Across the Pond: Henry Ford II's personal Capri 2.8 is a grand '80s tourer | Hagerty Media

[Hagerty]

Tracy Letts is a great actor. A Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner, no less. But to gearheads he's best known as the man who portrayed Henry Ford II in '66.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/across-the-pond-henry-ford-ii-capri-2-8/

[Radar]

Does Hagerty do business in the UK? They sure have a lot of articles about euro cars.

[Sajeev]

Yup. Tell your friends: https://www.hagerty.co.uk/ 

[Iso_Grifo]

Between this car and his 1966 Mustang GT convertible just auctioned recently, I also find it hard to imagine HF2 as he was shown in Ford v Ferrari.

And as a bit of trivia which also is at odds with that depiction where he calls James Bond a "degenerate" -- Ford apparently appears as an uncredited extra in 1965's Thunderball in the casino! Ford had provided cars for the movie.

[OldCarMan]

Hollywood BS Revionist History is all.
HF II never rode in a GT40. Certainly not like that!
The lame portrayal of Beebe, should have provoked a lawsuit, too.

Capris were nice cars, but rather small. Surprised to see HF II in one.

[BMD4800]

I don’t watch films with Matt Damon out of a principle disagreement.

[BMD4800]

Ford provided cars for a few bond movies.
Diamonds are Forever and the George Lasenby classic on her Majesty’s Service (or whatever).
After Diamonds, it was the malaise smog 70s, AMC had a laughable presence in Live or Let Die, and from then on … the cars were largely “meh”.

[Ragtop69]

My son took me to see Ford v. Ferrari and I thought it was a bunch of dramatic B.S. crafted around some real facts. I worked for a subsidiary of Ford from 1969 to 1981 and, while Hank seldom called me, the depictions of both he and Beebe in that movie were pure nonsense. Henry Ford II was quoted as saying "Never complain and never explain". Good advice for corporate hating screen writers with a late 20th century college indoctrination.

[Figuero]

If at 60mph the engine is turning 3,000 rpm, wouldn't 70mph be at 3,500 rather than 3,250?

[BMD4800]

Metric RPMs.

Gotta use the conversion factor.

[eighthtry]

I need to be learned here. 60 mph = 3000 rpm . 70 mph = 3250 rpm. 70 mph = 3500 rpm.
Help me with the "conversion factor".

[MATTMERICA]

Maybe the guy liked to slum it, who knows? But I don't care who owned the capri or what they did to it, it is still a base care that does nothing for me except I want to see the green carpet in it. Good story though, I was waiting for the part - and not disappointed - when the car showed its true colors at highway speeds lol

[dooscoop32]

Please note this important spec about this car;
Fuel Consumption: Power-assisted rack-and-pinion

[Sajeev]

Oh boy, let me fix that so we need not make note of it! 😅

[BMD4800]

Fuel consumption?

Most people complain about a small increase in fuel prices, but will idle in line at Dutch Bros or similar and over pay for mediocre coffee 5-6 times per week.

Fuel economy is directly proportional to the level of enjoyment. It is like coffee, pay for it and enjoy.

[Ragtop69]

I recently decided to reprise 17 years of pure joy that I had experienced with a bought new 1983 Bronco by buying a 1995 Bronco. Both had/have a 32 gallon tank and gas mileage of around 13 mpg with a tail wind. The "new" Bronco even has a larger engine than the first one (351W v. 302), but the current one's 4 speed overdrive automatic compensates.:-) Anyway, the pleasure of driving that big old XLT more than offsets Governor Newsom's gasoline taxes.

[Gary_Bechtold]

Hey that power steering can really burn the fuel. How much you use it determines the fuel consumption. Just kidding!

[Reinhold_Weege]

I have to agree with the author's mention of the "sobbing HFII" scene... It struck me as jarringly inauthentic. A little of my own research on Leo Beebe showed the same cardboard portrayal. Hollywood thinks we're all stupid and cannot grasp a fully developed character. I'm not saying they're wrong, but that's definitely their mindset.

