A little spare time to think. Remembering my Chevy Vega..

I used to own a 68 English Ford Cortina GT with a 1.6L motor,it was a great
car and fun to drive. I only got rid of it because it became hard to find
parts for it.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

 

I remember the Capri.
It wasn't nearly as popular as the Vega, but I did know two people
who had one--both happened to be the same color, a nice brown IIRC.
One belonged to a classmate of my older sister, the other to
the father of my bud who had the Spirit of America Vega.
One day, he was paying more attention to papers or something
than driving, and smashed it into some parked cars, and that
was the end of that Capri.

 

I had a '72 Capri. At the time, they were calling it the German Mustang. It
was the first car I ever bought new. Cost exactly $3000. In 72 you had a
choice of three engines, the 1600 Cortina engine, a 2000 German 4 & the 2300
V6. I had the 2000. Bought it in Ohio & took it with me to Germany (in the
Army) 6 months later. On the autobahn it would do 95 MPH uphill, 115 MPH
downhill & would steady state & cruise all day at 105 MPH. the German model
with the same engine had a different rear end and would go considerably
faster. I kept it 5 years, brought back with me from Germany & traded it on
a '77 Chevy.

It had one recurring problem - there was an L shaped fiberglass tang on the
points that followed the cam. It would periodically simply snap off, usually
after a couple of hours of wide open cruising on the autobahn. This, of
course, left you dead on the side of the road. Must've been a very well
known problem, since whenever it happened & the German roadside assistance
car would pull up (you don't have to call them, they're just out there
cruising the highway), the guy would always have a new set of points in his
hand as he got out of the car.

There was no interlock to keep it out of reverse, it just had a fairly
strong spring pushing back against reverse. That had something to do with
the only other problem I ever had with it (other than a couple of fender
benders). As I was putting it into reverse one morning, the shift lever
simply snapped off at the base. This was apparently also a common problem.
Even though my car was an American spec Mercury, the local German Ford
dealer had a shelf full of shifters when I went in to get a new one.

I definitely agree with the other comments about the interior. Cheesiest
vinyl ever.

 

Brother had one. '74 I think, bought used. Paid what I thought was
way too much for a cable/housing when his froze up.
Just the cable - he did the work. Shifter I think.
I was right. The new one froze up before a year was out.
Reminds me in a way of a friend who had a Merkur.
Expensive maintenance compared to common domestic cars.
At least that's my recollection. Been a long time.

--Vic

 

My first one was an IMB 1620 in my college days. Large, slow, not
interactive
at all. We got to use it in the math department when the university wasnt
using
it during the daytime.

My tiny Asus EEE would kick its ass and send it home crying.

 

My roommate back then wanted a Capri and he put in an order for one.
Which at the time meant telling the dealer what you wanted and when
teh boat got here they would try and find one that matched your
choices. After a few months his came in and he loved it. When it was
about six months old he was driving it somewhere with his small kid
with him (weekend visit, he was divorced) and while stopped at a
stoplight he could see a faint glow from inside the center AC vent. He
looked in and it was on fire. Most likely the fan resistor pack. He
and the kid got out of the car and within minutes the whole car was
engulfed in flames. The insurance payout was not enough to buy a
replacement new one so he got screwed.

 

I take it he's not much of Capri enthusiast, then.

 

only SIX MONTHS old,and the insurance would not cover replacement,minus
deductible???

does not compute.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

 

I'm going to guess that was just the story. After a car burned down around
me, I can't see myself replacing it with another one just like it.

This would have been the same time frame as the exploding Pintos. At least
he had time to get out and watch.