MK1 3 Litre Capris, How Many Survive ?
Discussion
The weapon to have in the 1970s and 8os, my mum had 2 in the early 70s, VEG 97H, an Aubergine 3000GT and then a Gorgeous 71 J reg 3000E in Tawny Metalic.
I bought my first car ( EVC-289L , a beautifull Yellow 3000GT ) for £550 from a pal in jan 82 plus 500 quid to insure it. Did i have some sideways fun in that, i span it at 100 on a motorway and hit the crash barrier, wrecking the rear 1/4 and in june 82 i swapped it at a dodgy Shark/dealers in Croydon for a 69 Damson TR6 with a bent chassis, they saw me coming a mile away ! But i got my 550 back.
I also had OPU 534K,a green 3000E, KMK 845K,a Saphire Blue , 3000E and 3 others that i cant recall the reg nos of , inc a rare 1970 H-Reg Silver, but repainted black 3000GT, . None of these have survived, they were so common in the early 80s.
Currently restoring this FORDSPORTS DAY black 3000E, the only known survivor of 16 cars .
I bought my first car ( EVC-289L , a beautifull Yellow 3000GT ) for £550 from a pal in jan 82 plus 500 quid to insure it. Did i have some sideways fun in that, i span it at 100 on a motorway and hit the crash barrier, wrecking the rear 1/4 and in june 82 i swapped it at a dodgy Shark/dealers in Croydon for a 69 Damson TR6 with a bent chassis, they saw me coming a mile away ! But i got my 550 back.
I also had OPU 534K,a green 3000E, KMK 845K,a Saphire Blue , 3000E and 3 others that i cant recall the reg nos of , inc a rare 1970 H-Reg Silver, but repainted black 3000GT, . None of these have survived, they were so common in the early 80s.
Currently restoring this FORDSPORTS DAY black 3000E, the only known survivor of 16 cars .
Edited by neutral 3 on Friday 5th February 23:54
Edited by neutral 3 on Monday 19th July 21:10
This is the Race , Sunday, 28th May, 1972, in front of a packed crowd at Brands, Organised by Wiggins Teape, 16 identical 3000Es, driven by 32 Top drivers, inc N.Lauda, B.Muir, F.Gardner, F.Cevert, G.Birrel, B.Ecclestone, T.Dron, G.Hill, E.Fittipaldi, C.Chapman, D.Brodie, battle it out.
Race prepared by Mike/John Young ( SuperSpeed ) Imagine being given a brand new 3 Litre Capri and told, " Go out and have Fun...On Henrys Expense....
Race prepared by Mike/John Young ( SuperSpeed ) Imagine being given a brand new 3 Litre Capri and told, " Go out and have Fun...On Henrys Expense....
First car was a 1970 H reg 1600GT pre-facelift bought in 1985 , was a great car and I got to cut my teeth on all the mechanicals , including stripping down and re-building the engine , High lift cam , single leaf springs etc.
Second bought from a friend was a 1969 2000 GT with full webasto sunroof with V4 box underpowered and heavy , ended up putting her in a ditch , all parts were removed and used for spares ....apart from the ashmatic V4 ! .Next came a J REG 3000 GT , early 3 litre with side linkage gearbox bought from a scrappy for 160 quid not a great car more rust than the titanic , ended up used for spares , ( kept my mates capri alive )
Then a 1970 Cologne 3000e capri , modified suspension bought from a mate used for 6 months great car , sold back to him after he kept pestering to have the car back ,
this car changed hands several times then 5 years ago I found her back up for sale , only with a 2.8i turbo technics conversion , removed the 2.8i engine and turbo unit and sold them , car is currently has been seam welded and is stripped down in preporation for LS7 conversion , during the stripdown it was decided to replace the front and rear panels with facelift ones which allowed the use of better GXL headlamps and rear clusters.
with engine out
arrival in France , how low is the trailer !! fun getting off the ferry , note rope supporting the trailer wheel guard after wheel nuts worked loose
then came the 1973 3000 GXL , facelift much better 4 speed gearbox and more powerfull 3 litre engine lowered suspension , straight through exhaust , loud as hell looked like an RS 2600 used while at College and had some interesting times ( races ) against the XR3's and SRI's , The Capri would leave them for dead at the lights but they would catch up on the twisty's ......very tail happy in the wet and lots of fun.
drove across Cornwall in her absolutely fantastic car was taken to Norfolk Capri spares in the early 90s had very good replacement engine and gearbox fitted ,
and then left in a lock up garage for nearly 20 years until Sold in Feb , the bodyshell was still in excellent condition. car is still alive
next followed a 2.8i special in Nimbus grey great car mut not as torquey as the 3 litre. stolen , crashed and recovered sold for parts ............discovered it was sold again and was repaired now back on the road !!
