The 1989 Ford Capri, exported to North America as the Mercury Capri, is a curious car that deserves a more thorough write-up. These were a victim of timing, given their concurrent launch with the Mazda MX-5/Miata, but it was timing that Ford should have realized as they had close ties with Mazda. The basic idea – exporting Australian-built Fords in sufficient volumes to make production costs viable – was sound, and the US in particular had always been a large market for convertibles. But of all the cars for Ford Australia to manufacture, they chose a small convertible, a somewhat baffling choice given Australia’s general apathy towards that body style.
Initial teething problems like leaky roofs soured some people on the Mazda 323-derived Capri despite the car’s overall reliability being sound, and they sunk without a trace in North America. You still see the odd one around, though, because those who did buy them absolutely loved their cute little Australian front-wheel-drive convertible. Perhaps these junkyard Capris will be scavenged for parts to keep roadworthy examples alive, instead of going on the slow boat to Guangzhou.
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These were always such peculiar cars. They didn’t fit in with anything else in Mercury’s lineup, and both in style and image. They weren’t bad looking cars, but something about the rear always looked unfinished to me.
I actually saw a red one at the train station on Thursday. I bet they’d be good cheap summer wheels.
I’d also expect that the average Lincoln/Mercury salesman had as much knowledge how to move these as they did with the De Tomaso Pantera. Face it, back then your average L-M clientele was getting old, conservative, hidebound, and his idea of driving was to leave the left turn signal on indefinitely.
The Cat had long fallen out of the tree.
But would they have done any better marketed through Ford dealers?
You know, perhaps they would have. Folks who came in to look at an Escort might be able to be “steered” toward a Capri if they expressed interest in a ragtop. (Incidentally, why is it that Europe got Escort convertibles and the USA didn’t? I find it odd that Ford didn’t field a competitor to the Cavalier/Sunbird convertible.) Or it could be seen as a smaller, more economical alternative to a Mustang convertible, particularly for customers who wanted a ‘Stang but couldn’t quite swing it.
I always wondered who bought Tracers in the first place. I suppose L-M dealerships had to have a small car, but it seems an odd place to go for one. Maybe an upsell for people who came in to look at used cars? Or maybe, like Cougar and Sable buyers skewed older than T-Bird and Taurus buyers, it was the more, ahem, “mature” compact.
Kind of an odd duck. They are a practical size and should be fairly reliable. Their styling is kind of blah, as is their image. I found the early Celica convertible much more appealing, maybe because of the RWD. I would be kind of embarrassed to drive one as there is nothing sporty about them, kind of a convertible Ford EXP. At least with the Metro you think everyone else gets the joke.
It was always a mystery to me that people would choose one of these over a Miata. Then again, I doubt that the Capri suffered from dealer overcharges and gouging markups the way the Miata did.
A friend of mine had one of these, I believe it was a 1991. It was red just like the one in the second picture. I always thought it rode well, especially for such a tiny car. I found it strange that it had a lot of “Americanized” Ford parts, like the radio for example. The interior was a weird mish mash of parts, as was the whole car, to be perfectly honest. And the Mazda automatic transmission was horrible. It shifted very abruptly and basically made that little 4-cylinder work more than it had to. Definitely a car that begged for a 5-speed tranny! But for what it was – a fun little weekend getaway car- it did its job perfectly and without much fuss.
There’s a garage in Tewksbury Mass. where there seems to be a few of these from time to time. They seem to be in good shape. (Dascomb Rd.)
For all intents and purposes, these were just a smaller Chrysler Sebring, though built by Ford. That is, they looked kind of sporty….but weren’t. And they weren’t as reliable as they should have been, given the Mazda mechanicals. And like the Sebring, the styling wasn’t too far out of the mainstream. (Mazda had a 323 5 door hatchback that had VAGUELY similar styling.)
I wonder how many of these could have been sold to rent-a-car companies if Ford had pushed these as a cheaper alternative to a Sebring?
I actually considered buying one, new, when the pictures of their pending sale hit the car magazines, but so many of them dissed it as a wannabe Miata and it was more of an unknown than my “safe” Civic.
And like GM so often did, Ford saved the best for last. IMHO the only model year worth considering is the 94. Best colors and best styling touches were saved for the final year.
In those days the major rental companies were owned by automakers, so not much chance for conquest sales there.
These were based on the Mazda 323 cabriolet merely rebodied in Broadmeadows and they got it wrong the original Mazda ragtop is a better car.
This car had the mis fortune to be built at an all time low point in Ford AUs quality the Falcon it was built along side was half baked and rubbish and the Capri was shovelled out the door before it was ready too, at the time you could drive past the Ford Broadmeadows factory and see new cars parked outside with huge lemon decals on them owned by people having warranty arguements with Ford having been refused repairs.
The Capri came many years before the AU, so it would be EF Falcon or something like of the sorts (I am better with the Commodore letter soup, sorry). And from what I was told, they didn’t run in the same building/line.
