anyone had either of these

I know not Turbo power - but how do they drive

worth buying or not ?

 

Years ago a mate had the 2.8i and they are excellent fun to drive the better one to get is the 2.8i special because it came fitted with a LSD or money permitting the brooklands. Prices on the brooklands are about £5000 but you do see some for about £3000 best bet is to shop around and try and get a test drive. I have the older mark 2 3.0s sat in my garage and thats serious fun too

 

thanks paul - The Brooklands 280 does look smart
just dont know if its worth what is virtually double the price
of a 2.8i special for the special colour and leather.

I only want it for a bit of summer fun, so will need to sell
sometime also.

I've been offered a mint 2.8i special 56000 miles
for £3500.
a mint 280 will be about £6-7k

 

£3500 for a 2.8 special you could get a brooklands for that. Seems steep to me and if you are going to want to sell it again I don't know how easily you will get your money back You can get really nice ones for £2500 Look at the back of fast ford/ classic ford etc for prices

 

A lad I work with bought a red Tickford with 40k on for six grand,
225 BHP (normally 205) , has been overbored to 3.0

Very Very Quick, quicker than a 225 TT and my Volvo T5 and I suspect quicker (in a straight line in the dry) than a standard Scoob.

He has a 2.8 as well and he says it now feels limp in comparison !

 

Lets put this into pespective. My friend bought a 2.8 in fairly good nick (little bit of rust around the ariel and one seized brake caliper) for £200. Slap LSD on (£250 from Caprisport) and it is the same spec as a 2.8 Special
OK he was lucky but these cars are going for bugger all at the moment. Shop around and see what is about. Alos buy a copy of Classic Ford there are loads of ads in the back.

Mark

 

Oh to answer your other question "how do they drive?"
Sideways!
Quite quick in a straight line but with the back end lifted straight off a hay cart it goes very sideways. It all happens fairly slowly though, great for practising your opposite lock technique.
Top fun and you should see about 140 mph on the clock.

 

Well I looked last year and the only cars I saw were cr*p.

People harp on about getting decent Capris for a few hundred quid are talking out their proverbial. I spent 5 years and 3 Capris including going to all the shows to learn that 95% of the cars out there are rotten.

Realistically a decent 2.8 Special will set you back 3.5k plus a decent Brooklands nearer 5k. Even so there are plenty out there for that money that are dire as well. As with any classic its always cheaper to buy the best than restore.

Brooklands has larger 15" rims which handle better and has much better leather. The leather bolsters on the Special wear through on the drivers seat after about 30k.

To give you a guide I sold my Special 4 years ago for 4.5k it had 30k on it and was in v good condition no rust on insides of bumpers original parcel shelf in tact etc.

A good Capri is a delight to drive with a nice muscle car about it and 6 cyl rumble (essex 3.0 sounds even better) with slight mods mine could keep up with my 200sx. If you get one consider getting the brakes uprated first.

 

Ask Olly, he's got a mint one, he's had it for six years, three of which have been spent 'being restored'. When it's running it still one of the best long distance GTs going, plus it will hang it's *** out like a good 'un till the cows come home, what more could you need.

Get the best Special you can find, the Brooklands were all badly sprayed and assembled from the factory (end of line run-out specials), and are now really only worth having as a garaged toy. A good well cared for Special is one of the best controllable sideways machines you can lay your hands on

 

Seven years last week actually, and nearly five years in restoration. I've forgotten how it drives! Forget the medallion man image: the 2.8i is a very simple, very crude, but very effective car.

The Cologne V6 is agricultural (it has pushrods, remember them?) but powerful: bags of torque low down, yet still revs sweetly to 6500. Sounds glorious as well.

Forget the "bag of cement needed in the boot" bull, 2.8's always handled well. A nice long wheelbase, quick steering, 7" rubber and sorted suspension (single leafs & Billies all round, plus plenty of input from some Scottish guy called Jackie Stewart) meant tidy handling.

Lots of other good reasons to own one, including fantastic driving position, the best seats ever fitted to a car, simplicity to use and maintain, ready supply of new parts & panels, depreciation proof, easy to tune.

Demerits? Fuel consumption. Not much room in the back. Thats it.

Brookie or Special? Nothing in it, except for a couple of grand and of course rarity value. Don't discount the earlier cars: mine is the first of the 5 speeders, but mechanically identical to a Special or Brooklands, save for the LSD. It would have been easy to fit one to my car, but I didn't bother, instead preferring a little more action to a little more traction. Noisy things anyway. Early 4 speeders were the fastest 2.8 s by a mite, due to less sound deadening and more favourable gearing.

Now beginning to look a little retro, rather than just old fashioned. We were talking cars in the pub the other night (as usual), and we all agreed that a mint, well polished 2.8i sat in the pub car park probably would attract attention, whereas a mint, polished BMW 330Ci probably would not.

Party trick: Find a wet roundabout with some room (a 2.8 takes up a lot of floor area, especially diagonally). Select 2nd gear, apply throttle, flick the clutch, and the rear end will lazily strike an arc from the front wheels into a long, yawning sideways slide. You can hold it for hours. CrisPDuk will verify this.

You've got me going now. Just been for a peek in the garage. Almost fired it up, but my neighbor does not like crackling V6's. Amazing how 17" wheels look weedy and spindly on the MY2001 on the drive, yet 13" wheels look just fine on a 2.8 in the garage. Sat in the car on the spare wheel (no trim in it yet) and changed gear a few times. Sad. One day..

 

thanks guys - I will have a good look at it and probably
make a silly offer to test the water if its OK.

never driven one - so it will be an experience anyway

 

Yes I can vouch for the fact that they are bloody impressive when 'swinging their pants', but the looks on the faces of oncoming drivers just has to be seen to be believed