22 October 2008

Perth Capri Cruise #2 - Sunday, 19th October 2008

Sunday, 19th October 2008

Well it’s nice to see there is such a strong following of Capri’s in Perth!! I think I can speak on behalf of everyone and say that the second Perth Capri Cruise was an even greater success than the first.

There was a strong turn out with 15 Capris in total – the great thing was to see that there were many familiar faces and cars but a good portion of new cars as well.

The day started at 10am at the Caltex petrol station on Toodyay Road, Volker and I arrived first followed by Kevin, and soon enough there was a throng of Capris rolling in. I think the owner of the petrol station was starting to regret not having Leaded petrol anymore! However his eyes soon lit up when he heard the thunder of Darryl’s Perana come rolling in (straight to the petrol pump though, I might add), Ahh the joys of the 4cyl car. It was also great to catch up with Bernie and the rest of the lads from his Cortina club, they arrived at the station at about 10.15am – at this time there were close to 30 retro Fords in the one place – A sight certainly to behold!

We pulled out from the station at around 10.30 and HIT THE ROAD!! – It was a great route (chosen this time by Volker) and a very special thanks should go to him for the effort he again put in to help organise this cruise. He also acted as the lead car to make sure no-one missed any turn offs by waiting at each corner, even Kevin didn’t get lost this time!

O’Brien’s road is a great winding road with lots of tight curves and open straights enough to keep all drivers happy; the scenery is also very pleasant! Our first stop was at Peter Brock’s memorial. By this stage, the temperature was almost 32 degrees – but luckily no ones car was over heating!
We all pulled in and took more photos and chatted – you guessed it…….Capris for a while. After spending half an hour talking we all drove off to satisfy our hunger at the designated BBQ area “Noble Falls”.
I drove at the back of the pack for this leg of the cruise and it was quite a sight to see all 15 Capri’s driving in a line over the hills and around the tight corners. I might also add, that there was a cheeky MK1 Escort Mexico which turned up – but we let it cruise with us as when it grows up it wants to be a Capri as well!!

Once we arrived at Noble Falls I think we destroyed the peaceful tranquillity of the place, the burble of a dozen V6’s was enough to scare a few people away, however once all the cars were parked next to each other, curiosity took hold and a few bystanders started walking up to and around the cars. Before you knew it, bonnets were up and it was quite a sight to see. Kindly once again Volker supplied plenty of tasty sausages and buns and we soon had the BBQ fired up and smelling of cooked onions.

We have had lots of positive feed back from this cruise, and welcome any more. If you have any ideas for our next cruise please e-mail me and let me know, it makes organising these events a whole lot easier and more pleasurable for everyone if I can get a better idea of what you would like to do.

By the end of the day the heat still hadn’t claimed any Capris!

Oh and just to plant a seed…. check out http://www.geocities.com/capriciation2009/ , the Capri is celebrating 40 years next year – there is a big event happening over East – maybe some of you will be interested in going! Or why don’t we just join in on the celebrations here in WA?
A suggestion has been to make the All Ford Day next year a big event for us………so bear that in mind.

I have posted a few photos below from the cruise. Also don’t forget if your car does not yet feature in the members photo gallery please send me a photo and details of your Capri.

All the best,
Paul and Volker
Meeting Point
On route to Peter Brock's memorial

Peter Brock's memorial

On route to Noble Falls

Noble Falls Picnic Area

15 Capris in a row




Hi all,

Hopefully everyone has been plucking away at their Capris over these past few cold wet months, as the next Perth Capri Cruise has been organised and is fast approaching!!

This route has been kindly organised by Volker.

I am pleased to say I have had lots of interest and visits to the blog and if all goes well we should have a few more numbers at this cruise, who knows, we may even reach the 20 mark!!

This route will take us into the Gidgegannup region along the infamous O'Brien Road - for those who don't know, this is where Peter Brock was killed in a car crash during the Targa West Rally in 2006. The route has some great scenery with some great twists and bends throughout, it also border's the Walyunga National Park.

