{"id":47525,"date":"2017-03-15T09:20:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T09:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=47525"},"modified":"2022-06-22T12:33:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T11:33:34","slug":"enter-the-capri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/cars\/enter-the-capri\/","title":{"rendered":"Enter the Capri"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Ford Capri wasn\u2019t a Capri. Not as you know it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first Ford Capri was actually a a sleek, two door streamliner version of the odd looking Consul. it was, as Billy Bragg suggested to us a couple of years, ago – like a spaceship.<\/p>\n

Shot through with all the Jetson-like chrome and wings of a mid century shot of Americana, the Consul Capri was instantly desirable, instantly recognisable – and instantly dragged Ford \u2013 at least in Britain – into a new era of aspiration.<\/p>\n

Few people these days, aside from the aficionados and wool-died rockabilly rebels, think of the Consul speedster as the first Capri – favouring the sleek two door, long-bonneted MK 1 coup\u00e9 as the birth of the mark.<\/p>\n

And in a sense, the Mark 1 was indeed the first real pony car. It was launched right from the start in 1969 as a European version of the Mustang – which had taken the US market by storm a few years earlier, setting hearts aflutter with its uniquely compact, resolute sporty profile.<\/p>\n

The first Mustang was no genuine muscle car – and neither was the Mk 1 European Capri. Look at them now and they instantly strike you as dinky, super compact, more like a contemporary sportster like Toyota\u2019s GT86 than a muscular straight-liner.<\/p>\n

Built in Dagenham and Halewood UK after its launch at the Brussels car show in the spring of 1969, there were many mechanical elements shared with the Cortina – and right from the start there was a full range of Capris that would reach out to the everyman hero as well as the boy racer – but it was the latter who would take these cars to their hearts.<\/p>\n

The acreage of the front end allowed, of course, for a lot of engine. The lowlier models came with the the 1.3 and 1.4 litre v4 engines – and through each iteration, all the way to 1986 – the upper echelons were loaded with 3.0L V6 that enabled the car to walk as well as talk.<\/p>\n

The cars were instant successes both on the A-roads of England and the endurance tracks of Europe – and they were known of course for their pulchritude and reliability as much as their handling and accessibility.<\/p>\n

This month we pay homage to our favourite Ford.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t