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Welcome to the Ford Capri Mk1 Restoration Project

This website tells the story of the nut-and-bolt restoration (really it should have been called complete rebuild) of ‘Zippy’, a 1973 mark one facelift Ford Capri 1600 GT in Sebring Red. This includes a little section on the history on the car, such as the original dealer, where it lived, and a few early pictures of previous refurbishments. The history can be found just here.

It takes us through the journey of stripping the car down to bare metal and some of the problems, shall we call them challenges or just horror stories, encountered on the way, along with cleaning, polishing and repairing the trim, interior and a lot of the ancillary pieces.

It covers the metal repair, replacement and re-manufacture, from scraping off the thick layers of under-seal, to the repair and replacement of the sills, A-posts, headlight boxes, floor, rear quarters and arches, inner buckets, inner wings and rails, valance, slam panel, scuttle, bumper support brackets, lights and, of course, the two front wings too to name just some.

We also stripped down and rebuilt her engine and transmission chain, but due to the low mileage of the original vehicle, little or no remedial work was necessary. But, thanks to hardened valves and valves seats, added whilst we skimmed the cylinder head, it does now run on unleaded fuel. Click here for the full time line.

And why do we call him Zippy you might ask? Well, the colour really. My wife started calling it ‘Zippy’ as soon as she saw it, and the name has stuck ever since. Thank you very much Judy.

Recent Posts

50th Birthday Celebration, Warley 2019 - Zippy took part in the Capri 50th Birthday celebrations at the UK headquarters in Warley on Friday 19 July 2019. The celebration is the last one to be held at the Ford offices at Warley as they are scheduled to be closed with a few weeks. Zippy was int he…

The London Classic Car Show 2018 - Zippy was lucky enough to be invited onto the Capri Mk1 Owners Club stand at the London Classic Car Show this year, joining an early 1600 GT XLR and a 5.0 litre Capri Perana from South Africa. This annual undercover show ran from Thursday 15 to Sunday 18 February 2018 at…

London Classic Car Show Preparation - Zippy safely arrived at the London Classic Car Show today.  Fortunately avoided the worst of the rain and managed to get under cover earlier than expected.  A quick rinse and then quite a lot of polish got him ready for the stand.  The show runs from Thursday 15 through to Sunday…