posted by William Oliver
It’s been a long time since I really stopped to look at and ponder one of these early Fox Capris/Mustangs, which have become quite rare. It comes off rather like a Zephyr/Fairmont two-door sedan, with its upright, boxy body that wasn’t set back like the original Mustang, the fat C-pillar, and those full-framed doors. The bright trim around the side windows only accentuates that. It’s the polar opposite of the low and rakish F-Bodies (Camaro/Firebird). And the two-tone paint and turbine wheels only accentuates that further.
Not exactly a very appealing design and package on the face of it. But the Mustang version came to endure, and its appeal grew over time once its rather feeble early power plants were weeded out. The Capri? After a decent first year, it soon slid into obscurity and an early death.
The Capri’s rather bland front end does it no favors either. The Mustang’s sloping front gave it a much more contemporary feel. The fake hood vents are a bit gratuitous, given the weak sauce they’re hiding. Either the 2.3 L four with 88 hp, the 200 CID six with 88 or 95 hp, or the 255 CID V8 with 115 hp. Decisions; decisions.
The troublesome 2.3 L turbo, with its primitive blow-through carburetor, was no longer in the line-up. So the choices were fewer; none of them good.
By 1981, Capri sales were done to 59k, well on the retreat after a quite good first-year bump to just over 105k. By 1983, it was 25k, and then around 20k each of the last three years. The Capri’s run ended after 1986, as ot never really gained any traction as the Mustang’s sibling. Frankly, that notion was a questionable one.
The 1971-1978 European import Capri had been an unexpectedly big hit; it was the #2 selling import early on. despite its age, it still looked better than this new generation. Maybe Mercury should have kept selling it instead; it was built in Europe until 1986.
I came to appreciate the Fox Mustang, but not until the 5.0 GT arrived, and even then it needed a couple of more years of refinement to be fully baked. This just leaves me cold, despite my appreciation for the honest and simple Fairmont/Zephyr. But they weren’t pretending to be something otherwise.
I’ve always thought the original Capri was brilliant. I don’t remember these at all, and looking at these photos tells me why.
The color combo on the featured Capri does it absolutely no favors; it completely washes out the fender bulges. I had a black ’82 with a maroonish interior, 5.0 and 4 speed manual, upgraded 15 inch 10-hole wheels with gatorbacks, and a subtle spoiler on the back of the hatch. It was one of my favorite cars. I thought it looked better than the ’82 Mustang GT. I also liked it better than the ’83-86 Capris; that bubble rear hatch and recessed taillights made the rear half of the car look bloated.
At many times over the years, I have seen one of these Fox-Capris and liked something or other about It. The extra rear fender bulge, the horizontal slats on the C-Pillar, the rear lights.
This one portrays the car in a most unflattering light, in spite of it being in great shape for its age.
The ugly colors, the fake-mag hubcaps, the fake hood scoops, the shiny trim -only- around the windows. It all looks so cheap and tacky.
At least there’s no “bubble hatch” which while adding functionality never matched the lines of the car.
Yesterday I happened to see a very-good-condition-but-in-wretched-yellow ’79-’82 Mustang hatch. I got the same feelings of “”Blah” from that too.
Ive always had an emotional attachment to these Mustang/Capri, as I loved my Hot Wheels version and my first car was an ’82 Mustang GL. (in ’88)
But I think I’m over it.
Even though I knew it looked awkward, I liked the bubble backs. Wouldn’t have minded having one ony 87 Mustang LX
Here’s a later Ford Capri from 1986. Very SAABish.
I suppose the DM exchange rate and emissions standards did in the European Capri for the US market. These were a big improvement for the Mustang (nowhere to go but up) and the reverse for the Capri. I prefer the Capri nose, but the greenhouse dominates the car’s appearance so much, you hardly notice.
The exchange rate was the main reason Ford stopped importing the Capri, as the price hike would put it in a higher market segment, as proved to be the case with the BMW 3-series, which replaced the 2002. In 1970, the 2002 started at around $3200, not far off from a Capri, the 1980 320i went for $11K base, not far off from a Corvette. Inflation alone wouldn’t have tripled the price.
Another victim of the exchange rate (the dollar was worth 4 marks in 1970, 2 in 1980) was real German Opels from GM. No more Mantas, which were legit competitors for the Capri. And especially no second-generation Mantas, which were nice-looking automobiles.
I liked the fender flares of the Fox-body Capri, and Ford later tried to differentiate it more with a bubble-shaped rear hatch.
