The Ford Capri Laser Page

I was flicking through some old car Daily Mail Motor Review magazines and thought it was interesting to see what was written about the Capri.
In case you don't remember the magazines, they consisted of a brief summary of most new cars that were on sale in that particular year. They looked like this:



The Capri featured in a few of the magazines through the 1980s.

1980:



The text in close up:



1981:



The text:



1982:



The text:



The Capri didn't feature again until 1985, and then it didn't even have a photo alongside the text:



1986:



The text:



And finally, the 1987 edition:





I like the bit where they state that "though rumours of it's demise persist, they are somewhat premature". This was written in 1987 the 1987 magazine, after production had ended!

I hope you enjoyed this little dig through the archives!

Andrew.

Andrew 2.8i wrote: I hope you enjoyed this little dig through the archives!

I did . It's great to read articles when the car was current, I've got a few '80s CCI mags & read them now & again. The stories are great as all Capri 's at the time were daily drivers.

Good find Andrew.

I might pop back to 1982 and pick up a 2.8i for under £8000 That was also close to 2013/14 prices

Caprifan Rob wrote:I did . It's great to read articles when the car was current, I've got a few '80s CCI mags & read them now & again.

Hi Rob,
It is good to read articles about the Capri from back in the day. I've got back issues of the CCI magazines too, but I steer clear of the classifieds as they make depressing reading these days!

Andrew.

andyd wrote:Good find Andrew.

I might pop back to 1982 and pick up a 2.8i for under £8000 That was also close to 2013/14 prices

Thanks Andy,
Is that the "Supercapri" that "is a very fast car indeed" ? As you say, wouldn't it be good to pick up a 4 speed 2.8 for the list price? 2013/2014 prices also seem like a long time ago now!

Andrew.

Well found articles Andrew, but some lazy journalism saying the 2.0 Laser had XR3 seats;- they were the same cheepo ones that the 1.6 had.

Paul G wrote:Well found articles Andrew, but some lazy journalism saying the 2.0 Laser had XR3 seats;- they were the same cheepo ones that the 1.6 had.

Thanks Paul, and well spotted!
I love reading these old magazines and brochures. It amuses me when they list the equipment that cars had back then that we take for granted these days and it's not even worth mentioning. Items such as reclining front seats with head restraints, four speakers, rev counter and the like...

Andrew.

That was a great read and find .its good to read something of what they thought back then when the cars were new and you could go in to a ford showroom where the sales room man would ask if you needed any help .

Jasonmarie wrote:That was a great read and find .its good to read something of what they thought back then when the cars were new

Hi Jason,
If you like reading contemporary reports of the Capri, there are some books that available that are a compilation of roadtests and the like, published by Brooklands Books. They are both well worth a read.
http://brooklandsbooks.co.uk/index.php? ... uct_id=153
http://brooklandsbooks.co.uk/index.php? ... uct_id=263

Andrew.

Yes I do have a few books on the Capri but not them , my wife is always saying what do you want for your birthday so I might put them on my list . .thanks for the link Andrew

Spotted this gem in the 1957 Motor Show Review, it made to chuckle to see how times have changed. A 1600cc engine is, apparently, just too much for the ladies to handle.....



Andrew.

SEXIST!!!!

The Mrs had a 1100cc some years ago, but it was in a Kawasaki ZZR

andyd wrote:SEXIST!!!!

Different, more innocent, times. The whole Show Review is full of references of men choosing cars for performance and the ladies choosing the colour schemes...

Andrew.

Andrew 2.8i wrote:

andyd wrote:SEXIST!!!!

Different, more innocent, times. The whole Show Review is full of references of men choosing cars for performance and the ladies choosing the colour schemes...

Andrew.

Was that the time the Womans place was in the kitchen?

Paul G wrote:Well found articles Andrew, but some lazy journalism saying the 2.0 Laser had XR3 seats;- they were the same cheepo ones that the 1.6 had.

Having had many Lasers and now building a modded one which will bare no resemblance to its Laser past, I've always felt that the Laser spec seats and fabric was a let down.......... a weak spot in its armour

They are basically "L" spec seats with an even more fragile covering. Luckily I managed to find a pair of good front seats for £30 a couple of years ago so my interior is quite good but I'll put covers on them to protect them from further wear.

They frankly would have been nicer with the LS "Carla" seats than the "Truro" crap material they used.

Morning all,
We all know that the Capri has quite a distinguished history on the race circuit, but it's quite unusual to read of one competing on international status rallies. Whilst browsing through an old magazine I noticed this photo of a 2.8 Injection that competed on the 1985 Lombard RAC rally:



Remembering how every man and his dog used to put concrete in the boot back in the day, I had to have a little chuckle at the sponsors name on the bootlid!



Sadly, the endeavour didn't end well. I hope saving for the 1986 RAC was successful!




Andrew.

Paul G wrote:
They frankly would have been nicer with the LS "Carla" seats than the "Truro" crap material they used.

This was also my belief so did it on mine, the ls donor car I bought for a front corner cut just happened to have a nice interior, it really brightens up the inside as well in my opinion

Very nice interior!
The check looks much better than most of the later materials used in the Capri.

Andrew.

+1 for the LS Carla interior. Always thought they should have carried it on into the late S spec cars and into the Laser. Did the Laser ever have an option on interior trim, Recarros etc or was there no choice ?