri ever built on 6 September 1973, the same year that annual sales hit their peak of more than 230,000.

Facelift

The only update to the Mk1 Ford Capri range as a whole took place in 1972.

Mechanically, there were few changes, but the new cars had different lights, updated interiors and revised suspension.

At around the same time, the four-cylinder Pinto engine (developed in Europe, though it was named after a US model), was introduced, and began replacing the older Kent used previously.

Ford Capri RS 3100

The RS 3100 was another homologation special which replaced the RS 2600 in 1973.

It was powered by the 3-litre Essex V6 engine, overbored by 1.5mm in this application so that it measured 3.1 litres.

This meant that the car was now eligible to compete in the over 3-litre class in saloon racing, though the standard capacity did not have to be retained.

The competition versions were powered by the 3.4-litre Cosworth GAA, which was based on the Essex but had twin overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder.

The Ford Capri Mk2

The Ford Capri entered its second generation in 1974, still based on the same platform but with many changes.

Among other things, there was now more practicality than before, even though the car remained a 2+2 coupé.

It was now also a hatchback, with a tailgate rather than a bootlid, and the small rear seats could be folded forward to increase luggage capacity.

Simplicity

Reflecting changes of fashion in the 1970s, the Ford Capri’s styling was toned down slightly for its second generation.

For example, the once prominent body crease on each side was discarded, though pinstripes acted as reminders that they had once been there.

Non-functional air intakes ahead of the rear wheels were also removed, giving the Mk2 Capri what has been described as a ‘smoother, more sophisticated appearance’.

Engines and trims

The range of engines continued to include a 1.3-litre four-cylinder and a 3-litre V6, but the 2-litre Taunus V4 (never considered by anyone to be the smoothest-running unit in the range) was abandoned, and replaced by a Pinto of the same capacity.

During the first generation, there had been a wide choice of optional trim packs, but in another example of adding simplicity, Ford deleted most of them for the Mk2.

On the other hand, there was now a Ghia (named after the Italian design house taken over by Ford in 1970), plus in 1976 a firmly suspended Capri S was added to the range.

The Ford Capri Mk3

Although the Ford Capri introduced in 1978 is regarded as a third-generation model, it was little more than a facelift of the car it nominally replaced.

The hatchback body was more or less the same as before, but there were some detail alterations, and quad round headlights were now standard on all models.

The choice of engines was as wide as ever to begin with, at least in terms of capacity, but the 1.3- and 1.6-litre units were both discontinued in the early 1980s.

All Mk3 Ford Capris were built in the German city Cologne, UK production having ended several years before.

Mercury Capri (again)

In its home country, Ford decided to end its decade-long policy of importing Capris built an ocean away in Europe, and instead create one of its own.

The new American Capri was branded as a Mercury, but it was very close to the third-generation Ford Mustang, both models being based on the Fox platform.

This was available in several sizes (the version used for the Mustang and Capri being the shortest), but if you include all the others these cars were also related to such diverse vehicles as the Thunderbird, the LTD, the American Granada and even the Lincoln Continental.

Mercury engines

Like the European Ford Capri, the Mercury had a range of engines so wide that the largest was more than twice the capacity of the smallest.

It started with the Lima (a 2.3-litre variant of the Pinto, offered with or without a turbo), continued through several V6s, and culminated in 4.2- and 4.9-litre versions of the Windsor V8.

The latter, you’ll remember, was also used in Basil Green’s Perana and Gerd Knözinger’s Mako, but since the Mercury was never branded as a Ford (though of course that company was responsible for it), these can still be said to have been the only V8-engined Ford Capris ever sold to the public for road use.

Zakspeed Capris

The German Zakspeed team built several phenomenal race cars based on the Ford Capri Mk3 for the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft.

All of them were powered by turbocharged Cosworth BDA engines (derived from the Ford Kent unit) with capacities of 1.4 or 1.7 litres, depending on which class they ran in.

