Picture round quiz answers full photos

[Mexican Gerbil]

For anyone who's interested. Sure some of these have popped up on the prototype thread.....?

American Escort

Prototype Probe 3

Mk1 Fiesta prototype

Mk2 capri prototype

Capri mk4 

1970 Mustang concept

Mk1 Cortina liftback

Gt 70 

RS escort cosworth

Gt 40 

[katana]

14 minutes ago, Mexican Gerbil said:

For anyone who's interested. Sure some of these have popped up on the prototype thread.....?

American Escort - Seriously that is just SOOOOOOOOO american - Yuk!

Prototype Probe 3 - Noooooooooooo on so many levels!

Mk1 Fiesta prototype - What were they thinking!

Mk2 capri prototype - Could be worse!

Capri mk4 - No!

1970 Mustang concept - Looks like it got a roof chop then became the Mach 1 - Only a Yank could love.

Mk1 Cortina liftback - Too many drugs in the 60's me thinks!

Gt 70 - Sort of reminds me of a Nimbus Kit car from the late 80's 

RS escort cosworth - All time classic................nearly as good as the RS2000 LOL!

Gt 40 - Soooooo much classier than the Ford GT re-incarnation!

Comments added LOL!

[Rally Pack 2000]

The Capri Mk4 was more than just a Prototype. It was actually an Australian production model based on the Ford Laser/Mazda 323 front wheel drive platform. (Europe got the Mk3 Escort instead.) The Capri was designed and built in Australia and even exported to the USA. Available with hard and soft top, there was even a Turbo version

[Mexican Gerbil]

13 minutes ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

The Capri Mk4 was more than just a Prototype. It was actually an Australian production model based on the Ford Laser/Mazda 323 front wheel drive platform.

Finally some brains. They thought I was making it up. They got the full photo of that one too to make it even easier 

[Rally Pack 2000]

2 minutes ago, Mexican Gerbil said:

Finally some brains. They thought I was making it up. They got the full photo of that one too to make it even easier 

I had a silver one once as a run around about five years ago for 6 months. I bought for 800 bucks for a bit of convertible fun. Dented the front hitting a roo in the mountains. Was offered 1200 bucks for it with dent in a shopping car park so off it went. They fetch a few grand now. The Turbo versions had deadly torque steer.

[Rally Pack 2000]

The Mk1 Cortina fastback was also an Australian prototype with both 2 and 4 door versions being produced. The only 4 door made is still going and registered today.

[Vista]

I knew about the Australian drop top Capri.....but no-one over here will formally acknowledge it as a mkIV Capri

[Rally Pack 2000]

6 hours ago, Vista said:

I knew about the Australian drop top Capri.....but no-one over here will formally acknowledge it as a mkIV Capri

I must admit I have never before heard it referred to as a Mk4 Capri, just simply as Aussie Capri's. Given we never had Mk2 or 3's most wouldn't understand why it would have a Mk4 title anyways. Mexican Gerbils post was the first time I have heard it referred to as that but I can see the logic of it to differentiate. But the prototype picture with its lumps in the bonnet are unmistakable even without a roo dent.

[Mexican Gerbil]

It's a different car. The original concept had fixed head lights. The aussie version  has pop ups 

 

[Rally Pack 2000]

It does differ slightly from the concept with its pop up lights but production models rarely are identical to their original deigns. The Capri Convertable got hammered in its day. Mostly due to its name. I must confess I was one of them. But you have to see the car in context. The 80s and 90s were the era of invisible fleet nothing cars and the days of the classic British sports car was over. There was nothing like the 70s popularity of the MGs or the TRs any more. The rise of the small hatch Peugeot or VW cabrios was at least another decade away. Here in Australia where even Winter is sunny there was a complete shortage of affordable open top cars for the average person on the street. Pretty much only the first gen of Mazda MX5s was all you could get in that market. Ford finally moved forward with this front wheel drive convertible and named it the Capri. Yes that was a sticking point and they should have called it something else but the car was what it was. It was literally 50% cheaper than an MX-5 so it was within reach of the 20 somethings that couldn't enter the open top market for the first time. The Mazda 323 platform was nothing special but it was very reliable. The Capri was often criticised for its looks but it does grow on you and compared to the blandness of the 90's it was quirky and different. Its that same individualism that stands out today. You don't mistake it for anything else. Its unique. It was the last time Ford Australia tried to do something out of the box different. It wasn't as good a driver as the MX-5 but for the price no one really expected it to be although countless road test comparisons were made unfairly. There were some interesting design changes like the Clubsprint model with round tail lights. I certainly got my $800 bucks worth of fun out of it and that time with it still resonates and some may have noticed about me considering a Mercedes 230 SLK which can be attributed to the open top motoring I had with the ugly little Capri. Even my beater had a surprising lack of wind noise and leaks. Even the Capri club has embraced them for their uniqueness and included them in their membership where back in the day they were considered the spawn of Satan. The key to making them look good is all in your choice of wheels. The standard ones were too small a diameter and made them look really cheap.

