Aston Martin Tickford Turbo Capri

[john73]

This is my Tickford Capri that I have had for the past 36 years. I bought it direct from the factory at Bedworth in 1985. The Tickford Capri is a bit of a marmite car as you might say there is a bit of a love hate relationship with them. The cars were built to order and had a long list of additional features you could have in reality they would do anything you wanted, hence you were unlikely to find two identical cars even when they were new. The majority of cars are White, Black and Red, these were the colours supplied by Ford to Tickford. One of the features was coach finished paintwork in any colour, my car is an Aston Martin colour called Warwick Blue. There was a V8 Vantage in the same car park I used in London that I took the colour from. There are two other blue cars a mineral blue and an ice blue, one green two or three silver grey, a flaxen mist yellow and of course the pearlescent white motor show car. In total I believe there were 86 fully converted cars made, this is a debate amongst owners and Tickford staff, cars are numbered up to 101 but not all were converted. My car is number 73. The converted cars al have there own VIN number plate and have there own Type Approval. Having its own Type Approval was a bit of a double edge sword for Tickford as it meant they had to supply spares for the cars for ten year after production.

The car still has its original paint from Tickford and has had no refurbishment in its life.

The Tickford mods include IHI Turbo with Intercooler, ECU ignition, Rear disk brakes, modified rear suspension, high performance radiator with electric fan, Stainless steal large bore exhaust system, 15 inch wheels (205x50x15) Interior mods leather and wood dash leather trim some cars have Wilton carpet and full leather seats.

For the first four years I used the car as a daily runner covering most parts of the UK, I never intended to keep the car this long I bought it to replace Capri 2.8i and just use it for three or four years but when time came to move on we decided to keep it for a few years as a Sunday weekend drive. and every time I thought of selling something more important came up, and now thirty six years later I am in no rush to let it go. I now live in Spain and brought the car out three years ago, I had had it in professional storage for a few years where it was maintained and the MOT,s kept up. Some recent pics. The car phone is still installed with original 80`s sound system and speakers. Interesting time registering the car in Spain, but all went well in the end.

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Edited by john73 on Sunday 24th October 11:07

Edited by john73 on Sunday 24th October 11:09

Edited by john73 on Sunday 24th October 11:47

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May 1985 day one No coach line and 13 inch wheels
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May 1985 Day one
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Outside my local late 80`s
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Underground council car park late 80`s The car was based here for the first 15 years

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Owners meeting at the Tickford factory 1994
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Lambeth Bridge London you can guess the date
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2004 Under Tower bridge
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In Storage 2015
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2018 1st day in Spain

Edited by john73 on Tuesday 26th October 12:45

[Bright Halo]

Wow! A very rare car indeed.
Thank you for sharing

[anonymous-user]

How much would it have cost back in the day with custom colour. Would be interesting to compare to cars sold today.

[Disco You]

Very interesting, I’ve never heard of these.

Which engine does it have? And what’s the power output with the turbo fitted?

How many miles have you covered in it? Has it needed any major restoration work?

[john73]

The Spruce Goose said:

How much would it have cost back in the day with custom colour. Would be interesting to compare to cars sold today.

It was 18 K 3 k for the paint

[cerb4.5lee]

Absolutely fantastic!

I've wanted one of these every since my dad came home with a brochure of one back in the 80's.

Thanks for sharing.

[john73]

Disco You said:

Very interesting, I’ve never heard of these.

Which engine does it have? And what’s the power output with the turbo fitted?

How many miles have you covered in it? Has it needed any major restoration work?

2.8 V6 as Found in the 2.8i capris of the time 205 BHP at 5000rpm 3600 lbs Torque at 3500 rpm and only about 61,000 No restoration No rust no welding original paint

Edited by john73 on Sunday 24th October 11:38

[Error_404_Username_not_found]

Fabulous machine, congratulations. I got passed by one (matte white) on the A1 in the dead of night back when it must have been practically brand new. I was hitting about 75-80 in my slightly tatty but much loved bog standard 2.0l (Pinto) Capri and the Tickford did that warp-factor vanishing act into the distance.

What gearbox did they use? ISTR they had to ditch the stock Type 9 as it wouldn't take the torque.

Edit: Wikipedia suggests that Tickford used the stock box modified to improve lubrication and that Ford later adopted the same mods. I just vaguely remembered someone at a show telling me it was a different box altogether.

Edited by Error_404_Username_not_found on Sunday 24th October 12:04

[john73]

Error_404_Username_not_found said:

Fabulous machine, congratulations. I got passed by one (matte white) on the A1 in the dead of night back when it must have been practically brand new. I was hitting about 75-80 in my slightly tatty but much loved bog standard 2.0l (Pinto) Capri and the Tickford did that warp-factor vanishing act into the distance.

