'86 Paris Blue Vert Info

U-MAN · Post by **U-MAN** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:17 am

Hi,I'll give some info on my car, and have a question for Sandy. As I have read here befor,The car is a Spring Special. It has the full outside package,with front and rear light covers.Fog lights are Hella.The antenna is left rear mounted and is black rubber type. This is a 5.0 powered,5 speed car,with std. Capri seats . The SN# is 613158 . The thing I would like to ask of Sandy is ,What dealer was this car sold through and when ? I thank you for your time and any help .

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:46 pm

U-Man, I am very sorry to say that I was ONLY able to obtain that listing for the 1988 ascMcLarens. I am not sure (actually, I think NOT) that she is a Spring Special.... It's a good basis for a S.S. but.... they were all 6 Cyl automatics. The Seats would be the Blue Recaros, amd the spokes of the mesh wheels would be matching Paris Blue, with a silver polished rim.

The S.S. had absolutely everything they could put on it, from Recaros, to head & tail-light covers, Auto Tranny, Front/Rear ground effects, Pwr. Locks, A/C Remote door locking, and the unique color keyed wheels.
(The S.S. that were done in Sterling Silver, did not have painted mesh rims.)

Yours is a 302 V8, so, no it wasn't. It was a heavily optioned SC 5.0 Capri ascMcLaren 'Vert

U-MAN · Post by **U-MAN** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:31 pm

Hi, Thanks for gettin' back to me so quickly Sandy. The info was very helpful. I am happy to learn that my vert didn't start life as an orphan with some left over parts, as a result of sring cleaning at ASC . When I got the car,it came with a key fob from Hines Park L/M Agency. Plymouth,Mi.. That's why I had asked if you might know, what dealer it was sold out of . I've had Her for about eight years and have loved everyday of it. Thanks once more.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:27 am

1. Hines Park was a big McLaren Dealer!!! I am sure they were the original dealership.

2. What had taken place was that ascMcLaren personal had thought that there were buyers out there that would like the look of the car, but be put off by a big thirsty V-8....so they ordered about a dozen or so with the 6 Cyl.
Well, guess what? NO TAKERS, so.... near the end of the 1986 AND MERCURY CAPRI run, they took the 6 Cyl that were there and put all the left over goodies on them, and custom painted the blue rims, in order to place them at dealers, they pulled a "fast-one". The posted all the ground effects, head & taillight covers on the window sticker so the buyer would see a higher price tag and then did NOT charge the dealers for those options! So...... dealer stood to make a considerable more profit on their sale.
Sort of a thanks and good-bye to L-M dealers.
So, I know to look under hood of any fully loaded Paris blue or Sterling Silver '86 Capri 'Vert. The others that look like them, are V-8s. I don't think that the V-8 had the color keyed blue rims, but I am sure they coulda been painted aftermarket, if desired.....

tfs2121 · Post by **tfs2121** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:46 pm

hines park is still around today! i buy ford parts from them all the time. they are just up the road from our shop.

U-MAN · Post by **U-MAN** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:34 pm

Hi, Good to hear that Hines is still up ,and running . The key fob is still in use. That is where the car from.Your good state of Mi.. Seems to be a good number of them out there. I found the ad for it in Hemmings . I was working on another Capri at the time, that was an '83 C Cat. My wife said" only room for one toy a time ". That was tought , to pick one over the other. That '83 C Cat sure was nice. But the vert won out.For what it's worth. The Carfax shows that it has always been out there,till it moved east.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:07 pm

U-Man, I just noticed where you are from! I love that area! Our son went to & graduated from Rider Uni in Lawrenceville, and went spend plenty of time in & around beautiful Bucks County...exploring ! Love it there.
We are in northern N.J. 5 miles outta Newark.

tfs2121 · Post by **tfs2121** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:15 pm

oh yeah LOTS of mclarens around here. hines park is a BIG dealer. im not sure if maybe they have more then one. but the hines park neer my work is in wixom michigan not plymouth.

