The Ford Capri (SA30) is an automobile which was produced by

Ford Australia Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited (known by its trading name Ford Australia) is the Australian subsidiary of United States-based automaker Ford Motor Company. It was founded in Geelong, Victoria, in 1925 as an outpost of Ford Motor Com ...

from 1989 to 1994. The launch of the car marked a revival of the Ford Capri name, previously used by Ford of Europe from 1969 to 1986 and Ford USAs, Mercury Division, on their Fox-bodied, Mercury Capri, from 1979 to 1986. The Australian Capri, codenamed the SA30, was an entry-level

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

, based on

Mazda 323 The , also marketed prominently as the Mazda 323, Mazda Protegé and Mazda Allegro, is a small family car that was manufactured by Mazda between 1963 and 2003. The Familia line was replaced by the Mazda3/Axela for 2004. It was marketed as the '' ...

engines and mechanicals that

had also used in the

Laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...

. It had a body shell designed by

Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilder, coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Mar ...

and an interior by

ItalDesign Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. is a design and engineering company and brand based in Moncalieri, Italy, that traces its roots to the 1968 foundation of Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A. by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Best k ...

. During development of the Capri, Mazda was developing the MX-5, a vehicle that, although considerably more expensive, was commonly considered its direct competitor. Unlike the MX-5, the Capri was a 2+2 rather than a strict two-seater.

History

The Australian-built Capri was intended primarily for export to the US. Exports began in 1991, as the

Mercury Capri Capri (later Mercury Capri) is a nameplate marketed by the Lincoln-Mercury division of Ford Motor Company on three distinct series of automobiles between 1970 and 1994. From 1970 to 1978, the Capri was a sport compact marketed in North America ...

. When the car was new, it had a poor reputation for reliability, although many still exist today perhaps due to the mechanical robustness of the Laser/323 upon which it was based. In particular, the Capri's roof was prone to leaking, due to poor-quality materials being used; although Ford quickly resolved the issue, the car's poor reputation stuck. As a result, the MX-5 was comfortably more popular, particularly as that car was

rear-wheel-drive Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-wheel ...

, and enthusiasts were skeptical about the

front-wheel-drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longi ...

arrangement that the Capri used. Two models were initially offered in the Capri's range: a base model, with a 1.6 L '' B6-2E'' SOHC

inline-4 engine A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...

that produced , and a turbocharged model, which used the 1.6 L '' B6T''

DOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

inline-4, which produced . The base model was available with a 5-speed

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear change ...

or a 3-speed

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

, whilst the turbocharged model only had the manual gearbox. In 1990, the naturally-aspirated 1.6 L '' B6D'' DOHC unit, which produced , was added to the range, and this was the only engine available in 1991. For 1992, the Capri was updated, and given the codename SC; the turbocharged engine was also re-added to the range. An XR2 trim level was also introduced for both engines, whilst the base trim for the naturally-aspirated model was renamed Barchetta, and the base trim for the turbo model renamed to Clubsprint. In 1993, the Capri was updated again, and this time was given the codename SE. Production ended in 1994, after a total of 66,279 Capri convertibles had been built; 10,347 of these were right-hand-drive (RHD) models for the Oceania/Southeast Asia market. 9,787 Capris were sold in Australia, whilst the remaining RHD Capris went to New Zealand and Southeast Asia. The 1989–94 Capri was assessed in the Used Car Safety Ratings 2006 as providing "worse than average" protection for its occupants in the event of a crash.

References

{{Ford Australia timeline Capri Cars introduced in 1989 1990s cars Cars of Australia Convertibles Front-wheel-drive sports cars