Mercury Capri Ii 1976 Rare Survivor Unmodified Hatchback V-6 4 Speed on 2040-cars
Trabuco Canyon, California, United States
It is with a heavy heart that I list this item. My first car was a brand-new, 1976 Mercury Capri II (identical to this one, only a different color) that was purchased by my family in late 1975. It was the first new My family purchased since I was born. Ten years later the car was passed to me and was the first car I ever owned. Being young, naive etc, the car was destroyed within a few years and sent to a scrap yard.
Since 1990, I began looking for another Capri, just like the one I had, and in 2005, located this one. It was a one-owner car, being sold by the elderly owner as he was not longer able to drive a manual, non-power steering vehicle. The car needed a paint job, tires etc. The body was straight, the car hadn't been modified nor altered. I had the Capri shipped to me in California and have owned it since. The car had 50,000 original miles and I've put 10,000 on it since. It's been used to commute to my work for the last 8 years. Having another Capri ended my grieving over my first one, and driving it has brought me countless hours of enjoyment. Unfortunately, due to the naive, blind, foolish, envious and malicious elements of society, my health-insurance is in jeopardy. Because my family comes first, the car must be sacrificed to ensure our health-coverage continues. This car means a lot to me, however I believe it's time to "bequeath" it to another owner who can appreciate this car and its engineering prowess. I do not want to sell it to someone who is indirectly responsible for my healthcare jeopardies, and the ruination of this great nation. I do not want it to go to a foolish "hot rodder" type who wants to modify, alter, "upgrade" or otherwise ruin a perfectly good car. If you are either of these two, please do not bid. That having been said, here's a primer on the Capri; In the mid to late 1960s, Ford of Europe wanted a European-market Mustang. The phenomenal sales of the Ford Mustang in the U.S. sparked interest in a similar car that would appeal to Europeans. The Capri debuted in 1969 and enjoyed similar success on the other side of the Atlantic. Small number of Capris were imported to the U.S, however since Ford didn't want Pinto sales to suffer, badged the Capris as Mercury, so they would be shown in Lincoln-Mercury showrooms, and not parked next to the dowdy and homely Pinto. The cars were a sales success on both continents. Most Capris were made at the historic Ford plant in Cologne Germany. Those Capris destined for the U.K. market were produced in England. The German-made Capris were made of better materials and thus have survived longer. In 1974, a new version of the Capri was designed, the "Capri II." Unlike the original sedan, this was a larger, better-engineered hatchback, with a superior engine (2.8 Liter, 60 Degree "Cologne V-6). There was no 1975 model year Capri and 1976 was the first year for the Capri II. Sales of the car were high and the vehicle was well-received by the automobile press. In early 1977, a naive, national leader was sworn in and like today, the country began an economic, social and moral decline. As a result, the U.S. dollar lost value against the Deutsche Mark and the cost to import the car became prohibitively high. Also, a naive simpleton formed the EPA and the automotive emission scheme led to the near-downfall of American-made car performance. These wrong-headed and malicious moves imposed unreasonable conditions on cars imported to the U.S. As a result, 1977 was the last year Capris were imported to the U.S. The Capri continued to thrive in Europe until 1987. It is estimated that only 20,000 Capris were brought tot the United States. This Capri is probably one of only several-thousand Capris still in existence. This car has to be driven to be appreciated. It will available for inspection, weeknights after 6 and weekends between 10 and 6. I will answer all inquiries as best I can. My work schedule is hectic and I have limited internet access during work. I've been on ebay for over fifteen years and am familiar with how things work. I've have many great experiences and made a few friends as a result, unfortunately, I've dealt with many fraudsters, deadbeats and game-players. As a result, I require that you contact me first if you've never bought from me. If you bid before contacting me, the bid will be cancelled. On Jan-23-14 at 13:47:11 PST, seller added the following information: I HAVE ALL SERVICE RECORDS SINCE I PURCHASED IT. IT WAS REPAINTED ABOUT 2006 IN THE ORIGINAL COLOR. WILL POST MORE PHOTOS THIS WEEKEND. |
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Ford's J Mays feels vindicated by Fusion reception
Tue, 25 Sep 2012It's hard to think back now, but the same man overseeing the design of the 2013 Ford Fusion also presided over a rather lackluster period in Ford design, highlighted by vehicles like the Five Hundred and Freestyle. With the redesigned Fusion receiving high praise, J Mays tells Automotive News that he feels vindicated from criticisms suggesting he's not a daring enough designer.
When Mays took over as lead of design in 1997, he admits to having quite an ego ("My head would barely fit through the door some days. I've long since gotten over myself") and the workload to match. With the Blue Oval's portfolio full of premium brands like Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo at that point, along with the bread-and-butter Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models, Mays certainly had quite the challenge.
