Miata Mailing List: July 1994, Message #4
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   From: capek@peach.rtsg.mot.com (Tom Capek @708-342-5639)
Subject: '72 Mercury Capri
   Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 09:29:50 -0400

I'll bust the bubble on the Mercury Capri myth...

I purchased one the first year they offered the 2.6L V-6.  Big Mistake!
The factory must have run out of quality gasketing that day and substituted
cardboard, because I was always battling leaks.  Performance was OK, 0-60 mph
in slightly under 10 seconds (sound familiar).  4-speed manual transmission
with manual rack and pinion steering (read high steering effort).

Less than a month after I got mine, the oil pan nearly fell off.  Many changes
of gaskets never solved the oil leaks.  Several months later, the windshield
cracked from under the edge gasketing.  Rocker arm covers always leaked.
I replaced THREE clutch linkages in less than 60K miles (along with assorted
clutch disks and pressure plates).  The engine had mechanical lifters that
required periodic adjustment (read pain in the a**).  The brake master cylinder
leaked.  The electrical system was ENGLISH.  It had a two barrel carburetor
with a choke that would always bind and cause flooding (something you younger
people raised on fuel injection would never know about).  The bumpers were
so flimsy that the owners manual had pictures of a special wooden brace that
had to be built and put between the bumper and the body if you towed the car
by the bumper.  The a/c drive belt tensioner pulley bearing seized one day,
then broke free and augered its way into the radiator.  The ignition system
ate plug wires and ballast resistors yearly.  etc., etc., etc.  My motto was,
I'm taking the Capri to work Honey, please follow and pick up trailing parts
or ME.

The Miata is light years ahead.  I enjoy mine and never give breakdowns a
second thought.

tom capek