Pintopunter Small Fords UK

The word "Perana" won't mean much to most people, but to many Capri fans it would consider it the ultimate version of the Mk1 Capri.  In the late 60's, South African racer and Ford dealer, Basil Green, shoe-horned bigger engines into various Fords and went racing. Arguably, the most successful of these was the Capri Perana which featured a Mustang V8 in a Mk 1 V6 Capri shell. It was so successful, it was eventually banned from racing. In a recent blog, I wrote about Kevin and his 1600 daily driver Capri. After his passing, I discovered his project Capri which turned out to be a "Perana" replica. From what I can work out from conversations with his family, he intended to build the car for the road. However, when I took possession of the car the road laws had changed considerably and my only option was to complete the build as a race/track car.    I purchased the Capri as you see it above, a genuine barn find in amongst years of hoarded Capri and...

One of my long term Capri project is a Mk 3 that I've owned since 2005. More on that car later but in pursuit of parts for that project, I have wanted to option to build that particular car in a number of engine specifications. The car left the factory as a lowly 1300 L but came to me with a 2.0lt pinto on board. I was looking to build it in 3.0s specification however V6 Essex engines are in very limited supplies down under. Only 3000 original V6 Capris were every sold in Australia, so these engines more often than not ended up in 4 cylinder shells when the V6 cars were written off or rusted away. One such car came up for sale on ebay. It was advertised as a genuine matching number V6 engine car and on initial examination of the photos presented, it looked genuine. Numbers matched, and all V6 components like the 140mph dash, correct redline on tacho etc all pointed to the car being genuine. At a buy now price of just $7500 it looked like a bargain despite obvious rust and a fibre...

Growing up in Australia, there wasn't the culture that exists around the Ford Capri that exists in the UK. To most Australians, mention Ford Capri and the automatically think of the Mazda based convertible the Ford Australia produced (and exported to the US) in the early 90's. The European Capri was a blimp on the Australian motor industry map and is mostly unknown to most people down under. Most young drivers couldn't even identify it. Older drivers confuse it for an Escort or (worse still) a Torana which was the Holden rival at the time.  Those that did remember them, generally have some fond memories of either owning one, or knowing someone who did. Unfortunately, many of those people who ventured out and to sort one as a project were often bitterly disappointed when they realised firstly, how difficult they were to find, and secondly, how difficult they were to restore with limited supply of parts. If I had known this when I bought my first Capri back in 1993, I p...

Although quite a common conversion in the UK, my Zetec powered Mk 2 Escort was one of only a handful about in Australia at the time. The reason for this was the strict pollution and engineering requirement imposed on modified cars in Australia (and particularly Victoria) where I lived. This particular car was probably the best driving Escort I have ever owned. Very smooth and easy to drive and had bags of performance. You could cruise around at 60kph in 4th, then drop it down a gear and have the back wheels spinning all over the place. Unfortunately there were very little options for driving it on the roads as VicRoads, (the local roads authority) would not allow it to be registered without costly engineering tests and certificates.  I looked into getting it engineered and registered however I already had a very nice standard RS2000 to drive about so I thought it was best to reserve for the track. After some basic modifications, I prepared it for a couple of track days. The f...

Australia went through a panel van craze during the 70's (although for some its still going on.) Ford, Holden and Chrysler all had their own versions of the "Recreational Panel Van" that was very much focused on youth culture, the beach and camping. There vehicles were built in limited numbers and were quite expensive at the time. Ford had the smaller version sewn up with minimal competition. The closest thing was the Holden Gemini van which was basically a wagon (or an estate car) rather than a purposed built panel van. Fords range consisted of the big Transit, the Falcon and the Escort, all bases covered to counter the Holden Sandman which was also available in rare utility (pick up) version. Around 2000 (don't quote me) Escort Sundowners were produced and sold between 1977 and 1980, but they were still being run out into 1982. I owned one of the very last Sundowners with paperwork stating a sales date in 1982. This one featured an RS quick shifter and a full ...

Initially, Mk 1 Escorts never really attracted me for various reasons. I was never a fan of the running gear. The suspension was crap, the diffs were weak and the gearboxes were horrible in my opinion after driving a MK 2 RS2000 with a quickshifer everyday for seven years. Again, initially the shape didn't attract me. It always looked like a poor man's version of the Capri. It wasn't until I became familiar with the RS models with the round lights that I even started to warm to the model. None of which made there way out to Australia, in large numbers, anyway. Australia got a very limited number of Twin Cam Escorts, no RS models, Mexico, RS2000 or RS1600s. There were a few 1300GTs sold but rare in the land of the V8. 1300GT seemed like an oxymoron. The Kent engine was nothing more than a lawnmower sized engine and adding the GT just signified it was barely able to keep up with traffic. Many of the Mk 1 Escorts sold in Australia were also automatic, so top speed was never ...