Mercury Capri
Capri is a nameplate marketed by the Lincoln-Mercury division of Ford Motor Company over three generations between 1970 and 1994.
From 1970 to 1978, the Capri was a sport compact marketed in North America by the Lincoln-Mercury division without any Ford or Mercury divisional branding; it was a captive import, manufactured by Ford of Europe and sold simply as the Capri.
From 1979 to 1986, the second generation Capri became part of the Mercury model line as a U.S. built pony car, a badge engineered variant of the contemporary Ford Mustang.
Ford Australia produced the third-generation Mercury Capri roadster from 1991 to 1994, which Ford marketed as the Ford Capri outside of North America.
In North America, the first and third generations of the Capri were marketed without a direct Ford-brand counterpart but were sold in other markets under the Ford brand.
The name derives from the Italian island of Capri, and has been used by all three Ford divisions. The 1952 Lincoln Capri marked the first use of the nameplate, serving as a trim level through 1959. From 1962 to 1964, Ford of Britain introduced a Ford Consul Capri two-door hardtop coupe. For 1966 and 1967, the Capri name was first used by Mercury to denote the standard trim of the Mercury Comet.
For 1968, Ford of Europe developed the Ford Capri two-door coupé as its European counterpart to the Mustang. Like the Mustang, the Capri was styled with a long hood and a short deck, with a fastback-style roofline.
First generation (1970–1978)
Capri (1970–1975)
The first generation of the Capri was a captive import produced by Ford of Europe in Cologne, Germany. Introduced in Europe for 1968, the Ford Capri was marketed by the Lincoln-Mercury Division starting in April 1970. While sold through Mercury dealers, the Capri did not carry any divisional identification. Priced at $2,300 at the time of its launch, the Capri was marketed as an economical sporty coupe, far smaller than the Mercury Cougar and Montego.In its adaptation to the American market, the Capri saw several minor revisions, with the two rectangular headlights of the Ford Capri replaced by four circular headlamps, grille-mounted turn signals, and side marker lights; Rostyle wheels were fitted as standard equipment. While produced in Germany as a variant of the Ford Cortina, the Capri adopted powertrain commonality with the newly introduced Ford Pinto. Originally powered by a 1.6 L Kent "crossflow" inline-four, the Capri received a 2.0 L "OHC" inline-four for 1971. As an option, for 1972, Mercury introduced a 2.6 L Cologne V6, becoming the first American-market vehicle marketed by Ford Motor Company with a V6 engine. For 1974, the V6 was enlarged to 2.8 L, as Ford revised castings for both the engine block and cylinder heads.
For 1973, the front bumper was revised to comply with 5-mph bumper standards. The previous chrome bumper was reinforced with a steel tube and attached to the frame with shock absorbers. As part of the change, the Capri saw revisions to the grille, tail lights, and its rear quarter trim grilles. As part of an interior revision, the Capri was given a new steering wheel, dashboard, and seat trim along with a redesigned wiring harness. For 1974, 5 mph bumpers were fitted to both front and rear, replacing the previous chrome tube bumpers with reinforced body-colored plastic bumpers.
A Mercury version of the Ford Mustang II badged as a Capri was briefly considered, but the strong sales of the Ford Capri as a captive import shelved those plans.
Capri II (1976–1978)
After the 1974 redesign of the Ford Capri, Lincoln-Mercury commenced American sales of the Capri Mk II in 1975 as an early 1976 model. Skipping the 1975 model year entirely, Lincoln-Mercury renamed the Capri to the Capri II, again omitting any formal divisional identification from the vehicle. While sharing similar styling to its predecessor, the Capri II adopted a hatchback roofline. As with the 1970–1974 Capri, to adapt to the American market, the Capri II was fitted with quad sealed-beam headlamps, grille-mounted turn signal lamps, 5-mph bumpers, and body-color side-view mirror.Again maintaining powertrain commonality with the Ford Pinto, Ford Mustang II and Mercury Bobcat, the Capri II was fitted with the 2.3 L OHC engine, offering a 2.8 L V6 as an option.
After the 1977 model year, Lincoln-Mercury ended imports of the Capri II from Ford of Europe, with unsold examples sold during the 1978 model year. In total, 513,500 Capri/Capri IIs were sold from 1970 to 1978 by Lincoln-Mercury. At its peak, yearly Capri sales in North America were the highest for any import vehicle. Ford of Europe continued production of the car in "Capri III" form until 1986 - to all intents and purposes a facelifted Capri II.
Reception
Road & Track magazine on the 1970 Capri 1600: "...But styling and image sells cars, right? And if that's true, then it's our opinion that Lincoln-Mercury has a real winner in the Capri."R&T on the Capri 2000 in February 1971: "The Capri has a lot to recommend it. It's a solidly built, sporty compact car and fun to drive."
