Ford Consul Classic/Capri - tell me about 'em!

I've never had one but know two things.

They make damn fine looking customs

They also rust like curse word.

Sorry to be of no help.

I can add to this list - the front discs are sought after because they bolt onto Anglia 105s - it was the hot race and rally mod back when Carlos Fandango wheels were all the rage

Cheers spock. So, terrible to drive is just how they are then!

As for the CX, someone told me "drive a CX for less than 10 minutes and you won't want to drive one ever again. Drive one for over an hour and you'll never want to drive anything else!"

I think that also applies to the 2CV. At first, you're horrified by the odd gearchange, laughable bodyroll and sheer noise. But once you are used to them, you realise that the gearchange is super sweet, the handing is absolutely superb and when you are hurtling down country lanes (like I have for much of today) who cares about the noise?!

The worst car I've ever owned is probably an Isuzu Trooper. I realised it wouldn't be as nice to drive as a normal car but I never expected it to be anywhere near as bad to drive as it was!! Truly awful and a classic example of the "I've always wanted one of those" until I drove it!

hmm, ive never been in one, but do love classic capri's.

Who cares if it drives like curse word, its all sortable. A decent engine and some better suspension and your sorted.

Ive always viewed cars on how they look mainly, its easier to make a good looking car handle than it is to make a pile of curse word look good.

As some inspiration have a bit of Kev Rooney's last Kapri in a fairly early guise.....

as with alot of old fords they need to be modded to drive nice the one i had was fitted with a very worked 3.1 essex and had fully adjustable 2.8 capri front end and decambered rear leaf springs with adjustable shocks drove great and handled exelent

The 1500cc one's a nice smooth engine.....the 1340 which was fitted in the Classic was a dog. Based on a bored-out Cortina/Anglia 1200 Kent with 3-bearing crank, 40k and the bottom end usually let go, dunno if they made a Capri with the 1340 engine in it or wether they were all 1500's, certainly the Capri GT was MUCH more like it with knocking on 80-odd bhp instead of the standard 1500's 60.

Having said that, the 1500 Capri was basically the same running gear as the Mk1 Cortina and Corsair, so shouldn't be THAT nasty to drive, maybe it was just a bit tired.

I agree with most everyone though, don't think Ford produced a better-looking car, certainly in the 1960's, and maybe ever.

Brian

The 1340's actually a stroked version of the Anglia motor, and yes they did do a 1340 Capri, but I'd say the vast majority were 1500's. As the 1340 tended to have a bit if a bearing habit, you're probably unlikely to find a Capri (or a Classic for that matter) with a 1340 still in it. The 1340's also had no synchro on 1st gear.
Capri GT's are rare (Ford only made about 2500 genuine GT's) and they can be identified by a supplimentary gauge panel on top of the trans tunnel.
If anyone's after one try contacting Kev Rooney via the NRSA site. He's forgotten more stuff about Capri's than anyone will ever know!

I love the look and shape of the classic Capri, far far far and away a million times nicer than the later variant.