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Ross_K

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eddyramrod Rank: Matra Rancho towing a Tagora

eddyramrod

Posted
Posted

That Rapier is purely gorgeous!  I absolutely would!

  • busmansholiday
  • Like 1
busmansholiday Rank: Lancia Gamma

busmansholiday

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

That Rapier is purely gorgeous!  I absolutely would!

So would I, it really is gorgeous, ooohhhh.

egg Rank: Matra Rancho towing a Tagora

egg

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, puddlethumper said:

I get parts for my 305 from the seller and have seen this in the flesh. He had It up for 6500 a while ago. Wood.

It's one hell of a car.

Meanwhile..

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/626593924983260

This is near me, inbetweeners replica that needs saving.  Sans MOT. This has got 'egg project' written all over it.

225807853_10166140664305311_128445233754

But I'm about as likely to be allowed to buy this as I am to get Jenna Coleman's phone number.

  • Longbridge Apologist, phil_lihp, BertiePuntoCabrio and 2 others
  • Like 5
MisterH Rank: BL Wedge

MisterH

Posted
Posted

I wish they hadn't put those wheeltrims on the Rapiers, makes a dashing car look like it was from the black and white era, rather than technicolour, if you know what I mean 

Soundwave Rank: Citroen Ami

Soundwave

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MisterH said:

1982-lotus-esprit-611d3a650b595.jpg?ar=16%3A9&auto=enhance%2Ccompress&fill=solid&fill-color=%23000000&fit=fill&h=2160&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=100&w=3840&s=90b0b1a22f60f0170e57f9f0b8a1c0cf

PHWOAR!!!

 

It's like someone fitted seatbelts to an avacado bathroom suite. Fantastic!

  • MisterH, LightBulbFun and Remspoor
  • Haha 3
lesapandre Rank: Talbot Tagora

lesapandre

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, MisterH said:

I wish they hadn't put those wheeltrims on the Rapiers, makes a dashing car look like it was from the black and white era, rather than technicolour, if you know what I mean 

The car was Roy Axe styled...not sure if he ok'd the wheels. 

You are right - overall the Rapier had a slighly 'Terry and June' feel to it compared to the go-getting MK1 Capri...and subsequently sold in considerably lesser numbers. About 5000 a year which is not really profitable. About 1.2 million Mk1 Capri's were sold by comparison. This shape Rapier came out in '67 and Capri in '69 which must have hammered Rapier sales. 

Some of that is down to the detailing/jewellery on the cars - which Ford were so good at.  With a little more bizzaz - the Rapier might have done better. That parts bin steering wheel is really unfortunate on a 'sporting' car. As are the dustbin lid hubcaps. Fins are an anachronism on a new car by 1967 too when hip 'fashion' cars were moving to a kamm-tail look.

But its worth remembering that Rootes were a minnow compared to Ford's resources and the Rapier would have been developed for peanuts compared to Capri.

Capri was bound to be more profitable too - there is an awful lot of complex pressings and expensive to produce detail on the Rapier. Also made at the orphan Linwood plant with it's expensive supply chain problems.  A lot of parts would have been shipped up from Coventry which ate profits.

Overall the car was a bit of an heroic failure - but still very very nice...a lovely old thing to own.  A great achievement with the available resources - but just a bit left behind.

I used to drive past the Ryton-on Dunsmoor factory in the 70's - you could see all the finished Rootes/Chrysler cars lined up outside from the A45. A great sight...

A former wartime shadow factory - now all demolished.

cort16 Rank: Matra Rancho towing a Tagora

cort16

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, CortinaDave said:

looks a STUNNA for a grand

It’s nice but I never understood that spoiler . Why has an Italian  saloon car got the rear wing off a Plymouth super bird ?

320touring Rank: Talbot Tagora

320touring

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, cort16 said:

It’s nice but I never understood that spoiler . Why has an Italian  saloon car got the rear wing off a Plymouth super bird ?

Homologation for touring cars

cort16 Rank: Matra Rancho towing a Tagora

cort16

Posted
Posted
Just now, 320touring said:

Homologation for touring cars

That doesn't really look like a motor sport spoiler/wing though. 

eddyramrod Rank: Matra Rancho towing a Tagora

eddyramrod

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

The car was Roy Axe styled...not sure if he ok'd the wheels. 

