Onto the chromework on my Hooper Consul Capri...
The actual condition of the chrome wasn't too bad really, well, certainly much better than the rest of the car anyway! The Hooper had all the same chrome as the standard Consul Capri with the exception of the five star bar on the front grill and the chrome trim around the rear didn't had the aluminium panel within it.
Instead of the five star bar on the front grill there was a straight chrome bar. However, when I got my Hooper, the original Hooper grill bar had been replaced with a standard five star bar. This didn't actually bother me at the time because I thought the five stars looked rather good and appeared to float in the middle of the grill.
My Hooper had some extra chrome trim, I'm not sure if they were optional extras for the Consul Capri or extras from Hoopers or somewhere else as I've never seen any like it before or since.
These included a chrome trim that runs around the front edge of the bonnet. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see it. I'm sure this wasn't a one off trim as it has been made in a cast and comprises three peices that fit together in the corners.
And my favourite of all is the chrome tips that fit over the rear wings. You can see them in the rear shots of the capri. These may well have been one off pieces as they have been made from flat pieces of metal and moulded into the rear wing shape. The workmanship on these tips is great as they really do fit perfectly. Again, I've never seem another Capri with these fitted nor any other Hoopers although I've only ever seem a few Hoopers myself.
Another one was an additional five star strip on the rear panel. The five starts were fitted diagonally onto a piece of metal that was screwed to the rear panel where the aluminium panel would have been on the standard Consul Capri. Again, I have no idea as to the origins of this extra but it certainly did look good. It can't be seem in any of the pictures as I never refitted it after the restoration work and I'm not sure why that was(I have a terrible memory).
The gear stick was also chrome which was a nice touch for the interior. Not sure if the standard Consul Capri has a chrome gear stick or not?
That's about it for the chrome. I'll talk about the Hooper modifications next...
I'm not very good at this blogging lark so it may be a while before the next post.
The actual condition of the chrome wasn't too bad really, well, certainly much better than the rest of the car anyway! The Hooper had all the same chrome as the standard Consul Capri with the exception of the five star bar on the front grill and the chrome trim around the rear didn't had the aluminium panel within it.
Instead of the five star bar on the front grill there was a straight chrome bar. However, when I got my Hooper, the original Hooper grill bar had been replaced with a standard five star bar. This didn't actually bother me at the time because I thought the five stars looked rather good and appeared to float in the middle of the grill.
My Hooper had some extra chrome trim, I'm not sure if they were optional extras for the Consul Capri or extras from Hoopers or somewhere else as I've never seen any like it before or since.
These included a chrome trim that runs around the front edge of the bonnet. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see it. I'm sure this wasn't a one off trim as it has been made in a cast and comprises three peices that fit together in the corners.
And my favourite of all is the chrome tips that fit over the rear wings. You can see them in the rear shots of the capri. These may well have been one off pieces as they have been made from flat pieces of metal and moulded into the rear wing shape. The workmanship on these tips is great as they really do fit perfectly. Again, I've never seem another Capri with these fitted nor any other Hoopers although I've only ever seem a few Hoopers myself.
Another one was an additional five star strip on the rear panel. The five starts were fitted diagonally onto a piece of metal that was screwed to the rear panel where the aluminium panel would have been on the standard Consul Capri. Again, I have no idea as to the origins of this extra but it certainly did look good. It can't be seem in any of the pictures as I never refitted it after the restoration work and I'm not sure why that was(I have a terrible memory).
The gear stick was also chrome which was a nice touch for the interior. Not sure if the standard Consul Capri has a chrome gear stick or not?
That's about it for the chrome. I'll talk about the Hooper modifications next...
I'm not very good at this blogging lark so it may be a while before the next post.
So onto the electrics in my new Hooper Consul Capri... To cut a long story short, nothing worked.
I bought a new battery and fitted it but still nothing worked, and when I saw nothing, I really mean nothing! It was clear that the capri needed to be almost completely rewired. As my Consul Capri had been retrimmed by Hoopers, it had some extra electrics over the standard Consul Capri that rolled out of the Ford factory.
The extras included:
Well that was just a brief description of the electrics, I'll talk later about how I got them all working again but next I'll be talking about the chromework on the Capri.
