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ascMcLaren Enthusiasts
An asc McLaren forum for ALL Mustang and Capri based cars modified by Automotive Speciality Corporation, a Division of American Sunroof Corporation.
(a trademarked corporation) with no affilation to this site.
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Tom S.
Joined: 28 Aug 2004
Posts: 264
Location: Farmington, MN
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 Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 11:13 am Post subject: |
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| 1985 Motorsport Capri wrote: | actually making a capri coupe is possible. i helped make an 1985 capri rs covertable. my buddy had an 1985 gt convert. about 4 years ago the car was ready for the scrap yard as the body was rotted pretty bad from michigan winters. i talked him out of junking it due to the rarity of 85 gt converts with the 4 bbl / 5 speed combo. the frame was solid but the floor boards, doors, quarters were all rotted bad. engine / trans ended up being yanked & rebuilt. at that time all body panels were removed. i still had quite a few 85 capri rs parts left from the car i had that was totaled out & another friend had a 84 turbo rs that was totaled in the rear, plus an 86 doner car from the scrap yard. so a group of us tried to make a 85 rs convert, & it worked. had the front air dam, all rs trim & all. it looked as if it was a factory produced model. the only trouble we had was the quarter panel. what we ended up doing was getting a NOS capri quarter panel skin & then frabricating it with the top portion of the original coverts quarter. alittle bit of welding & some bondo & Ta-Da- capri convertable quarter panel. that was pretty trickey but it worked. when the car was finished it looked good. car was sold about 2 years ago to a guy in Warren, MI & as far as i know its still out there. it was white (gts original color) with the flat grey trim below the beltline.
so to sum it up, if it can be done with a convert, it can be done with a coupe. |
Dugan Racing made up a 'vert with Capri qtrs also. But instead of making it a Capri he used a Pace Car nose and in my opinion it's one of the sweetest looking 'verts I've ever seen. The car was featured in a Mustang magazine along with a Dugan carriage roofed coupe dressed up like a 20th anniv Mustang and I can't find the article in my stash of magazines.
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Tom S.
'85 ASC Coupe #607910--sold and crushed RIP 
'95 SVT Cobra--sold
'89 Oregon State Police SSP Mustang--sold
'86 LX 5.0 Coupe--sold |
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n20capri
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Posts: 715
Location: Bensalem PA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:26 pm Post subject: Re: A heck of a picture |
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| Sandy wrote: | This is probably THE most interesting photo I've seen. In several of my telephone conversations with Peter Muscat, he mentioned to me that Ford (in 1984-1986) had the ability to make him the "canvas" to make a better ascMcLaren 2-Seat Roadster (Mercury Capri 5.0SC) version, but after repeated attempts, in the end, FoMoCo would not, saying they just couldn't. Muscat repeated that once the hatch was removed from the Capri Hatchback, that the actual "corners" or rear fender peaks were incorporated into the hatch. Therefore, when the hatch was removed, to convert the car to the convertible, there was no "back" on the car, just taillamps, license plate housing and bumper fascia. Therefore he asked Ford if they could make a 2-door notchback sedan (like the Mustang) by doing so, the entire rear quarters, fenders and fender tops could be used, as well as the trunk lid. Would make a complicated job, a piece of cake. In addition, an added bonus would be an easier job of roof removal, due to the thinner "C" pillar on the Mustang, over the Capri. Ford had the body shells and all to do it, but told Muscat "NO" cannot be done and blah blah blah. Well......I wonder if Muscat ever saw these photos! Okay, it's a pre-1984, more like a 1981 perhaps, but that's just trim. Look at this Capri 2-Door Sedan Without hatch, with trunk lid, with Mustang 2-Door Sedan roof. It's one of many made in Mexico.
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That's a neat looking coupe...needs the flared fenders bad though...
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Mike
86 AscMcLaren Capri Coupe - #026 | 11.4@118 | 290/322
86 9L SVO
www.mikemartinelli.com
www.baldguydesigns.net
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Sandy
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 6205
Location: Northern New Jersey GSP Exit 148
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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well, Mike, as you can read & see, we've figured out how to go about getting the fronts, (piece of cake) but, the rear ones (side/rear, sorry), are alot more difficult. (Perhaps the reason it never happened ... (a coupe Capri.) There's just no way around the problem other than to switch one problem, for another!
(Having to deal with the wide "C" pillar of the Capri hatchback -vs- have no rear fender bulge.)
