The Ford Capri is a somewhat misunderstood classic from the 1970s, despite having a pedigree that seemingly makes it a desirable driver’s car. With Ford of Europe’s engineering behind it and a torquey Cologne V6 under the hood, it certainly had some pedigree, but like many overseas models brought stateside, it didn’t become a sales success. If you’re looking for one, this 1974 Capri listed here on eBay seems like a good starting point with some heavy lifting done but some more buttoning up needed.
The Capri is listed with a starting bid of $5,000 and no reserve, but there are no bids as of yet. This Capri has been repainted, so that explains why it looks so good. It’s hard to tell from the description if this is the original shade of paint, but the old, faded yellow paint under the hood seems to suggest it is. The awful U.S. safety bumpers did nothing for the Capri’s European looks, but that can be remedied with some chrome Euro-spec bumpers.
The maroon interior is in very nice condition, but an unusual color scheme for the a yellow exterior. When you see a cockpit like this, you’re reminded of some of the perks of a European import: bucket seats, manual gearbox, lots of helpful gauges in the cluster. The Capri had to be a revelation compared to other econoboxes from the same era, but this alone wasn’t enough to entice car shoppers to rush out in droves and bring a Capri home. The seller’s car looks quite nice inside, too, with only some burst seams on the driver’s seat and cracks in the dash standing out as faults.
The 2.8 Cologne V6 wasn’t overly powerful with around 120 horsepower, but it still managed to reach 60 miles per hour in about 11 seconds. Not blazing fast, but respectable for the era. The listing notes the Capri benefits from recent maintenance, including a front brake job, various fluid flushes, new clutch and pressure plate, and a new starter. The listing also notes it will need rear brakes and tires, and the seller recommends trailering the Capri home. Still, it seems like a solid example for anyone hunting for one of these elusive European Fords.
Not perfect, but not bad. The V6 4-speed is the preferred powertrain, but the smaller-bumper 1973 would be my preference. That rust-colored interior is indeed an odd color, I remember it from back in the day.
My impression is that they sold pretty well. We don’t know Ford’s sales goals, but as an model whose purpose was to fill a gap in the Lincoln-Mercury lineup, surely the goals weren’t huge. So, if we can trust Wikipedia:
In total, 513,500 Capri/Capri IIs were sold from 1970 to 1978 by Lincoln-Mercury. At its peak, yearly Capri sales in North America were the highest for any import vehicle (except for the Volkswagen Beetle).
Most featured Capris bring many (generally favorable) comments, that suggests lots of Barn Finders had experiences with them.
The Capri II was the hatchback that followed the original Capri for the 1976-1977 model years, so the total sales were for the combined series I and II cars.
These “hatchback” models changed everything,,,,that was a test to see if people actually read, and COMPREHEND my posts. Very frustrating.
Put me in the dissatisfied group, and if this is the nicest one left, well, let’s just say, while sales were brisk( hey, I bought one), very few bought another. I’ve said many times, the Capri was an okay car, in that it was a sporty thing, but clearly a stop gap measure until we got our act together( as if) and Asian cars proved a much better value, AND,,had the dealer network, unlike L-M that wanted nothing to do with the Capri. Opel buyers had the same gripes with Buick dealers.
My experiences include, small trunk opening, no back seat room, poorly spaced trans ratios( that the Pinto shared), poor handling, unless modified, downright dangerous in winter, and poor heat, I might add, lousy mileage, and was already using coolant, and let’s not forget, that gas filler on the C pillar. In the 70s, some stations didn’t have shutoffs, or poorly working ones, and a trail of gas down the side was a regular thing. That’s a poor car in my book.
Howard,
I agree with the “Nicest one left” comment.The body looks
really nice,but in comparison,most of the rest of this one is a letdown.
I disagree on how bad of a car you think this is/was.I had a ’73 –
2000,& it was a really solid,nice driving car,but a little heavy for hillclimbing/-
autocrossing.I only sold it so that i could buy a new ’79 Fiesta,another
great car.
A girl I worked with bought a new ’73 V6 in this color,& it had a
Black vinyl roof.Sharp looking car!
The L-M dealers wanting “…nothing to do” with the captive import Capri? Evidently they learned that lesson and carried that attitude into 1985 when I bought a Merkur from them. Only one mechanic got Merkur training, and my car was one of the first learning batch hand built in the Ghia factory. I won’t list all the issues but I clamped a branch from my lemon tree into the sunroof when I brought it in for service. One related issue: they used the 4 speed from the Capri and tacked on a fith gear like an overdrive module. It couldn’t handle the power from the turbo engine. Mine would pop out of fifth on lift-off, very disconcerting when commuting on the S&M Bridge. I had to replace it with a T5 kit from Rapido Motors.