Second bought from a friend was a 1969 2000 GT with full webasto sunroof with V4 box underpowered and heavy , ended up putting her in a ditch , all parts were removed and used for spares ....apart from the ashmatic V4 ! .Next came a J REG 3000 GT , early 3 litre with side linkage gearbox bought from a scrappy for 160 quid not a great car more rust than the titanic , ended up used for spares , ( kept my mates capri alive )
Then a 1970 Cologne 3000e capri , modified suspension bought from a mate used for 6 months great car , sold back to him after he kept pestering to have the car back ,
this car changed hands several times then 5 years ago I found her back up for sale , only with a 2.8i turbo technics conversion , removed the 2.8i engine and turbo unit and sold them , car is currently has been seam welded and is stripped down in preporation for LS7 conversion , during the stripdown it was decided to replace the front and rear panels with facelift ones which allowed the use of better GXL headlamps and rear clusters.
with engine out
arrival in France , how low is the trailer !! fun getting off the ferry , note rope supporting the trailer wheel guard after wheel nuts worked loose
then came the 1973 3000 GXL , facelift much better 4 speed gearbox and more powerfull 3 litre engine lowered suspension , straight through exhaust , loud as hell looked like an RS 2600 used while at College and had some interesting times ( races ) against the XR3's and SRI's , The Capri would leave them for dead at the lights but they would catch up on the twisty's ......very tail happy in the wet and lots of fun.
drove across Cornwall in her absolutely fantastic car was taken to Norfolk Capri spares in the early 90s had very good replacement engine and gearbox fitted ,
and then left in a lock up garage for nearly 20 years until Sold in Feb , the bodyshell was still in excellent condition. car is still alive
next followed a 2.8i special in Nimbus grey great car mut not as torquey as the 3 litre. stolen , crashed and recovered sold for parts ............discovered it was sold again and was repaired now back on the road !!
Edited by DBSV8 on Sunday 5th December 07:06
Edited by DBSV8 on Sunday 5th December 07:15
Edited by DBSV8 on Sunday 5th December 07:27
After going to the launch of the Ford Capri at the local Ford dealer, my father decided to buy a Capri 3000 GT XLR. But it wasn't available immediately, so he sold his Corsair 2000E and bought a hideous brown Capri 1600L whilst waiting. His business partner bought a 1600 GT XLY in metallic amber gold which was a much better car.
The Capri 3000 GT XLR, YYA55H, finally arrived in early 1970 and was much quicker than the 1600L. But it had an obstructive, clunky gearbox with weird ratios (max 38 in 1st, 55 in 2nd, 85 in 3rd..and whatever in top). It had a smaller boot due to the bigger tank, a thirst which would have embarrassed Oliver Reed. The only modifications were to fit a Kenlowe fan, which improved fuel consumption slightly, and mud flaps which reduced the cack which used to cover the door sills due to the poor door fit of those days. The silver fox metallic paint was paper thin; after a continental trip it started flaking off in places! It also had the smaller brakes of the earliest versions - which weren't very good. The acceleration seemed good though; you could always tell which magazines had over-revved the test cars in 2nd as they required one less gear change to 60.
Insurance was slightly easier in those days and I was allowed to drive it, even though I was only 18 or 19 at the time. It was much more fun to drive than my mother's 100E Anglia as 0-60 took about 8-9 secs rather than 28!
The Capri 3000 GT XLR, YYA55H, finally arrived in early 1970 and was much quicker than the 1600L. But it had an obstructive, clunky gearbox with weird ratios (max 38 in 1st, 55 in 2nd, 85 in 3rd..and whatever in top). It had a smaller boot due to the bigger tank, a thirst which would have embarrassed Oliver Reed. The only modifications were to fit a Kenlowe fan, which improved fuel consumption slightly, and mud flaps which reduced the cack which used to cover the door sills due to the poor door fit of those days. The silver fox metallic paint was paper thin; after a continental trip it started flaking off in places! It also had the smaller brakes of the earliest versions - which weren't very good. The acceleration seemed good though; you could always tell which magazines had over-revved the test cars in 2nd as they required one less gear change to 60.
Insurance was slightly easier in those days and I was allowed to drive it, even though I was only 18 or 19 at the time. It was much more fun to drive than my mother's 100E Anglia as 0-60 took about 8-9 secs rather than 28!
