This Ford Capri is the most detailed restoration we’ve ever seen

When Willis was first offered the car, it was believed to be the Triplex machine, but with neither chassis numbers nor accompanying documentation, he had to satisfy himself that it was. That was in 2023, by which time the car had long been dormant, but it had led a tough life as a club racer and Thunder Saloon after its 1970s heyday.

“I did my own research and went through loads of pictures day and night looking for any evidence I could find,” says Willis. “And I kept going backwards and forwards to where the car was stored to check my evidence against the car. I have two pictures of Colin Vandervell racing in 1976, one at Brands Hatch, one at Silverstone, and in the Brands picture there’s a big crease line of damage underneath the filler cap. In the one from Silverstone, there’s a big ‘V’ in the same rear quarter of the rear light. 

“I went back to the car and looked inside the rear quarter and you could see where they’d hammered out the crease and where the ‘V’ in the rear quarter was. They had just cut the metal and bent it back and joined it back together. So I thought, one: those are the original rear quarters, and two: that has to be the car.”

Prior to that, Willis had also found a crease in the bulkhead that corresponds with damage following a crash in 1978. “You could see where it had a bit of a shoddy repair just to get it back out on track, and that was all still there.” He agreed to buy it and then began building a huge file of photographs to piece together the intricate details of its two years in the British Saloon Car Championship. Armed with a wealth of knowledge, Willis decided that he would rebuild the car exactly as it raced at Brands Hatch in 1978, complete with all the anomalies associated with a hard-pressed team getting a car ready to race.

Capri spotters will have already noticed that the car has Mk II headlights rather than quad round lamps you’d expect. That’s because it is in fact a Mk II that was reskinned with Mk III panels to update it in 1978, but the correct headlights didn’t fit so they kept the old ones. The black tape looks as if it’s not on straight, but that’s actually because the lamps themselves are out of square, just as they were in period. “When I put the tape on, I had my phone sitting on the bumper with a reference photo,” Willis explained. The front bumper itself sits an inch further forward than it should because of the interplay between the Mk II shell and Mk III styling.

That level of detail continues through the entire car. “It’s really nerdy stuff, but I know that in ’78 it started out with the ignition cut-out and the fire extinguisher pulls both being circles,” Willis said. “By Brands Hatch, they changed the ignition one to a black plastic pull and then later in the year, they went back to two steel ones. So even that detail, one that’s plastic and one that’s metal, is how it was at Brands Hatch in 1978.”

A contemporary edition of Autosport shows images taken by Jeff Bloxham of the engine bay, so Willis has been able to recreate that, too. No modern air filters here; instead, the standard road-going steel pan is employed. Willis has even been able to route fuel lines and the like using the same holes that were still present to secure P-clips. 

That same magazine also included two views of the interior. “I know where Gerry’s seat was moved back to, because he was a bigger lad. You can see where they just drilled the holes in the floor to bolt it in and the bolt holes were still there.” Similarly, larger pedal faces covered in mesh for better grip are copied from those photos.

There are no vinyl stickers on the car for the sponsorship liveries, instead they’re all signwritten. Willis made things slightly easier for himself by using stencils. “I made sure all the brush strokes go the way of the letters to make it look like it’s been done freehand.” And it’s here that he has introduced some deliberate mistakes to accurately replicate the Capri’s 1978 Brands Hatch appearance.

“The Castrol logo on one side is different from the other. One is a lot more tilted, but that’s how Dennis painted it.” That’s Dennis Davidson, father of former Formula 1 driver Anthony, who did the Capri’s signwriting in the 1970s. “It’s the same with the stickers on the rear quarters. On one side, they go Ferodo, Glacier, Hepolite and on the other it’s Ferodo, Hepolite, Glacier. They just put them in a different order because they didn’t care.”

Getting the livery right doesn’t cost any more than getting it wrong, but there are some areas where Willis had no option other than to invest in more expensive parts to complete the look. Sourcing a rare RS spoiler was just such a case. “Back in the day, they used the RS version of the little foam spoiler on the back because they were a better profile than the standard Mk III spoiler, but they’re really scarce. I managed to find one but it was £800, whereas a Mk III spoiler is £50. I wanted it right so I spent the money.”

The wheels were a costly detail, too. “Mine is the only Capri here that’s running on anything other than Minilites. In the ’70s, a company called 100+, who went on to sponsor Matt Neal in the 1990s, made these split rims for Group 1 touring cars, amongst other things. In 1978, there were four cars that ran these wheels, this car being one of them. But originals are so scarce, and they used to crack, so I went to Image Wheels and they made me a brand-new set. What’s nice is that Harry, who started Image Wheels, worked for 100+ in the ’80s so he knew all about the original wheels.”

The dedication to the details is all the more remarkable when you consider the timeframe Willis was working to. When he received the invitation to the 83^rd Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport, the car was still at the rolling shell stage and there were many round-the-clock stints getting it prepared in time. And then an engine failure during the first test, just days before the event, meant workshop hours outnumbered sleep by many multiples. The replacement engine was down on power, but it at least got the car onto the grid.

There’s more to the story than that, too. “The other thing I wanted to add is that my mum passed away last Thursday,” Willis told us. “She had cancer, but she didn’t want to tell me because she wanted me to get the car done. She was booked to come here with my dad and stay in the hotel, but she didn’t make it. She wanted me to get car done and I’m just so happy to be here.”

Andrew was sharing the car in the two-driver Gordon Spice Trophy with Matthew Ellis. “I’m really lucky to have Matt as the pro driver. I’d never actually met him until Saturday morning but we’d spoken through social media and I knew he was a good guy. I’ve watched him race and I trust him a lot.”

Ellis’s career in historic racing began with a Talbot Lotus Sunbeam that has now been owned by his father Martyn for about 40 years, but prior to that he raced karts. Things stepped up a notch when he had the opportunity to share a Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 in which he and the car’s owner Paul Mensley won a championship. “It was a bit of an accolade – ‘Oh, I can drive a historic car’,” Ellis said. “It really snowballed from there.”

Since then, rarely turns down an opportunity to drive anything, and made his Goodwood debut with the Capri after receiving the call from Willis. Speaking ahead of Official Practice, he told us: “It’s a very, very original engine, so we’re not putting out the power of the more race developed ones. We’re very realistic that we’re not going to be winning, but we’re going to have probably the best time.

“We’re here for lots of smiles and to do some big skids, hopefully. We’ll put on a good show for people and come back in one piece, nice and reliable and looking good. We’ll be as fast as we can, but 100 per cent clean and bring it back because it’s been very much a labour of love.”

The 84^th Members' Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport takes place on the 10^th & 11^th April 2027. Tickets are on sale now for GRRC Members and Fellows. If you haven’t already, you can  join the Fellowship today.

Photography by Charlie Brenninkmeijer.