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Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascmclaren_capris/sandys_mclarens/ |
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n20capri
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Posts: 715
Location: Bensalem PA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Sandy wrote: | well, Mike, as you can read & see, we've figured out how to go about getting the fronts, (piece of cake) but, the rear ones (side/rear, sorry), are alot more difficult. (Perhaps the reason it never happened ... (a coupe Capri.) There's just no way around the problem other than to switch one problem, for another!
(Having to deal with the wide "C" pillar of the Capri hatchback -vs- have no rear fender bulge.) |
I know all about it...still needs the flared fenders though...lol
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Mike
86 AscMcLaren Capri Coupe - #026 | 11.4@118 | 290/322
86 9L SVO
www.mikemartinelli.com
www.baldguydesigns.net
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Sandy
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 6205
Location: Northern New Jersey GSP Exit 148
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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Notice, on the Mexican Mustang Site, that the "Mustang" Hatchback does have the flares (or bulges) **BUT** the notchback 2-do sedan does NOT. I think that we as a group have come up against the same problem both FORD and Peter Muscat came up against. Why else would the white hatchback Mustang have the flares, while the notchback sedan doesn't ?? See? ........ Darn quarter panel ! 
_________________
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascmclaren_capris/sandys_mclarens/ |
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mustang marty
Joined: 28 Aug 2004
Posts: 274
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| One would think it would have been easier to use the Mustang Coupe. They could have purchased the Capri rear quarter skins and front fenders and put them on the coupe (Like Dugan Racing did). The grafting of the rear qtr skins seems to be eaiser than converting the hatch to a vert as it looks like (based on looking at the welds inside the trunk of mine) that ASC grafted on the trunk area from a Mustang Coupe. |
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negusm
Site Admin
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 5183
Location: Charlotte, NC
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:50 am Post subject: |
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| mustang marty wrote: | | One would think it would have been easier to use the Mustang Coupe. They could have purchased the Capri rear quarter skins and front fenders and put them on the coupe (Like Dugan Racing did). The grafting of the rear qtr skins seems to be eaiser than converting the hatch to a vert as it looks like (based on looking at the welds inside the trunk of mine) that ASC grafted on the trunk area from a Mustang Coupe. |
Sandy can probably respond to this and correct me but early on, Ford wasn't too sure that they wanted asc mucking in the sales of their cars. For example in 1986, the word "Mercury" and "Capri" was banished entirely from the ascMcLarens.
So to ship asc a Mustang Coupe and then get converted to a Capri....it would still be a Mustang and maybe not something Ford liked.
-Mike
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1985 ascMcLaren Coupe - Midnight Blue
Under Restoration |
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mustang marty
Joined: 28 Aug 2004
Posts: 274
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:42 am Post subject: |
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| Thats the impression that I had got as well. I bet it was a liability issue. I don't think Ford was too worried about the ASC taking sales away since they were nearly 3x the cost of a base Mustang vert... |
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negusm
Site Admin
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 5183
Location: Charlotte, NC
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:52 am Post subject: |
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| mustang marty wrote: | | Thats the impression that I had got as well. I bet it was a liability issue. I don't think Ford was too worried about the ASC taking sales away since they were nearly 3x the cost of a base Mustang vert... |
True....I also wonder if Ford didn't want to muddy up the Mustang's image/branding with this whole swapping of parts.
I mean, here you could have a "regular" Ford Mustang and then there is this ascMcLaren sitting next to it which looks more like a Capri but has the VIN of a Mustang.
-Mike
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1985 ascMcLaren Coupe - Midnight Blue
Under Restoration |
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Sandy
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 6205
Location: Northern New Jersey GSP Exit 148
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:58 am Post subject: |
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Not exactly. Ford doesn't want their name applied to any product that Ford doesn't have 100% control of, from a manufacturing stand point, and that's why they made ascMcLaren remove any & all Ford nameplates from them. Muscat wanted Ford to bring it in house, but Ford didn't want to as they felt (rightfully so) that the volume just wasn't there for a $25,000 Mustang. (Okay, in 1987-1990) Muscat even wanted to build on Dearborn's property a conversion center, so Ford COULD keep a watchfull eye, but Ford didn't want that either....
But (and here's heads-up) the TITLES all say FORD or MERCURY and it remained Ford's obligation to inform 1984-1990 ascMcLaren owners of any & all RECALLS on their cars, so ... in effect, Ford did have to accept some responcibilty for the cars, even though their name was not on the product, it was on the birth certificate!!
_________________
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascmclaren_capris/sandys_mclarens/ |
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