On the 40th anniversary of its birth,
Malcolm M. cool-as-custard Capri is back in its prime
Watching the world in widescreen is a
common thing these days. Back in the '70s though, Malcolm Moore's panoramic
viewing came in the form of staring out through the expansive rear screen of
his dad's Anglia Estatc. Through this glass, young Malcolm would check out the
usual mix of school-run Minis, Austin 1300s and rep mobiles. Then one day a
vision appeared that would fix his when-I-grow-up car wishes...a Mk1 Capri
pulled in behind the Anglebox wagon. 'I know it's a massive cliché," says
Malcolm, "but at that moment 1 'promised myself' one."
On
the 40th anniversary of its birth, Malcolm Moore's cool-as-custard Capri is
back in its prime
It didn't take long for Malcolm to come
good on the promise to himself either, as in 1983, while still in his teens he
bought a 10-year-old Daytona Yellow 1600GT registration RLF 699L. And, check
out the Signal Amber Capri pictured here and you'll see it's the same... yes,
30 years on, Malcolm still has his classic coupe, but a lot's gone on in the
intervening three decades to get to where it is now.
Sold as seen
"Back in 1983, I did that typical
youngster I-want-one buying thing and went for the first car offered,"
Malcolm admits. "That temporary blindness you get when looking at a car
kicked in, and I failed to notice that it had a fair whack in the rear corner.
The car wasn't a write-off, and had been repaired, but the work wasn't the
best. So the first job on my Capri was to put right someone else's poor
handiwork.
"Within a year the original 1600cc
engine's ends had started knocking too, so a 2-liter Pinto built by Specialized
Engines went in," Malcolm continues, "and for the next three years
the Capri was used as a daily driver, plus tow barge for bangers, then
Hot-Rods, followed by Superstox, which I ran and mechanic’s on for my brother
Graham.
"Back
in 1983, I did that typical youngster I-want-one buying thing and went for the
first car offered," Malcolm admits
"By the mid-'80s the Capri's
all-wcath.er use was showing and some serious rust had got in to the shell,"
Malcolm says, "At the time I didn't really have-the time or cash to do
much about this so the rotten motor went into a council lock-up for four years.
In 1990, I moved to a house with a garage, and hopes of working on the GT rose,
and fell again, as working on the house took priority. The car slumbered for
another 10 years, but it was never completely forgotten. Friends and family
would often push me to start the project, and then, around the year 2000 work
finally began. Not that things happened too quickly even then though," he
notes. "My first target was to finish the work as a 40th birthday present
to myself in 2003. Missed that! I did hit a 40th celebration though, when the
car was finished this year... it's just that it was the car's anniversary, not
mine!"
Work done over those extended restoration
years includes replacing both sills (one of which, it turned out, had already
had an extra sill budged on over a very rusty original when the car was
bought). New floor pan sections and inner sills, which Malcolm made up himself,
box-sections and a new cross member at the front and a completely refabricated
spare wheel well in the boot floor. "The tow bar hadn't helped preserve
the boot floor very well," Malcolm notes, "and years of having tools
flying round in the boot had battered the panels too, so there was a lot of
beating back to shape to be done. I had learnt to weld while racing and looking
after Graham's cars," he says, "but that only needed to be strong,
not pretty, so I had to improve my skills before tackling the Capri."
Work
done over those extended restoration years includes replacing both sills
Lots of further localized metal repairs
took place around the Capri and the front wings were also removed and repaired.
Once replaced, these were then flared (to allow wide wheel fitment later on),
using a scaffold pole. "Not delicate, but an effective way to do the
job," Malcolm laughs. "The bonnet and doors were still in good
condition, as was the boot," he says, "but a spotless replacement one
turned up so that was used instead. "Probably the hardest part of the
whole bodywork task was getting the bonnet to line up square," Malcolm
adds. "I ended up drilling and pinning the hinges, so it can only go in
one position."
