Readly RF Feb 20

MK2 CAPRI
member.) He asked me for the chassis number
which I gave him. He said, “you have a very rare
1.6 GT Special in white, we call it the JPS.” I kept
phoning Kevin for over the next hour for more
information, and he was telling me things it should
have, and I kept saying yes it’s got this and that. I
then knocked on the door to ask where the interior
was as it was not in the car at the time. That’s in
my conservatory come and look. It was all there,
threadbare, but all there. The car is a GT/Special as
on all the logbooks, and on the VIN tag under the
bonnet it says JP/Special.”
“It was all down to the price, the price in the
paper was £650 so with £600 in one back pocket
and £50 in my other we sat and talked awhile. He
gave me more information about it, letting me know;
he was only the second owner. I said hopefully I
would be third and final, but before I had the chance
to make an offer, he asked what I was going to do
with the car. It has to go back on the road no matter
what! In that case, the price is £350; he told me.
To say I was gobsmacked was an understatement.
He said the other guy made me that offer to take
the car away, but all he wanted was the wheels,
suspension and interior and scrap the rest. I agreed
on his price, and it became mine! My next job was
getting the car home, only seven miles up the M1. I
borrowed one of those two-wheeled dollies from a
friend, that was one hairy drive home! As of the 23rd
June 1999, I became the owner of ‘RGJ 603P’ a
Capri Mk2 1600 GTS in white.
I have since learned that the car was first
purchased by Pipin Productions in South London
and then in 1977 bought by the second owner who
had the car until 1991. Therefore I am only the third
owner of this delightful Capri.”
“To be honest, the car was in poor condition
when I got it back. The engine was seized although
the gearbox was ok, as was the back axle. The
seats were threadbare, but thankfully the wiring was
ok. I started collecting everything Mk2 related from
all over the country. A curveball came 18 months
later in the form of a brand new shell which had
been sat in Northampton bus depot for 23 years.
The owner was retiring so the shell was up for sale
in a Ford magazine. To cut a long story short, it was
purchased by someone I knew and was then offered
to me at a ridiculous sum of £600! It also included a
pair of front wings (Mk2, of course,) this came up for
sale on 18th December 2001. Excellent, I thought,
no welding to do! We could proceed to paint the
underside. The topside was covered in a sticky
black substance which I know now as diesel fumes
so two gallons of gunk later and it was cleaned.”
“From 1999 to 2008 it sat in my garage with bits
done here and there. The only way this was going
to get done was for me to sell my 2.8 Injection
special. The engine bay was top coated on the 1st
January 2008. On the 8th February 2009, she was
top coated in Diamond White cellulose and rolled out
of the garage. I had set a target of the Wonderland
show with Mansfield/Notts Capri club. Parts all over
the workshop, some of getting powder coated.
064
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