Classic Ford – September 2019

Rallye Special wheels are a great, period-correct touch.

26 September 2019

Capri is essentially pretty close to standard. “It

was all stock when I bought it,” Dave explains.

“I found the car back in 2014; it all seemed to

be in good condition so I went down London

way with my Dad to collect it.”

The bones of the car were good, although the

next chapter of the opus is pretty much as you’d

imagine of a 1974 Ford: as Dave stripped it all

down, he found more and more areas that

required attention. Having taken it right back to

a bare shell, he passed it over to Austen Grimley

at AG Auto Refi nish, who continued to fi nd

more rust as he further stripped it, until he came

out with the phrase we all dread: ‘How far are

you prepared to go?’.

“It was pretty far gone,” says Dave, with the

wry grin of a man who’s been through the

wringer and emerged bloodied but unbowed on

the other side. “I gave it some thought, and told

Austen to do whatever it takes!”

The wings proved particularly tricky to

source, and the extent of the required repairs

meant that it was a full eight months before the

shell was shipshape and serviceable again.

The Capri II launched in February 1974, just

a few weeks after American TV sitcom

Happy Days debuted, and there are a

number of parallels you can draw between

them. Both represented an idealised

version of what life could be; while Happy

Days celebrated an apple-pie vision of

friendship and family, the Capri opened up

opportunities for buyers at all levels of the

fi nancial strata to own the car of their

dreams. Hot-rodding culture was a central

tenet of the TV show too, and back in real

life the Capri proved to be an ideal base for

high-octane modifying. The central crux of

both, however, was that achievable dreams

allowed you to live your best life. Happy

days, indeed.

HEYYY,

SIT ON IT

THAT ’70s SHOW

Dave owned Capris back in the ’80s, but the Ghia is his

fi rst V6, and he’s chuffed with how it’s turned out.

“I DID INITIALLY QUESTION WHETHER I’D CHOSEN

THE RIGHT COLOUR — IT WAS VERY ORANGE”

OMEBUILT HERO