BODIE’S FORD CAPRI MKIII 3.0S
by Tony Yates
As a kid, I used to love watching The Professionals - Bodie & Doyle
strut their stuff on TV and messing about doing handbrake turns
and smoking the tyres around the streets of London in a selection
of tasty Fords like the Capri, Granada and Escort RS2000. I spent
many an hour in my garden acting out scenes from the latest episode
where I was Bodie in my Ford Capri 3.0S and my brother was the
criminal trying to get away in his hideous Austin Maxi. I used to
have a large wall poster of the Ford Capri 3.0S on my bedroom wall
and every night I used to look at it and think... ‘One day you will be
mine’
The Capri MkIII 3.0S started production back in 1978 till around 1981 and
were driven by some of the biggest stars of the time like; James Hunt, Ayrton
Senna, Terry McCann (A.k.a. Minder) and of course Bodie and Doyle.
This of course gave the Capri a lightning start, thanks mainly to the success
of the TV series and Ford was happy to use that image to portray the Capri
as ‘real mans’ car on the back of that. Also, because Ford had got the cost
of owning a new Capri bang on target - it was quickly seen as an affordable
sports car that could easily be tweaked by pretty much anyone who had a set
of very basic tools from Halfords and an eye for detail, or even a spray can.
But, owing a MKIII during the 1980s and early 1990s was risky – as it was
portrayed as one of the most stolen cars in Britain and classified as “high risk”
by a Home Office report around that time. This, of course, got many owners
worried and sales of security devices such as the MOSS Car Alarm soared.
Although the Moss Alarm itself was not very good at stopping the thieves
from taking your pride and joy and I remember many evenings back in the
90s where I would hear the distictive sound of a MOSS Car Alarm bellowing
away in the distance as yet another MKIII Capri was feverishly driven away
from its rightful owner.
Then, in 1981, the 3.0 V6 units were dropped from Ford’s line-up, and a new
sporty version was born, called the 2.8 Injection which featured a Bosch
K-Jetronic injection system and increased power output of160bhp along with
a small gain in top speed to the tune of 130 mph.
Of course, Ford was very happy with the updated Capri 2.8 Injection because
it had breathed new life into the range and kept the car in production for
another few years which they then hoped would give them enough time to
hopefully develop some newer models. But for reasons I don’t understand
– something went wrong at Ford and from November 1984 onwards Ford
78 wirrallife.com
introduced 1.6 and 2.0 variants and branded them with a new trim level
called “Laser” – which featured new instruments, leather gear knob, leather
steering wheel along with colour-coded grille and mirrors. I actually owed a
‘Lazer’ for a short time and to be honest it never really felt like a ‘real Capri’
more a wet biscuit truth be told.
Sales of course then began to drop off and Ford decided to have one more
last-ditch attempt on the Capri in the form of a limited edition “Brooklands”
Green, 280 models, which featured a limited slip differential, full leather
Recaro interior and seven-spoke 15-inch wheels.
There were also a few special edition Turbo models built throughout the
years by various companies with Ford’s permission to increase performance
but they were quite expensive to buy and were in the end well outside the
scope of normal people like me. The Police even commissioned a ‘Jam Butty’
motorway chase car.
It is my hope that Ford continues to produce cars we can all lust after just like
the new Focus RS I recently tested in Ross on Wye - which to my amazement
still felt like it hadn’t lost any of its old school ‘FastFord’ attachment – and let’s
be honest here - that’s exactly the reason why you go out and buy a Ford in
the first place.
So in the words of one of Ford’s classic advertising slogans for the Capri
“The car you always promised yourself”
Bodie’s 1978 3.0S Capri sold at auction for £55,000, smashing the world
record. In The Professionals, aired on ITV from 1977 to 1983 with 57
episodes produced. ‘Ladies’ man Bodie (Wirral born Lewis Collins) was a
ruthless ex-paratrooper, mercenary and SAS sergeant. His Strato Silver Capri
was as much a star as the actors themselves. Ford permanently loaned several
near identical Capri 3.0S cars to the production company for filming and
promotional purposes. Fans of the series will know that the ones used for
action sequences / stunt driving led particularly hard lives!
Thoroughly restored by the previous owner, the 77,300-mile example uses
the registration ‘VHK 495S’ - the registration number ‘UOO 303T’ used
on camera was a fake. The silver livery was complemented by a tartan plaid
Fishnet Recaro interior. The owner said money raised by the auction would
be donated to Cancer Research in memory of Lewis Collins who lost his
battle with the disease in 2013.
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