1973 Models

The domestic automotive market grew by over 13%, breaking the ten-million-unit level for the first time.  The performance segment of the market continued to contract, with the Arab oil embargo of late 1973 being the kick to the head of the already-dead muscle car market segment.

The sole bright spot was Pontiac and their introduction of the marvelous Super Duty 455 Trans Am.  This 310hp net rated 455 would have easily produced gross horsepower values in the 360-370hp range, as well as boatloads of torque.  Running the quarter in the high thirteens, this car would have been in the thick of things a few years earlier in the high-compression era.

To be brutally honest, the SD 455 was the sole DNA strand left of the muscle car movement.  If not for this vehicle and engine, the muscle car era, as defined by any reasonable standards, would be over.

We’ve included models that were not muscle cars in any way shape or form while documenting the muscle car era, and will continue to do so for ’73 and ’74.  However, where some of the series in earlier years led to future performance variants, that’s certainly not the case with the two remaining years of the muscle car era.

Total Sales: 10,703,000; change: +13.4%.

1973 Noteworthy Events

• Pontiac – SD 455 Trans Am.

Total sales topped ten million units this year. The two giants Ford and Chevy were up by single digits, while the rest of the major players saw gains from 15% to 30%. It was truly a great year for the auto industry, just not the muscle car segment! This would also be the year the Arab oil embargo completed the decimation of the performance car segment.

Arab Oil Embargo

This started in October of 1973 when OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) declared an embargo. This was in response for U.S. (and other countries) support of Israel in the recently ended Yom Kippur War. Key targets were USA, Canada and the United Kingdom, and the embargo was led by our friend Saudi Arabia. International oil prices rose from $4/barrel to $12 ($17 to $68, 2019$); US prices were substantially higher than this. Production was cut by as much as 25%.

The federal (and state) government initiated a number of responses, such as gasoline rationing, year-round daylight savings and the ill-conceived 55mph national speed limit.

One effect of this situation was for people to dump their large engine cars, often in a near panic. As if the muscle car coffin needed another nail! The 55mph speed limit took on a life of its own, like some slimy creature exposed to toxic waste. 1974 traffic deaths dropped, which was ignorantly attributed to the lower speeds, but in fact due to people driving less because of the hideously expensive gas!

From U.S. News& World Report:

While the academy study, done by the Transportation Research Board, labored to put a positive spin on the most ignored law in the nation, it also undermined the propaganda that had supported this law from its beginning. One such revelation was that the law had virtually no meaningful effect on fuel utilization. The TRB researchers estimated that if the speed limit were raised from 55 to 65, national fuel consumption would increase by .018 percent. Saving less than two tenths of one percent in fuel consumption seems a poor tradeoff for putting 200 million motorists through the misery of going back to a 1930s speed limit.

This article further points out that only 20 – 25% of traffic volume is on roads with 55+mph speed limits, and that most fuel is consumed by cars on urban and suburban roads. Taking a dispassionate look at the concept clearly reveals how flawed it is, regardless of whether you were looking at it in 1974 or 1994. Thankfully it went away in 1995. I guess that’s what we deserve for electing old guys who stay in office for freakin’ ever and are totally out of touch with the average American. (End of rant)

Chevrolet

For 1973 Chevrolet saw further disintegration of what had been their participation in the muscle car era.  Hardtops were being replaced wholesale with the new ‘sporty’ colonnade style tops.  The main reason for this was the federal government’s new roll-over standards.  Indeed, hardtops tended to collapse the roof on rollovers.

Approximate sales: 2,579,000; change: +6.6%; industry rank: 1st.

Nova

Ah, Nova! Other mightier, sportier and faster cars came and went, but Nova was still here (and would be for some time)! Nova started as a Chevy II sub-series and then became a true survivor!

Nova still looked like Nova, which was a good thing.  It actually got very little updating throughout it life.