I bought a new battery and fitted it but still nothing worked, and when I saw nothing, I really mean nothing! It was clear that the capri needed to be almost completely rewired. As my Consul Capri had been retrimmed by Hoopers, it had some extra electrics over the standard Consul Capri that rolled out of the Ford factory.
The extras included:
- A light in the glovebox
- A light under the front parcel shelf
- Reversing lights
- A boot light
- And my favourite, but most daunting of all, electric front windows
Well that was just a brief description of the electrics, I'll talk later about how I got them all working again but next I'll be talking about the chromework on the Capri.
I finally scanned some of my early pictures. Here is a front view of the Hooper soon after getting it home and into the garage. Notice the five star bar in the front grill. This was added in place of the original Hooper chrome bar at some point in the past.
And the Hooper interior with its cream leather buckets seats with maroon piping. The door cards were also covered in leather with a small strip of carpet section along the bottom. Also notice the considerably different dash board. The original Ford dials were replaced by Hoopers with a walnut panel housing the round smiths guages and other switches. I'll talk about the Hooper modifications in a future post here.
Well looking back on these pictures now, the capri looks pretty good but believe me, it was all looks. Wait til you see some of the later pictures when I started stripping it down...
And the Hooper interior with its cream leather buckets seats with maroon piping. The door cards were also covered in leather with a small strip of carpet section along the bottom. Also notice the considerably different dash board. The original Ford dials were replaced by Hoopers with a walnut panel housing the round smiths guages and other switches. I'll talk about the Hooper modifications in a future post here.
Well looking back on these pictures now, the capri looks pretty good but believe me, it was all looks. Wait til you see some of the later pictures when I started stripping it down...
27/02: The bodywork (or lack of it)
And onto the bodywork...
I'm not sure where to start really. At first glance the Hoopers bodywork looked OK, just a bit dull really. The lower I looked however, the worse the bodywork got until I got down on my knees and bravely looked underneath(gulp). There was very little of the original Ford chassis left to talk about. The floor pan looked reasonably OK on the other hand - as if it mattered.
All the usual areas on the bodywork had been affected by rust, namely:
And those are just the usual areas on these Consul Capris to go rusty, my Hooper was not only hit hard in these areas by rust but also other less common areas, pretty much the whole of the rest of the car really!
Next time I'll be talking about the electrics, I'm sure you can guess what the general gist will be!
I'm not sure where to start really. At first glance the Hoopers bodywork looked OK, just a bit dull really. The lower I looked however, the worse the bodywork got until I got down on my knees and bravely looked underneath(gulp). There was very little of the original Ford chassis left to talk about. The floor pan looked reasonably OK on the other hand - as if it mattered.
All the usual areas on the bodywork had been affected by rust, namely:
- The headlamp surrounds
- The front tips of the front wings
- The bottom edge of the front wings
- The front corners of the bonnet
- The bottoms of the doors
- Above the sill infront of the rear wheel arches
- Behind the rear wheelarches
- The rear valance
- Corners of the boot lid
And those are just the usual areas on these Consul Capris to go rusty, my Hooper was not only hit hard in these areas by rust but also other less common areas, pretty much the whole of the rest of the car really!
Next time I'll be talking about the electrics, I'm sure you can guess what the general gist will be!
So I finally owner the Hooper Capri but what do I do with it and how can I get it working again? The first thing I did was get in and fiddle around with everything I could find.
Well that didn't last long as although there were plenty of buttons and dials, none of them actually did anything, despite connecting a brand new battery!
So what had I actually bought, apart from a good looking wreck?
I'll start with the mechanicals:
There was no life what so ever from the engine or starter motor. The engine was actually a later Ford cross flow 1600 GT engine, it didn't look healthy and I'm sure that if it actually ran it probably wouldn't have sounded healthy either.
Both the brake and clutch pedal were as floppy as piece of celery that had been lost in the bottom of the fridge for a week. And the brakes themselves were semi seized so pushing this monster of a car was virtually impossible, even more so as all the tyres were flat and bold.
The exhaust system reached as far as the end of the four branch manifold. The rest of it had turned into a long pile of rusty dust many years before.