I disagree that the Asian offerings of the day were much better than the Capri or other contemporaries. Celica’s, Datsun’ SX, even Karmann Ghia’s were all very flawed offerings as well. The Capri’s biggest issue, along with the others, was rust. All these cars started rusting on the boat ride over and were generally pretty shot in 5 years unless they lived in SoCal or Arizona. My HS girlfriend had a Celica, my cousin a Capri. I preferred the Capri mainly on looks but there were lots of Celica fans out there as well. The VW Scirocco was the game changer with a more spacious cabin due to being front-drive and crisp road manners. As dependable as the weather, however. Today, all these seem pretty awful. In ’72-73, they were all pretty cool.
My neighbor in the Chicago suburbs had this exact car in the same exterior color back in the mid-1970s. Same engine and transmission combo. I thought it was very cool. It smelled very nice inside I recall. Don’t know if that’d be the case here given all the years that have passed. The bumpers look huge in retrospect, though they didn’t seem abnormal at that time. Maybe because all new cars looked like that by then.
I have a clear memory of him disabling the seat belt interlock, as a lot of people did back in 1974. For those under 55 or so (lol!), there was a brief experiment for the 1974 and part of the 1975 model year where all new cars were set up such that you could not start them unless your seat belt was fastened. That’d be annoying now. Imagine how it was during a time where seat belt use was much less widespread!
People just hated it, and the vast majority of folks disabled them. No YouTube videos back then obviously but they managed. The feature was canned during 1975 as I remember and never darkened our domain again. I’d be curious to see if this one still has it, hahaha!
The interior looks weird, I agree. I’m trying to remember what color my neighbor’s was. I think it was a dark brown/saddle per my memory but it’s been nearly 50 years. It could have been this, or this could have changed color to look like this, who knows? I cannot find a 1974 Capri interior color chart.
Looking at the pictures closer, I bet it’s the same interior my neighbor’s had. In real life, it looks more mahogany. It might have the red tint in the photos due to the sunlight.
The seat-belt interlock was simple to disable, once you figured it out. My old man bought a new Maverick in December 1973; and I spent a Saturday and Sunday trying to find how to disable it.
Turns out, if you unplugged the seat weight sensors – and they were on even the driver’s seat, since there was a logic module to it – but just unplug the two front-seat sensors, and the car would start and drive normally.
I was age 15 and must have helped a dozen or so neighbors unhook those things over the next two years. I was so proud of my cleverness I never thought to charge them.
I heard a story about these ignition disabling seat belts. The story goes that some guy buys a turkey for Christmas and plops it onto the front passenger seat. A mugger creeps up to the driver’s window, who quickly goes to start the engine to escape but can’t because the turkey’s not been belted in!
The Capri was a perfectly decent car for the European market but Americans dont drive nothing less than a V8 and these car were tiny compared to standard American saloons.
By not wearing a seatbelt, however, the turkey was able to open the passenger’s door and quickly get away from the mugger…
Please quit saying “Nicest one left” thanks..
But what if it actually IS the nicest one left??
Passenger side shows white color inside the front of the body door jamb, while the drivers side is yellow.
Mmmmm, what’s up Doc?
Looks good until you look underneath…
Brought back some memories! When I returned from Nam in ’71 I the Capri had just come out. I had enough cash to write a check for $2,601.93 to drive one off the Lincoln Mercury showroom. I still remember the salesman’s look when he asked me “how do you propose to pay for this sir?” and I glibly replied “with a check!” Twenty years old and got one of the first in the area, silver, 4 banger and 4 speed. Great memory for sure, you may recall that Lincolns weren’t something a punk kid of 20 would walk into the showroom for.
This was my first vehicle. Mine was silver with a black interior and a sun roof. Very fun to drive. I purchased in June and come autumn I discovered it basically had no heat. Ended up driving with a blanket wrapped around me. I went to the dealership to buy a heater core. When the service guys asked me why and I told them it wasn’t putting out any heat they just laughed. That’s when I knew I needed to sell this thing and buy something different.
Needed a different thermostat! Mine didn’t run you out with the heater but it was passable, and I was in Alaska!
I don’t know, Rick. I replaced the thermostat twice! Maybe just bad luck on my part.
I had three of these over a six year period, a used ‘71 a/t 2l., a new ‘73 2600 4-speed, and a low-mile’74 2800 4-gear a coupla years later. I was working on the Alaska Pipeline and had waaaay too much money for my age and temperament when I had that last one. Western Minilite copy rims, a P&P front air dam, a Racemark steering wheel, Hella lights, and Recaro seats made it a lot more fun, but I once entered a rally in Anchorage and went into ‘attack mode’.