This time around we have decided to make the meeting point closer to where the real cruise actually starts, in other words we won’t all get split up by fighting traffic and traffic lights through the suburbs and city - I think the meeting point on the map is pretty self explanatory, but if you're unsure drop me a line.
Our destination is the Noble Falls picnic area, this is a large area with BBQ facilities, walk trails and not to mention the waterfall close by. Another change this time round is everyone should bring their own food - so bring a few snags, drinks, and some salad and then kick back for a while and let’s talk Capris.

Just to give you a broad idea - the round trip from the city to our destination and back is approximately 120km.

So get polishing and fixing and make sure your Capri is ready to drive on Sunday 19/10/08.

Regards,
Paul and Volker


PS: I will be away from the 1st- 17th October so will be unable to check my email until my return.

01 August 2008

Update on Volkers V8


This is Volkers V8 long term project - freshly painted in RS / broadspeed style



05 July 2008

Quinton's Capri is currently getting stripped right back for a nice new paint job.
He has fitted a straight 3 liter engine from a skyline and added an over size turbo giving his Capri a serious power to weight ratio. May be time to upgrade the brakes next !!
Hopefully everything is back together and running by the next cruise - he assures me it will be !

06 June 2008

HOW ABOUT A BIT OF SOUTH AFRICAN MUSCLE !!!....

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to introduce our latest member Daryl. Some of you may have met Daryl before at the All Ford Day (I think he parked his car next to Jenny’s 1600 GT)
Daryl is looking forward to meeting some more of us "Capri nuts"at the next cruise scheduled for some time in October '08.

His Capri is an original V8 Perana from South Africa, I believe there were approximately 500 of these built and probably very few left, there were also 30 V6 versions built which donned the Perana badge!! They came in 2 colours that I know off – Yellow (as shown above) and Peri Peri Red – please feel free to correct me on any of this information!!

For the real petrol heads out there, here are the specifics on Daryl's Capri :
It has the original 302w, 4 speed toploader and borg warner lsd diff. He is currently rebuilding the original block with: Forged pistons, 'H' beam rods, Aluminium Heads, Duel plane mainifold with 650 double pumper carby and headers.

Regards,
Paul


Article as featured in Performance Ford Magazine

22 May 2008

Disaster has struck...

Well folks, what a difference a day can make, or a few months for that matter!! Check the photo of Craig's capri at the cruise held in March, that paint job was one day old!!

And look at it now :-(


Last night Craig was idling his car in his driveway (fortunately he went inside to lock up) whilst in the house he heard a loud bang coming from the capri - after rushing out all he saw was fire bellowing from under the bonnet!!
As you can see the damage is quite substantial - everything under the bonnet is toast, after speaking to him last night he believes a fuel line had ruptured and was dripping on the extractors causing the fire - although an assessor from Shannons will verify this some time today.
The good news is the car is insured so I'm sure the Capri will be back bigger and better.

Moral of the story is I guess if your car isn't insured then get in touch with Shannons - www.shannons.com.au and the other moral is keep up your general maintenance!
Particularly those with the V6! The fuel line can be close to the extractors and fuel lines can perish - so in the words of Molly Meldrum - 'do yourself a favour' and check your fuel lines are in good nick - to prevent this kind of incident happening again.

Hopefully Craig's capri will be back on the road for the next Cruise in a few months.

Regards, Paul

21 April 2008

Ebay...

Anyone got a spare $65,000 to bring this genuine RS3100 Dick Johnson's Bathurst GroupC Capri to WA!!!!

Check it out on ebay ... item number 260231143828

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Genuine-RS3100-Dick-Johnsons-Bathurst-GroupC-Capri_W0QQitemZ260231143828QQihZ016QQcategoryZ2030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Auction ends this Thursday, 24th April

A Capri wedding car...

Saturday, 19th April 2008

I was very chuffed to be asked to have my car as the transport for a wedding on Saturday.
Here are some of the photos below....