You are right - overall the Rapier had a slighly 'Terry and June' feel to it compared to the go-getting MK1 Capri...and subsequently sold in considerably lesser numbers. About 5000 a year which is not really profitable. About 1.2 million Mk1 Capri's were sold by comparison. This shape Rapier came out in '67 and Capri in '69 which must have hammered Rapier sales. 

Some of that is down to the detailing/jewellery on the cars - which Ford were so good at.  With a little more bizzaz - the Rapier might have done better. That parts bin steering wheel is really unfortunate on a 'sporting' car. As are the dustbin lid hubcaps. Fins are an anachronism on a new car by 1967 too when hip 'fashion' cars were moving to a kamm-tail look.

But its worth remembering that Rootes were a minnow compared to Ford's resources and the Rapier would have been developed for peanuts compared to Capri.

Capri was bound to be more profitable too - there is an awful lot of complex pressings and expensive to produce detail on the Rapier. Also made at the orphan Linwood plant with it's expensive supply chain problems.  A lot of parts would have been shipped up from Coventry which ate profits.

Overall the car was a bit of an heroic failure - but still very very nice...a lovely old thing to own.  A great achievement with the available resources - but just a bit left behind.

I used to drive past the Ryton-on Dunsmoor factory in the 70's - you could see all the finished Rootes/Chrysler cars lined up outside from the A45. A great sight...

A former wartime shadow factory - now all demolished.

It's also worth remembering that the Rapier was sold with only one engine, in one of three states of tune, against the Opel Manta (two engine sizes) and the Capri (all the engines you could wish for!).  The base-model Rapier even had a different name (Alpine), a practice Ford used on the Zephyr/Zodiac and continued into the first couple of years of Consul/Granada.  The Capri might have been the sector leader, by some margin, but the closest thing philosophically to the Rapier was actually the smaller, nimbler Toyota Celica, which received frequent updating, unlike the Rapier.

Also, Rootes might have been trading on their history a little.  In the early 60s the previous Rapier was the well-established king of the sector, and Ford's upstart Capri was a short-lived contender with nothing like the range the 1969-on models would have.  The concurrent Alpine was a very different car; smaller and much more glamorous, using the Rapier's engine.

I still think that yellow (beige?) one is delightful and I absolutely WOOD.

lesapandre Rank: Talbot Tagora

lesapandre

Posted
Posted

Thanks Eddy for that additional info. Yes I had an early Alpine sports in the 1970's. A 1964 car but really rusty by 1978 when I bought it. But still a very nice car. Gold with a black interior. £80...

Yea  Rootes/Simca/ Chrysler were really chasing profits elsewhere with Avenger and then their new hatchbacks so the Rapier cars was always a bit of an anachronism which was left to wither away.

As you say the Japanese stepped into the void. I had several Datsun 260K cars which were a similar concept. But they rusted too... oh yes😁 

eddyramrod Rank: Matra Rancho towing a Tagora

eddyramrod

Posted
Posted

There's no denying, it took a heck of a long time for the Japanese to "get" the idea of rustproofing!

By the time the Rapier died (76 IIRC) all the rivals I mentioned had been replaced by new models, and all were younger designs anyway, so the Rapier was looking distinctly old-fashioned.  Long model runs had fallen by the wayside.  The name might carry on, but the face would keep changing.  Other manufacturers joined the party, and others started a whole new fashion: see Triumph Dolomite and Sprint, with four doors and significantly more power.  But BL made the same mistake, using an old platform (FWD 1300) and failing to update it.

  • BL Bloke, JeeExEll and lesapandre
  • Like 3
cort16 Rank: Matra Rancho towing a Tagora

cort16

Posted
Posted

Best colour, sprint engine and high tide line (5 grand though)

236255429_582424569800778_64917797284805

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/346425527160115/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks&tracking={"qid"%3A"-7934894214836388201"%2C"mf_story_key"%3A"160668546809825716"%2C"commerce_rank_obj"%3A"{\"target_id\"%3A160668546809825716%2C\"target_type\"%3A6%2C\"primary_position\"%3A0%2C\"ranking_signature\"%3A2234779528306098176%2C\"commerce_channel\"%3A501%2C\"value\"%3A0%2C\"upsell_type\"%3A21%2C\"grouping_info\"%3Anull}"}

  • face, MorrisItalSLX and SteersWithThrottle
  • Like 3
lesapandre Rank: Talbot Tagora

lesapandre

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

There's no denying, it took a heck of a long time for the Japanese to "get" the idea of rustproofing!

