When the 1979 Ford Mustang and Mercury Capri were introduced, Ford was quietly trying to push the Windsor V8 out of the picture. It had been a thing for a few years, starting in 1974 when the Mustang had it’s only V8-free year as the Mustang II generation was introduced. Back in 1974, fuel mileage was the name of the game. Mileage was still important in 1979, but performance with mileage was a selling point. Everybody knew that…but not many knew how to get there. Dodge had tried to circumvent the rules by building hot trucks and it worked…right up until the Feds changed the rules and required catalytic converters on light trucks. Pontiac went to turbochargers after losing the Pontiac 400 and Oldsmobile 403, and it kind-of worked, up until it was clear that the buying public didn’t know squat about turbocharger care. Ford themselves had gone to turbochargers as well, giving the 2.3 four some pressure. While this system would work, it was still in infancy during this time period and Ford saw troubles as well.
One has to wonder if a machine like this one-off prototype would’ve done better. This 1980 Mercury Capri certainly looks as sinister as it got, wearing BBS wires, fat rubber, and metal fender flares crafted by Ron Fournier that echo a Kelly car or any other road-racer of the time. The stance is gorgeous and the paint is great, but the party piece is a 1.6L DOHC Cosworth BDA four. You know…the little high-winding rally mill that in tweaked form is known to produce Hellcat-threatening levels of power? That one. If Ford fans wanted a V8 Cobra and Mercury fans wanted to be a little more upscale, then this was the way to go: pull a mill from Europe that was a known performer and give the Capri every conceivable suspension tweak in the book. With 255-series rubber at all four corners, this had to be up there with the best for the class of 1980.
Wow. That really wasn’t what I expected to see under the hood. I had been thinking something less crazy, like a tweaked 2.3.
Recognized the car as soon as I saw it!!
**The fabrication of the fender flares can be see in Ron Fournier’s book Metal Fabricators Handbook, published by HP Books ~1982