Hello all!
Glad to have found this site. Some of you guys on here seem to really know your stuff! Thats good. I have been reading up on my new (used) car. The more I drive it, the more I like it.
My story:
I live in Livonia MI. I drive 150 miles a day round trip to work. I also own a Jeep Wrangler, a GSXR600 and am working on a pretty far out turbo charged Ford Ranger. Wrangle gets 15MPG and the bike gets about 35MPG if I stay out of the throttle (the bike is highly modified). I was looking for something to drive back and forth to work that got good MPG and was more comfortable than riding a sport bike. I set my price limit at $3000 and started looking. All I could find was junk Neon's (Pee-On's) and beat Caviler's (Can-Of-Beer's, or Cavillac's) and Million mile Saturn’s. I was really hoping to find a Saturn but I happened to drive by the Capri! I loved the look of it. I can't explain why. I am a Muscle Mopar guy in a perfect world but this car struck me. It reminded me of a mid-engine car without the hassle. The rear-end styling is a work of art. The truck was bigger than I thought, and the seats hug you like a lot of high dollar sports cars. I have to drive this thing! I talked to the owner. drove it and fell in love even more. It's not fast by any means. In fact, it is possibly the slowest car out of the, "hole" I have ever owned, however, this thing really shines on the freeway. Again, nothing crazy, but a nice smooth power curve taking me from 55-80 without downshifting. I was impressed with the way it handled for being a FWD car. Taking in to consideration the era it was built in, yes there is torque steer, and yes the brakes are a little soft, naturally there is body roll but I knew for about $200 I could cure all of that with a 3 point strut tower brace and some EBC's. We settled on $2000 for the car. I had a little bit of buyer's remorse for about two days. I felt I over paid by $200-$300. But then I remembered all the JUNK I was looking at that was in the 3000-3500 price range.
When I bought the car it needed the following:
-New soft top
-Didn't come with a Hard Top
-Radio didn't work
-Glove Box handle was broke
-Driver's interior door pull was missing
-Emergency brake cable didn't work
-Motor on driver's headlight is intermittent
-Trunk lid won't stay up
It now has a now soft top, New Pioneer radio, fixed the alarm, got half of an interior door pull, and found a Capri at the junkyard which allowed me to score both headlight motors! I am working on the rest as I go along.
Want to see pictures? OK!
These photos are prior to any work I have done.
So far I am at a running tally $2500 for the car. $300 for the top, (I wanted a really good one since I have never replaced a rag top other than a Jeep before) and 150 for the radio, and another fifty for Junkyard parts and other Misc. pieces.
I have to run for now, but I do have some questions for you guys.
Thanks,
-Ryan