Capri XL-R 3000GT

Any discussions about the history of the road going cars
dean dickson
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon 10 Aug 2015, 12:36
Location: alberton

Re: Capri XL-R 3000GT

Post by dean dickson » Tue 11 Aug 2015, 07:14

HKGTS186S wrote:
five.wing wrote:Thank you for your kind comments regarding the pictures I have posted ZA Perana. Below are some additional photographs of the Capri.

This Capri was one of the very first 3000GT XLRâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]S built in South Africa. I specifically delayed my purchase of a Capri 3l until this XLR model was available.

Following is a brief early history of this specific vehicle. The Ford Motor Company of South Africa never performed any nonstandard modification work on production vehicles coming off the assembly line. The Meissner engine modifications would normally performed at Ford dealerships after retail sale and were sold with the normal Ford new vehicle warranty. In the case of my Capri 3000 XLR, I made sure that the engine was sent to the engine teardown section after it was initially assembled on the assembly line in the Struandale engine plant. The engine was then fully stripped and reassembled by myself and a tear down technician with all bolts torqued precisely to specification. At that stage I slipped in my Meissner MV1 camshaft which I smuggled into the engine plant. I guess that was the only engine to come out of the engine plant with a Meissner camshaft. I could not fit the four barrel Holley carb at that stage because it would have been noticed immediately. I then had a make sure that the engine was not fitted to another vehicle and went into my Capri. The engine was well tagged and shipped to the Neave vehicle assembly plant.

In the meantime the body shell was being put together in the body shop. This was the only Capri to come out of the plant with two exhaust pipe archways in the lower back panel. I got hold of a standard back panel prior to the body being built and carefully cut and folded an identical archway in on the right hand side which normally contained no exhaust pipe archway. The reason I did this at such an early stage is because I didnâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]t want to interfere with the integrity of the paint work after the body shell had been painted. That in itself is another story.

I personally supervised the construction of the body shell and made sure that extra spot and gas welding was performed on all metal joints. The completed bare metal shell then spent extra time on the metal finish line and after that left the body shop with out one blemish on it. Needless to say the body shop general foreman was glad to see the back of me. I was working in product quality assurance at that time and it gave me a little muscle when I needed it.

I was now to become the bane of the paint shop general foremanâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]s life. This is where the car really had special treatment. I made sure the body shell was a very well dipped in the red underbody primer tank. There was no electro coat primer in those days. Red and gray body primer was then applied wet on wet, the body baked, the primer then wet flatted down, and that whole process then repeated with another two coats of primer, the body baked and then once again wet flattered. No other body shell was ever put through the primer process twice as was done to this Capri. The interior and boot floor were fully covered with heat fusible pads to act as sound deadeners. These melt to take up the shape of the floor when the body shall go through a bake oven. The complete underbody was then rubberised. Only the wheel arches would normally have been rubberized.

Now on to painting a final colour. I had selected sapphire blue as my colour of choice. After the first coat of sapphire blue was applied and baked, I deliberately rejected all the paint which resulted in the blue being flattted down and another coat of sapphire blue applied and baked. The end result was spectacular. The total paint thickness with the double primer and double enamel on the vehicle was 10 thou and it had a fantastic depth and gloss to it. I think Ford definitely lost money on this one.

I then made sure my specially built engine with the Meissner camshaft was fitted to the vehicle. Other modifications performed outside the factory included the fitment of an engine oil cooler, Grenada steel camshaft gear, Meissner inlet manifold with 4 barrel Holley carb ( Iâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]m fairly sure itâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]s a 450 CFM), lowered rear suspension, dual exhausts with free flow boxes on each bank, vented front disk backing plates, 6J chromed Rostyle rims, sports steering wheel, the additional rectangular Lucas spotlights under the bumper, front spoiler, rear window louver, Capri E back panel, double front anti roll bar (which I removed prior to sale), ammeter and a vacuum gauge in the center console. She turned out to be an absolute beauty and I thoroughly enjoyed the years I had with her. I entered the car in quarter mile drag races and she performed very well. Unfortunately the 3.08:1 rear axle ratio is a little high for quarter mile dragging. She would finish the quarter mile at 6000 RPM in third gear doing 160kph. The rear axle ratio was ideal for top speed and cruising. She would easily run at 200kph on a flat road. There was very little that could keep up with her in those days. I wish I had a recording of what she used to sound like when I opened up.