By the time the Rapier died (76 IIRC) all the rivals I mentioned had been replaced by new models, and all were younger designs anyway, so the Rapier was looking distinctly old-fashioned.  Long model runs had fallen by the wayside.  The name might carry on, but the face would keep changing.  Other manufacturers joined the party, and others started a whole new fashion: see Triumph Dolomite and Sprint, with four doors and significantly more power.  But BL made the same mistake, using an old platform (FWD 1300) and failing to update it.

And then of course the whole GTI world began.. 

MisterH Rank: BL Wedge

MisterH

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

The car was Roy Axe styled...not sure if he ok'd the wheels. 

You are right - overall the Rapier had a slighly 'Terry and June' feel to it compared to the go-getting MK1 Capri...and subsequently sold in considerably lesser numbers. About 5000 a year which is not really profitable. About 1.2 million Mk1 Capri's were sold by comparison. This shape Rapier came out in '67 and Capri in '69 which must have hammered Rapier sales. 

Some of that is down to the detailing/jewellery on the cars - which Ford were so good at.  With a little more bizzaz - the Rapier might have done better. That parts bin steering wheel is really unfortunate on a 'sporting' car. As are the dustbin lid hubcaps. Fins are an anachronism on a new car by 1967 too when hip 'fashion' cars were moving to a kamm-tail look.

But its worth remembering that Rootes were a minnow compared to Ford's resources and the Rapier would have been developed for peanuts compared to Capri.

Capri was bound to be more profitable too - there is an awful lot of complex pressings and expensive to produce detail on the Rapier. Also made at the orphan Linwood plant with it's expensive supply chain problems.  A lot of parts would have been shipped up from Coventry which ate profits.

Overall the car was a bit of an heroic failure - but still very very nice...a lovely old thing to own.  A great achievement with the available resources - but just a bit left behind.

I used to drive past the Ryton-on Dunsmoor factory in the 70's - you could see all the finished Rootes/Chrysler cars lined up outside from the A45. A great sight...

A former wartime shadow factory - now all demolished.

Sunbeam Rapier H120: classiccars

I think it speaks to the strength of the design that when done up in H120 form with stripes and Rostyles (or similar) It looks fan-fecking-tastic, like a real baby muscle car.  Indeed this is one of my all time want cars, shame that prices are getting unfeasible now...

eddyramrod Rank: Matra Rancho towing a Tagora

eddyramrod

Posted
Posted

I agree!  Note the H120 got a variation on the Kamm tail too.

CortinaDave Rank: Renault 16

CortinaDave

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MisterH said:

Sunbeam Rapier H120: classiccars

I think it speaks to the strength of the design that when done up in H120 form with stripes and Rostyles (or similar) It looks fan-fecking-tastic, like a real baby muscle car.  Indeed this is one of my all time want cars, shame that prices are getting unfeasible now...

I'd love one too, and looked at getting one 10-15 years ago when they were relatively cheap, but even then parts were made of unobtanium which put me off.

MisterH Rank: BL Wedge

MisterH

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, CortinaDave said:

I'd love one too, and looked at getting one 10-15 years ago when they were relatively cheap, but even then parts were made of unobtanium which put me off.

I don't think they are massively expensive now, under 10k for sure, but for me it needs to be under 5k

lesapandre Rank: Talbot Tagora

lesapandre

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, MisterH said:

Sunbeam Rapier H120: classiccars

I think it speaks to the strength of the design that when done up in H120 form with stripes and Rostyles (or similar) It looks fan-fecking-tastic, like a real baby muscle car.  Indeed this is one of my all time want cars, shame that prices are getting unfeasible now...

Yes it just needed that extra detail to bring it alive - better colour, side-stripe, blacked out grille with subtle centre badge, sill -covers and good wheels.  Makes a big difference.

46,204 made overall in 9 years. By comparison Ford sold 200,000 Capris in all markets in the first two years of production and a staggering 233,000 cars in 1973.

  • BL Bloke, MisterH and eddyramrod
  • Like 3

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