On This Day

Friday 19th December 1986

33 years ago

The 1,886,647th and final Ford Capri - 'the car you always promised yourself' - rolled off the production line (at the Halewood plant in Merseyside). This car was one of the last models called the Capri 280, also known as the Brooklands Capri. The car was based on the 2.8i model but was fitted with leather upholstery, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, Recaro front seats, low-profile tyres and alloy wheels. Codenamed Colt, the Capri was conceived as a European answer to Detroit’s Mustang “pony car”. It was designed by American Philip T. Clark, one of the main designers of the Ford Mustang, which until 2010 was an unknown fact. Using the mechanical components from the Mk2 Ford Cortina and intended as the European equivalent of the Ford Mustang, the Capri went on to be a highly successful car for Ford. A wide variety of engines were used in the Capri throughout its production lifespan, which included the Essex and Cologne V6 s at the top of the range, whilst the Kent straight-four and Taunus V4 engines were used in lower specification models. Although the Capri was not officially replaced by any Ford model, the second-generation Probe was effectively its replacement after the later car's introduction to the European market in 1992.