[chrisawyer]

I agree that Leo Beebe's character was typical slimy Hollywood bad guy, and certainly not the guy portrayed in Leo Levine's "The Dust and the Glory". However, the scene where HF II sobs was a cack-handed attempt at portraying The Deuce's sadness -- and joy -- that the Ford Motor Company could build a vehicle like the GT40, but that his father did not live to see it. Unfortunately, most casual viewers assume this meant Henry Ford, not his son Edsel, and that he was crying because he was scared.

[Reinhold_Weege]

You're correct... In fact, I forgot that I explained this to a few family members that watched the movie. But definitely not the way I would have written the scene.

[SJ]

Had a 2.6 Capri, it reminded me of my first Mustang, just like their ad said. I don't believe anything Hollywood puts out without verification. Great article, again.

[OHCOddball]

V8 manual trans Capri would be better.

[Oldroad1]

That car was an FIA champion powered by Cosworth 24 valve V6.

[Doug42]

Couldn’t the restorer find the original clamps for the overflow hose from radiator to overflow tank. I despise the screw type as in picture. I know I am being picky but this is one glaring error.

[DuffysJon]

In the 90s we owned a 1976 Capri that was built for Henry Ford It was a Lincoln dark blue with dark red lincoln leather interior. It only had 10k miles at the time.

[chrlsful]

'S OK. Save the chin, rear spoliers, bumpers & wheels. Give me the Capri Mk i or even II. This looks like a Mav...

[Rick2]

I wanted to buy a 1973 V6 Capri so bad I could taste it. but my dad would not cosign for a foreign car. So I bought a piece of crap new Nova instead that I let the short lived ex-wife take. I still look for one once in a while but they are always junk or a half a continent away.

[drhino]

Aarrgh! An automatic! Now I have less respect for the Deuce.

[Maestro1]

The car Ford should of built. I can live without all the body appendages, and certainly the interior was much better than what was stock at the time and one of the reasons I passed on the car at the time,
and I really wanted an automatic with air conditioning. And yes, the body integrity was awful but still the car in general was a wonderful idea, poorly executed.
Thank you Sam.

[MustangJim]

Does anyone know how much Deuces' Mustang sold for at B-J?

[br427]

I had one of them with the 2.8 Carb engine and a 4 speed trans. I can safely say that out of about 150 various cars I have owned over the years, it was definatly the worst. And to make matters worse, I traded a 76 Formula Firebird 400, 4 speed for it. The only excuse I have that it was in 1980 and I was young and very stupid.

[TG]

CIS in a Ford just doesn't look right

[carguyjim]

My buddy had a '77 Capri manual trans in Newport Beach Cali in the early 80's. Fun car!
We bought and beat up a couple older capri's and they were willing to slide, jump and get thrashed and keep going until we blew the engines at some point on the adventure... I never see these on the road anymore, like you see so many beetles....

[61Rampy]

I wonder if HF II would have approved of the GM power steering pump? (Many Fords of the late 70s used them)

[Oldroad1]

GM did not manufacture those pumps, they were manufactured and sold to Ford and GM by Saginaw. By the late 70s Ford started manufacturing their own pumps through Motorcraft. Big mistake. Their pumps were known for noise right out of the factory doors. Noise, fluid leaking garbage!

[petersalt]

Saginaw steering gear was Jacox Gear co., a supplier to Buick. Buick purchased the plant in 1909 and folded it into General Motors as one of the 'original' divisions in ~1912. It was a GM plant for approximately 90 yrs, being spun off into Delphi and later re-purchased and re-sold as Nexteer, a majority Chinese owner company. Not GM now, but it certainly was for a long time.

[Carguy73]

I have a 1973 Saab Sonett that shares parts with the earlier Capri. When you could find capri's in the junkyard salvaged parts were a welcomed site. Enjoyed the article

[Ragtop69]

In 1977 I was working for a wholly owned subsidiary of FoMoCo and had reached the first level of Executive Lease Car privilege. My first was a '77 Mercury Capri Snow Cat. It had the 2.8L V6 with a 4 speed manual transmission and was all white with gold pin-striping. My daily driver at that time was a '72 240Z 4 speed car. I'm still sorry I sold that car, but the Capri's performance was very similar to the Z car's. At the time I was a new father and I saw the value of a back seat. I assume that Hank must have gone to England to drive that Capri because 1977 was the last American version (with the steering on the correct side) was offered for sale in the US.