ASC McLaren Mercury Capri Convertible with under 16,000 miles from new; RECAROS!

1985 Mercury Capri Dark Blue, Leather, Recaros Description

Hubby's Toybox is being cleared out, bit by bit. So here we have our ASC McLaren droptop which (I believe) is one of just 86 which were made. We only have four convertibles - two V12 Jags, an SL600 and this one, which has more mileage than the other three put together. I guess we aren't really that passionate about droptops after all. Perhaps it is because they always turn into a bad hair day for me.

The McLaren's mileage is low, but genuine at under 16,000 miles. It has a thick wad of paperwork, as complete as is possible - original sales invoice, service records, etc dating back from the original purchaser. At some point he apparently re-registered the car in his spouse's name, perhaps after a lease expired. Many years later, they sold or traded the car to the dealer from whom we immediately bought it at a car show in 2001. So, effectively, it is a two owner vehicle or as close as it gets. We even have the original owner's card and vanity tag info, plus the factory supplied delivery information. It has worn a Historic tag since 2006 or so, but in the years during which it was emissions tested, it never once failed, despite covering minimal mileage.

Feeling sorry for her not having been driven much, a couple of years ago we took her on a 700+ mile trip without a single issue. The engine does not care whether one feeds it Premium gas or Regular, and fires up without hesitation. If you gas it too abruptly, it will immediately chirp the tires. It has been regularly serviced using Mobil 1, just like all our many other personal vehicles.

Issues? Enthusiasts familiar with Ford products from the mid-Eighties need no educating in this regard, and bear in mind that this gal is now 34 years old. Fit and finish is typical for the era and leaves a lot to be desired, though the ASC or McLaren bits are well fitted and better than Ford might have done back then. Oddly, the lower plastic foot guard panels have bleached out, despite the car having been garaged indoors all its life (so advised; we can only vouch for its garage spot these past 18 years). We are told that these panels can be recolored to match - the problem is common and the process is straightforward, any upholstery shop has the correct dye on hand. It must be a flaw related to the type of plastic they used, because the adjoining carpets are a dark blue and have never faded, not even slightly. There is a small leak in the exhaust, just ahead of the tailpipes. We will have this addressed but will retain the original tailpieces for originality's sake. thing that's glaring. The shifter gate rubber has lost a piece of itself at some point; it may have just become brittle. The door cards, armrests, etc are all in great shape but the elastic pockets on each door have sagged to the point of looking very sad. However, they are complete and an easy fix at any upholstery shop.

The tires are old now, and may even be the originals. They exhibit no visible damage but it would be prudent to replace them for safety. We'd recommend picking a set which are less noisy on the road, as with the top down, they are annoying on concrete highways.

The car was originally sold for over $28,000, which was fairly serious money in 1985, back when the Dollar was actually worth something and its Alpine radio/cassette was the top end of car audio.

We are always amused at people's reaction to the car as they try to guess what it is. There are no visible identification plates or badging, so the body design confounds most folks until they look inside and see the familiar Mustang/Capri dash layout. When there were still Mercury dealers around, even they had no idea about this car's pedigree. Few of these cars ever made it to mainstream showrooms as they were specially ordered as custom builds and were rarely found in a dealer's inventory.

The Recaros are wrapped in dark blue leather and are the type fitted with the nifty in-headrest speakers, pull-out leg extenders and form fitting air bladders with electric pumps. They are close to perfect with very little wear on the driver's seat bolster; this is usually a common issue and one which always speaks to the care/use and mileage. Hubby says he would hate to try finding a pair of these seats in good condition today - at any price.

In summary, this is the car to take on a trip down Sunset Drive in the Fall without having to worry about the risk to a latter-day, six-figure import which everyone will recognize at first glance.

Additional photos can be taken on request, just ask. Inspections welcome, due diligence is expected. Sale is "as is, where is". Deposit is non-refundable and the remaining balance is payable by verified (bank guaranteed) funds only - not via Paypal; no financing is implied or offered!
We will work with the buyer or authorized carrier's schedule once funds have been cleared by our bank.