As for the turbo 2.3, it was a draw-through configuration, not a blow-through. That meant fuel-air mixture went through the turbo, instead of the turbo putting pressurized air through the carburetor, like so many manufacturers did in the sixties with superchargers.
GM tried the same thing with the Buick Regal and Riviera’s turbo 3.8 V6 and the Pontiac Turbo Trans Am’s 301 V8. Neither worked very well. Fuel injection solved all the problems for both Ford and GM. And Chrysler, when they turbocharged the K-car’s 2.2. Turbocharging went from exotic to mainstream.
The design was not helped by the bubble window that they got a little later on. By 1985 the Capri had the same powertrain on offer as the Mustang GT, but the looks of the car were different. Not better, but different. At least kind of.
I looked at one in 85 but decided that if I was going to get a Mustang, just get a Mustang. And then I didn’t get a Mustang after all.
I’d forgotten about the bubble, yes that “differentiation” made things worse. You probably should have gotten a Mustang (GT or LX 5.0), your VW didn’t work out as well as some others IIRC…At least you didn’t spring for a Cimarron, surely a newly minted lawyer was a target market and with a similar base price as the Mustang GT.
I’m surprised it did as well as your sales figures indicate, these always seemed far less common than a (barely) six figure first year would indicate. In profile the only real difference is the front grille, even those wheels were I believe available on the Mustang (the Ghia?). The body itself is surprisingly different with those box/flared fenders instead of the Mustang’s slight wheel well lips.
What’s aged worst about this particular one is the two tone brown and tan paint choice. What works on a Ford Ranger just doesn’t on this. Were it just silver or black or dark blue or something it might present better.
1979 sales for the Mustang hit 400k, which was huge. The Capri obviously benefited from that. In fact the combined sales of 500k make the ’79s not far behind the ’65-’66.
But Mustang sales never got close to that again either. 1979 was the last hurrah for these, in terms of volume.
The first year ’74 MII had a huge year too. Apparently a new Mustang still had a lot of magic to it still.
The German built Capri handled really well. Even on gravel washboard they held straighter than any North American sport car of the time. I really liked those well built cars. When they “foxed” it the handling suffered and the sleek look was gone. It’s a sad but all to familiar story line. The recipe was great! The patrons were happy. Then someone removed the sugar
These never did much for me either. I always liked the original Capri, but as others have said there’s really nothing to distinguish this model from the Mustang of the era. The Mustang eventually became a better car once they got the drivetrains sorted, but the Capri needed to be something besides a rebadged Mustang. Back in the late ‘80’s, I worked with someone who had one of these in black – he called it Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, since it never seemed to run right. It was eventually traded for a new Plymouth Sundance which was a much better car for him.
I kinda liked the later bubble versions. It’s what I would have bought it I had wanted that kind of car back then. I don’t know what effect the hatchback had on torsional rigidity vs the Mustang version, but I do know that the trunk on those Mustangs was about lunchbox sized so a hatchback would help practicality, and the bubble makes for more cubic feet back there.
But then I’m an Avanti and Fuego fan so….
I’m more of a fan of the ’83-’86 bubble-back Capri, too. It certainly looks better than the similar Ford EXP. It’s funny how the Capri had different quarters and front fenders than the Fox Mustang, too, but are hardly noticable. There was a limited-edition (and pricey) McLaren version, too.
It would seem like there were three pivotal years for Mercury’s ponycar: 1967, 1974, and 1979, with the first version being the best. The 1967-68 Cougar was the closest to being a ponycar PLC. The underpinnings of the original Cougar might have been pure Mustang, but the rest of the car was unique (including its very own dash on the top-trim XR-7).
But by 1974, the prior generation, much larger Mustang was moved down to the Pinto chassis, with the Cougar going up to the intermediate Torino. The Cougar wasn’t much of a ponycar, anymore, and much more of a competitor to the successful GM intermediate Monte Carlo and Grand Prix PLCs.
With the Cougar now being a Mercury version of the Thunderbird, 1979 Capri, Mercury had gotten back to having a ponycar based off of the new Fox Mustang. Unfortunately, unlike the original mini-Thunderbird Cougar, the Fox Capri wasn’t much more than just a mildly restyled Mustang and sales, while not really bad, reflected this.
For a rare one, check out the Capri ‘SS’ that Car and Driver tested in 1982. It was a one-off pre-production model similar to the new Mustang GT that came with the just reintroduced 5.0 engine. Production versions were called a much more, un-GM-like Capri RS.
