Topic: What is it? #1481 - ASC McClaren Capri Prototype

[Otto Puzzell]

Know what it is?

Please, respond below and share your knowledge what this is, and who built it
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[Tackitt]

It looks like a Mercury Capri.

[Otto Puzzell]

You're partially correct. This one is bit more special.

[Tackitt]

A McLaren Capri?

[Otto Puzzell]

Even more special than that. 

[Ultra]

1985 Mercury Motorsport Capri - Grand Prix IV Pace Car?

[Otto Puzzell]

Tackitt was 95% of the way to the solution - just a little more is needed.

[Maxiu]

ASC McLaren Capri ?

[Tackitt]

Maxiu just gave the answer I was going to give.  To be honest, that is all I know of these things.

[Otto Puzzell]

ASC McLaren Capri ?

There you have it. Making this one more the special, you'll never see another nose like this. It's a prototype added to an '85 Capri. Also notice the Lincoln Mark VII headlights and Mustang hood. The car was originally owned by Heinz Preichter, then owner of ASC, and driven by his wife.

The ASC/McLarens were created by Peter Muscat, who owned a custom shop in Detroit. His wife worked for Ford, and when she was told that she couldn't park her Mercedes SL in the employee parking lot, she asked her husband to convert an '80 Mustang coupe into a two-seater convertible, complete with a European-like canvas top that folded beneath a hard tonneau cover. Muscat showed the car to Ford, but because an '83 Mustang convertible was already planned, the idea was shuttled over to Mercury for the Capri.

To build the cars, Muscat approached ASC, a company well-known for building one-off or low-volume convertibles. ASC then brought McLaren on board to assist with the design and construction, which required considerable modifications to the Capri hatchbacks. Priced at $21,000, or about the same price as a Lincoln Mark VII, the ASC/McLaren Capris understandably ran into price resistance from potential customers, resulting in rather lackluster sales, even when ASC/McLaren offered a stripped-down EuroCoupe version as a regular hatchback.

The ASC/McLaren Capri was offered through Mercury dealers in both roadster and coupe body styles in 1984, 1985, and 1986. When the Capri was phased out after 1986, the ASC/McLaren program was switched to the Mustang as a two-seater convertible only for the '87 model year. Not surprisingly, sales of the ASC/McLaren Mustang in 1987 nearly reached the three-year total for ASC/McLaren Capris. A total of 1,806 Mustangs were built during the four years of production; 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990.