Chevelle

Chevelle received a huge restyling for 1973. The styling was contemporary and by necessity included the federally-mandated bumpers. This body style hasn’t been well regarded by history, but I suspect it was the right styling at the right time.

Years later, some would look back on this era of Chevelle and express strong feelings about the use of the ‘SS’ designation. I regard it as understandable and foregiveable. As the ’70’s continued and turned into the ’80’s, far, far greater disrespect would be directed toward the sacred monakers of the past in a ridiculous recycling of performance-related names and terms, all too often applied to cars totally devoid of any real sense of performance.

Those Gorgeous 5-mph Bumpers

Yeah, you can thank the fat-cats back in DC for that wonderful piece of legislation.  The NHTSA standard took effect on Sept. 1, 1972.   Further regulations came in 1973 and 1974.  The results of this legislation meant that no longer would taillights be integrated into the rear bumpers.  Both front and rear bumpers were now heavier and protruded further from the front and rear of the vehicle.  This made for some formidable styling challenges, the result of which were some ugly, ponderous designs.  The regulation was relaxed in 1982, under the Reagan administration.

What the heck? This looks just like the Nova above! Same color even.

Camaro

Camaro continued to be a stunningly attractive car. Sure, not all were red Z/28’s like this one, but Camaro continued the styling introduced in 1970.

Camaro styling remained almost unchanged from 1972. It was still attractive as hell.

Camaro came in four different levels of something, but I don’t quite know what.  Performance?  Yeah, to some extent.  Maybe luxury?  Not a word you would hear often when talking about a Camaro.  But who cares?  You want luxury in a Chevy, look at Caprice or maybe Monte Carlo.

Look At all the sweet crap the cowboy and cowgirls got with their new Chevy Impala!

Full foam seats!  We’re talking real high-end stuff, folks.

So how did the Monte Carlo suspension differ from that of other Chevy or GM midsize cars?  It must have, if it had ‘road manners of Europe’s finest’, right?

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo received an extensive restyling this year, the first since its 1970 introduction. It was a continuation of the short deck/long hood styling and was quite distinctive. The buying public must have liked the new look, because they responded by the purchase of an additional 50,000 units over 1972 levels.

Monte Carlo was totally restyled for 1973. It rode on the same 116″ wheelbase chassis as before.

The front was reminiscent of the previous design, but now sported a grille split by the large bumper. The sides were heavily sculpted with features that swept from the leading edge of the front fender, down and ending roughly in the middle of the door. A second, similar feature ran the length of the rear fenders. This was a particularly nice look, resulting in increased sales over those of 1972.

The rear styling was clean and had had the tail lights integrated into the trailing edge of the fenders, which angled out from the bottom of the trunk lid.

There’s no confusing the ’72 and ’73 Monte Carlo fronts. The first series was so clean and fresh, it must have been difficult to style a follow-on for 1973. It seems that most followers of cars of the ’60’s and ’70’s value the first series more than this second series, but it’s unfair to try to judge the two with the perspective of today.

The ’72 Monte Carlo had a very nicely styled rear end. About the only styling element that was carried over was the integration of the tail lights into the rear of the fenders, though in a slightly different manner.

Corvette

This was the beginning of the end of chromed bumpers for Corvette, with the front bumper now being urethane-covered and body colored.  Other changes were a new, domed hood, fixed rear window and a change to the front fender louvers, making them much simpler.  Top engine was the 275 net hp 454.

Approximate sales: 30,500; change: +13%.

Those Gorgeous 5-mph Bumpers, Part II

I almost hate to admit it, but I was one of the people who thought the ’71 (possibly the ’72) was the last ‘real’ Corvette.  It didn’t have the fancy plastic bumpers that the ’73 and on had front and rear.  No, Sir; it had chromed bumpers, just as God intended it to be!  Well, it just dawned on me, all these years later, that Corvette did something totally cool.  They met the dumb-assed bumper regulations without resorting to the huge, chromed steel, piston-mounted battering rams that everybody used.  In several more years this style of bumper will be common, but Corvette led the way!

