There were several well known engine
builders who took the Capri and made a few
modifications, giving the engine a boost and adding a
bit more meanness to the styling. Some
such as Broadspeed are well known and the well
documented 'Bullit' is a name that is easily
recognisable as belonging to a specially modified Capri.
The Uren Commanche is another as is the LuMo modified
Capri, Basil Greene Perana but there were more.
Jeff Uren not only had the Commanche in his stable of
modified Capri's but he also shoed in a V8 and named it
the Stampede, ever seen one? No me neither.
( More information on these cars will be available soon)
BROAD SPEED BULLIT CAPRI
THIS Capri was probably one of the most exciting Capri’s
of the early 1970’s, apart from the RS2600, RS3100,
Commanche 190, Atlard V8, Lumo Capri and Perana Capri
(the last four modified by specialized firms).
It’s called the Broadspeed Bullit. It was first
available in early 1970. Based on either a 3000E,
3000 GT and also a 1600 GT. As Broadspeed was a
Ford dealer they could price the Bullit competitively
with the standard range. These were the prices for
a 1971: £1995 for the 3000E, 3000GT was £1825 and £1575
for the 1600 GT. The Bullit was definitely not a
kit because you could only buy the Bullit as a complete
car.
The modifications were as follows: Stage 2 engine
conversion, which involves modified cylinder heads, high
lift cam shaft, new gasket and bearing, re-choked and
jetted carburettors, new inlet manifold and a redesigned
exhaust system. Suspension mods include Armstrong
Adjustable 22 telescopic shocks at the rear. At
the front smaller roll bar was fitted to reduce the cars
normal under steer. Brake pads were DS11’s these
considerably improved stopping power. Externally,
the front end was altered. This entailed the
deletion of the front bumper and replaced with an
anti-lift spoiler. The lighting included quartz
iodine Cibie headlamps and fog/spot lights built into
the spoiler. At the back of the car the rear
window had louvers. To complete the Bullits macho
look was a top-side two tone paint job.
Broadspeed has a choice of worthwhile extras.
Among them were Minilite Wheels, (most shod with
Goodyear’s), Restall Bucket Seats, Electric Fan, Air
Horns, small diameter leather steering wheel,
alternative centre console to the standard and stereo
cassette player.
As you can see there was plenty to choose from.
The electric fan was considered then to be essential
rather than an extra. This was due to the
increased power making the standard work extra hard.
One of the Bullits strong points was its mind-blowing
performance. Read on and you will soon see why:-
The Bullit could reach 60 mph in just 7.2 sec’s compared
to pre 71 Capri 3000GT’s 10.2 secs. Maximum speed
was past the 126 mph barrier in calm conditions. A
quarter of a mile could be done in 16.1 sec’s or in
other words it could steam down the local high street in
the same time (Sunday’s only).
To get this kind of performance into perspective I am
afraid I will have to mention some deadly rival to the
Capri. The Porsche 911T could just do 0-60 in the
same time as the Bullit, but the Bullit could beat an
Aston Martin (shock horror) a Jenson FF (ha ha) and a
Triumph TR6 (too bad) to 60 mph so there!! Please
note the performance figures were tested on an early
3000 Bullit before Ford up rated their engine so the
performance would be even better.
I suppose you all want to go out and buy one now.
Well there are not many about so you will have to be
careful what you buy. The 1600 Bullit is probably
the rarest. Don’t be fooled by some shark selling
a sooped up Capri as a Bullit, beneath all those extra’s
and spoilers it could well be an ordinary Capri.
M.P.H | Prod 128 bhp | Prd 138 bhp | Uren-Wes 170 bhp | Broads 185 bhp | Oren-Wes 190 | |
Capri ’69 | Capri’71 | Capri’70 | Capri’71 | Capri Cauto | ||
0-30 | 3.0s | 2.7s | 2.5s | 2.8s | 3.9s | |
0-60 | 0.2s | 8.2s | 7.9s | 7.2s | 8.1s | |
0-80 | 7.8s | 13.8s | 13.8s | 12.9s | 12.9s | |
0-100 | 39.6s | 24.6s | 24.0s | 23.2s | 20.9s | |
Max MPH | 114 | 122 | 121 | 126 | 126 |