FoxyCapri

Wiggy333
From what I know the last were built in August 72. They were sold off but the final cars had no driveline as Ford ran out of stock. They were sold off when the facelift driveline came from England or should I say given to managers and staff as work vehicles.

Why then do I have build numbers for the months of September, October and November?
 
 Terry, cars were only counted when they were finished and given the id plate, not  when the shells were built and given the ckme.

Cars are built and painted as a shell. These were built shells but not fitted out with driveline interior etc. That's how car manufacturing works.
I worked at a storage place for new cars that came off boats in our docks. Many of these cars would sit and rust outside until sold. Once sold the car would be pulled out of the line and only the stereo head put in. Only then would the plate get stamped with that days month and year.
Some cars had rusted manifolds and bolts and alloy that looked horrendous which is why a car goes to pre delivery. They would work magic on it to make it look new.
So the bodies were built in August 72 hence the stamped code CK17ME as that when they were built and painted but finished in other months. Ford would not strip back and restamp or to do that properly remove the slam panel and fit a new one to stamp ML MS etc.
At the end of the day where I worked they were correct as fitting the stereo was part of the build. Morally it is completely wrong and it's why I don't buy new cars.
You never know how long your car sat before being delivered to you and the rarer the option the more likely it is. Maybe a reason most the deletes had sunroofs and stereo as they weren't selling as quick as a standard car.

To add to that car companies have a saying of commercially acceptable damage. Many cars I saw around 2002 -2006 had accidents on the boat or in transport from the docks or while they were in our storage. The lot had its own paint shop, mechanics shop( they would fix known mechanical defects before sold) and if cars weren't selling as other manufacturers had better technology they would get retrofitted there as well.
These weren't cheap cars either we had Dawoes on the lot Peugeot Alfa Romeo Mercedes Benz Porsche to name a few.

Just curious with these BSS 165 HP cars. What did they do to the engines/exhaust to extract 165 HP ??? 
Ford tried hard with the RS and 'only' managed 148.......   

165 is a gross figure, the rs at 148 will be nett. Even so the 165 figure is optiimistic.

The differences were the uprated engine.  Essentially the 165 HP cars used the early 3000E driveline.  "D" shaped inlet ports gave better flow, Pistons were slightly higher compression, and the camshaft profile was improved slightly.  Also the later UK spec cars had a viscous coupling fan.
 
Gearbox Ratios were revised (still using the side link box), and diff ratio was 3.09 instead of 3.22
 
I have located the other 2 of its unique "Rostyle" wheels, usually seen on Rootes Group cars of the 70's (Sunbeam Rapier etc).  This is a good start.  I have my resident expert MIG welder coming to stitch in a tail light section, and attach a nice NOS (but pattern) front guard.  There will also be a few holes from the roll cage etc for him to sort.
 
Tomorrow I will be checking the ratios of the 4 gearboxes that came with the car to see if the original revised ratio box is amongst them.  Worst case scenario I have one in my 3000E I was could swap out for the later internal link type 5 box I happen to have.
 
 

These should be the style GTV6.
They were kept from my 165,. (along with the owners handbook with 165 warning sticker.)
Would have been fun with the Uniroyals.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mine has the other type, I have seen 2 other examples with the other Rostyles maybe Ford ran out of wheels as well as drivelines lol

Ok today saw the Yellow Fire Special towed off to a mate for its bodywork and welding.  New LHF guard and replacement tail light panel supplied.  A call from the body man sees rust a bit more than we bargained for in the left A pillar.  Also the rear lower beaver was really ratty and the wheel arch was heavily bogged and glassed hiding a few sins.  I had missed the fact that the battery tray and support had been removed (and not supplied in the parts).
 
So I spent the afternoon ordering arch, beaver, battery tray, support, and Complete A Pillar repair - Ex pressed promised fast turn around on it.
 
One brilliant stroke of luck was finding 2 matching NOS Hepolite Powermax pistons for its damaged race engine.  This will enable it to be repaired.  However the race engine does not match the car nor is it a D port, so I'll move it on once sorted.
 
I received the 165HP decals today (many thanks Ron) and brokered a deal to retrieve the 2 remaining Rostyles.
 
Prior to it being moved I got to drive it today, loud and torquey.  race seat was stupidly tight, but I have some High Backs coming.  These will need to be re-trimmed with the B2 black cloth insert, its original back seat was in the spares so that was a good thing.
 
A productive day on the capri, when I work out this photo upload system ill add some

You're not wasting any time. Keep the posts going, interested to hear about the revival of these special cars...
Cheers Drew