27 Facts About Ford Capri

Ford Capri is a fastback coupe built by Ford of Europe, designed by Philip T Clark, who was involved in the design of the Ford Mustang.

The Capri went on to be highly successful for Ford, selling nearly 1.

Production of the Capri began in November 1968 at Ford's Halewood plant in the UK, and on 16 December 1968 at the Cologne plant in West Germany.

The intention was to reproduce in Europe the success Ford Capri had had with the North American Ford Capri Mustang: to produce a European pony car.

The car was named Colt during its development stage, but Ford Capri was unable to use the name, for it was trademarked by Mitsubishi.

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The name Capri comes from the Italian island and this was the second time Ford had used the name, the previous model being the Ford Consul Capri, often just known as the Capri in the same way the Ford Consul Cortina and Ford Consul Classic rarely used the "Consul" in everyday use .

Germany's Dieter Glemser won the drivers' title in the 1971 European Touring Car Championship at the wheel of a Ford Capri Koln entered RS2600 and fellow German Jochen Mass did likewise in 1972.

The Ford Capri Special was launched in November 1971 and was based on the 1600 GT, and 2000 GT models.

On 25 September 1973, Ford gave the green light to the long-awaited RHD RS Capri, replacing the Cologne V6 based RS 2600 with the Essex V6 based RS 3100, with the usual 3.

Only 250 RS3100s were built for homologation purposes between November 1973 and December 1973 so its racing version could be eligible for competition in the over three-litre Group 2 class for the 1974 season However, the car was still competitive in touring car racing, and Ford Capri Motorsport produced a 100-model limited edition with this new engine.

The Ford Capri still maintained the large rectangular headlights, which became the easiest way to distinguish between a Mark II and a Mark III.

Sales of the Ford Capri continued in Japan as it remained compliant with Japanese government dimension regulations, but sales were not as successful as the previous generation.

Ford Capri introduced the John Player Special limited edition, in March 1975.

The concept of a heavily facelifted Ford Capri II was shown at the 1976 Geneva show: a Ford Capri II with a front very similar to the Escort RS2000, and with a rear spoiler, essentially previewed the model some time before launch.

Ford Capri tried to maintain interest in 1977 with Ford Capri Rallye Sport, Series X, "X Pack" options from the performance oriented RS parts range.

Ford Capri made a return to the coupe market in Europe when the American built Probe was made available to European buyers from 1994.

The smaller Puma, produced from 1997 to 2002, was more successful, but Ford Capri did not replace it directly, instead launching faster versions of the Fiesta and Focus hatchbacks soon after the Puma's demise.

The Puma was the last coupe that Ford Capri has produced for the European market until the American built Mustang was introduced in both right and left hand drive and sold in both Europe and the UK.

The four-speed gearbox was replaced with a five-speed unit early on – at the same time Ford Capri swapped the dated looking chequered seats for more luxurious looking velour trim.

The Tickford Capri pricing issues meant that Ford sanctioned the Turbo Technics conversion as semi-official, although only the German RS and British Tickford ever appeared in Ford literature as official Ford products.

From November 1984 onwards, the Ford Capri was sold only in Britain, with only right hand drive cars being made from this date.

British Leyland, for instance, had taken the decision not to replace its MG and Triumph sports cars on their demise at the beginning of the 1980s due to falling popularity, instead concentrating on mostly MG-badged versions of hatchbacks and saloons like the Metro and Montego, while Ford had enjoyed strong sales of its faster versions of the Fiesta, Escort and Sierra in the run-up to the Capri's demise.

From 1970 to 1978, the Capri was sold in North America through Ford's Lincoln-Mercury Division.

In 1979, no longer importing the Ford Capri, but capitalising on the model's positive image, Mercury dealers began selling a new Capri that was a restyled derivative of the Fox-bodied Ford Mustang and was produced until 1986.

The Ford Capri was offered in the Australian market from 3 May 1969, as the 1600 Deluxe and the 1600 GT, using the 1.

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Ford Capri Australia concentrated its sales efforts on other UK sourced products, namely the Escort and Cortina sedans.

From 1989 to 1994 Ford Australia reused the Capri name for an unrelated two-door convertible sports car, coded the SA30.