I eventually decide to sell the car because I was single at the time and had a free company car. The Capri sat in the garage week after week never being used. Besides, our government in its infinite wisdom had imposed an 80 kph general speed limit in this country and I had already appeared in court for driving my Capri at 88km an hour on a dual carriage way in the middle of nowhere!

Whoever has that car now is indeed most fortunate and I hope she is soon restored to her former glory. I would love to hear from the current owner if he happens to read this.
Capri 122.jpg




Nice pics of the Capri , the best one is out the front of the Ford building.
Hi i am new to this site, i am looking for the owner of this xlr as i have a xlr the same as discribed. I would like to restore the car but i have a problem, before i bought the car it was resprayed indigo blue with no stripes. The name plate states that the car was sapphire blue and black. In 1990 when i bought the car i knew nothing about it's history, i have learned a few things since then. I belong to a few clubs and go to the piston ring club, i have never seen a xlr except for this one and mine. I would love to know as much as possible to make sure the restoration is original. Thank you



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V8 fan
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Re: Capri XL-R 3000GT

Post by V8 fan » Tue 11 Aug 2015, 08:12

:D :D
'73 Chevrolet Can-Am
'71 Ford Capri Perana
'84 Ford Sierra XR8
'65 Ford Mustang Convertible
'72 Landy SWB "88 series 3

'78 CJ5 Willys Jeep
'73 Pontiac Grand Prix 400

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ZA Perana
Posts: 7313
Joined: Sun 15 Jul 2007, 18:01
Location: Cape Town

Re: Capri XL-R 3000GT

Post by ZA Perana » Fri 04 Sep 2015, 07:29

dean dickson wrote:
HKGTS186S wrote:
five.wing wrote:Thank you for your kind comments regarding the pictures I have posted ZA Perana. Below are some additional photographs of the Capri.

This Capri was one of the very first 3000GT XLRâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]S built in South Africa. I specifically delayed my purchase of a Capri 3l until this XLR model was available.

Following is a brief early history of this specific vehicle. The Ford Motor Company of South Africa never performed any nonstandard modification work on production vehicles coming off the assembly line. The Meissner engine modifications would normally performed at Ford dealerships after retail sale and were sold with the normal Ford new vehicle warranty. In the case of my Capri 3000 XLR, I made sure that the engine was sent to the engine teardown section after it was initially assembled on the assembly line in the Struandale engine plant. The engine was then fully stripped and reassembled by myself and a tear down technician with all bolts torqued precisely to specification. At that stage I slipped in my Meissner MV1 camshaft which I smuggled into the engine plant. I guess that was the only engine to come out of the engine plant with a Meissner camshaft. I could not fit the four barrel Holley carb at that stage because it would have been noticed immediately. I then had a make sure that the engine was not fitted to another vehicle and went into my Capri. The engine was well tagged and shipped to the Neave vehicle assembly plant.

In the meantime the body shell was being put together in the body shop. This was the only Capri to come out of the plant with two exhaust pipe archways in the lower back panel. I got hold of a standard back panel prior to the body being built and carefully cut and folded an identical archway in on the right hand side which normally contained no exhaust pipe archway. The reason I did this at such an early stage is because I didnâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]t want to interfere with the integrity of the paint work after the body shell had been painted. That in itself is another story.

I personally supervised the construction of the body shell and made sure that extra spot and gas welding was performed on all metal joints. The completed bare metal shell then spent extra time on the metal finish line and after that left the body shop with out one blemish on it. Needless to say the body shop general foreman was glad to see the back of me. I was working in product quality assurance at that time and it gave me a little muscle when I needed it.

