ford capri

[Digit]

I took my driving test in Luton in an Austin 1100. In those days you could stand with the town hall at your back and stare at dozens of traffic lights.
They took you along Marsh road so that inevitably you had to climb away from there, and at the traffic lights you had to do a hand brake pull away.
Half way through my test the wipers packed up and it was raining.
In those days, despite flashing trafficators, you still had to stick your arm out of the window to signal your intentions.
I got soaked!

 

[Jenx]

Great memories !
My second car was a 3.0litre Mark 1 Capri like this.. except mine was blue.. the 3.0 had the 'power bulge' full length on the bonnet, the smaller ones had a smaller bulge. The Mk 1 Capri had a boot.. subsequent models had a hatchback.... I remember hitting a sheep by accident on the Moulin Moor between Pitlochry and Blairgowrie late one night, and lifting the sheep into said 'boot', only for it to 'come round' and vault over the top of me to make its escape.

Passed my test in my first car, a Mk1 Escort 1100... like this, but mine was yellow... Reg No was YRS 14L.

You could time this car's performance with a reasonably accurate calendar. Loved it though !

Does anyone else remember the Zodiac's and the Zephyr's ? Huge things that looked at the time as though the driver should have diplomatic immunity or be chairman of ICI .. .. ( well I was young !)

Also had a VX490 Vauxhall, and a Firenza..... but the Vauxhall's were always 'second fiddle' to the fords ( IMHO ) and indeed still are !
( heh heh... light blue touchpaper and retire to safe distance )...

Great memories,,, cars were 'individual' in those days... they had character.... you could fiddle with them yourself with relative ease... and I recall making a new exhaust for my mate's 1725 Hillman Hunter, out of a few bits of propshaft, and although it barely ran, he mananged to achieve about 4 miles to the gallon with it.
Brilliant. Great to see some of the classics! 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[greybeard]

Ah yes, the days when cars had character, which meant they broke down regularly, but equally they could be repaired/rebuilt by the averagely capable weekend mechanic too. And often were!

First car I owned was a very elderly and much thrashed Ford 100E, three speed porridge stirring gearbox, and vacuum wipers (had to be experienced to be believed - they stop when you open the throttle, like when you accelerate - ha ha - to get past another vehicle - truly!).

Second was a Heinkel 200 (?), a 'Cabin Cruiser' I think, a bubblecar - first and only car i've ever rolled, luckily at only about 4 mph, when I tried to turn too sharply. Got out, rolled it back onto its wheels. And drove on to a smattering of applause from bystanders.
Lacked compression - I used to get overtaken by keen cyclists going up long hills, but it tolerated low octane fuel - I once used paraffin to make sure I had enough fuel to get to a petrol station. The silencer fell off one night, I didn't realise until a couple of days later.

Learnt to drive - unofficially - in a Consul 375, then a Zephyr 4, and then a Zephyr 6 estate - 'stick it in 3rd and go anywhere' - a very flexible beasty.
3 litre Capris - fantastic in a straight line, lethal in corners.
Mk2 Jags - fill up with petrol and engine oil at the same time - the original smoky motors.

In those heady days it was all change regularly, for some years the number of cars i'd owned kept pace and then comfortably exceeded my age

My bro-in-law acquired a '65 Zodiac in '66, and is still driving it.

Ah, happy memories, but no intention or desire to own any of them again....apart from maybe a 3 litre Capri, and a 3.8 Mk2!

 

[Maia28]

Jenx, that looks like a 3.0 GTXLR. I have a photo of me leaning against my father's one in 1969 and my daughter leaning against my 2.8 in 1999. Next year, we can celebrate 40 years of continuous Capri ownership - is that a bit sad? I loved the Mk 1 Capri and have had four of them. My mother had an RS Mexico in 1974 (ish) and then an RS2000 which I learnt to drive in. Happy days, but I don't think I'd want to trade my Mondeo in for one of those as regular transport.
Andy

 

[mailee]

I would trade any of the new cars for one of the old beauties anyday. At least they didn't have an engine bay full of electronics that need a computer guru to work out what is wrong with them. Another plus with them is they are tax exempt too.

 

[Digit]

Another plus with them is they are tax exempt too.

I could be wrong on this mailee but I believe you'll find that Gord did away with that some time ago.

Roy.

 

[big soft moose]

Does anyone else remember the Zodiac's and the Zephyr's ? Huge things that looked at the time as though the driver should have diplomatic immunity or be chairman of ICI .. ..

my first car was a zephyr convertible (and no i'm not that old - this was in 1990) me and my mate farley bought it for 50 quid each, hand painted it silver (it was pink before and there was no way to eighteen year old studs like us were going to tool round in a barbie mobile) using silver hammerite of all things.

with an mot which may not have been fully cosher (well i dont see how it could have been given that the body work was reinforced with two bits of scaffy pole welded on with a mig welder. farley got it from a garage his brother worked at) we were ready for the open road

ahh those were the days - long weekends surfing in newquay , giving young "ladies" a lifts home... we had to park on a hill every night as the starter motor was shot and it had to be roll started, if you went into town you had to park on the top of the multi story for the same reason

after six or so months i burned the clutch out trying to get up the hill in lynmouth - but it was good while it lasted.

 

[Scrit]

Even though I've owned four V6 Capris (mk1 2.3 GT, mk1 RS2600, mk2 3000S and mk3 2.3S - well I lived in mainland Europe) I still wouldn't want any of them again..... Well possibly the RS which had 235bhp in Group 2 trim, but cost a fortune in clutch and brake linings, and half shafts, etc. My old Scimitar GTE (SE5A) was faster than all of them (partly thanks to an RS3100 engine and three twin-choke Webers off a Fezzer), and it went round corners better to boot. Pity about the crappy electrics

Scrit

 

[Paul Chapman]

I don't think they ever got the aerodynamics right on the Capri (at least the basic one). My Mum had one and I used to find that as you got to about 70mph the steering would get rather light as the front lifted slightly - most disconcerting :shock: It probably needed a spoiler under the front bumper. Maybe the hotter ones were better :-k

Cheers :wink:

Paul