1973 Mercury Capri 2600 V6

Although I try to keep the AJ's Car of the Day featuring Muscle Cars, Classics and cool, iconic trucks, every now and then I like to feature something that makes you go, "Wow! I almost completely forgot about those cars!" And today, I'm featuring one such piece of nostalgia from the 1970's.

The Mercury Capri was marketed in here in the states by the Lincoln-Mercury. It was sold in the U.S. as three very different cars over three decades. The Capri for the 1971–74 model years and Capri II for 1976–77 were imported Fords made by Ford of Europe in Germany. At its peak, Capri sales in North America were the highest for any import model except Volkswagen's Beetle . The name originates after Italy's Capri island , and it dates back to the Lincoln Capri model of the 1950s. It was developed as a "baby Mustang" for the European market, a 2-door car with a short trunklid (then later..a hatchback) and a long hood.

In 1973, the Capri was given a "facelift" for the model year with a revised grille, larger tail lights, and revised rear quarter "grills." North American-spec Capris received a federally mandated "5-mph safety front bumper". The chrome bumper was mounted in front of a steel pipe and attached to the frame by shock absorbers. The interior received revised seat trims, dashboard, and steering wheel. A new, different wiring harness was used. Your choice of transmissions was a 4-speed manual with overdrive, or 4 speed automatic for that year. Lincoln-Mercury sold nearly 120,000 of them in 1973.

The following year,  North American 1974 Capris adopted large, federally mandated 5-mph bumpers at both the front and rear of the car. The bumpers were covered in body-colored plastic. The 2.6-liter Cologne V6 was replaced by a 2.8-liter Cologne V6 with revised castings for both the engine block and cylinder heads.

These Capris, now fairly rare, are becoming sought after for restoration because of their styling, performance & relative affordability. (Plus, they are just cool looking) Some owners have even shoe-horned in a small block V8, and turned these into all out street terrors. Later, history placed the Mercury Capri from 1979–86 as a rebadged Ford Mustang, (and we can't deny the performance of the 5.0 models now can we?) made in the US, and from 1991–94, a convertible from Ford Australia. (which was fun to drive...until your friends saw you..haha...I joke because I love...)