The new front bumper added a few inches to the length of Corvette. Though the ‘plastic-bumpered’ cars don’t fare as well as their predecessors among enthusiasts today, it’s difficult to realize how significant this was at the time.

It’s not clear why Chevrolet chose to update the front bumper in 1973 but waited until 1974 to address the rear bumper. I can think of a few possible reasons.

The new ‘plastic’ front bumper and grille did bear a resemblance to the ’72.

This is a cool advertisement.  The text refers to the dream of owning a Corvette.  Yeah, it’s been around for 20 years now; that’s enough time for it to have become entrenched in the American psyche, and I’m sure there were plenty of people who dreamed about owning one, whether or not it came to pass.

Another nice Corvette ad, showing you a couple of views of the interior.

Buick

The Skylark name was (temporarily) retired this year.  The Century/Luxus/Regal series filled the intermediate slots.  The small Apollo arrived, a ‘Buick-ized’ version of the Chevy Nova.  It would be an important player in Buick sales, which is a bit ironic in that it was mostly a Chevy.

The Gran Sport name became essentially meaningless this year, now referring to a package that provided such things as an electric clock and wheel-well moldings.  In all fairness, there were some suspension upgrades, too.  The top 455 engine made 270 net hp.  Like her GM sisters, much of the new styling involved the colonnade look.

Approximate sales: 821,000; change: +20.9%; industry rank: 6th.

The Gran Sport was not an unattractive car. It reminds me a lot of the Olds Cutlass.

I have to admit that I’m one of those people who would have been happier if Buick had simply retired the ‘Gran Sport’ and ‘Stage 1’ names after 1972.  Neither name really seem to fit here.  Both had special connotations in earlier years and this car and engine, here in ’73, just didn’t fit anymore.  But Buick was just doing what everyone else was in trying to transition to a non-performance automotive market.

Nova Apollo

Yeah.  One of many Nova clones.  Buick had theirs, as did Pontiac and Olds.  We were truly in the age of ‘corporate platforms’ now.

I’m not entirely sure what message the two pictures are trying to communicate. They’re proudly displaying the finished product at the bottom, sure. Is the top pic trying to show how the engineers were so very involved with the car? Maybe.

Sorry we didn’t include the ‘text and illustrations’ that followed.  They would have been absolutely fabulous, to be sure!

Ah, Buick. So many incredible innovations! ‘Regulated braking’. ‘Emissions control system built right into the engine’. ‘Energy absorbers’ on front bumper. Nobody else had these ‘innovations’! Wait… Every. Body. Else. Did.

Riviera was still an attractive car, but the enormous front bumper seemed to dominate the front of the car. In some models the large bumpers were somewhat less obtrusive than with other styles. With Riviera, it dominated.

The rear look of Riviera was still clean and attractive, with the bumper nicely integrated into the design. Notice that the ‘stinger’ no longer protrudes in the center of the back like it did in ’71 and ’72. This kind of muted the design somewhat.

Turbo-Hydramatic 350 and 400

The THD was available in two different versions, both suited to the particular vehicle they were installed into.  The ‘350’ and ‘400’ represent the engine torque limits, it’s been said.  In reality, the 400 was indeed the heavy-duty unit, well suited to large vehicles and/or engines.

The THD-350, rather than being merely a light-duty version of the 400, was a completely different transmission, developed by Buick and Chevy.  It was often referred to as a ‘3-speed Powerglide’, which gives some insight into its genesis.  It did serve as the light-duty 3-speed automatic, but the giving similar names to both transmissions, while making marketing sense, obscures the true nature of the transmission.

Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile didn’t differ from her GM siblings, and can be summed up with “New, Nova-based small car, colonnade styling, big-ass bumpers”.  Actually, the fact that the Cutlass, especially the Supreme, were now the intermediates of choice should be noted.  Olds sold some 323,000 Cutlass models this year.

