By November 1967 the final body shape had been realised, and following the discovery that the name Colt was already registered by the Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi the name Capri was used instead. Ford had already used the Capri name on a car that was based on the same chassis as the Ford Classic, but following poor sales (only 19,000 units in total) production of the
Consul Capri
had ceased some years previously.
It is worth noting that the name Capri comes from the Italian Island, and should in fact be pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable and not the second.
Working prototypes were produced by a team of British engineers headed by the man responsible for the development of the Consul Capri – John Hitchman. The first cars were powered by 1.3 to 2.0 litre engines and were tested at Boreham in Essex. These prototypes had all the features, design and styling that the final Capri would have – except, as can been seen in the above picture, the famous eliptical rear window.
