The Mercury Capri was made in Australia on a Mazda floor pan, engine and
transmission. I believe the body panels, trim, wheels, tyres, battery and so
on were all local manufacture but due to early build difficulties and a poor
fitting soft top, it did not take off in the intended North American market.
Ford rectified the faults and the later, higher hp models are quite good but
it was discontinued a year or two ago.
And please don't knock Australian manufactured cars - the Mitsubishi
Diamente you are driving in the US was designed in and is manufactured in
Australia for export to the US and other markets. It is a real success here
and sold as the Mitsubishi Verada. Apart of course from my MGA, my Verada is
the best finished and trouble free car I have ever owned.
Just thought you would like to know.
John Saxon 1958 MGA 1500.
At 10:58 AM 30/03/97 EST, dmeadow@juno.com wrote:
>I've never driven one of these, so what I have to say comes from my
>memory of reading road tests in the car mags. The car was originally
>manufactured in Australia, of all places. It is no longer sold in this
>country, I don't know if it is still manufactured. The road tests I read
>were not very complementary. It is underpowered, doesn't handle that
>great, and the trim pieces had a bad habit of falling off.
>
>If he can't get a kitchen pass to get an LBC, tell him that he'd be
>better off with a Miata than an orphan like the Capri.
>
>David Littlefield
>Houston, TX
>
>On Sun, 30 Mar 1997 10:07:12 -0500 "Mike Ellsworth"
><mikeells@alpha.shianet.org> writes:
>>I got a call from a friend last night, asking for some advice. He is
>>looking at a Mercury Capri roadster (can I call it that here?), and
>>wanted
>>my opinion on the car. Having never even sat in one, I said I knew a
>>place
>>where opinions were available on any car ever made. I don't want to
>>start a
>>Anti-anything thread here, but if anyone has any experience, good or
>>bad,
>>with these cars, please let me know. Aren't they mid or rear engined?
>>Are
>>they still being made (I don't think so)? Were they made by Mercury,
>>or by
>>some overseas partner? All opinions welcome.
>>
>>p.s. No I can't tell him to forget it and get an LBC. We've already
>>had
>>that conversation, and his wife said no cars that are older and
>>require
>>more attention than the kids. This may be as close as he can get to a
>>REAL
>>roadster.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Mike Ellsworth
>>
>>
>
>
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