MK1 3 Litre Capris, How Many Survive ?

[v46m4n]

neutral 3 said:

Marine Blue 3100.... Very rare colour, only ever seen 1 I'n that colour. A neighbour in Chingford in the late 80s had VUN or VUM...N , he used to rag about I'n. Only 8 built I'n that colour ?

I now realise what a rare colour it was. Tried buying it back a few years ago, managed to find the present owner, only to find its sitting in boxes in his garage and not for sale.
Ended up buying an Olympic blue one.

[DBSV8]

v46m4n said:

I now realise what a rare colour it was. Tried buying it back a few years ago, managed to find the present owner, only to find its sitting in boxes in his garage and not for sale.
Ended up buying an Olympic blue one.

that would be this colour

G = G 72 marine-blue

from August 2011 - Woburn Rally and CCI event at Badgers Hill

Edited by DBSV8 on Friday 2nd September 08:40

[v46m4n]

Found this old pic of my old car on internet. Don't know when it was taken. It didnt have the webasto in when i had it. Remember paying either £500 or £550 for it, was taxed and tested as well!

[DBSV8]

v46m4n said:

Found this old pic of my old car on internet. Don't know when it was taken. It didnt have the webasto in when i had it. Remember paying either £500 or £550 for it, was taxed and tested as well!

3100s in concourse condition are changing hands for upwards of 17k now !!

more if its a 2600

[v46m4n]

They do command high prices these days, shame its sitting in pieces in a garage somewhere. At least its survived into 21st century, who knows it might see the tarmac one day!
When i bought this one i remember looking at 2 others, they were dearer, around the grand mark.
Also remember a blue mink one around just before i had mine

[trackerjack]

I paid the huge sum of £1250 for my bright yellow RS3100 in 1982 and swopped it for a Stag and £200 because the bloke who came to buy the RS crashed into a Range Rover while test driving it! So his Stag became mine.
I did not want the Stag but it grew on me and I loved it. (a much maligned GT car)

[heavy squad]

Hold it there please everyone before this turns ugly....I was born in 1982 and all this talk of 500 quid RS3100's and street racing yer mk1 on a saturday night in the shadow of the old AVO factory is making me more than a little envious!!

Anyway here's mine:

[Hooli]

I was born in '77 and missed out on 90% of the good cars ever made too.

[neutral 3]

82 ...... What a year....Passed my test I'n Jan, sold my Lovely Diamond Green Z900 and gave my " then " best Pal £550 Quid for what was reckoned to be the Fastest 3 Litre Capri I'n East London... EVC 289L , Daytona Yellow 3000 GT , How I still miss / Regret swapping you for that Bent Chassid TR6 at that Horse Dealers in Croydon.,,,Where are you now ?

I'n May 82 I span her at a hundred on the M11, whilst trying to close her Webasto Sunroof... she went round and round 3 times apparently... I vividly remember her lifting up on 2 wheels and my pal Harvey yelling out '" Shes Going Over " ... As a Red XJ6 just missed us on the near side .
How she didn't roll I still can't understand.... Guess my Dad must have been watching over me that Sunny Sunday....

And then last October , I survive a Head On with a Black MERC at Speed , Driven by 2 Ruddy A........ On My Side Of The Road on my 98 R1...

[neutral 3]

Lovely looking Black MK 1 ..... 3 Litre..... I hope ?

[v46m4n]

Are they 7" rs alloys on there heavy?
Nice looking car

[J4CKO]

If anyone comes across our old one, please get in touch, Mk1 1600 GT-XLR, reg was OJA 375G, may well be dead now but was still taxed until 2009 so might be still out there.

Think it was sporting a 3 litre by then, originally Silver Fox, but ended up white with a Vinyl Roof, possibly painted red at some point.

Liking the black one on track !

[v46m4n]

heavy squad said:

Hold it there please everyone before this turns ugly....I was born in 1982 and all this talk of 500 quid RS3100's and street racing yer mk1 on a saturday night in the shadow of the old AVO factory is making me more than a little envious!!

Anyway here's mine:

1982!.... no speed cameras and plod driving around in austin allegro's. Was a lot more fun back then

[heavy squad]

Thanks for the kind comments, she's a 3000E manual....was originally silver, I'm guessing this would have been stardust silver?

Yes they're 7J RS wheels, spent a small fortune on them before discovering they were being remanufactured....oh well! Having to run 185's on the front to clear the standard arches, a mate of mine has got a set of proper RS wings which I keep offering to 'look after' for him but he always declines?

The motor actually breathed its last not long after that photo was taken, 4 of the pistons picked up in their bores leaving me with a long drive home from Castle Coombe with a horrible clanking noise and feeling pretty sick.....stripped it down and found it was already a 3.1 with a hot cam but the bores had been machined too tight so as soon as it got properly hot......

Anyway onwards and upwards but this might upset the purists - plan is to fit 3.9 Rover V8 tuned to about 240BHP with TVR 'box and convert interior and exterior to facelift spec.....thoughts please?

[heavy squad]

By the way, there's a list on t'internet of mk1's still (probably) in existence:

http://www.caprimk1ownersclub.com/cars_remaining.h...


Keep the stories of the good old days coming please!!

[Legacywr]

A photo from a recent local show, the 3rd car from the camera is a 3ltr, and the second from the camera is a 3ltr with a period TurboTechnics conversion!

[liner33]

If I was doing an engine transplant I would fit a small block ford 302 or similar the rover isn't often as powerful as claimed and expensive to tune

Or how awesome would a rb25 be ??

[v46m4n]

As far as enfine transplants go, How about sierra cosworth running gear, now that would be fun.
v6's were always a bit heavy, they originally designed the block to do a diesel version but it never happened.
Saying that theres plenty of power to be had from a v6. My brother had one in a capri back in the late 80's Swaymar built, steel bottom end, used to rev to 9,000. With running nitrous was 290bhp on rolling road

[heavy squad]

Love the colour of the 3.0 turbo above....is it copper bronze or the later colour? (copper brown?)

Small block Ford would be my second choice, but it's the lightness of the Rover that appeals as I want it to handle as well as possible...know what you're saying about dissappointing results when tuned but I'm hoping an extra 50bhp isn't unrealistic with the 'stage II' heads and hot cam that I got a good deal on plus the obligatory four barrel carb...

Cosworth would be fun and light but I couldn't live without that vee-motor burble, RWD Escort though most definately....all steel Swaymar Essex on nitrous?? Yes please, but can anyone lend us a few quid? Amazed to see that Weslake are still doing the business as well

RB25 would be pretty rapid but...I'm not that much of a purist...but...I don't think I could. Maybe if it was an ordinary base model mk1?

[aeropilot]

heavy squad said:

Love the colour of the 3.0 turbo above....is it copper bronze or the later colour? (copper brown?)

Looks like Copper Bronze to me.

Lovely colour. Back in the mid 1980's, I had a chance to buy the ex-Prince Michael of Kent owned Escort RS1600 which was Copper Bronze, but hummed and arrhed too long as I didn't have a garage at the time, and was trying to find one, and it got sold in the meantime..... hey ho

Copper Bronze is a lovely colour and one of my fave 70's Ford colours, along with Electric/Monza Blue, Olympic Blue and Vista Orange.

I must get up in the loft and dig out a load more early 80's slides and photos I took at Ford AVO OC shows back in the early 1980's.