It promised so much, but gave so little and the Ford Capri of the late 1980s may have had the ingredients to be a winner in the showroom only for it to flop due to a related rival.
Ford’s partial ownership of Mazda during this stage was interesting due to the Japanese manufacturer’s planned MX-5, but the Blue Oval pressed on with a two-door convertible concept of its own.
The Capri versus MX-5 battle was beginning.
Developed exclusively for the United States, the Capri featured design in-put from Italy, engineering know how from Australia and a Mazda four-pot under the bonnet from the 323.
Believing it held the advantage compared to the Mazda, Ford was due to release the Capri first, but this didn’t eventuate as the MX-5 not only arrived on the scene to rave reviews, it took the market by storm.
Sold through Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury dealership network – a market with an older clientele – and those that did sell were found to be less than reliable. Particularly, roof leaking was a major concern in early Capris due to being underdeveloped nature of its release.
The Capri lost out to the MX-5 in many areas including being front-wheel-drive, it was less sporty, not as spacious, practically mainly centres around the lowering of the roof and lower equipment levels.
Despite continual improvements upon the release of each generation, the 25,000 sales required to make the project viable were never reached and in 1994 production ended.
Despite its potential, the Capri is a big miss and very few remain on the roads today.