Capri vs Manta

This pair of golden oldies enjoyed a new lease of life in the 1980s, each one being given a freshen-up. Paul Guinness reacquaints himself with the top-selling Ford Capri Mk III and Opel Manta

The 1980s are remembered by motoring fans for many things, not least the rise of the hot hatch and the (temporary) demise of the traditional sports car. But through both of these not-unconnected events occurring, there was one small sector of the market that continued to attract fans: the rear-wheel drive sporting coupe.

This, of course, was largely thanks to the two cars you see here: the Ford Capri in its Mk III guise, up against the second-generation Opel Manta. And it’s perhaps remarkable that both cars continued to attract buyers as the Eighties wore on, as by then these were seriously aged machines. But that didn’t seem to matter, because while well-heeled yuppies flocked to their nearest Volkswagen showroom to snap up the latest front-wheel drive Golf GTi, traditionalists could see that this pair of ‘golden oldie’ coupes had plenty to offer.

It’s a tribute to both Ford and General Motors that this pair of coupes stayed around so long, helped by various updates and enhancements. The Mk III Capri had been about since 1978, but the creation of the Cologne-engined 2.8i model in 1981 suddenly gave the entire range an image-boost, allowing it to continue right through to the end of ’86. And the second-generation Manta had been around even longer (since 1975, in fact) before being transformed in ’82 via new engines, neat new styling touches and a more ‘masculine’ image, all of which enabled it to continue in production right through to ’88.
Sales dropped off towards the end, though, with younger buyers of the mid-Eighties preferring to spend their £8000 budget on a three-door VW Golf GTi – a car arguably more in tune with Eighties’ tastes. The affordable rear-drive coupe, it seems, was a slowly dying breed.


For the full feature pick up your copy of the August issue of Classic Car Mart