The ‘NovOmega’ sold almost twice the number of copies as did Buick with their ‘NovApollo’.  Pontiac’s ‘NoVentrua’ would outsell both the Omega and Apollo combined.

The highest output Olds engine was the 270 net hp version of the 455.

Oldsmobile sold more cars this year than it ever had or ever would.

Approximate sales: 922,000; change: +21.2%; industry rank: 3^rd.

Cutlass

Compare the front of Cutlass with that of Riviera. Cutlass doesn’t look bad with the federally-mandated bumper. It doesn’t seem to dominate the way it does with Riviera.

Also, compare the front bumper of Cutlass to that of Chevelle.  The Olds look is much nicer and cleaner.  The Chevelle looks like Chevy asked a couple of junior engineers to ‘design us a bumper’.

The rear styling of Cutlass was clean and elegant, comparable with just about any car from the entire era. To my eye, Cutlass was probably the best looking car of ’73.

Hurst/Olds

Hurst/Olds was back, of course.  Now that the 4-4-2 had been reduced to mostly an appearance package, the H/O was the only game in town if you were an Olds performance fan.  Or should I say ‘man’, as in ‘man in motion’.  How damned sexist is this? I guess the drawing is of ‘The Man in Motion’ and friend? He looks like Mark Spitz’s older brother, Simon. Who knew that one day there would be a sunflower seed named after him! ‘Man in Motion’ my butt!

Yeah.  How many kids that graduated from high school in 1963 dreamed about going back to their 10-year reunion in a Cutlass Supreme to impress their friends?  One, maybe?  Or none? (Yeah, I know there was no Cutlass in ’63…)

This seems to have been a bit of a theme for the Oldsmobile advertising in the early ’70’s–“If your friends could see you now”. Probably not a terrible marketing strategy, but still. Driving an Olds means I’ve arrived? Really? Hmm…

4-4-2 got a different grille than Cutlass. This must have been part of the ‘442 package’ option, for $122 (2020$ – $745). I dunno. I don’t like it as much as the ‘regular’ grille as seen in the vehicles above. The part below the bumper looks too obvious to me. What do you think?

Pontiac

Pontiac set their all-time sales record this year, earning them a fourth place in the industry.  The LeMans underwent a substantial remodel, with a distinctive grille and colonnade style roofs.  Grand Am was the new A-body, built on the same platform as LeMans.  Its front-end treatment was rather striking, with a protruding nose and three rectangular grille areas on each side.  Grand Am came standard V8 powered.  Less than 5% of Pontiac’s sales came from Grand Am this year, and sales would decrease in ’74 and ’75.  The cost, $4,300, was equal to that of a Trans Am, and its weight was some 500 lb. greater.  I have to think these two things had a lot to do with the low Grand Am sales.

Although only 302 copies of the wonderful SD 455 engine were sold, in Trans Am and Formula Firebirds, this was the engine that qualified 1973 as being part of the muscle car era.

This engine, although having a low compression ratio, had heads with marvelous, free-flowing ports.  It made 310 net hp, which would have been in the range of 375hp gross.  Its torque would also have been in the 475 – 500 ft-lb. (gross) range, as well.  A well-geared SD Trans Am or Formula was a solid 13 second car, and would have been in the thick of things in the street battles back in any previous year.

Approximate sales: 919,800; change: +30.1%; industry rank: 4^th.

Formula Firebird

I believe the Formula is coated in Navajo Orange paint here. It looks sooo cool with the hood scoops and honeycomb wheels! It was great that Pontiac offered you two different styles of the performance variants of Firebird, Formula and Trans Am.

Firebird continued to exhibit its great looks from any angle.  One of the great classic cars of all time, I’d have to say!

Trans Am

Trans Am was THE performance car for 1973, no question, and would go on through the rest of the ’70’s establishing a reputation, a presence, that was unique in automotive history. Not always ultra high performance, as such, but as the cool car to be seen driving.