R&T on the Capri 2600 V6 in March 1972: "...the Capri 2600 V6 is an outstanding car. We'll bet Lincoln-Mercury dealers won't be able to get enough of them to satisfy the demand."
R&T on the Capri 2800 V6: "...the V6 Capri remains a very attractive sporting car. It's solid as a Mercedes, still compact and light in the context of 1974 barrier busters, fast, reasonably economical of fuel, precise-handling, and quick-stopping: its engine and drivetrain are both sporty and refined. It's no wonder Lincoln-Mercury sold nearly 120,000 of them in 1973..."
R&T on the Capri II 2.8 V6: "Once again we can report that the Capri V6 is an attractive, competent, and enjoyable car at a reasonable price. It goes, stops, and handles, it's well built and it has that sturdy, precise European character that makes it something special for Americans and Canadians. On top of all this, it's a more practical car because of its new hatchback body. A quality, European car at a realistic price-what more could one want."
The car features prominently in the 1982 movie "The First Time," with Jennifer Jason-Leigh, where her grandmother gives her hers after she buys a new Corvette and teaches her to drive a stick.
Special editions
1976–1977 JPS Capri II, Capri II S - Black or white car body with gold striping, "black chrome" trim, gold and black styled steel wheels and gold badging and grille surround.In Europe, the JPS Capri II celebrated the success of the John Player Special-sponsored Team Lotus Formula 1 team and emulated its black and gold livery. In the US, anti-tobacco advertising laws required a name change to Capri II S. The interior received special seats and door panels: black with gold cloth inserts.
Second generation (1979–1986)
For the 1979 model year, a second generation of the Capri was introduced. As part of several changes over its predecessor, the Capri was officially part of the Mercury model line as Lincoln-Mercury ended captive imports of the Ford Capri in favor of creating a Mercury counterpart of the 1979 Ford Mustang. Sharing the Fox platform with the Mustang, the 1979 Mercury Capri marked the first Mercury "pony car" since the 1970 Mercury Cougar.While visually similar to the Mustang, the second-generation Capri was offered solely in the three-door hatchback configuration. The Capri was styled with its own front fascia, a vertically mounted grille, and dark-tinted tail light with horizontally ribbed lenses. In place of the widely flared wheel openings of the Mustang, the Capri was styled with slightly flared wheel openings and widened front and rear fenders. For 1983, the Capri received a redesign of the rear hatchback, distinguished with a large compound-curve "bubble-back" rear window. Along with that revision came newly styled tail lights, rear bumper cover and front end grille. For 1984, the front fascia of the Capri RS was fitted with a front air dam with fog lamps similar to the one used on Mustang Cobras and GTs from 1980 to 1982, with the same exterior continuing through 1986. The 1986 Capri received the federally mandated high mounted center brake lamp.
Along with the base-trim Capri, Mercury offered the Capri Ghia, Capri L, Capri GS, Capri RS, and Capri Turbo RS. The Capri RS/Turbo RS was believed to be the equivalent of the GT and in most instances it was. However early RS Capris could have the base 4 cylinder or even 6 cylinder option. During its production, the second-generation Capri maintained powertrain commonality with the Ford Mustang, with inline-four, inline-6, V6, and V8 engines offered during its production; the only Mustang model with no Capri equivalent was the Mustang SVO.
The second-generation Capri was produced through the 1986 model year. For 1987, while the Mustang underwent a mid-cycle update, Mercury withdrew the Capri, focusing on the Cougar XR7 as its two-door performance vehicle; not offering another sports coupe until the FWD Cougar in 1999.
Special editions
1981–1983 Black Magic - Black cars with gold striping, gold metric TRX wheels and a gold cat's head on each side of the front valance. The interior received special black seats with sand-colored inserts, with Recaro seating optional in 1982 and Sport Performance seating optional in 1983. In the 1981 and 1982 models years the Black Magic option could be ordered with polar white paint but otherwise had the same exterior appointments as the black cars. Magazine ads for the 9D Black Magic used the term "white lightning" but the name of the package was still Black Magic. The 1983 model is extremely rare and the only Black Magic to receive the compound rear window.1983 Crimson Cat - Bright red paint with gold striping and Cougar XR-7 TRX wheels set this car apart. Crimson Cat received black sport performance seating with red inserts.
1984 Charcoal Turbo RS - A Capri RS Turbo that was only available in charcoal upper-silver lower exterior paint with light grey striped rub moldings, Garrett 60 trim turbocharger, enhanced multi-port EFI four-cylinder engine, Michelin TRX package, 5.0 HO Sway bars, 3.45:1 limited-slip rear axle, hood scoop, and orange and red lettering and striping. Sun- and T-top roofs were optional.
1985 Mercury Motorsport Capri- Built as pace car replicas to commemorate the 1985 Detroit Grand Prix & MotorCity 100. These were also cosmetically modified by American Sunroof Company for Mercury and are highly sought after for their low production of less than 50 cars and availability in only Michigan & Ohio.