My First Car: Ford Capri
PetrolTed looks back to when he was the proud owner of a Ford Capri 1600 Geee Teee...
Lacking real world experience of actually driving any of my budget ‘dream’ cars I did all my research courtesy of the back pages of Autocar. There wasn’t a 0-60 or top speed that I hadn’t memorised to the point of utter tedium for anyone who dared ask.
So, what options were under consideration? Well, Mark 2 Escorts had a certain gritty attraction but the really desirable Mexicos and RS2000s were already out of reach. I lusted after Lotus Sunbeams and so cooking Sunbeams were considered too. Cortinas of various vintages were subjected to fantasy drag races. Chevettes were pondered but eliminated – there was just something too sterile about those pale blue interiors.
Then, fate lent a hand. My older brother decided to upgrade his car. This left his somewhat tired, but utterly, utterly desirable white pre-facelift Ford Capri 1600GT up for grabs. I can’t even remember how many miles it had, nor if it had any history. It mattered not – it was to be the coolest car amongst my peers. And that mattered.
For the princely sum of £100 I laid my hands on JPF 765K complete with a huge dent in the offside rear wing where my brother had brake tested a Dolomite late one night – like you do. I splashed another several hundred quid on insurance via a crappy broker in Romford and I was legal behind the wheel of my ‘Performance’ car.
With youthful enthusiasm I cracked on with sanding down and painting the dent. I even tried smashing it about with a large hammer thinking I might mould it into a shape that could be ‘filled’. I merely discovered that cars made of that era were made with steel several inches thick and that my neighbours were perturbed that I was hitting my ‘new’ car with a various implements.
Not to worry - I did a cracking job of tidying up the paintwork, leaving the ridiculous dent as smart as could be in fresh white paint. It had no wing mirrors so my Dad insisted that I fit one. One nasty white plastic item was purchased from Halfords and soiled my otherwise stylish car by hanging off the driver’s door like a limp handshake.
Internally, it simply required a tape deck to be lashed below the ash tray with insulating tape to supplement the archaic radio and the steering wheel to be decoked of 15 years worth of dead skin. The best feature by far was the foot operated wipers – a plunge on the rubber bubble squirted the screen. A deft heel and toe type manoeuvre around the side of the unit swished the wipers whilst I could slot it into 3rd gear, indicate, flash my lights and shout at little children. All to prove how ergonomonically advanced my 15 year old motor was.
This car was a source of immense pride for me. Anyone who asked what I drove was enthusiastically informed that I drove a Capri Geee Teee. A 1600 Geee Teee no less. This was an exclusive club for Capri owners with Rostyle Wheels, faux side vents, a rev counter (seemed to work more like a noise meter) and a swoopy exhaust manifold that upped power by a few horses to a tyre wrecking 90 bhp. Sadly the engine bay was a bit of an embarrassment with a void that you could stand in where the V6 should be. Fortunately there was a tiny inline four to propel the car but a quick glance under the bonnet revealed more tarmac than motor.
I had a happy year in that car. The only dramas were breaking off the wipers with a broom whilst sweeping off the snow, endless mornings of trying to coax it into action and someone crashing into the back of me. He immediately offered to pay me cash for the damage (a bent chrome bumper and stoved boot) and would pay by instalments. I guess he wasn’t insured and didn’t want me to drop him in it. I got a couple of payments out of him before making the mistake of going to collect the third payment whilst wearing my school uniform…
Eventually the clutch started to slip. Even today I’m embarrassed to admit I thought that I’d mastered the car to the point at which I could generate vast amounts of wheelspin, with no smoke and no power. It got to the point in the end that I could barely pull out of a junction without momentum. Eventually someone pointed out what was really occurring and I confidently professed that I knew that and I was just messing about. [cringe].
Keen to climb the motoring ladder I decided to take JPF on one final journey to the scrap yard. It was a sad day, but NRD 658R had already stolen my heart. Now to hand over £750 to a bloke down the pub for a JPS striped…
1760 xflow and a 1600 sport gearbox ( well about 5 gearboxes actually it had a bit of a taste for them)
The sad thing is that 20+ years later I still have it ( somewhere) all be it with a 4ltr v8 and a capri rear axle these days ...
