UPDATE: 5/19/2014 The seller has re-listed this car on EBay claiming a non-paying bidder. The previous Ebay listing closed at $4,683 and the seller has now lowered his price to $4,500, while still fishing for $5,500 on Craigslist. Maybe the last high bidder noticed the plates expired in 2009. (See story below for details)Sometimes my bleary eyed searches for Daily Turismos take me down
is also on Ebay with more hi resolution pictures, currently bidding at $4,483 with a few hours left to go.
I owned a 1971 Capri 2000 for a few months when I lived in Texas in 1974 and remember that Capri as a totally tossable little car that needed more power. Lots more power. Had I only lived in South Africa, instead of Texas, I could have gotten what I was after. In Texas, we all knew that Texan/chicken farmer/race car driver Carroll Shelby influenced the mating of various Ford V8's into non-Ford European sports cars like the AC Cobra and the Sunbeam Tiger, but those efforts died in 1967 (the year the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards effectively killed everyone's fun). Meanwhile, in South Africa in 1967, Basil Green Motors was just beginning to insert all manner of Ford V8s into the European Ford product line. BGM branded their creations with the name Perana and were authorized to sell them through the Ford network of dealers, much like Saleen managed to pull off here in the States.
There's no way of knowing if the owner of this car is even aware of the existence of Ford 302 powered RHD Perana V8s as pictured above, as he too included a picture of a RHD Capri, but he chose a Cosworth twin-cam that was offered for sale a couple of years ago on some other blog. One thing is for certain, this owner managed to pull off the backyard equivalent of the Perana by
The picture above suggests that its a bone stock 302 which would have left the factory 25 years ago with about 225 horsepower. While some of those horses are tired after who knows how many miles, he claims it has a mild cam which could save a couple of those stray steeds from the glue factory. In either event, this engine should roughly double the horsepower the original V6 this car was born with. The best news is that according to the interwebs the Perana V8s were only 20 pounds heavier than the European Capri 3000, which means few if any suspension mods are required.
Not sure how much of the scavenged '89 Mustang GT was used, but one might hope that along with the wheels, they also
We're all about buying the other guy's time and investment for as little as possible, so now that I'm through pointing to the potential of this little sleeper, lets start deducting some style points to keep that price down! We'll start with the interior, or lack thereof. The picture below shows what's been hidden under slip covers and dash covers for years. The good news is, there's enough foam and pattern to keep the rehab time down to time of a typical stay for LiLo.
While the generally good appearance of the bright bits and the complete sun fade on the interior bits and the license plates suggest that this car's been in California for quite some time, it does have rust is in the usual spots but they should be a pretty straightforward fix.
So, there you have it, the heart of an '89 Ford Mustang GT with a slightly smaller, lighter body, which the seller has road tested for several thousand miles. Disgusting looking enough to keep those with fear of tetanitus away from you on the highway and potent enough to punish those who are out picking on 25 year old econo coupes at stop lights.
Hopefully, you read all the way to the bottom and haven't already called on this car, because I just spotted a little fly in the blue decal on the back license plate. While a blue tab is the correct color for a 2014 registration in CA, its also the correct color for a car that hasn't been registered since 2009 as shown in a close up of one of the seller's pictures below.
See another former econo-sport rust bucket jacked up on steroids? Email us at tips@dailyturismo.com
*Result of Previous Auction*
*Result of Previous Auction*
Great commentary and investigative work, Huns. If the seller had included the full VIN in the ebay description, or even the last 5 digits instead of the last 4 digits, we could check for registration back-fees on the DMV's website.
ReplyDeleteYou need the license number, last 5 of VIN, and the county in which the car's registered. There are different variations of the fee calculator - but it's saved me numerous times from agreeing to buy a car that has hundreds of $$ of back-registration...which becomes the responsibility of the happy new owner to pay!
California DMV Vehicle Registration Fee Calculators
Seems like this seller understands the reality of our well worn DT axiom: "Unless something about the car, or the market has changed, the first auction will yield the highest price"
ReplyDeleteActually went to see the car a couple of days ago, appears that the registration has been renewed now as it was wearing 2015 tags. the rust appears to be an easy fix and the frame and floors looked very good, seller will not close the auction early even for a cash offer. mores the pity, its not a bad car for the money and it is as described, very very quick. will watch this one.
ReplyDeleteI bought this car new in the spring of 72 for 2,800 dollars same color . I was in the Army stationed near Stuttgart I drove it all over Germany and parts of France. I was only a spec. 4 and really could not afford it but you know how car salesman are, they found a way. I loved the car . Shipped it back to Philadelphia and fort Dix. 380 dollars. Drove it out to Colorado and back to Michigan. The winters were hard on the body and by 1976 it was rusted all over. Don't know where it ended up . But I include it in my top 10 autos to have back via time machine .
ReplyDeleteI bought my'72 2.0l 4speed in July of '83, same Metallic Root Beer Brown color. It was quicker and faster than the 2.3l Pinto that I had, even tho all three of the driveline u-joints were hashed out. While basically straight and with no dings, the right rear quarter panel had been pushed in all the way to the trunk floor... Not great! Luckily, my friend's dad owned a body shop and offered to straighten all the bodywork and paint it for $1500.00. Having entered the Air Force recently, once the body and paint work were completed, the car got shipped back to it's native land... Deutchland!! Once there, I met a fellow service member with a German-spec 2.6l V-6 '72 Capri, who managed to park his 6 feet up a tree one night, bending it into a banana-shape. Long story short, I bought the engine and trans, and upgraded some of the components before installing them into my car. Wow, what a difference! I MISS that car!!!
ReplyDelete