The Mercury Capri II was an import from Europe. It was Mercury's answer to the Mustang II. They were built by Ford in Germany for the US market.. but were also built in England for the European market. They were very, very po****r in Europe. They outlasted the US market by many years in that body style.
They were imported beginning in 1970 and ended in 1977. They built the Capri II body style with some refinements up until 1986 for the English/European market.
My car's body style was only imported between 1974-1977. There were cars made in the fall of 1974 that were actually classed as 1976 Model Capri's. My car was made in 12/74 as a 1976 model. There were no 1975 Capri's.
Production numbers brought into the US were not that high. They made over 1,900,000 of them from 1968-1986. However, slightly less than 300,000 came into the US market from 1970-1978. The car was more p o p u l a r on the West Coast of the US than anywhere.
They have a nasty habit of rusting in the structural areas of the unibody. Back in the 1970's rust proofing was not very important as people did'nt keep cars long. Therefore, alot of Capri's rusted out in 5 or 6 years and faded into the s**** heap. That is why you probably have never ever seen one.
Currently there are probably less than 1000 cars out there.. I am guessing at that number.. No one really knows. However, you do not see them on the street and you never hardly see them for sale. You can find them on the internet for sale and on ebay once in awhile.. but we are talking in numbers less than 3 to 5 over any large period of time.
Is it a collector car? It used to not be.. However, now it is becoming more so. With so few left..it is a rarity. Some parts are hard to get.. others are not a problem. I do NOT drive the car very often. I have had this one since 1992, but I got my first one in 1983. In the time that I have owned this jewel, I have put less than 5,000 miles on it. It only goes out when the weather is nice. I have shown it a few times.. It always gets the looks and the "What the **** is that". It currently sports a different set of rims from a 1986 Capri III. I got them from a gentleman who had bought a car off a SVO project engineer from the Ford Motor Works in England. The rims really make the car.
I have not done too much to this one engine wise.. but there is alot of potential in it. I get 0-60 in about 8 seconds. Top speed is limited by gearing/rpm, but just over 120mph. It handles very, very well. There were models of the car that sported twin turbo's, intercoolers and had almost 300hp. Aston Martin modified/made them in England for ford. They were called Aston Martin Tickford Capri's. Those were the creme de' la' creme.
I will probably build an engine up for the car. I have a spare 2.8 sitting on an engine stand that I want to bore out and up the compression ratio on. You can get almost 220hp+ out of this 2.8 if done right. Might put a hot cam in it and the 4 barrel intake/carb. Money has kept me from doing that.. Heh.. I don't drive the car much now...someday, I will do it.. With a gross weight of just under 3,500lbs..it can be a pocket rocket. I'll be waving at all those 5.0 mustang drivers as my little 2.8 blows em away.
Anyway, that is the Capri history in a 5 min. nutshell.
How man yof you guys like classics. I have a friend who hates them and sees no point in them. :eek: heres my baby 
(not that it goes fast)
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