Off came the bumpers- 60# each?-and on went 15” bias ply snow tires, car sat 7” higher than stock. Light bat bolted to the front bumper mounts? Cool! Still slow but looked bad-ass!
For this one, I’d find/build a front spoiler and trash the bumpers then cut/replace the springs, maybe go to 16” rims and better tires. Lose the resonator and change the brake pads too. It’s still be slow, but a LOT more fun.
As luck would have it, this is less than a mile away. I have looked it over while they were closed. If I were in the market for a Capri, I would buy the car BUT 1: The interior is worse than the photo; driver’s seat is a complete waste and the rest of the vinyl shows age. 2: There’s rust poking through here and there in corners and where dirt builds up; I would have no illusions about what lies beneath. 3: I wouldn’t be surprised to find it’s an older respray. 4: Aged gaskets and body rubber evident. 5: I couldn’t look underneath or under the hood, but we are in Maine and it’s how many decades old?
On the other hand, the guys at Mr. Tire in Thomaston are straight shooters and I would expect them to be honest about the car.
My Daytona yellow 74 Capri was my most favorite car. It was my daily driver/commuter car year round for 10 years. Never broke down, but had most of the “issues ” fixed before I bought it. It was converted to electronic ignition, alloy cam gear, etc. I drove a lot, can’t seem to live and work in the same town. I watched the odometer roll over twice in my ownership. The blower fan was suspect but the ventilation was good enough that I had warm air as long as I was moving. Fun in the snow, fast with a mild engine upgrade. Cam, headers and dual exhaust. I miss that car. So….. I have decided to daily my 71 2.0 Capri year round. It is well undercoated with a solid but wavey body. I have decided that missing what I once had is stupid. I’m going to do something about it. I hope it works out, but ultimately don’t care. As fR as the sellers car goes., it looks ok but not spectacular. I’m sure it will need more than presented but wil be well bought at any price. Cheers!
Back in the early 80’s I had a ’72 Capri. I also lived in the Adirondack Region. So like Maine, lots of salt.
Looking at the underside and trunk photos tells me that this car is about rotted out and very likely to be a complete loss, as a drivable vehicle, very soon, and no amount of patching, bondo or repair, is gonna change it. Too bad really. The first photo really had me hoping, but 5k is too much for a parts car and that’s what this looks to be.
Bought mine brand new in 74. Four speed, V6. Well made. no issues, no regrets, except I wished I had kept it longer.
Working at a Lincoln – Mercury dealer , I once worked on one that had 11 recalls.
First off, it was called a Mercury Capri, not Ford. It was sold exclusively in the US at Lincoln Mercury dealers. You rarely see any for sale ever. I had a ’73 2000 4spd, forest green with black interior. In our family we had a total of six. One yellow one just like this, two brown 74’s both with 4 spds, my green ’73 and my ’76 Capri II Ghia, V6, wihite w/ black/red interior. Everyone had great experiences with these and very minimal issues. Water pumps/thermostat change outs were the most common. All of us wish we still had them. I would go for this one if I had storage for it. But we already have 4 cars for 2 people with two homes. None of my cars ever sits outside. Lots of good memories. Yellow was always my favorite color!!
Ford Capri in Europe – where it was built and first sold.
I bought one brand new. Lime green 4 speed. And yes, that interior was a mahogany colour.
After owning it for a year, I pulled all the fenders off and put an entire fibreglass body kit on it. It was a perfect clone of the IMSA cars that battled with the Batmobiles from BMW.
Next was complete suspension and full race engine mods. 10 inch wide wheels and 3 1/2 inches of ground clearance. I raced it and auto crossed it. God that thing handled. I had to sandbag the auto crosses all the time. Too fast.
Too bad I can’t add pics. It was BADASS! I remember having a drag race with a 2971 Dodge Dart 340. Blew its doors off.
My uncle Philip blew the transmission on his 63 Pontiac Grand Prix, and bought a new one of these in 74, blue V/6 Stick, black interior am/fm radio, was a cool little car, I get confused when people call this a Ford Capri, it was marketed and known as a Mercury back then, and will always be, if I had room I’d look into this one, but we are 5 cars in already
This car was never sold as a Mercury Capri. The Mercury Capri was introduced in 1979. This was marketed as simply Capri, Imported by Lincoln Mercury. Might as well call a Pantera a Mercury
This was always advertised as a Mercury Capri. Our family had 6 of them……