20 April 2008

Fremantle Motor Museum Closing

Thanks to the four Capris who braved the rain and turned up on Sunday - it was great to spend the morning taking a last look at the Motor Museum before it closed it doors to the public.
Also gave me the opportunity to take a pic of Pete's car shown below!!
Pete's MK3 2.8 injection
Fremantle Motor Museum Closing


Hi folks,

The management of the Fremantle Motor Museum have asked us to publicise the closing of the museum. Sadly they have not been able to negotiate a successful outcome to their venue problem, and one of the land's finest, award-winning car museums is to shut.

Sunday, April 20th will be the last day the museum will be open, so management has decided to offer everyone who goes along with a classic car, free entry to the museum on the last day.

It should be quite a sight, and provide a fitting farewell for a sad closure.

Hope to see you there.

Regards,

Paul Blank
Automotive Events Management

http://www.classicrally.com.au/




Here are the details so far....

Where: Rugby Oval Carpark, Manning Road, Manning
When: Sunday, 20th April 2008
At: 10.00am (depart for Fremantle at 10.15am)

Destination: Fremantle Motor Museum, B Shed Victoria Quay
http://www.fremantlemotormuseum.net/findingus.htm

Suggested route: Canning Highway

31 March 2008

Inaugural Perth Capri Cruise #1 - Sunday, 30th March 2008

Sunday, 30th March 2008
Well, I can safely say that the inaugural Perth Capri Cruise was a huge success - there was a dozen Capris that turned up (mostly MK1, and three MK3's)- not to mention a cheeky little Anglia :-) Nice one!

The car park at Manning resembled a scene from "Life on Mars" and by 10am we were on the road. The cruise was a short hour trip up the hills and through some nice winding roads to Mundaring Weir. We lost a couple of people on the way but most ended up at the destination for a BBQ and good old chin wag (Big thanks Volker for supplying the grub).

It was quite a sight driving up those tight winding roads in the hills with a dozen Capris all in a row. On route down the hills we took the well known "ZIGZAG" road which is also used in the Targa West Rally (known as the king of the mountain leg - after Brock's death in '07).

All in all everyone seemed to enjoy the day thoroughly and are all keen for another cruise.

I suggested making it a bi-annual event - that way all the people that turned up minus their Capris (i.e. Volker :-) will have enough time to get them back on the road where they belong!

Just for the record - no Capris fell victim to the warm day and the steep hills !! ....Oh, except for one dodgy clutch cable - but he still made it home.

Paul
All lined up at the Manning Meeting Point
John and Teresa's MK1

The Angle Box




















Mundaring Weir Hotel

John and Teresa's MK1

The route maps


Meeting Point for Perth Capri Cruise : Sunday, 30th March 2008







27 March 2008

Want your car on a t-shirt??

You can get a Capri T Shirt printed with your own car on it...




(see John's below)


or maybe a mug or stubbie holder??


Will post further details for you soon or speak to John at the next cruise....

In the garage...

FEEL FREE TO SEND US PHOTOS OF YOUR CAPRI IF IT IS STILL "IN THE GARAGE" SO WE CAN FOLLOW YOUR PROGRESS...




PROGRESS REPORT:

1971 Mk 1 GT V6. I decided the 3L wasn't enough so am putting in a 302w/5L.
Will be street legal as going through an engineer like Volker. Am upgrading most things, 9 inch, roll cage, 5 stud 4WDisc brakes etc.
Engine is Gas research Twin Carb Twin Convertor with around 400hp but as it has taken so long to get it this far, technology has changed so may end up tinkering with Gas injection later? But for now, it's just sitting in the engine bay wrapped in glad wrap and filled with oil, waiting for someone to turn the key and unleash it.

The body has had a complete strip, blast and respray in factory Wild Plum.
I have it approved by the licencing dept with 4 link coil over shocks Rear suspension (with some tub changes to help fit the LPG and Shocks). Now I've just got to talk the engineer into signing off on it!

Cheers,
Vadim