Here’s the Firebird all gussied up in its Trans Am persona.  The honeycomb wheels were so freakin’ attractive!

Pontiac Super Duty 455 Engine

This is the wonderful and legendary Pontiac SD-455. Yep. For this engine, the early-60’s name ‘Super Duty’ was resurrected. This engine was truly worthy of the name. It had 2.11″ intake valves and 1.77″ exhaust valves. What made it exceptional were the huge ports, especially the large round exhaust ports. In true Pontiac premium-engine style, the manifolds were gorgeous. The exhaust manifolds were some of the best to be had.

All of the hardware was heavy-duty, including a 4-bolt main block with provisions for dry-sump oiling and extra webbing in key areas. The heads were developed with help of AirFlow Research of Van Nuys, California.

The crankshaft was cast iron, but underwent a couple of extra manufacturing steps, including nitriding.

The carburetor was a Rochester Quadrajet that was specially prepared and oversize, with an 800 cfm rating.

Door 1 or Door 2?

There are two different accounts of the 1973 and 1974 versions of the SD-455. I neither know which one is correct, nor do I, at this time, know how to substantiate either version.

The First. The ’73 SD-455 engine was supplied with the Pontiac Ram Air IV (041) camshaft, which was the hottest Pontiac cam ever. The engine was rated at 310hp (net) at 4,000 rpm. For ’74, the EPA emissions regulations forced Pontiac to use the Ram Air III cam (744) instead, the factory rating then dropping to 290hp at 4,000 rpm.

The Second. Like the first account, but the RA IV cam was never used in 1973; the RA III cam was instead. Further, the ’73 factory rating was 290hp, not the 310hp that most sources report.

The GTO option of LeMans was fairly attractive, but one has to wonder just a bit why Pontiac bothered. The performance baton had clearly been passed to Firebird by this time, indicating the direction the company was going in. Still, if there had to be a ’73 GTO, this wasn’t a bad execution.

Ringer or True Badass?

In 1973, Car and Driver tested an SD-455 Trans Am at Orange County International Raceway. This was a Turbo-Hydramatic car, likely with 3.42 gears. The car ran 13.75 seconds at 103+mph. This makes the car the fastest Firebird ever tested up to that time.

Well… as with the previous account, things might not be as black and white as they seem with this story. There are accusations that the Trans Am tested was a ringer, with a RA IV cam and tweaked timing and carburetion. Was this story true? If so, what’s the significance? Could this have been motivated by the original Pontiac ringer in 1964, where the first GTO offered to the press for testing was actually a 428 car, the fact of which wasn’t known for some twenty-five years after the fact?

Me? I’m leaning toward thinking that the SD-455 was one true badass that could walk on the average muscle car from a few years previous and could go toe-to-toe with about anything from the era. Remember, this car had 3.08 gears (AC) or 3.42 gears (non-AC). Even if the ‘ringer’ story is true, throw some 3.90 gears into it and we’re talking mid thirteens or better.

Swoopy and aerodynamic they were, or so it seemed.  Didn’t matter, though; they were gorgeous!

Yeah, I’m kinda thinking that Grand Am didn’t really deserve to be considered in the same company as the other notable cars.  Maybe at the time, Pontiac hoped Grand Am would be that car, but that’s not how it turned out.  It did exhibit some interesting and unique styling, for sure.

You can get it with the legendary GTO package. Is that a good thing?

Built Around a Big Metal Piece

Look at that front bumper!  It looks like the whole car was built around it, like the A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) was built around its 30mm cannon.

This is the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II, which was designed around the GAU-8 30mm rotating 7-barrel cannon. Projectiles were of depleted uranium and 1.18″ x 6.8″ in size. Firing rate was 3,900 rounds per minute.

Grand Prix for ’73 was a looker, for sure.