I was now to become the bane of the paint shop general foremanâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]s life. This is where the car really had special treatment. I made sure the body shell was a very well dipped in the red underbody primer tank. There was no electro coat primer in those days. Red and gray body primer was then applied wet on wet, the body baked, the primer then wet flatted down, and that whole process then repeated with another two coats of primer, the body baked and then once again wet flattered. No other body shell was ever put through the primer process twice as was done to this Capri. The interior and boot floor were fully covered with heat fusible pads to act as sound deadeners. These melt to take up the shape of the floor when the body shall go through a bake oven. The complete underbody was then rubberised. Only the wheel arches would normally have been rubberized.

Now on to painting a final colour. I had selected sapphire blue as my colour of choice. After the first coat of sapphire blue was applied and baked, I deliberately rejected all the paint which resulted in the blue being flattted down and another coat of sapphire blue applied and baked. The end result was spectacular. The total paint thickness with the double primer and double enamel on the vehicle was 10 thou and it had a fantastic depth and gloss to it. I think Ford definitely lost money on this one.

I then made sure my specially built engine with the Meissner camshaft was fitted to the vehicle. Other modifications performed outside the factory included the fitment of an engine oil cooler, Grenada steel camshaft gear, Meissner inlet manifold with 4 barrel Holley carb ( Iâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]m fairly sure itâ€[TRADE MARK SIGN]s a 450 CFM), lowered rear suspension, dual exhausts with free flow boxes on each bank, vented front disk backing plates, 6J chromed Rostyle rims, sports steering wheel, the additional rectangular Lucas spotlights under the bumper, front spoiler, rear window louver, Capri E back panel, double front anti roll bar (which I removed prior to sale), ammeter and a vacuum gauge in the center console. She turned out to be an absolute beauty and I thoroughly enjoyed the years I had with her. I entered the car in quarter mile drag races and she performed very well. Unfortunately the 3.08:1 rear axle ratio is a little high for quarter mile dragging. She would finish the quarter mile at 6000 RPM in third gear doing 160kph. The rear axle ratio was ideal for top speed and cruising. She would easily run at 200kph on a flat road. There was very little that could keep up with her in those days. I wish I had a recording of what she used to sound like when I opened up.

I eventually decide to sell the car because I was single at the time and had a free company car. The Capri sat in the garage week after week never being used. Besides, our government in its infinite wisdom had imposed an 80 kph general speed limit in this country and I had already appeared in court for driving my Capri at 88km an hour on a dual carriage way in the middle of nowhere!

Whoever has that car now is indeed most fortunate and I hope she is soon restored to her former glory. I would love to hear from the current owner if he happens to read this.
Capri 122.jpg




Nice pics of the Capri , the best one is out the front of the Ford building.
Hi i am new to this site, i am looking for the owner of this xlr as i have a xlr the same as discribed. I would like to restore the car but i have a problem, before i bought the car it was resprayed indigo blue with no stripes. The name plate states that the car was sapphire blue and black. In 1990 when i bought the car i knew nothing about it's history, i have learned a few things since then. I belong to a few clubs and go to the piston ring club, i have never seen a xlr except for this one and mine. I would love to know as much as possible to make sure the restoration is original. Thank you



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Would be great to see some pictures of your car? In terms of the colour I suspect the sapphire blue is the same as used on the Fairmont GT.
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Glen
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Location: Western Cape

Re: Capri XL-R 3000GT

Post by Glen » Mon 14 Sep 2015, 20:26

TdL351GT wrote:Hi all,

In my ongoing search for spares and interesting cars, I came across this Capri. It has never been sprayed, still in original condition. Complete car...fitted with the Meissner V6 conversion complete with 4brl holley. Owner has some weird idea about the car being a XL R, but according to our historian, John, it is not so uncommon. Cant find your mail John. Please comment.
Very rare car indeed being a XL R and Meissner conversion at the same time
Needless to say...NOT FOR SALE

regards

Theuns
ii
hi Guys on my visit to BIG BOSS AUTO i see one of these Capri's XLR 3000GT IN RESTO FORM. THE GENTLEMAN FRO M BIG BOSS AUTO GIVES ME A BIT OF HISTORY OF THE VEHICLE AWESOME CAR!!!!

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