IT’S COMMONLY KNOWN that the 1979-’86 Mercury Capri was the corporate kissing cousin of the Fox-body Mustang, offered strictly as a three-door hatchback. Throughout its run, a number of uniquely trimmed special-edition Capri models were made available, including the Black Magic and Crimson Cat packages and the Turbo RS, which featured the same non-intercooled 2.3-liter turbo-four engine offered in the rare 1983-’84 Ford Mustang GT Turbo.
Additionally, ASC — the industry’s go-to sunroof and convertible supplier and second-stage special model manufacturer — used the Capri as the foundation for a series of convertible and coupes, produced from 1984-’86. ASC produced 557 convertibles and 275 coupes, which were sold directly through Lincoln-Mercury dealers in an arrangement that mimicked Ford’s original deal with Carroll Shelby two decades earlier.
It was during that same time a concerted sports car racing effort was pushed under the Mercury Motorsport flag and led by the new Roush Protofab team, which built a spec Trans-Am chassis and shoehorned a Capri body over it — and Jack Roush’s request for improved aero reportedly spawned the production “bubble-back” hatchback. The project