I think the 83 Cougar largely bookended the whole Capri saga, the original Cougar was always in essence a PLC first and a sporty car by its relation to the Mustang but once the Capri started being sold in Mercury showrooms the Cougar became more entrenched in a luxury image. With the wake of downsizing Cougar’s role as a large intermediate PLC was over, it was already based on the same fox chassis in 80-82 but was more of a monarch placeholder, the 83 with its fresh Aero makeover and dumping the standard sedans/wagons the Cougar was once again that more luxury oriented coupe with inherent sporting elements, sharing much of its fresh sporty aero style with the Tbird with added formal elements and funny enough sat on a mildly stretched chassis with the Mustang just like the original.
The 79 Capri lacked identity, it wasn’t European like its predecessor, it wasn’t as well differentiated as the Cougar was, and it wasn’t a Mustang, but it was a sporty coupe in the Mercury showrooms, which wasn’t exactly filled with them in 1979 so they had their place for the first few years. However with the 83 Cougar you now got most of what you got in terms of sport in the Cougar as on the Capri (save for the 5.0 RS), but with distinctive styling and luxury. The featured Capri even looks like the car somebody probably traded in for a Cougar LS in 84 or 85, not a fresh bubbleback Capri.
The optional “specialty tu-tone” medium French Vanilla / dark Curry Brown metallic tells us this is an ‘82 (as does the one year only interior shade, since the lower exterior portion seems to be a darker respray). All two tones that year used medium French Vanilla in the center as the intermediate color; this replaced light Pewter, both inside and out, from the year prior. Another interesting ‘82 tidbit is the 5.0 H.O.’s return, but not just on the performance oriented RS. Yes, you could spec even a lowly Capri L with one.
I find this Capri more attractive than the Mustang hatch before the “bubble back” happened myself, as I like the flared fender look and the nose is more fitting with the semi-luxurious way these were typically sold. This car is a great example of that; it’s not even a step up from the bottom L model (missing right hand mirror), yet it has the extra cost paint and dual tone low back bucket seat interior upgrade. Mom had a ‘79 Mustang also equipped with a bizarre selection of options- Chamios vinyl roof/upgrade two tone interior, console, wire wheel covers, sunroof. Basically everything that made a Ghia, but added to a base notchback. I struggle to find the logic in that, but it seemed actually fairly common to find highly optioned base models of both of these at that time. It’s not overtly sporty, no, but it has aged extremely well, in my opinion.
This Capri reminds me of:
1- Something a divorced mom bought in 1982
2-What you got when you wanted to rent a “sporty” car from Hertz in 1982
I had an aunt who was indeed a divorced mom in ’82 and bought one. Light blue metallic with matching “premium vinyl” interior and this car’s turbine wheel covers and thin-white-stripe tires. By the time my cousin was driving it the white stripes were gone and everything was worse for wear but it wasn’t yet a total rustbucket which was good going for an 8-year-old malaise-era car.
I test drove a Pace car turbo Mustang back in 1980. I liked it better than my younger brother’s four cylinder Mustang II Ghia and found that it drove better than my older brother’s ’76 Trans Am. The turbo engine was not very impressive. The Fox Mustang didn’t gain many fans until the 5.0 came back. I did like the last of the line Fox GTs, especially convertibles, and wanted to buy one but I ended up with my ’96. This Capri shows how color can make all the difference. Overall I like the simple blunt front end, and those power blister fenders were all the rage back then, think Audi coupe GT, if not Porsche 944. That dark bubble glass hatchback above really looks much better, almost like a different model car.
Do you remember the Capri that was modified by Car and Driver magazine’s Csaba Csere, which had the smaller V8? I thought that it looked really sharp. It was in the Oct. 1981 issue.
“We went right to work on the intake system with a new Holley 600 cfm four barrel carburetor atop an Edelbrock SP-2P intake…”
On a 255 V-8 with unmodified (and restrictive) heads and a planned 4500 rpm power peak.
I’ll just leave this here, ’cause IMO they’d been better off with an autolite 2150 and a SP-2P 2 bbl intake.
https://www.summitracing.com/newsandevents/calcsandtools/cfm-calculator
In profile, that is a very awkward looking device, with the windows giving an impression that it’s a two seater. The back seats must have been an odd place, to say the least.
But why did anyone buy in preference to a Mustang?
Well in my hometown it was mostly because the small Lincoln-Mercury dealer located near the IBM plant on the other side of town from “auto row” had a better reputation than the much bigger Ford place in the center of it.
Interesting to note then Mustangs sold in Mexico during the 1980s got the Capri bubble version. They even got the Capri front end.
https://www.motortrend.com/features/rare-find-mexico-only-1984-ford-mustang/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1982_or_83_Ford_Mustang_(México),_at_the_Desfile_de_autos_antiguos_2014.jpg
I remember reading that the American Capri managed to test quite well in consumer clinics and the people to whom it was shown considered it to be a legitimate successor to the European Capri I and Capri II. The first year (’79) Capri with the 5.0 Liter V-8 putting out around 140 hp was a very decent car.