 

[Vista]

28 minutes ago, Rally Pack 2000 said:

The 80s and 90s were the era of invisible fleet nothing cars and the days of the classic British sports car was over.There was nothing like the 70s popularity of the MGs or the TRs any more. The rise of the small hatch Peugeot or VW cabrios was at least another decade away.

That may have been true in Australia but not so here. The Mk3 Escort, Peugeot 205 and MK1 Golf were all available as drop top sporty hatch backs. As was the Mk2 Astra and the Mk2 Chavalier, Skoda had the Rapide convertible. These were all readily available from the early to mid 80's.  By the mid 80's there were plenty of 4 seat convertible offerings too, the E30, the Saab 900 and the Audi 80 to name but a few. Hell even Talbot got into the game with the god awful Samba and Fiat with the Strada.

I actually think the concept Chris posted looked pretty good. As with almost all concepts though, some of it is lost in translation.

[eeb43]

12 hours ago, Vista said:

I knew about the Australian drop top Capri.....but no-one over here will formally acknowledge it as a mkIV Capri

looks like a scimitar ss1

[Rally Pack 2000]

5 hours ago, Vista said:

That may have been true in Australia but not so here. The Mk3 Escort, Peugeot 205 and MK1 Golf were all available as drop top sporty hatch backs. As was the Mk2 Astra and the Mk2 Chavalier, Skoda had the Rapide convertible. These were all readily available from the early to mid 80's.  By the mid 80's there were plenty of 4 seat convertible offerings too, the E30, the Saab 900 and the Audi 80 to name but a few. Hell even Talbot got into the game with the god awful Samba and Fiat with the Strada.

I actually think the concept Chris posted looked pretty good. As with almost all concepts though, some of it is lost in translation.

Yes it was a quarter of a century where most European cars fell off the map here. Where in the 80s, Renaults, Peugeots and even the European Fords vanished off the market entirely. It can be directly attributed to actual government policy introduced in the early 80s. It was a political move by the then Labor Government known as the "Button Car Plan" after the Senator John Button who introduced it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_car_plan

History Lesson

  Senator John Button decided there was too much diversity in the Australian Car Industry and wanted all companies to consolidate their resources by limiting the amount of chassis/engine platforms and encourage platform sharing and badge engineering between the car companies.  This is why we never got Mk3s Escorts here. They built the Ford Laser which was based on the Mazda 323 hatch and the medium sized car was the Telstar based on the Mazda 626. The Capri was the same 323 packaged in a drop top form. It was a time of stark unimaginative car design. The most awful badge engineered rehash like seeing a Nissan badge on a Ford Falcon ute. The European names seen widespread through the 70s faded entirely. There were a few cling ons, challenged by price competitiveness.  VW was only represented by tin top Golfs and Passats and even then they were much more expensive than local hatch offerings. Brands like Skoda and Sunbeam didn't even exist and Leyland closed up shop. There was BMW and Mercedes to cater for the luxury market but for the affordable family and small car market there was nothing European during this time. Where you guys had the wonderful Mk1 Fiesta, we had a re-badge Kia called the Ford Festiva (choke), a most vile troll of a car trying to hide its Korean lineage by trying to trick people with name association. It was dreadful unimaginative times for motoring here. Supposedly meant to save the Australian car industry it actually can be directly attributed to its demise. One positive to come out of it was why I kept my Mk2 Escort all this time. Nothing new inspired me so I simply kept what I had. All the local manufacturers are all gone now. Now most of our cars come straight from Japan and Europe as a result, the one thing the plan was meant to limit and encourage local production. One arrogant and ignorant man decided one day what was best for us and our motoring needs. Mention the name John Button to the local car enthusiast and he will spit on the ground. I dare say without the plan and the boring car market it produced I may have been tempted to other cars rather than cling onto my Mk2 for so long and probably not be here today bothering you all. Now you all have an excuse to spit when you hear the name John Button!