It was in the mid-2000s that Mays took over just the premium brands, and took on the new title of Chief Creative Officer. At the time, Mays endured some criticism for looking backwards to retro styling, rather than setting a new standard for American car design - criticism that Mays says he is free from with the all-new Fusion.
Junkyard Gem: 1979 Mercury Marquis 2-Door Sedan
Sun, Jul 25 2021As the creator of the now-much-overused term "Malaise Era" (which I say started in 1973 and ended in 1983, full stop), I have a certain affection for the big two-door Detroit cars of the late 1970s. When such a car is built on the very first model year of Ford's long-lived Panther platform and I find one in a junkyard, I must document it. The 1979 Mercury Marquis is such a car, and this one was found in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service yard last month. Since Ford built the Grand Marquis all the way through the demise of the Panther platform— and Mercury itself— in 2011, it's easy for us to forget that the model name started out as just the plain old Marquis, back in the 1967 model year, with the Grand appellation used for the car's top trim level. While today's Junkyard Gem has some of the features of the Grand Marquis and Marquis Brougham trim levels for 1979 (notably the padded vinyl landau roof and power windows), it lacks the huge chrome lower-body moldings of those cars. Instead, it's a regular Marquis 2-door sedan with a big load of expensive options. That landau roof has suffered greatly from its decades beneath the vinyl-disintegrating California sun. The Panther platform was a big technological upgrade from the late-1950s-vintage chassis technology of full-sized Fords of the 1960s and 1970s, and it stayed in front-line service in much the same form through 2011. Though its ride and handling were much improved, the 1979 Marquis was quite a bit smaller than its predecessors, and that caused some grumbling among Mercury shoppers. Some ham-handed junkyard shoppers really tore up the interior of this car while extracting a few bits and pieces, but we can still admire the Pine Green pleather of the glorious Twin Comfort Lounge front seats. You had two engine choices when buying a new '79 Marquis: the base 302-cubic-inch (5.0-liter) Windsor V8 making 129 horsepower or the optional 351-cubic-inch (5.8-liter) Windsor V8 rated at 138 horsepower. This one appears to be the 351, the same engine as had been swapped into the pizza-delivery Mercury I drove in the middle 1980s. New cars sold in California around this time had these giant emissions-numbers stickers on the side glass. Later, they went on the underside of the hood.
Junkyard Gem: 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis LS
Thu, Nov 24 2022We've all been seeing the instantly familiar Ford Crown Victoria P71 Police Interceptor on North American roads for what seems like forever, though in fact the very first of the aerodynamic Crown Vics didn't appear until a mere 31 years ago. Yes, after more than a decade of boxy LTD Crown Victorias, Dearborn took the late-1970s-vintage Panther platform and added a brand-new, Taurus-influenced smooth body and modern overhead-cam V8 engine, giving us the 1992 Ford Crown Victoria. The rule was, since 1939, that (nearly) every Ford model needed a corresponding Mercury, and so the Mercury Division applied different grille and taillights and the rejuvenated Grand Marquis was born. Here's one of the first of those cars to be built, now residing in a Denver-area self-service boneyard. The Marquis name goes respectably far back, to the late 1960s and a Mercurized version of the Ford LTD hardtop. The Grand Marquis began life as the name for an interior trim package on the 1974 Marquis Brougham (also LTD-based), eventually becoming a model in its own right for the 1979 model year. Today's Junkyard Gem came off the Ontario assembly line in March 1991, making one of the very first examples built. For 1992 (and through 2011), the Grand Marquis was a Crown Victoria with slightly enhanced bragging rights. This one has the top-grade LS trim, with an MSRP of $20,644 (that's about $44,370 in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars). The corresponding Ford-badged model (built on the same assembly line by the same workers) would have been the Crown Victoria LX, which actually cost a bit more: $20,987 ($44,910 now). The very cheapest civilian 1992 Crown Vic cost just $19,563 ($42,045 today). There weren't any powertrain differences between the Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis in 1992. The only engine available was this Modular 4.6 SOHC V8, rated at either 190 (single exhaust) or 210 (dual exhaust) horsepower. The transmission was a four-speed automatic with overdrive. How many miles are on this one? Can't say! Based on the worn-out interior, I'm going to guess 221,719 miles passed beneath this car's wheels during its 32-plus years on the road. I've seen some very high-mile Police Interceptors, of course, including one with 412,013 miles, but Ford didn't go to six-digit odometers in the Grand Marquis until a bit deeper into the 1990s. Thanks to flawed speech-to-text applications on smartphones, the Grand Marquis is known as the "Grandma Keith" to many of us today.