What gearbox did they use? ISTR they had to ditch the stock Type 9 as it wouldn't take the torque.

Edit: Wikipedia suggests that Tickford used the stock box modified to improve lubrication and that Ford later adopted the same mods. I just vaguely remembered someone at a show telling me it was a different box altogether.

Edited by Error_404_Username_not_found on Sunday 24th October 12:04

Exactly right with the gear box modified lubrication in the type 9 .Ford also put the LSD in the 2.8i specials . I used a couple of gear boxes in the early years
Tickford said maybe it was because I lived in Central London and it was all the low gear acceleration. The real fun part of the Tic is is low down torque, the passing speed acceleration in 2 and and 3 rd is amazing I used to call it my 911 killer by the time they new what was happening you were gone.

[Error_404_Username_not_found]

john73 said:

Error_404_Username_not_found said:

Fabulous machine, congratulations. I got passed by one (matte white) on the A1 in the dead of night back when it must have been practically brand new. I was hitting about 75-80 in my slightly tatty but much loved bog standard 2.0l (Pinto) Capri and the Tickford did that warp-factor vanishing act into the distance.

What gearbox did they use? ISTR they had to ditch the stock Type 9 as it wouldn't take the torque.

Edit: Wikipedia suggests that Tickford used the stock box modified to improve lubrication and that Ford later adopted the same mods. I just vaguely remembered someone at a show telling me it was a different box altogether.

Edited by Error_404_Username_not_found on Sunday 24th October 12:04

Exactly right with the gear box modified lubrication in the type 9 .Ford also put the LSD in the 2.8i specials . I used a couple of gear boxes in the early years
Tickford said maybe it was because I lived in Central London and it was all the low gear acceleration. The real fun part of the Tic is is low down torque, the passing speed acceleration in 2 and and 3 rd is amazing I used to call it my 911 killer by the time they new what was happening you were gone.

Thank you. Every day is a school day!
I always liked the 5 speed Type 9 personally. I even had one fitted in my previous MG Midget and the only problem I ever had was the plastic ball and retainer at the dirty end of the gear lever.
I modified that box myself before fitting by drilling, tapping and installing a drain plug which Ford forgot to do.

[stevemcs]

That's lovely.

[anonymous-user]

john73 said:

It was 18 K 3 k for the paint

55k in today's money seems about right really for custom paint and all tuning. I bet you haven't lost a penny on too, they really have reached there worth.

[john73]

Error_404_Username_not_found said:

Thank you. Every day is a school day!
I always liked the 5 speed Type 9 personally. I even had one fitted in my previous MG Midget and the only problem I ever had was the plastic ball and retainer at the dirty end of the gear lever.
I modified that box myself before fitting by drilling, tapping and installing a drain plug which Ford forgot to do.

I liked it I had an early 4 speed 2.8i before the Tick and preferred the 5.

[john73]

The Spruce Goose said:

55k in today's money seems about right really for custom paint and all tuning. I bet you haven't lost a penny on too, they really have reached there worth.

Yes about right people at the time said how much more expensive they were than the standard 2.8i Capri. But when I bought mine and the other few owners I talked to were comparing against the 944`s and such and there was Nothing on the market with the performance anywhere near the price. The 944 turbo was not out and initially they were talking 27k on road.

[john73]

stevemcs said:

That's lovely.

Thanks

[john73]

cerb4.5lee said:

Absolutely fantastic!

I've wanted one of these every since my dad came home with a brochure of one back in the 80's.

Thanks for sharing.

I had the brochure up on a notice board in the workshop for a year before eventually going for it

[JonChalk]

17 year old me would have been drooling and dribbling all over that!

53 year old me hasn't evolved too much, it turns out.

Stunning. Well done for keeping it absolutely original.

[S100HP]

Disco You said:

Very interesting, I’ve never heard of these.

Which engine does it have? And what’s the power output with the turbo fitted?

How many miles have you covered in it? Has it needed any major restoration work?

Go and have a look at some of the other stuff Tickford did...

[Podie]

Wow, that’s rocking horse poo!

I’ve only even seen them in white!

[samoht]

ISTR these were the butt of a fair number of jibes by journos in the intervening years, but nowadays seen through fresh eyes as a professionally tuned turbo Capri rather than an ersatz Aston Martin, they seem quite interesting.

Thanks for sharing your pics and in-depth knowledge, I always find all these details about the programme, decisions made, issues overcome etc fascinating.