It was quite a series of events that saw my Dad and I in possession of a rather sorry looking Capri...
First of all, both of us used to race motocross at a semi competitive level. Unfortunately in February whilst testing, Dad had a pretty serious 'off' and ended up with a host of injuries. Needless to say, being forty-something years old and with your own business to keep running, he decided to hang up his boots for good.:dapprove:
Decided to concentrate all of the racing efforts on me, which was great! Until I also went for a flying lesson off a jump at the end of May... result, a fracture to my lower vertebrae, which I'm still recovering from, having had pins and rods etc and contracting MRSA along the way :quiet: As you can imagine, being lucky to not be in a wheelchair, the girlfriend and mum basically told me I'm not to ride again. And TBH I don't think I'd want to anyway!
So with those unfortunate accidents, this then left my Dad and I wondering what we were going to do with our weekends!
The last piece of the puzzle was when my girlfriends car died. I found a Renault Clio on eBay and we went to have a look at it. It was in a yard full of old VW campers as this guy's business was to restore them. Nestled between the 'sheds' was our Capri. Needless to say I was more interested in that than the Clio! Sorted a deal out with the Clio and got straight on the phone to Dad about the Capri
2 days later, Dad goes to pick up the Clio.
5 days later, Capri has been trailer'd to the workshop!
Now the Capri is completely standard apart from the rust and green stuff growing all over it. We noticed there was a tax disc in the window ... Expired sometime in 1997... so it had clearly been sitting a while. Amazingly the engine didnt just turn over, but it also runs! So that was a turn up for the books.
On the whole the shell itself is in a pretty good state. There is the usual rust behind the wings and the front valance had completely had it. Anyway here are some of the first pictures I managed to get of it from our work today.
Sorry about the boring waffle, but I always think its nice to put a story to something like this
Rusty Door by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
The worst of the rust was on the door, practically hanging off!
Repaired Inner Wing by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Inner wing/A pillar after repair. Had been bodged previously.
NSF by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Front valance removed. Nothing to save!
Engine by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Engine. Won't be staying like this though...
Corner by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Driving back to bed!
Link to project pictures on FlickR:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73856634@N04/sets/72157631983100835/with/8176130649/
As you can see, there's a long way to go but we're hoping to have it ready for the road by spring next year:race:and I can't wait.
I'll update this project again with a list of the plans we have so far, but at the moment it's very much a case of finding things we need as we go along.
However, we've already gone and bought a set of these
Weber 45's by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Hopefully, we end up with a nice sorted car that's going to be a bit more OEM+ once finished. And have a bit of fun with it!
Thanks for looking, and if anyone has done anything like this before, please get in touch!
Jon
First of all, both of us used to race motocross at a semi competitive level. Unfortunately in February whilst testing, Dad had a pretty serious 'off' and ended up with a host of injuries. Needless to say, being forty-something years old and with your own business to keep running, he decided to hang up his boots for good.:dapprove:
Decided to concentrate all of the racing efforts on me, which was great! Until I also went for a flying lesson off a jump at the end of May... result, a fracture to my lower vertebrae, which I'm still recovering from, having had pins and rods etc and contracting MRSA along the way :quiet: As you can imagine, being lucky to not be in a wheelchair, the girlfriend and mum basically told me I'm not to ride again. And TBH I don't think I'd want to anyway!
So with those unfortunate accidents, this then left my Dad and I wondering what we were going to do with our weekends!
The last piece of the puzzle was when my girlfriends car died. I found a Renault Clio on eBay and we went to have a look at it. It was in a yard full of old VW campers as this guy's business was to restore them. Nestled between the 'sheds' was our Capri. Needless to say I was more interested in that than the Clio! Sorted a deal out with the Clio and got straight on the phone to Dad about the Capri
2 days later, Dad goes to pick up the Clio.
5 days later, Capri has been trailer'd to the workshop!
Now the Capri is completely standard apart from the rust and green stuff growing all over it. We noticed there was a tax disc in the window ... Expired sometime in 1997... so it had clearly been sitting a while. Amazingly the engine didnt just turn over, but it also runs! So that was a turn up for the books.
On the whole the shell itself is in a pretty good state. There is the usual rust behind the wings and the front valance had completely had it. Anyway here are some of the first pictures I managed to get of it from our work today.
Sorry about the boring waffle, but I always think its nice to put a story to something like this
Rusty Door by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
The worst of the rust was on the door, practically hanging off!
Repaired Inner Wing by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Inner wing/A pillar after repair. Had been bodged previously.
NSF by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Front valance removed. Nothing to save!
Engine by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Engine. Won't be staying like this though...
Corner by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Driving back to bed!
Link to project pictures on FlickR:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73856634@N04/sets/72157631983100835/with/8176130649/
As you can see, there's a long way to go but we're hoping to have it ready for the road by spring next year:race:and I can't wait.
I'll update this project again with a list of the plans we have so far, but at the moment it's very much a case of finding things we need as we go along.
However, we've already gone and bought a set of these
Weber 45's by Jon_KTM, on Flickr
Hopefully, we end up with a nice sorted car that's going to be a bit more OEM+ once finished. And have a bit of fun with it!
Thanks for looking, and if anyone has done anything like this before, please get in touch!
Jon