U-MAN · Post by **U-MAN** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:43 am

Hi, I have lived up here in Bucks County about all my life.My wife and I are lucky, in that both our kids have homes up here also. And Sandy, I know Just where you live . You see about twenty five years ago, I worked for A&P stores, and would deliver milk and dairy products to a large number of stores in north Jersey.I still run up in your area, but now I deliver industrial gases.So when You were going through that hard spell you were having, I might have bee the one that supplied you with the oxygen.But I'm happy you came out the other end in good shape.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:55 pm

Do (or did) you supply Saint Barnabas Medical Center in West Orange?
The A+P in Maplewood? Across from a big high school ????

U-MAN · Post by **U-MAN** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:38 am

Hi, Yes !Sandy,at one time I did do the store in Maplewood.But that was a long, long time ago.As for today, the next time You see a Praxair tank truck rumbling down the road in Your neighborhood. It just might be The U-MAN. So keep the wife and kids off the street,it's for their own safety,you understand.Everybody knows, You let one truck driver in, and there goes the neighborhood. See ya.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:00 pm

I lived next to that A&P !! (Well, one street away, anyhow. It's still there!!)

What was the last year you delivered there ?

U-MAN · Post by **U-MAN** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:51 am

Hi, Well you can ask some hard ones Sandy.But, I'll take a shot at it and say,let me see.I started this job in '84. So it would have been '83 or early in '84.Not that I didn't mind going to Your hometown,and making sure that your son had fresh milk, but 1300 cases of milk a night was a lot of work each and every day.So , after ten years of that, it was time look around for a new adventure. Thus starting my career in industrial and medical gases. And I was only going to drive a truck temporary, till another job in electronics came my way . My daughters first job out of college was selling cars at a Lincoln \ Mercury Store . She loved it ,But the hours were a killer. So the stories You tell of your selling days , I do understand . Well take care, See ya

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:33 pm

The hours are a killer & the income is crappy, when ya figure in all the hours ya spend to make that income. We work 2weeks worth of hours in 1 week!

My hours were 9 to 9 M, T, W, & F and 9-6 Sat.
I was off all day Thursday.....UNTIL the boss decided that we need to make our deliveries (new/used car delivered to the buyer) ON OUR DAY OFF, so that when we are "on" we can take customers rather than spend time delivering cars to those who have allready bought, so the long & the short of it was that I was there on Thursdays too. Why? 'Cause Mr. Jones needed to take delivery at 10AM and Mrs. Smith could not come until here shift was over at 2PM and she'd be there "around 2" (actually would trot in at 3PM) and the Thomas Family (including dog) would come after dinner at 7:30PM ...so, 'ya, there went the day "off" - I was doing 69 hour weeks.
Only the dealer makes any decent money. They have it rigged that sales personal & technitions rise just above minimum wage per hour worked. That's not a livable wage, today. There were times that I actually qualified for WELFARE, based upon salary & commissions AFTER working 69 hours that week. If ya deliv ered no car that week your base salary was $75.00 FOR 69 hours, and after taxed the $75.00 became $66.00!
The MOB controls it all as they own 70% of all dealerships. All the big mega pow wow circus tent schlock type wham bam thank ya mamn stores are theirs mostly on the big highways. Nobody stay in it. the turnover is the largest in the world. Competition is fierce and the customers are downright nasty. The boss is usually a drunk and nasty and the cars are overpriced, because of the UAW demands and all the other UNIONS.
You can have it ! I sold Dodge, Chrysler, Imperial, Plymouth, Cheverolet, Subaru, Ford, Lincoln-Mercury, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Truimph.
Only domestic I never sold was Buick.
All the same crap, wherever.
Owners always bitched daily about how bad business is. (But, they lived in luxury homes, and sent kids to private schools, and belonged to country clubs.......... All excpt for 2 car salesmen I knew everyone else's wife made more $$$

U-MAN · Post by **U-MAN** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:11 am

Hi, Well don't hold back Sandy.Tell me how you really feel about the world of sales. No, it is a hard way to go.But the good side it was what she learned about business. After that , she landed a good job with the WA WA stores down here. She would go and set up new stores. Then she went and got married,became a mom.Did you get all warm and fuzzy today? Took a load up to Little Ferry,And ran back on I78, To get my reload. Was right in your back yard. Oh well ,be going to Princeton Univ. friday.Always feel smarter when I leave there. See ya Sandy ,take care.