1976-1978 Mercury Capri II: A Prelude to Convergence

The Mercury Capri was an enormously successful alternative to Ford’s own Mustang in the United States when it arrived in late 1969. In Europe it had become equally successful as ‘the European Mustang’. Ford’s Mercury division sold the Capri in America as a more upmarket pony car with a true European heritage. It was smaller and more nimble than the Mustang and by most accounts handled much better than its more bloated cousin. Depending on how old you are (or how deep you go into YouTube), you might remember Mercury’s ‘The Sign of the Cat’ advertising campaign which started with this car and lasted well into the Fox body era.

That was the general consensus of the first generation Capri. The Capri II’s American debut was in 1975 . It was introduced in Europe two model years before arriving in The States. During that time sales of the original were still strong – enough to delay the evolved car’s introduction by two years. When the 1977 Capri II did arrive, buyers found it to be longer, wider and heavier than the original car. Now a hatchback only design, it’s overall profile had become more aerodynamic with the distinctive dual side vents replaced by a clean single character line. The interior looked more the part of a sporting car vs. the Mustang II which took the typical luxury leaning American car interior and tried to miniaturize it. There was considerably less brightwork inside, even in the luxurious Ghia trims, further distinguishing the two ponycar approaches.

This generation of Capri had become my favorite until the black and red Fox bodied RS cars arrived in the early ‘80s. One of the things that made the Capri so compelling was it’s take on the American pony car concept. Like the American Mustang, it had a live axel rear wheel drive setup (with semi-elliptical four-leaf springs no less). In fact, mechanically they were very similar, even down to engines to a point. The Capri II was a hatchback only design, offering more versatility than the previous car, but the Mustang had gained that feature two years before. From a design perspective the Mustang II 2+2 and the Capri had similar profiles and were the closest they would ever be before sharing the same platform for the ’79 model year. As for which looked better, its a matter of taste, but I have always loved certain configurations of the Mustang in it’s 2+2 liftback form. Only it’s Pinto based platform limited certain aspects of its appearance (long front and rear overhangs). The Capri had no such visual limitations and offered a notchback appearance vs. the Mustang’s proper coupe and fastback form factors.

The Capri’s main difference was it’s largest engine option. The Capri topped out at 2.8 liters with about 106 hp. Both the Pinto, base Capri and Mustang had similar 88hp 2.3 liter OHC 4 cylinder engines.  No V8 option existed, but that would not have been in character with the Capri’s efficient European doctrine (2.8 liters for a V6 was small by Big Three American standards). While the Mustang II Cobra and others offered a big V8, the lighter and nimble Capri needed only it’s German built Cologne V6 to offer similar performance, especially when mated to the 4 speed manual transmission. Middle trims of the Mustang were also available with the 2.8 liter Cologne V6, which featured a different exhaust manifold and made 93hp (?) in 1977.

The Capri II was slightly smaller than the contemporary Mustang, yet had a longer wheelbase. Both cars had front disc brakes and drums in back. Both cars also had a Ghia trim that featured luxury items like bucket seats, center consoles, vinyl roof treatments with sunroofs and air conditioning. The Mustang was softer riding, although the Capri was usually better appointed inside. One of my favorite features of the Capri II was it’s intricate 8 spoke cast-aluminum wheels. Even though they were small by today’s standards (only 13′), they looked good well into the ’80s while the Mustang II wheel designs looked like standard ’70s musclecar fare.

Unfortunately for the Capri II in America, not enough buyers appreciated the nuanced differences from the cheaper Mustang. The Mustang II was enormously successful despite serious competition from Ford’s own (and better performing) Maverick. With the Mustang’s hatchback variants, the Capri in many ways had become redundant as it’s price climbed and its numbers dropped. The writing was already on the wall, as there was already a new Capri in Europe with a slick refinement of the Capri II design.

The Capri II would only last for two years in America before the exchange rate and and sagging sales took its toll (most U.S. bound cars were built in West Germany). The next Capri would be a clone of the Mustang, with Mercury doing it’s best to present the modern Fox bodied car as a more European inspired variant of the pony car. From that point on there were two Capri – the American Mustang clone and the European version evolved from a 1978 design. In Europe the Capri mk III continued with updates until 1986 with a strong and loyal following, especially in Britain and Germany where they were built. Aside from obvious differences in bumpers, European Capri tended to have blackout trim in everything but the Ghia cars. An examination of Mercury’s sales material suggests that American bound cars had more brightwork, even the top 2.8 Sport Coupe trim.

Since that time Ford has revised the European ponycar concept in varying degrees with the Cougar, last sold as a Mercury in America from 1999 to 2002 and the Probe (once proposed as a Mustang replacement) until 1998. The Capri in Europe has the kind of name recognition, that’s arguably stronger than the Mustang there. That makes it all the more curious as to why Ford did not just call it’s American Mustang a Capri in Europe and reskin it accordingly. It would have been like GM selling the Holden’s Monaro globally in the place of the Camaro and expecting Americans to go with it.

The Capri made more sense for Europe because it did more with less. The Mustang with it’s big displacement and overall size is much more American than European, so why force Europeans to accept it?. Sure a few beloved films like Bullet endeared it to popular culture, but Australians could have made that argument with the Falcon and Mad Max, but you don’t see that as the ponycar of the world. Besides, American cars have a poor sales track record in Europe (and the rest of the world for that matter). As good as the highly taxed Mustang is in Europe, it’s not likely to change that.

A Capri return makes even more sense as a true alternative to the Mustang. Such a car nearly existed in the form of the Focus ST and later RS, but they were sedans. As the world goes SUV/Crossover crazy, any chance of the Capri making a comeback might be in the form of some bastardization of the original concept, much like Ford has done with the new Puma. A true alternative to the Mustang was what made the Capri II so popular in America. Once the Capri III began to look and act like the cheaper Mustang, it lost it’s way with Americans. To find it’s way again, any new Capri will have to offer something that’s truly out of reach of the Mustang, like a return to the European ponycar concept of the Capri III.