Dodge

Not much was new at Dodge for ’73.  Charger received a new rear quarter window treatment that was a bit more mainstream than before.  Charger sales were way up from ’72.  Top engine was a 280 net hp version of the 440.

Approximate sales: 665,000; change: +15.1%; industry rank: 7^th.

Challenger

This was the second year for this style of front end for Challenger. The Rallye option ($162) offered, among other things, the faux vents and strobe graphics behind the front wheel openings. It was a cool look.

Not many changes to Challenger for 1973. Still has killer looks, though, right?

Here’s the Challenger front in ’72. Compare it to the ’73, above, and you won’t see any difference.

Ditto the above. The spoiler doesn’t count, as it was optional.

Dart

Dart had a new front end this year, and the hood received a ridge down the middle.

This is a ’72 Dart Swinger showing the Dart grille and bumper. You can see how the front styling was changed for 1973.

Charger

Charger got a front end that was slightly modified and a new rear side window treatment. These windows were available with and without louvers.

The ’73 rear styling was just like the ’72.

Here’s the ’72 front, showing that there were minor changes for ’73.

You have to be a man to handle this beast, I guess.  Ladies need not apply.

Again, here’s Dodge giving a big middle finger to any prospective female buyers, going straight for ‘the hard driving man’.

Here’s an advertisement showing Charger with louvered windows. For some reason, this drawing makes Charger look significantly shorter than it does in the other advert or in the pictures.

Lots of hill climbing for Dodge in 1973. I question whether or not the ad guys know what 2.94 rear end gears mean! These aren’t ‘go fast’ gears.

Plymouth

Plymouth continued to emphasize luxury over performance in ’73.  Why not?  Everyone else was, too.

Approximate sales: 882,000; change +16.7%; industry rank: 5th.

‘Cuda

The Barracuda/’Cuda line was mostly unchanged from ’72. The six cylinder engine was no longer available and manual disc brakes were made standard equipment. The term ‘specialty compacts’ was now used, in a further distancing the series from its muscle car heritage.

Still some sweet body lines, for sure.

Here’s the front of Cuda in 1972. Not much change for ’73.

Yeah, I already know- the ’72 and ’73 rear styling of Cuda were almost identical.

Road Runner

The Satellite series was modified, especially in the front. The unique bumper/grille of the past two years was replaced with a much more common styling, featuring a rather common bumper. It’s probably a good guess that this change was motivated by federal bumper legislation.

“Let’s just put a big slab of chromed metal on the back. Oh, and don’t forget to cut out for the tail lights.” Gotta say, the rear view leaves me not sure of what words to use.

This is the front of the ’72 Road Runner, which was very similar to the ’71 styling. ’73 would see a restyled front with a significantly different look.

Roadrunner with the mighty 400 V8. 185 big horsepower. Weird that all Big 3 automakers had 400cid V8 engines; none of them worth a crap.

Hey!  I remember halter tops!  They were one of the finer things the 1970’s brought us, no question.

Come to think of it, I had a pair of ‘double-knit’ pants that were an awful lot like the guy’s wearing.  Not one of the finer things from the ‘70’s!

(I never did figure out just what the hell ‘double-knit’ meant, either…)

It’s nice to see the Road Runner (bird) is still around.

I’m not at all sure why they choose this setting.  Looks like a wedding, right?  Who except the groom would park in front like this? I love the wheel covers.

Ford

The excitement was clearly gone from Ford this year.  Mustang was a plastic-y looking thing with lethargic performance, unless you opted for the 351 CJ engine.  The front of Torino was restyled a bit, making the large grille opening wider and not as tall.  It was a better look.

Approximate sales: 2,350,000; change: +4.6%; industry rank: 2nd.

Gran Torino

The front of Torino was redesigned after just one year with the previous design. The ’73 look was nice, with much less of a love-it-or-hate-it sort of feel to it.

Torino continued to have an attractive look with its sweptback rear window and ‘hips’ accenting the rear fenders.

