HOME vs AWAY

Reputations count for a lot when it comes to sporting coupes. Back in period, the Mk3 Ford Capri was the affordable blue-collar hero, based on simple, practical underpinnings and with specifications to suit all budgets. The costlier Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT/GTV, on the other hand, was arguably the connoisseur’s choice, with its exotic engines, a transaxle layout for better weight distribution and a sharp Giugiaro suit.

But then things changed. After selling well initially, the Capri’s squiggly tyre tracks were halted by the hot hatch trend. As a result the ageing Ford gained a rather unfair reputation as something of a joke – exemplified when a lurid green Mk3 Ghia christened the ‘Pratmobile’ famously appeared as Del Boy’s new car in a 1991 episode of Only Fools and Horses. For the enduringly stylish Alfa, a fall