I had a '71 Camaro that I bought new in late 1971. It was my ride for 3 years.






My first car was a '68 Dodge Charger



and after the Camaro came the '74 Firebird Formula 350



After the Firebird there was the triple black '73 Charger SE
with Cragar mags. A friend is working on the resin quarter windows which I'll need to do that car.


CinC Hooterville Air Corps
..flying top cover for Americas hog farms.

sumus quod sumus

Daryl you had some sweet Detroit iron my friend.

Cheers
Max Bryant

This is the K&R Replicas 1/43 white metal kit



This is the real thing just after I finished rebuilding it some years ago . For those not familiar , it's a 1980 Ford Escort RS2000 , colloquially known as an RS2 , which has been part of my life for the last 22 years .

John Green
Cheshire , UK

That one never came across the water but my fifth car did. It was a poppy red 2.3L '76 Capri and I have a kit to build one.

You rebuild of the RS2 turned out very well. It certainly doesn't show it's age.

CinC Hooterville Air Corps
..flying top cover for Americas hog farms.

sumus quod sumus

Glad you liked it .

Was your Capri the 2.3 V6 ? We never got the 2.3 in the UK - the range went from the 2 litre Pinto straight to the 3 litre Essex V6 .

I have many memories of the Capri - a friend of mine had a Mk 3 2 litre which he used as a tarmac rally car . It had 180 bhp & went like the clappers . Always the showman , he rolled it right in front of the video crew on an event in Wales .

The 2.3 was the standard 4 cyl engine for U.S. Capris. It wasn't much for power but was reliable enough to get me into the 1980s when I switched to a Toyota Corolla. I have heard that the 2 litre had more torque and less vibration than the 2.3 but with so many 2.3 engined Pintos running around the U.S. it was a cheap and plentiful powerplant.

I don't imagine your friends Capri handled very well when it was on it's top!

CinC Hooterville Air Corps
..flying top cover for Americas hog farms.

sumus quod sumus

For some reason , we never got the 2.3 Pinto in the UK , or anywhere else in Europe as far as Im aware . If you wanted a 2.3 , you had to make one from a 2 litre . Another of my friends had a Mk3 Escort rally car , which was converted to rear wheel drive & fitted with a dry0-sumped , all steel 2.3 built by local power guru Dave Brooks . It was 2mm overbored & fitted with a long-stroke steel crank to give a capacity of 2327cc . When Dave had finished working his magic , it revved to 8500 , gave something like 240bhp & it was so tractable you could drive it in traffic like a normal road car . Here it is in action :



If you look in the upper right-hand corner , Im the one in the red jacket with blue sleeves , carrying the flashlight . Incidentally , the car is actually turning right its just exiting an uphill hairpin bend .

Heres the same engine in another Escort , this one belonging to Kev the Builder , owner of the Capri . This time , Im in the navigators seat .



On the subject of the Capri , it didnt handle that well on its wheels , so it had no chance on the roof !!!!

Cheers
John

When I got the Capri I toyed with the idea of warming it up a bit but my grocery store income and new girlfriend put an end to that idea. I married the girlfriend, the boys started coming and cars became just another appliance around our house for the next 25 years.

This spring it was time to change that. I went car shopping and came home with this.......



The Mustang took my wife and I to the IPMS Nats in Virginia Beach and it was a great trip

The looks on the faces of our boys when we drove out to show them the new toy was also priceless!

CinC Hooterville Air Corps
..flying top cover for Americas hog farms.

sumus quod sumus

The best fun though was driving the thing on the road . The car in the first pic was a night rally car & , for the 1988 season , signwriting & multi-coloured paintjobs were outlawed , so all the local boy racers in their 1600 Escorts thought it was an ordinary car & would try to take us on - with 250 bhp against their 110 , heavy duty suspension , soft compound tyres & big race-car brakes you can imagine the result .

Love the Mustang . The current Mustangs look great because they look like what you expect a Mustang to look like , ie the original 1960s shape . A guy locally has a dark green '68 fastback with a 289 HiPo & I really love to see that round the town .

Glad you liked it .

Was your Capri the 2.3 V6 ? We never got the 2.3 in the UK - the range went from the 2 litre Pinto straight to the 3 litre Essex V6 .

I have many memories of the Capri - a friend of mine had a Mk 3 2 litre which he used as a tarmac rally car . It had 180 bhp & went like the clappers . Always the showman , he rolled it right in front of the video crew on an event in Wales .