The 2.8 Liter V-6 was available at the start of the 1979 model year with a 3-speed automatic and late in the 1979 model year there were a handful of ’79s equipped with the rare combination of the 2.8 Liter V-6 and a 4-speed manual transmission, which was very much the true successor to the European Capri II in spirit, although the cost of one was almost as much as the 5.0 Liter V-8.
The 1980 and 81 models were depressing, but I’m really surprised that sales didn’t pick up again when the 5.0 Liter V-8 returned for the 1982 model year, as was the case with the Mustang.
The Fox Capri was a squandered opportunity. The original German Capri had developed quite a following against the truly craptacular Mustang II. The ‘sexy European’ might have been a tad slow, but it was still okay. But, then, the unfavorable exchange rate made it untenable to continue importing.
So, Mercury got their own version of the Fox Mustang. Unfortunately, Ford didn’t feel like spending the money to give the new Capri any sort of similar identity to its predecessor. Consumers figured out, quite quickly, that the new Capri was just a mildly redbodied version of the Mustang and not worth spending anything extra for.
Looks like somebody loves this car. It’s in excellent shape.
The first 2 generations of the Capri were completely unrelated, aside from engines and transmissions, from any Ford North American product. When this generation debuted it was fairly obvious that it was Mercury’s version of the latest Mustang.
I actually thought that these cars were fairly decent but they were severely let down by lackluster power plants and colors that made them look a bit on the cheap side. Imagine the featured car in a solid shade of brown with a 4 liter V6 and a 5 speed manual transmission. Or even a better 4 cylinder engine with 4 valves per cylinder for horsepower that breaks into 3 figures.
And I kind of like the look of the ” bubbleback “, but not the odd, scooped taillights that went with them.
I’d buy one if I found one in as nice a condition as the featured car, I just don’t care for the two-toning look here.
What were they smoking at Ford US HQ that car is quite horrible after the Euro model no surprise sales fell off a cliff.
Umm, the Euro Capri II flopped badly here due to high prices from currency fluctuations. No “smoking”. In a business sense, the Fox Capri was a good decision, just that Americans loved Mustangs so much more.
I like the blunt front of the ’79+ U.S. Capri, as well as the fender flares and unique taillamps. I’m ambivalent about the bubble hatch, but I think I prefer this one. I think the frontal styling was the only main tie-in with the Euro Capri, but FoMoCo wasn’t going to give the ’79 Capri round lights to strengthen that visual link, as rectangular lamps were relatively new and de rigeur by then for any modern-seeming car.
I would still love a Ford Capri II (I’m looking at a 1:24 die cast scale model of one on my desk as I type this), but I thought the Fox-body Capri was just fine looking. The creme brulee paint job of this one isn’t exactly to my preference, but as someone else as pointed out, this car looks loved. Bonus points.
I have always been a fan of the later 80’s Capri bit it wasn’t until 1993 that I got the chance to buy a 1986 Capri RS 5.0L , the biggest reason at that time was it wasn’t a mustang haha. I still have the car today. Almost all stock. 125000km
Nothing beats the bubble back window, McClaren front end with the fuel injected 5.0
It’s been many years since I have seen another 86. Glad I still have her and keep the Mercury Capri alive.
The 1971-1978 European import Capri had been an unexpectedly big hit;
First years, yes, but the 76-77 Capri II was no “hit”, the prices were too high, and L-M had left over 1977’s into the 1978 MY. So, there were no true “1978 Capris”.
The ’79 Capri sold well enough, but the recession at the time hurt L-M badly. And Ford brand got more Stangs.
L-M dealers wanted to sell more Cougars and Grand Marqs after the 1980-81 recession eased, so bye bye Capri.
“Maybe Mercury should have kept selling [EU version] instead; it was built in Europe until 1986.”
With the 1980’s Merkurs being a flop, Euro Capris would have been same. “Car guys” would have kicked their tires and walked away as they did with XR4ti.
In the Fox Mustang aftermarket/hobby, some take Capris and “convert” them to Mustangs, with sheet metal, front faces and lights. While the bubble back hatch may get kept.
BTW: The ’79 Capris were somewhat popular with young women in Chicagoland, but the 80-81 recession hurt sales, but then after, sporty coupe market moved to either Mustangs or imports.
wher4e can i sell my 1977 capri shadow at also like see real value