Their greatest success came in 1981, when Klaus Ludwig won the DRM outright, having beaten everyone in his class in 10 of the 13 rounds.

Other racing Ford Capris

Competition-prepared Ford Capris based far more closely on the standard model than the Zakspeed cars also performed very well in circuit racing.

In one spectacular case, Gordon Spice won his strongly supported class in the British Saloon Car Championship (now known as the British Touring Car Championship) every year from 1975 to 1980, when it was run to FIA Group 1 regulations.

Despite this dominance, Spice never finished higher than third overall in the series, which tended to favour drivers running in classes with far less competition.

The Ford Capri became less competitive in 1980 when the upper capacity limited was raised from 3 to 3.5 litres, immediately making the Rover SD1 the car to have.

ASC McLaren

American Sunroof Company (later renamed American Specialty Cars) produced its own version of the Mercury Capri from 1984 to 1986.

Known as the ASC McLaren, it was powered by the 5.0 High Output version of the Windsor V8, and had several styling and suspension upgrades.

It was available as both a coupé and a convertible, the latter being a surprising and expensive development since the Mercury Capri of this generation was only ever sold with a solid roof.

Following the end of Mercury production, the ASC McLaren name was used for a modified Ford Mustang, which was manufactured until 1990.

End of the European Ford Capri

Production of the European Ford Capri ended in late 1986, after just fewer than 1.9 million examples had been built.

Sales had fallen considerably, and there’s a case for saying the car was now mostly bought for nostalgic reasons, rather than because of how it compared with more modern rivals.

The 3-litre Essex V6 had been discontinued in 1981 and replaced by a fuel-injected, 2.8-litre Cologne engine of the same layout, to which a five-speed gearbox was added in early 1983.

In contrast to the early days, the 2.8 was now one of only three available engines, the others being 1.6- and 2-litre versions of the Pinto.

The Tickford Capri

For several decades in its very long history, Tickford was a subsidiary of Aston Martin.

The name is familiar to many Capri enthusiasts due to its adaptation of the Cologne-engined Mk3.

The 2.8-litre V6 was turbocharged, increasing its power output to more than 200bhp, the suspension was uprated by journalist and former Grand Prix driver John Miles, and a very 1980s bodykit was added.

Spectacularly expensive for its time, the Tickford found few buyers, and is exceptionally rare today.

The 280 Brooklands

The last European production Ford Capris were all special editions named partly after the capacity of the Cologne V6 engine and partly after the number that were built.

The Brooklands part of the name refers, of course, to the famous race circuit in Surrey, which opened in 1907 and was described by the diarist Lady Monkswell as ‘this awful motor track’ and ‘this great horrid place’.

Every 280 Brooklands was painted metallic green (a reference, no doubt, to British Racing Green) and had leather upholstery.

The Australian Ford Capri

After a short gap, the Capri name was brought back in 1989 for a model produced by Ford Australia.

This one was completely different from all the others, being a 2+2 roadster with front-wheel drive, somewhat different to the Mazda MX-5 of the same period but also a possible rival to it.

In fact, this Ford Capri contained a great deal of Mazda technology.

It was based on the Japanese company’s BF platform, also used for the Mazda 323 among others, and was powered by its 1.6-litre B6 engine, available with or without turbocharging.

The last Mercury Capri

Very unusually, the third-generation Mercury Capri had no connection with any Ford-branded vehicle built in the US.

Like the first of its line (but not the Mustang-based second), it was imported from the other side of an ocean.

In this case, the ocean was the Pacific rather than the Atlantic, because the car was simply the Mazda-based Australian Capri.

Mercury sales began in 1991, and both versions were discontinued three years after that.

The 21st-century Ford Capri

30 years separate the end of the Australian Ford Capri from the announcement of the new model.

It is, of course, both the first electric vehicle and the first SUV to bear the famous name.

Disapproval is understandable but, as we’ve shown here, there have been many different types of Ford Capri over the years, so in that sense the new-for-2024 version adds to a tradition rather than negating it.