Wouldn’t it be amazing if Mercury was still around, and some of the same tactics that gave birth to cars like the Capri 5.0 were employed today? While realizing some of these decisions back in the middle 80s ultimately led to Mercury’s declining popularity in the U.S., the absence of an American luxury car maker with its own performance vehicle has been felt. The Capri shown here on craigslist is a bit of a running project but it looks pretty close to being a reliable weekend driver. The seller is asking $8,500 OBO.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Tony Primo for the tip. The Capri originally came to the lineup as a captive import that was as cool as the example shown here. Ironically, the first run of the Capri was a muscle car in its own right, just not in the traditional American sense. These days, our enthusiast counterparts overseas still fawn over clean Capris like we go crazy over minty Fox bodies. However, American muscle car enthusiasts seem less interested in a V8-equipped Capri such as this one despite its excellent street machine credentials and oddball appeal.
And like a lot of domestic new model offerings, the initial intro was slightly muddy, with Mercury including luxury-oriented trims as well as an RS Turbo. By the time this 1985 model rolled out, Ford had finally gotten the 5.0L V8 under the hood and addressed the other features muscle car fans favor (big front air dam with fog lamps, 10-hole alloy wheels, sport seats, a 3-spoke steering wheel, and so on.) But by this point, there’s really no luxury to speak of and it’s simply a Ford Mustang with a different nose panel and badge.
So how do you make the justification for buying a Capri over a Mustang? Well, it comes down to the individual. If you’re tired of seeing rows of Mustangs at your local car meet, a Capri is an easy way to march to the beat of your own drummer without incurring the penalty of obscure parts and body panels. The Capri will raise a few eyebrows and questions while still being extremely easy to live with. This example sports the carb’d version of the 5.0L, good for 210 b.h.p. and 265 lb.-ft. of torque. The seller notes it runs well but will need paint at some point. Would you go for the rare Capri or stick with a conventional Mustang?
These are good runners w the 4V H.O 302, and stick. Buddy had a Mustang same setup. Nice Mercury interior, and square front end.
Some of the BF readers already have or had one of these and have shared the pros/cons already. As such, I’ve always believed these to be a good mix of American and German builds. Would prefer one of these to the same vintage Mustang for that reason and too that they’re more distinctive accordingly.
If it’s solid it’s worth giving a good hard once over in person.
GLWTS
What is “German” about this car, lol???
The design of the rear was continued from the original, and the 4cyl turbo available in these was a German designed Pinto engine.
I think you’re thinking of the earlier Ford Capri sold in the US through Mercury dealerships. The ’79-’86 Capri was 100% American made… it was the sister to the Foxbody Mustang.
They had the right idea with that rear bubble of a hatch, but then they ruined it with that slab of a front end. They should have kept the Mustang leading edge. Otherwise this is a decent example but even though it’s got a 5 liter V8 and four speed, Fox Mustangs/Capris don’t really move the meter for me.
No, these are 5-speeds. The 4-speed was swapped out for 5-speeds over the Christmas 1982 shutdown. My 83 GT 5.0 order in late December 82 specified that it must be a 5-speed model!
I feel the opposite. I liked the squared-off look with the flat hatch of the first 3 years. ’83 and later had the bubble hatch, and I hate that look. My first car was an ’80 Capri RS with the flat hatch; the design was much more consistent. But, that’s just me.
Love it
Just love that bubble back, similar to a 82-83 Merc LN7 and later Exp
I prefer the looks of the Capri over the Mustang.
I’d treat this one to a respray, paint looks a little tired. Then I’d be very tempted to go hog-wild and do a Coyote build.
Or do what I’ve always thought Ford should have done when they canceled the Capri after ’86 — transfer that bodyshell with its handsome boxflared fenders over to the Mustang for its ’87 major facelift.
Found this pic of a Capri bodyshell with all the Mustang SVO bits transplanted over to it:
https://imgur.com/a/mercury-capri-svo-DzGIv7S
That’s awesome.
Well Jeff, I need to expand your observations about the differences in the Mustang and the Capri. And there is nothing ‘German’ about the build unless you go back to 1974, 1975 Capri which was a totally different car. When I first saw the early 80s Capri I thought Mercury did a better job designing the front side marker light. Nice horizontal lens put in the rubber bumper, as opposed to the Mustang that looks like an afterthought, looks like a spatula, FORD had to put something up there, just stick it in here. And the flared fenders, not cheap to build, I love them. How about the louvered taillight lens? Very nice. The bubble rear glass is a bit too much, gets the greenhouse effect inside. One must put on some dark window tint to keep the sun out. I love this car at this price. Wish I had the room for it.
Box flared fenders like this aren’t any more expensive to build than round flares if they’re the stock stamping, which these were for the Capri. The only added expense was making the different dies for the Capri stampings vs. the Mustang’s dies.
Which is part of why I’m puzzled Ford didn’t extract more ROI from those dies by continuing to use them for the Mustang after they canceled the Capri.
I bought one new in 1987 off the showroom floor. It was a really nice car, and miles ahead of the Mustang in looks. The Goodyear VR rated tires were a good tire for that car, but I only got 72,000 miles out of them.
72,000 miles out of any tire, performance or otherwise, is stupendous. Maybe you meant 7,200 miles?
72000 is impossible lol
Pwr windows!
What would have been really cool if Mercury was still around is to build a Cougar off the Mustang chassis like the 60’s/70’s.
I can think of no car I hate worse than Fox bodies and 2nd Gen Camaros. I’d rather drive a bread truck.