When it comes to evaluating listings that come across our desk, we try to give sellers the benefit of the doubt. After all, we don’t know everything – far from it – and sellers are likely piecing information together from their own institutional knowledge and online research. That’s why this 1986 Mercury Capri RS is a bit of a puzzle for us as the seller seems to think his car is a special edition that has a significant horsepower bump over the standard model, and it’s rare enough that there’s a dedicated registry for it, of which this car is entered in as number 36. Check out the Capri’s listing here on craigslist where the seller is asking $3,500.

Now, the dollar figure on this car is a relief, because he also mentions in the ad that it could be worth in the $20,000 range. The Capri was offered in a few different flavors, and even within the RS trim there were two significant deviations: a turbocharged 2.3L four-cylinder engine and the venerable 5.0L 302 CI V8 as this car is equipped with. Beyond that, most of the special editions we associate with the Capri are the ASC McLaren cars, which include both a gussied-up coupe that featured a number of suspension and cosmetic upgrades, along with the dramatic chop top car and its iconic raked windshield. Other than that, it’s down to the exceedingly rare pace car tribute known simply as the “Motorsport” Capri.

Now, we suspect the seller has conflated the significance of the RS package with some sort of exceedingly limited production model that also made more power from the factory. There’s always the chance that I’m wrong, but I don’t believe Ford snuck out a few extra high-performance models when building the standard RS Capri. There likely is an owner’s registry somewhere, because these Capris don’t turn up every day and there’s likely fewer each year still registered and on the road. The Capri was not a big seller when new, as most muscle car buyers kept going to their local Ford store to buy a Mustang. The familiar Fox body sport buckets seats are still in good shape.

It looks like there’s some mold on the steering wheel, but that can be cleaned off with a good detailing that this Capri is desperate for. The car is also equipped with the preferred 5-speed manual transmission, which will make putting that 210 b.h.p. and 285 lb. ft. of torque to work all the more entertaining. The Capri will need a paint job despite the seller’s claims that its cosmetic issues are limited to some peeling clearcoat; frankly, I’d just live with it or budget for a respray down the road. We don’t see the Capri come up in any form all that often, but an RS with the 5.0L and a stick is worth a look if you’re a Fox body fan. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Curvette for the find.