Tag Archives: Dagenham

Project Sunbird – Ford Consul Capri (335)

To my mind the Ford Consul Capri has always epitomized the best of 1950’s era design from Ford of Britain, which is a shame because the world had already moved on from those opulent 50’s features when the car was launched in 1961.

Ford Consul Capri, Goodwood Revival

The pillar less Capri coupé, like the Consul Classic with which it shares it’s running gear and chassis pan, was designed by Charles Thompson with scaled down influences from Fords Thunderbird and Galaxie Sunliner models.

Ford Consul Capri, Goodwood Revival

With a 3 bearing 1340 cc 81.7 cui Ford 109E engine that, when sleeved down to 1092 cc / 66.6 cui was popular in Formula Junior cars at the time, the Capri was considered under powered, and in 1962 Consul Capri’s, like the 1962 model seen here at Goodwood Revival, were fitted with the 1498 cc / 91.4 cui 116 E engine which boosted the top speed to 79 mph with a 0 to 60 mph time of 22.6 seconds.

Ford Consul Capri, Goodwood Revival

Body assembly was out sourced to Pressed Steel Fisher who sent the completed bodies to Ford’s Dagenham plant for final assembly. This method of production proved very expensive especially compared to the contemporary Ford Cortina.

Ford Consul Capri, Goodwood Revival

Sales of just 19,421 Capri 335’s sold in two and a half years, make this one of the rarest vehicles Ford of Britain ever produced.

Ford Consul Capri, Goodwood Revival

The Capri name disappeared from the Ford model palette from 1964 to 1969 when Ford came back with the ‘Car you have always dreamed of’ the more successful Ford Capri Mk 1′ which I’ll be looking at in the New Year.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Sunbird’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Don’t forget …

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