The one-year-only 1972 ‘catfish’ grille and bumper.

Mustang

There were no styling changed to Mustang for 1973. I mean, why would they? Mustang II was well underway and it made sense to leave Mustang just like it was in ’72.

Mach I, seen here, had a 302 2bbl standard, making all of 135hp. in July 1973, The ROAD TEST Magazine tested a 351 Ford Mustang Mach 1 with a Cleveland 351, optional 3.25 gears and 3-speed C6 Transmission. 0 to 60 took 8.5 seconds. What would the 302 2bbl have run? Under 10 seconds, maybe?

Behold the largest Mustang built!  This car was just a bit smaller than a mid-size.  The rear window was almost horizontal!  Rear vision was almost non-existent compared to a ’70 and earlier.

“…not one of the herd”. “…personal style”. Right, Ford…

‘Luxury’ and ‘Maverick’. Two words you might not ever expect to hear in the same sentence!

Torino and Gran Torino were still important cars for Ford, accounting for about 20% of Ford sales. “Quieter than a glider”. Kudos to the mastermind who came up with that slogan.

FoMoCo Rating Silliness

Many FoMoCo engines this year had horsepower ratings that were very close in value.  For example, the 302 had engines rated at 135, 136, 137 and 138 net hp, all at 2,800 rpm.  We’re listing just one of these engines, rather than allowing things to get messy.  Check ‘Ultimate American V-8 Engine Data Book’, Peter C. Sessler, ISBN 0-7603-0489-0, MBI Publishing Co, Osceola WI.

Mercury

Mercury was just a whole lot of ‘meh’ this year, not all that much different from the rest of the US automakers.  Big cars, except for the Maverick clone, and huge assed bumpers that by themselves weighed as much as the Japanese imports that were now appearing.

Approximate sales: 486,000; change: +10.0%; industry rank: 8^th.

Cougar

Cougar received minor updating but was not significantly changed. It continued as Mercury’s popular luxury personal performance car.

Advertising for Cougar was always well done. I’ve always liked the Cougar (animal). If I had one as a pet, I’d have it wear a medal, too.

Capri

See below for more information on Capri.

Capri was an attractive little model made by Ford in Germany. It was a nice little package that got a lot of attention.

The Capri concept originated back in the mid ’60’s as a ‘European Mustang’. The name ‘Mustang’ was owned by a truck manufacturer and thus unavailable to Ford. Just as Mustang was developed on the already-existing Falcon platform, Capri was built on the new Ford Cortina platform.

When the 1974 Capri arrived, it would have new body-colored bumpers which were designed to meet the new rear impact standards.

Capri had appeared in mid 1970 as a 1971 model, being made by Ford-Werke AG in Germany. Two engines were available, one German sourced and one British.

There were about 113,000 Capris sold in 1973, a mere 20,000 less than the number of Mustangs sold. The success of Capri convinced Ford that a smaller Mustang was indeed the right course to take. In fact, the Cologne 2.8L V6, available in the ’74 Capri, was also used in the new Mustang II. Capri wasn’t ‘Mercury Capri’ or ‘Ford Capri’; it was just ‘Capri’. (Maybe a bit like Cher, Bono, or Madonna?)

Ford-Werke AG

If you’re of the belief that FoMoCo can do no wrong, you may want to skip this section. Ford-Werke (‘Ford Factories’) is a part of Ford of Europe which in turn is part of the Ford Motor Company. Plants are in Cologne and Saarlouis Germany. Ford started a parts operation in Germany in 1912 and manufacturing of entire cars began in 1931.

During WWII the company was managed by Robert Hans Schmidt, and was guilty of using slave labor. War materiel manufactured included V2 rocket components. (V2 rockets targeted civilian populations, not military targets.) Schmidt was rehired after the war, with no objections being raised by Henry Ford II or other Ford management.

1973 V8 Engine Specs

1973 Newspaper Clippings