Project Project Capri. Back on the road! New earths.

[Slartibartfast]

I'll be the sole dissenting voice and say that I think the brown interior looks mega.

[dozeydustman]

I quite like the brown, vinyl does reek of base model 70's. I think as it's a lighter tan colour it'd work with the blue exterior, whereas a more chocolate brown would look awful. I can see why you'd prefer the black because a) not vinyl original to car(?).

But I'm colourblind so pay no attention

[richardthestag]

i love that brown interior. My staaaag had chestnut interior originally, a mate has a very tidy chestnut interior that he wants to refurb to black leather.

 

I am currently trying to persuade him to swap my complete black interior for his complete chestnut interior. his is better than mine but all the best bits will be ripped out for the retrim anyway.

 

if I were you, brown vinyl is for winners, but you are not me so...

 

retrim the black set exactly how you want it, fix the brown set and sell it to the equivalent of me in Ford circles.

 

please dont trash a nice savable set of trim unless there is no choice

[danthecapriman]

I bet you could make my brown seats fit your stag! You just need a big fuck off hammer and anything will fit!

 

Garage is now clear-ish. Some stuff has to go in there unfortunately so I’ve stacked it neatly up against one wall. The garage is quite a bit wider than the car anyway. Bloody pain in the arse doing stuff like that though.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The half cloth trim may not be the original; the early L and XL Capri II's had full vinyl as standard so someone may have added that interior in the eighties. 

[danthecapriman]

The half cloth trim may not be the original; the early L and XL Capri II's had full vinyl as standard so someone may have added that interior in the eighties.

 

I think you could upgrade to cloth centres? It’s definitely an early L spec interior though as it’s got the solid single folding rear seat back. Others were split folding. Be interesting to see if anyone’s got a 74 brochure showing the interior options...

The brown interior is very early though, the door cards are date stamped ‘April 74’, but I can’t find any similar markings on the black one.

There’s a proper shite repair been done on one of them too! Someone’s stitched on some random black material, looks like from a coat sleeve or similar to try to fix the ripping fabric of the seat back!

 

The mk2 was first released in January 1974. Weirdly, on my bodyshell when the paint was all stripped off there was a faint but legible hand written writing on the top of the inner wing. It was someone’s initials with March 74 under it. It had been doodled on with some sort of engraving tool like someone was signing ‘their’ cars as they went by on the production line or something. I’ve got no idea if it was ‘a thing’ they did then or if it was a one off an employee had decided to do?

Various bits of the car and parts from it were stamped 03/74 too so this one must be a pretty early one.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

When the 1300 base capri arrived in late 1975, the L had the split fold seats and the type of half cloth trim you have. 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-CAR-RANGE-Sales-Brochure-March-1975-FA221-2-Capri-II-ESCORT-2nd-ISSUE/152894309965?hash=item239936064d:g:NnwAAOSwZ3BaaiZQ

[Christine]

Sideways pics Dan , might be of interest,  March '74 mag . (New printer won't connect to pc, so had to take photos... so might work might not ..)  If i click pic they go big enough to read...sideways

 

 

 

[JeeExEll]

Some brochure stuff from very late 74 or early 75.

Fabric trim available as an option on the L.

 

 

 

 

 

Note, even the XL has the '2-clock' basic dash in black, the woodgrain basic dash must have been introduced when the GL replaced the XL for 1976. Never noticed that before.

 

 

 

 

 

The pic below is from the 74 launch brochure. Note the same car as in pics above but on a M-reg. There are other pics where M-reg has been altered to N-reg on other models. My images of the early 74 brochure are not very good quality but most of the pics are the same as this slightly later brochure anyway. It only does L, XL, and GT. The (expensive !) Ghia introduced at the same time had a brochure all to itself.

 

Also from 1974 launch brochure. Vinyl seats standard on the L model, non-recliners.

 

 

1976 colour availability chart from a later brochure.

 

 

German spec, from 76 model year. Before 76 front wing engine size badges would have been the 1300 motif style rather than '1.3', except for the Ghia which had number-point-number badges from the start.

Plain wheels and hubcaps really suit the clean lines of the car here.

 

 

 

For 1976 the 'base' Capri became the 1300 (badged 1.3 !), and the 'L was a separate model.

Style of the 'L' boot badge changed to a square-edged flat style.

Base 1300s had all black detailing, no chrome. Like the sporty 'S' models.

 

The early 76 spec included cloth seats on all

 

Seats made of green. Also available in red.

 

And just to bore you totally shitless if you're not into Capris here's the 1977 spec 'base' Capris, which is pretty much how things stayed until the Mk3 of early 78.

[artdjones]

Interesting brochure- the price for a radio is a bit stiff -£60 is equivalent to £690 today.For a push button AM.No wonder the Japanese fitting them for free was so popular.

[danthecapriman]

So my brown interior is definitely an early ‘L’ interior. It has no carpets on the rear backrest and is a one piece single folder in full vinyl.

 

The black one?

This has no carpets on the rear backrest, is a one piece single folder. Has no recliner option on the fronts either.