) was pretty cool: a Fiat 131 Supermirafiori 1600 TC. I was only 18 and thought it was really fast/cool/different at the time. Indeed, they were much revered by spotty oiks 'in the know', just as the Escort Mexico, RS1800 and RS2000 were.Loved the name, the 'touring car'-esque silhouette and those black/silver Rostyle-type steel wheels - plus the fact that it had a 'huuuge' 1585cc twin-cam, Weber twin-choke carb'd Italian engine (96bhp; 1050kg; 0-60 in 12secs). Cost me <ahem, my dad> £800 back in c.1988/89. The best feature was the Civic-esque gearknob sprouting out at an acute angle, plus the really comfy Velour beige seats... and, of course, RWD! Even remember the reg (as one should!)... PEG 452X! Ah, the love that is your first car...
Just like mine (inc. colour)...
...Supermirafiori 1600 TC
However, the one I really wanted was the quad-headlight/chip-cutter grille'd 1070kg Mirafiori Sport (or 'Racing' in other markets) with the 115bhp 1995cc TC engine - good for 0-60 in 10secs...
...Mirafiori Sport 2000 TC (forget the silver bumpers/sills/arches! - I think these would've originally been matt black)
No Lada jokes, please!
? They are excellent cars, provided you don't mind doing your own mechanicing. Rear engine, rear wheel drive makes them very nimble with very good handling for a small car once you learn how to drive it. Revs and revs, standard bottom end is good to 8000rpm without work. Not going to set the world on fire with its performance though, 39bhp on the basic version will allow you to keep up on the motorway but not a lot more. Put a race tuned engine in and all of a sudden you will be suprising a lot of "hot hatch" owners.My first car was a Morris Marina 1.8, because the insurance was cheap (£280), the car was cheap (£500), only 50k on the clock and my parents wouldn't let me buy an Imp
(Mum had one when I was young and it kept overheating and went through a clutch every six months, they didn't want me driving a car that would break down all the time). Didn't get an Imp until my third car and have had at least one ever since. Nowadays I wont buy front engined cars at all.
It was on its last legs from the day I bought it to the day the engine literally fell out in a carpark..... when I upgraded to a newer but SO FOOKIN BORING Astra
The 205 was incredible and a true Go Kart of a car - the sound wasn't half bad either! I remember going as hard and fast as I could around corners and the little thing would not budge, it was on rails + I remember doing a very silly thing with a friend from college. I was blabbing on how great the car was and he didn't believe me so I rocketed over the crest of a bridge in Withington Manchester and got all four wheels off the ground - this airtime left my mate as white as a sheet and he never said another bad word against my 205 
It had real bucket seats, a manual choke AGHHH, GTI style steering wheel.... and a stereo that hung out by it's wires. Probably the best car I've ever owned strangely - based on nostalgia alone. What's incredible is that there's an active community for the car I just found while looking for pics:
www.peugeot205xs.co.uk
Mine was this colour but with the 1.6 GTI wheels
It was on its last legs from the day I bought it to the day the engine literally fell out in a carpark..... when I upgraded to a newer but SO FOOKIN BORING Astra
The 205 was incredible and a true Go Kart of a car - the sound wasn't half bad either! I remember going as hard and fast as I could around corners and the little thing would not budge, it was on rails + I remember doing a very silly thing with a friend from college. I was blabbing on how great the car was and he didn't believe me so I rocketed over the crest of a bridge in Withington Manchester and got all four wheels off the ground - this airtime left my mate as white as a sheet and he never said another bad word against my 205 It had real bucket seats, a manual choke AGHHH, GTI style steering wheel.... and a stereo that hung out by it's wires. Probably the best car I've ever owned strangely - based on nostalgia alone. What's incredible is that there's an active community for the car I just found while looking for pics:
www.peugeot205xs.co.uk
Mine was this colour but with the 1.6 GTI wheels
example (in black)...Vauxall Viva HC 1256cc's of roaring(well when the exhaust fell off) power. hmm maybe not, great fun though rear wheel drive so brill learning how to drive in the snow in economy tyres.
Bought from my Gran having been owned by her from new, had the shock of it's life when I bought it and actually used 4th gear.
Fixed static seatbelts meant soft floaty suspension not really a problem for driving as if stolen, had to drive like that to keep up with traffic but that just added to the fun of it all.
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