1973 Ford Capri RS3100

Lot Number: 202

1973 Ford Capri RS3100

The rare RS3100, the homologation version of the Capri racer of the day; Cosworth-developed V6 engine, 'ducktail' spoiler and unique colour schemes - quite a recipe! A best-of-breed, award-winning example, immortalised as a Corgi model.

There is a Sale Room Notice on this lot, please read this before placing a bid

  • NOT SOLD

LIVE AUCTION: This lot was auctioned on Saturday 11th November, 2023 at 10.00am GMT at NEC, Birmingham, B40 1NT

  • Body Colour

    BODY COLOUR
    Olympic Blue

  • Drive

    DRIVE
    RHD

  • Registration Number

    REG NUMBER
    MVF 390M

SALE ROOM NOTICE

Please note the original engine block will accompany the car

SUMMARY

The rare RS3100, the homologation version of the Capri racer of the day; Cosworth-developed V6 engine, 'ducktail' spoiler and unique colour schemes - quite a recipe! A best-of-breed, award-winning example, immortalised as a Corgi model.

DESCRIPTION

Ford’s early success in the European Touring Car (ETC) Championship with the Capri RS2600 during the 1971 to 1973 seasons was at an end with the BMW 3.0 CSL ('Batmobile') soundly beating the Capri in the latter part of the 1973 season. With the FIA rule changes in mid-1973, allowing for road homologated wings to be used for racing, Ford commenced a program which led to the RS3100 road car, the homologation version of the Capri racer.

With the RS2600 Weslake engine program having achieved the maximum possible output from the German 2.6-litre engine, Ford switched to the 'Essex' 3-litre V6 engine with Cosworth given the job of producing a reliable racing engine from the unit. Ford agreed with Cosworth that a bored-out 3.1-litre engine was a good basis for the future racing engine; hence the birth of the Capri RS3100.

The new engine was fitted with blue-painted rocker covers (to differentiate it from a standard 3-litre unit) and in standard road-tune developed 148bhp at 5,200rpm and 187lb/ft of torque at 3,000rpm and achieved performance figures of 0 - 60mph in 7.3 seconds with a top speed of 125mph.

Ford Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) looked at the success of the BMW 'Batmobile' with its aerodynamic spoilers and wings in developing the RS3100. Spoilers had never been homologated for the RS2600. Ford AVO developed a 'ducktail' spoiler on the boot and a small lip spoiler on the front which helped high speed stability with wind tunnel tests yielding a Cd figure of 0.37.

RS3100 production began in November 1973 at Halewood, with very sketchy details of the model’s production run, however, by January 1974, the run had finished with only 248 RS3100s officially completed and all being right-hand drive. The RS3100 was homologated in January 1974 for the 1974 ETC season. The short run for the RS3100, which was based on the MK1 3000 GT, was in the main due to the overlap with the Capri Mk2 production due for release in February 1974. The RS3100 was an expensive road car at £2,450 and, with the mid-1970s oil crisis, the RS3100 was not a popular seller in a fuel-starved Britain.

The RS3100’s suspension had a modified front cross-member to move suspension arms outwards to provide negative camber (-30' +/- 30'), stiffer front springs combined with heavy duty Bilsten gas dampers, competition single leaf rear springs combined with uprated Bilsten gas dampers, special bump rubbers and spacer blocks. It shared its brakes and AVO 4-spoke alloy wheels with the RS2600, and, in appearance, it shared the later version RS2600 black quarter front bumpers, full-width black rear bumper and quad headlamps. The distinguishing features were the large matt black rear spoiler, front bib spoiler, dummy louvers, flared front arches and the unique colour schemes. The production run included: 60 Diamond White, 49 Daytona Yellow, 59 Sebring Red, 25 Modena Green, 20 Stardust Silver, 27 Olympic Blue and ten Marine Blue all with gold decals around the power bulge, rear panel and a triple line down the sides. Interior was straight out of the UK 3000 GXL with a 130mph speedo fitted.

The car presented here was supplied new by Lynford Motor Company in Kings Lynn and is 1 of 27 RS3100 examples produced in striking Olympic Blue; it has a superb history with the RS3100 Owners Club and used to belong to a good friend of the late Len Pierce, the well-respected Capri RS expert. Our Ford-aficionado vendor bought the car in 2016 and describes it as being ‘amazingly original’, benefiting from some recommissioning done by the previous Norfolk-based owner (who bought it in 1979) and, remarkedly, PDI’d the car at the supplying Ford dealership as a young apprentice! He was just the 3rd owner and enjoyed it for 37 years. Unsurprisingly, in 2021, it won an RS3100 Owners Club award presented in Len Pierce's honour, soon after his passing, voted for by all the members. It goes without saying that its chassis/engine number are all correct, likewise its chassis plates.

In excellent condition, but still regularly used and enjoyed – and better for it - this very special car was the specific example selected by Corgi to be represent the RS3100 model, no small accolade!

SPECIFICATION

Lot Number
202
Make
FORD
Model
CAPRI RS3100
Registration Number
MVF 390M
Chassis Number
BBECND20463
Engine Number
ND20463
Transmission
Manual
Body Colour
Olympic Blue

GALLERY

CONSIGNOR

Consignor

For further information regarding this lot please contact Joseph.

CONTACT

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Due to venue restrictions, all vehicles must be collected on Monday 13th November between 9am and 2pm.

Any vehicles not collected by this time will be transported to a secure storage facility in Northampton, the charges for which are £175 plus VAT for removal and £10 plus VAT per day for storage. We will make contact on Sunday to confirm how you will be removing your vehicle(s). If we do not hear back from you by 5pm on Sunday evening, we will arrange collection with EM Rogers on your behalf.

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