I don’t mind the look of these whenever I see one. The small back seats are a handy plus. I didn’t realise they were not miata/mx5 based as I had assumed. There was an XR2 version I think.
The Capri was built at the same time as the EA Falcon, which was hardly a bright spot in the history, eg you could nearly set your watch by head gaskets blowing around 100,000km.
I knew two young women that had these when current. They were not happy with them, primarily because of the abysmal quality typical of Australian cars. Ford built the beautiful Barchetta in 1983, based on the Fiesta XR2. It had the potential to be affordable and enter a market that had been abandoned. Ford sat on the idea long enough for Mazda to develop the uncompromised Miata. Then they brought out the badly styled, Australian built Capri. Ford.
I remember being curious about the Mercury (Ford) Capri. While I liked its styling, I couldn’t help but wonder why Ford would offer this car in light of the Mazda offering of the MX-5 Miata.
I remember liking these for a minute when they came out when I was in high school. I liked their angularity, and I also liked that the “Capri” name had been reintroduced. I remember seeing a rendering of the Barchetta pictured above and being a little sad that it didn’t quite translate to the production Capri.
Considered buying one when they first came out. The price was good. I thought it looked great. But then there was the test drive…
The clutch felt like it was connected to a ballpoint pen spring and the 323 engine seemed to have no guts at all. A good looking but unsatisfying drive was not for me.
I ended up buying a Saturn SC. Which, despite the reputation Saturn has now in retrospect, was an unbelievably reliable and enjoyable car.
Wasn’t there spy photos & renderings of these cars all the way back to the early 80s? Took em long enough to get it out.
My wife had one of these when we got married and we loved it. It was an XR2 model, so it was reasonably quick, and she had the removable hardtop which was a pain in the butt to put on and take off but was surprisingly solid and weather tight once in place and didn’t rattle around like most such devices. I also recall it had the easiest manual soft-top to operate I’ve ever seen, a real revelation after the various British roadsters I had previously owned. It was reliable, and we put a lot of miles on it, but it was cramped. I’m 6’4″ and my wife is 6’2″ and we fit, but barely. We traded it in along with a rapidly disintegrating Volvo 240 for a new, ’98 Honda Civic sedan in anticipation of children.
Another textbook example of name debasement. Mercury would repeat that habit with another shitty sports(HA!) car no one asked for with the 99-02 Cougar.
Ugly ugly cars these were, they looked exactly like a vacuum cleaner from the 90s, right down to the proportions and white and grey color combo that seemed the most common.
Hate to disrupt the hater parade, but I actually own one of these, a 1991 5 speed, N/A. I was out art gallery hopping in it an hour ago.
Yes, it is poorly made. However, it is simple as a sandwich to work on and so far, reliable. Most powertrain parts can be easily acquired if you lie at the parts counter and say it is for a 1989 Miata. The factory spec ignition timing is a joke and makes it a total dog, everybody advances it 8-10 degrees and the motor wakes right up.
This is the most fun car I’ve owned or driven, hands down. Its not fast, at all, so you have to drive the thing like you’re in racing Le Mans just to keep up with traffic. The motor has low internal mass, so it races to the red line. Rev it until the valves punch holes in the hood, shift, repeat. Keep it boiling; all the power is at the top of the tach, like the 1.6 Miata.
This little thing handles like it’s on rails, so once you get up to speed, you don’t slow down. The four wheel disc brakes come on strong and stop in a laser straight line. With the exception of my ‘serious gearhead’ friends who’s “real sports cars” are almost always broken, everybody absolutely loves my Capri. Nine people have offered me more than I paid for it this year alone, and its not even for sale.
The roof doesn’t leak. It didn’t leak in my friend’s XR2 either.
This car is good, cheap fun. And the insurance is $30 a month. I love it. As you were, fellas.
I’m all for oddball cars and I definitely respect keeping an unloved classic on the road.
But your last line stopped me in my tracks. Since I just renewed my insurance policy tonight I gasped when you said it’s $30/mo to insure. I pay $30/mo for my also Ausie-built GTO with full coverage and a $250 deductible. My wife’s Z4 3.0si is $21/mo with the same.
Perhaps it’s time you started shopping rates.
I think he is of a younger demographic, who would usually get high rates in a red convertible.
I live in a high risk zip code, and I’m in the under 25 demographic. $30 is a steal.
$51/month total for full coverage on a GTO and a Z4? Either you live in the lowest risk zip code on the planet, or you got a heck of a deal on those rates. I pay more than that per month just for full coverage on *one* of my cars, and that one is a Kia Forte. And I have shopped rates, in fact I just changed carriers for an unrelated reason, and there weren’t many better options. When you add in my other two cars, both liability only, the bill is over $120/month.