Edited by nickwilcock on Sunday 5th December 09:55
neutral 3 said:
Omg, great photos!! The white 3000GT , is rare in being an L Reg, very few pre face lift cars were L registered as the Face lift was launched in Sept ? 72. What happened to these 2 ?
I sold the white "L" reg to a friend in stanford le hope back in 1984,as far as i know it got smashed up a short time after.The black "m" reg was sold on a few times by different people but the car had bad rust in the door posts an may have been broken up for spares.I ran the black one at santa pod and it ran 14.6 sec 1/4 mile at 100 mph.Great photos and interesting replys !
The early cars had the Awfull Zodiac Ratioed gearbox and poor breathing, they wernt particularly quick, ( 128 bhp ) but the far better Sept 71 on cars had 138 bhp and although they still had the External linkage g.box,( which used to fall apart ) the ratios were near perfect.
I have so many Great 3 Litre Capri memories, they were everywhere in East London / Essex in the early 1980s , but rust was a huge problem and many were hideously customised.
I had an epic dice late one night with a guy in a twin tail piped GXL, my 3000GT had been tweaked and i was all over his car , when plod decided to intervene, GXL driver had tried to pass me by driveing along the pavement in suburban east london... plod were not amused
In the late 80s a pal and his brother bought a stunning Olypic Blue ( Rare Colour Option) 3000GXL, 4 speed, with all the extras fitted from new. It was a very low miles car, due to it haveing been stolen then abandoned in a quiet East London back street outside an old ladys house. It sat there for 18 months ( yes really ) with the passenger window partly open, before someone reported it.
Dureing the winter of 87 ? i beleive , we had a lot of snow and the elder brother was out in it Playing Hannu Mikala, he lost it in a very Big way and hit a bus shelter....Head On....The 2 brothers had a big fight over this. Now days it would have been repaired, but the ins co wrote it off. A terrible waste.
The early cars had the Awfull Zodiac Ratioed gearbox and poor breathing, they wernt particularly quick, ( 128 bhp ) but the far better Sept 71 on cars had 138 bhp and although they still had the External linkage g.box,( which used to fall apart ) the ratios were near perfect.
I have so many Great 3 Litre Capri memories, they were everywhere in East London / Essex in the early 1980s , but rust was a huge problem and many were hideously customised.
I had an epic dice late one night with a guy in a twin tail piped GXL, my 3000GT had been tweaked and i was all over his car , when plod decided to intervene, GXL driver had tried to pass me by driveing along the pavement in suburban east london... plod were not amused
In the late 80s a pal and his brother bought a stunning Olypic Blue ( Rare Colour Option) 3000GXL, 4 speed, with all the extras fitted from new. It was a very low miles car, due to it haveing been stolen then abandoned in a quiet East London back street outside an old ladys house. It sat there for 18 months ( yes really ) with the passenger window partly open, before someone reported it.
Dureing the winter of 87 ? i beleive , we had a lot of snow and the elder brother was out in it Playing Hannu Mikala, he lost it in a very Big way and hit a bus shelter....Head On....The 2 brothers had a big fight over this. Now days it would have been repaired, but the ins co wrote it off. A terrible waste.
neutral 3 said:
Lovely in Daytona Yellow, with Revolutions, what became of it ?
Sold it to a couple in Edinburgh, they intended to use it for historic rallying with I was chuffed about.To this day and some 40 odd cars later, I still rate the rear wheel drive fun I had in that car as the best I've ever had :-)
Seeing some of the other examples on this thread really makes me long for another.
Todd you are right, the finest rear wheel drive fun ever... Not even my Griff 500 comes close.....
I could write a book re my 3 Litre capri escapades, the 1981 East London/Late night Summers eve dice against my pal (in my soon to be first car) on my Z900 Kawasaki, i just couldnt beleive how quick that car was....
My BSM driveing instructors face when when he asked me what car i had bought..."What a 1600 Capri....No,NO, it cant be, not a 3 litre....
And how it used to smoke its tyres....
The guy in the Blue Shelby GT500 who couldnt shake me off...
I could write a book re my 3 Litre capri escapades, the 1981 East London/Late night Summers eve dice against my pal (in my soon to be first car) on my Z900 Kawasaki, i just couldnt beleive how quick that car was....
My BSM driveing instructors face when when he asked me what car i had bought..."What a 1600 Capri....No,NO, it cant be, not a 3 litre....
And how it used to smoke its tyres....
The guy in the Blue Shelby GT500 who couldnt shake me off...
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