That was about it in terms of the mechanical condition of this once loved consul capri. Next I'll be remembering the bodywork condition, it will be a long one...
Well that didn't last long as although there were plenty of buttons and dials, none of them actually did anything, despite connecting a brand new battery!
So what had I actually bought, apart from a good looking wreck?
I'll start with the mechanicals:
There was no life what so ever from the engine or starter motor. The engine was actually a later Ford cross flow 1600 GT engine, it didn't look healthy and I'm sure that if it actually ran it probably wouldn't have sounded healthy either.
Both the brake and clutch pedal were as floppy as piece of celery that had been lost in the bottom of the fridge for a week. And the brakes themselves were semi seized so pushing this monster of a car was virtually impossible, even more so as all the tyres were flat and bold.
The exhaust system reached as far as the end of the four branch manifold. The rest of it had turned into a long pile of rusty dust many years before.
That was about it in terms of the mechanical condition of this once loved consul capri. Next I'll be remembering the bodywork condition, it will be a long one...
18/01: Making contact again
A few months went past and I had pretty much forgotten about the Consul Capri when I received a phone call from the previously so polite owners.
It turned out that they had reconsidered selling the Hooper, and to me too.
I went round there the next day to find the Capri sitting in the driveway, out of the garage for the first time in many years.
I must say that I didn't really look over the car too much as I knew it was a wreck and I also knew that I wanted it and didn't want to put myself off buying it!
The couples attitude was almost completely opposite to the last time our paths crossed. They were happy to see me and keen for me to take their once loved Capri off their hands and give it back its former glory.
We quickly struck on a price of £800 for the Hooper and I went back the following day with a flat bed mercedes to take it home. I unloaded my new Capri in my parents driveway and that's where the story of 302 EXX really starts.
It turned out that they had reconsidered selling the Hooper, and to me too.
I went round there the next day to find the Capri sitting in the driveway, out of the garage for the first time in many years.
I must say that I didn't really look over the car too much as I knew it was a wreck and I also knew that I wanted it and didn't want to put myself off buying it!
The couples attitude was almost completely opposite to the last time our paths crossed. They were happy to see me and keen for me to take their once loved Capri off their hands and give it back its former glory.
We quickly struck on a price of £800 for the Hooper and I went back the following day with a flat bed mercedes to take it home. I unloaded my new Capri in my parents driveway and that's where the story of 302 EXX really starts.
The man of the house answered the door rather abruptly...
'Yeah, what do you want?' came the greeting.
So I explained myself and asked if they wanted to sell the car.
The second I finished talking there came some shouting from behind the door...
'I not selling the car to that bl**dy idiot!'
So that was pretty much the end of my plans to get my hands on the Hooper Consul Capri. I left the house slightly confused and thinking that I would never return.
'Yeah, what do you want?' came the greeting.
So I explained myself and asked if they wanted to sell the car.
The second I finished talking there came some shouting from behind the door...
'I not selling the car to that bl**dy idiot!'
So that was pretty much the end of my plans to get my hands on the Hooper Consul Capri. I left the house slightly confused and thinking that I would never return.
18/12: First sighting of the Hooper
I first saw my Hooper Consul Capri back in 1988. It was parked in a derelict garage down a small unbuilt lane in Speen, a small village near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, UK. The garage and the capri belonged to a couple that lived on the plot in a mobile home. I used to see the car everytime I drove down the lane as it was too big to fit in the garage completely and the boot stuck out with the garage door closed down on it.
Back then, I didn't know much about the Consul Capri, let alone what a Hooper was. Over the next few years I learnt more about the Consul Capri and decided that I had to have one. I went down the lane on a regular basis to visit the owners of the Capri to see if they wanted to sell it but there was never anyone in, or there was but they never answered the door. When I eventually got an answer at the door, the response wasn't quite what I was expecting...
Back then, I didn't know much about the Consul Capri, let alone what a Hooper was. Over the next few years I learnt more about the Consul Capri and decided that I had to have one. I went down the lane on a regular basis to visit the owners of the Capri to see if they wanted to sell it but there was never anyone in, or there was but they never answered the door. When I eventually got an answer at the door, the response wasn't quite what I was expecting...