@JIm, I’ve considered going after one of these for years now–hoping to find one not totally thrashed. Are there some big maintenance/$$$$$$ things you’d warn me about? (I have visions of expensive, Capri-only parts that have to be sourced from Australia, etc.)
As far as the powertrain goes, almost all the engine parts are shared with the 1.6 Miata. If a part is not from the Miata, its from the 323 or MX-3. The transmission is a rod-shifted version of the Mazda 5-speed FWD tranny. The 323 uses the same unit, and I think some of the ‘hotter’ Escorts did as well.
The common issues on these cars are not deal breakers.
The alternators: Most 1991 cars were fitted with an alternator pulley that is too wide. It works fine with a fresh belt, but after 10k miles or so, the belt wears down too much to grip the pulley. A recall was issued, but almost no cars were fixed in the recall. The cheap and easy solution is to use a belt one size shorter so it grips tighter longer, and change it when it makes noise regularly. The correct solution is to change the pulley, if you can find one.
The electrical connectors:
The Capri is great Japanese mechanicals strung together with mediocre American components, carelessly screwed together by drunken Aussies. Most strange issues are caused by corrosion in electrical connectors because the factory didn’t use any grease on the connections. This is especially true for the airbag system. If the airbag light is on, clean the connections on the crash sensor and you’ve got a 90% chance of fixing it.
Mine was a barn-find of sorts. It hadn’t been driven in many, many years (and it was literally in a barn. Stuff stacked inside and the whole nine yards. Thankfully it was a well kept building with no rodents). None of the accessories worked at first because every contact was corroded. After a couple weeks of thumbing the power window buttons, the corrosion wore through and they came back to life. Eventually everything started working.
Paint and corrosion resistance:
Its not as bad as an Italian car, but the rust-proffing is pretty sad. Inspect carefully for structural rust, and don’t drop a salty potato chip on the floor.
All things considered, pretty easy to live with. I like to say a Capri is 80% of the fun of a Miata for 20% of the money. And there is room for friends in the back.
Happy hunting!
P.s. The turbo in the XR2 is an old-school 80’s style oil cooled unit. These are very easy to damage if the driver doesn’t drive gently for a mile or so before shutting it off. I went with the N/A. The price was right and I liked the lower potential for problems.
Too funny, I’m in MN too and I was about to comment on how I see a few of these rolling around, and also on Craigslist. Interesting read on the article and what you had to add Jim. Always wondered how they handled/drove and never realized they were related to the Miata. Congrats on keeping it going!
I bought one of these Capri convertibles used a few years back, thinking it would be a fun sporty little car. I bought it on a chilly fall night and thought it ran quite well and although the original test drive was nothing spectacular the price was right, I brought it home and changed the oil and cleaned up a little mold on the carpet and was ready to take it out for a chilly top down test drive the next day, so when I started the car, an immense cloud of blue smoke poured forth, and I thought that the seller must have really gummed up the engine, because it definitely wasn’t that bad the night before.
I performed a cylinder leak down test and determined the valve guides or seals were the cause of the oil consumption. So I made a home brewed valve compressor and proceeded to install new valve seals using air pressure supplied through the spark plug hole to keep the valves closed during the operation. All went well until I was almost done, I heard a “tink” which was….you guessed it…the valve falling into the cylinder, I soon realized the piston was not at TDC as the air pressure had rotated the crankshaft enough so that the valve had room to slide down the guide. At that point more than a few choice words were uttered and I just had to walk away and come back another day, thinking that pulling the head was not in my plan or budget for the car.
I was able to remove the intake and exhaust manifolds and through sheer luck coax the valve back up the guide with wire and needle nosed pliers. I thought “I’ll get through this yet”….when the car was back together, when I started it up and the mailman pulled his jeep down the driveway asking “where’s the fire”, I knew my happy days dreaming of tooling around with the top down were over, I parted the car out and later bought a Miata, which was way more fun and didn’t bring the mailman down the drive except for packages
Wasted effing chance.
Ditto.
Sally Sublette,
I’ve never owned one of these, but consider it everytime I see one on a used car lot or on Craigs. I read a story or mini “buyer’s guide” type article somewhere on these, but it’s been a while. Obviously, avoid any Capri with automatic, as Mazda automatics seem quite fragile. I also seem to remember that various interior trim parts are fragile/easily broken….and hard to come by/NOT used by any other Mazda. Finally, make sure the convertible top’s latches aren’t broken.
XR7Matt,
Your comments (which I don’t agree with) are interesting in that Ford was “inspired” twice by a Mazda product….but blew it both times. In both instances, styling was a (major) factor in sluggish sales.
I never found the styling of these attractive. They always came off as a little awkward. The earlier comment comparing these to a vacuum cleaner made me laugh.
Not too long ago,a friend and I were talking about cars,and the “Ford two seater of the early 90s came up”. Neither of us could remember its name,but thanks to CC,I now know it was the Miata wannabe, the Capri.