It’s a shame there’s no dates anywhere visible.

 

 

By the looks of it I’ve chosen the correct way it should be painted too.

I’ve got body coloured sills and body coloured rear panel as the L spec list above says it should.

I still have the rubber boot mat too. Steering wheel is still the early and correct mk1 style wheel, though mines got a leather cover around the rim (presumably an extra? It’s factory stitched on by the looks).

Mine also had the sports wheel upgrade from new as discussed earlier in the thread (5x13) now upgraded to 5.5x13 sports wheels.

I’ve also got the correct early style ‘L’ badge, which was changed to the later plainer style ‘L’ when the XL was dropped in favour of the GL.

When I got the car it still only had the drivers mirror too.

 

Anyway, I think, regardless of if it’s original or not I’ll stay with the black half cloth interior style. The main reasons being I’ve got much more black plastic trims than the brown. And I like to drive without a sweaty arse and back! Plus the VIN plate says BLK as the interior colour so I’d like at least one of those things to not be a lie!

[danthecapriman]

Interesting brochure- the price for a radio is a bit stiff -£60 is equivalent to £690 today.For a push button AM.No wonder the Japanese fitting them for free was so popular.

Explains why mines got a non original Radiomobile fitted. They must have looked at that price and thought ‘yeah fuck that!’ And gone non genuine for much less.

 

Looking at that pricing mine cost £1919.05 new. That’s a fair bit for 1974.

 

https://www.officialdata.org/1974-GBP-in-2018?amount=1919.05

 

That’s equivalent to £19395.52 today!!

Shows how affordable things are now and how much of a treat a new car must have been back then.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Black definately.

 

My last Capri was blue. Caspian blue i think. I put a black with grey stripes 2.0s interior in it and it looked right. Caspian was a few shades darker than yours though

[danthecapriman]

It’s home!

 

Literally just rolled it off the truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the new front arch protectors. They’re non original and are just a thick steel plate with rubber seal along the outer edge against the inside of the outer wing. They replace the original little bracket between inner wing/A post and outer wing.

Should stop most of the crap and grit etc getting to the A post now.

 

Shame the weathers a bit dull today, it looks even better in the sun.

I’m well pleased! Lots of work to do though now.

[Slartibartfast]

It's absolutely stunning mate.

[Christine]

  Put up the bunting and request a Spitfire flypast !! Were there curtain twitchers looking ?

[danthecapriman]

  Put up the bunting and request a Spitfire flypast !! Were there curtain twitchers looking ?

Nobody was around. Good job really as we had to block the path outside with the truck!

A few people walking past since have stopped and looked though.

 

The Spitfires are on the way. Though I’ve requested they be converted to Pinto engined Spitfires so they might be a while!

[mrbenn]

Just lovely. Can't wait to see this fitted up and back on the road

[Datsuncog]

 

Fantastic!!!

[danthecapriman]

Suns coming out now so I’ll get a few more pics in a bit.

 

In the meantime here’s a couple of overhead shots!

 

 

Zoomed in a bit so might be a bit blurry.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

That is beautiful , I'd be terrified to start fitting the interior and putting bumpers etc back on, but that's because I'm a cackhanded buffoon .

[richardthestag]

It’s home!

 

Literally just rolled it off the truck.

 

 

shame I can only like this post once

[danthecapriman]

Its really great to have it back. That familiar shape back on the driveway where it belongs, the colour really does stand out now though. It’s like a bright blue glow!

It smells inside too. That funny fresh paint-ey smell you get in bodyshops. I actually quite like it.

It’s a bit dusty on the floors so it’ll need a hoover out and a soft brush to get the crap out of the corners. I’ve also been removing the boxes of odd parts, old parts etc from the boot.

I’ll get it into the garage this afternoon.

[JeeExEll]

That's fantastic Dan, been a long time coming.

Must feel like Christmas Day when you're 5.

[JeeExEll]

^^ As Jo says.

 

"Aah, looks like it's gonna be a scorching hot afternoon, we're off home.

Send this one out to Dan to finish himself".

[danthecapriman]

^^ As Jo says.

"Aah, looks like it's gonna be a scorching hot afternoon, we're off home.

Send this one out to Dan to finish himself".

That’s bloody brilliant! You got anymore?

Is it Halewood or Cologne?

[BorniteIdentity]

Incredible.

 

Make sure you’ve got some hardcore security on that door, maybe a post in front of the door, and then a car in front of the post in front of the door.

 

Behind gates.

 

And dogs.

 

Lots of big fucking dogs.

 

With rabies.

 

Russian rabies.

[JeeExEll]

That’s bloody brilliant! You got anymore?

Is it Halewood or Cologne?

Not sure Dan, would guess Halewood. Will check my saved files for more pics latr.

[junkyarddog]

Don't suppose you fancy a swap for a tatty 2.0 ghia in gold do You?

 

No?

 

Thought not

[Tamworthbay]

I am seriously jealous, it looks amazing mate, worth all the hassle!