_Today we focus on this great find, a Mk1 Ford Capri.
The Capri ... was Ford of Europe's answer to the American Ford Mustang back in the day. A huge success, the mk1 has always been my favorite of the bunch. The styling is just classic.
Those are a particular type of original Ford alloy wheels, these wheels alone must be worth a lot of money in Thailand!
Some stickers - as mentioned in our last post, they can give us lots of info about the cars past. Someone cared for this and was a member of a club at some point - could mean, restoration wouldn't be so hard as it was looked after at some point.
Much of the interior appears very original and complete. Another great win for any potential restoration project.
From the rear. Those vents in front of the rear wheels, well, not sure they actually did anything but they look good, and ape the styling of exotic sports cars of the time.
Crocodile skin ... what a patina. Would we go for a full metal bare shell respray, or something much more conservative to preserve the effect? Perhaps a combination of both where some of the paint is just too bad to keep.
Looking a little rough around the wings, however it is surprising how overall the car appears to be quite solid. Life in Thailand has been kind - dry much of the time, no salt on the roads like England... up on a ramp might tell us otherwise however...
Original Capri badge still there, chrome bumpers still there, lights, handles, vents, so so many parts here it would really make for a pleasure to restore this great British classic!
Welcome to a new segment
This is where I copy many great car bloggers with a similar edict - find interesting abandoned classic cars, and try to trace the history or situation - or just mark them and photograph them until we can! I see plenty of them around, yet it occurs to me that I should spend more time photographing the derilect, as I love the results it can bring. Plus, we may be able to find out more on these potential projects!
What is a 'Barn Find'?
It's a term used in classic car circles to describe coming across forgotten and derilect vehicles. Cars, bikes or trucks which had been put away for whatever reason by their owner years ago, only to have in present day become valuable - regardless of the state of neglect. Perhaps they never got the time, or just suddenly realized that pile of junk under a pile of junk is suddenly valuable. Or any number of reasons, it happens. It's every petrolheads dream that you might find un-claimed car-treasure buried under some old house ...
Generic application of the term
A true barn find, is something like the following: Person A buys a derelict house to restore, costing $150,000. They discover under all the rubble, a classic car that even though is in need of restoration, is worth as much as the house, or perhaps a significant portion of it - or in some cases, more. That value was never known on the purchase. It does happen, and there are countless examples and YouTube vids about such 'barn finds' should you google it.
So in essence, the term is used loosely these days - it could be a barn, a garage, in a warehouse, or in the undergrowth or just sitting on a driveway. Hence, the photos here are not all really in a barn at all, but the mere term will point out to fellow petrol-heads that i'm referring to some 'interesting find' of some description!
Hope that cleared things up, rest of the info in the picture captions. The vehicles featured here are technically not barn finds at all, pretty sure that they all have an owner who intends doing some more with them some day! I'm going to go back soon and see if they're around next time - that's part 2!
Thanks for checking out this post! Your reading thus far is greatly appreciated, as are all comments, likes and shares. Thank you!