Particularly well suited to the demands of high speed pursuit, the Ford Capri Mk3 3.0S holds a special place in the heart of fans of British television crime fighting in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The vehicle type retains a cult following to this day. Debuting in 1969, the Ford Capri Mk1 was intended as the European equivalent of the iconic Ford Mustang.
The Mk2 arrived in 1974 and added a useful hatchback body option while retaining the sports coupe’s attractive basic outline. The Mk3, launched in March 1978, brought in many detail upgrades, with the most obvious the partially shrouded twin-headlamps, front-spoiler, wrap-around bumpers and slatted grille.
These, combined with the rear-spoiler, lowered the drag coefficient to 0.374, a reduction of 12.6%, and improved both high-speed stability and fuel economy. This made an attractive showroom package and remained in production at Ford’s Cologne plant until December 1986 when the model was retired after 18 years, by which time 324,045 Capri Mk3s of all types had been produced and a total of nearly 1.9 million Capri’s had been sold.
