Larry & David Wells' Capri RS-2600 18 Aug 2004

Larry & David Wells' Capri RS-2600

last updated 8/18/2004

Larry & David with the RS-2600, April 2002

Our Capri RS-2600, GAECPL73009

How We Found It

In April of 1997, David got an e-mail from Peter Dixon, commenting on our Capri History file, saying he had proof that there was at least one RS-2600 in North America: He owned one, and he was selling it. He wanted to know if we knew of anyone who wanted it! We decided that we had to buy it ourselves. Larry lives closer to the Canadian border, so he went up to Ottawa, and had a look. It was in pretty rough shape, but still restorable. We negotiated for a while, and got some estimates of how much it would cost to bring it to the US for restoration, and we finally bought the car in August of 1997.

History of GAECLP73009

The chassis number is GAECLP73009, which indicates that it was built in Cologne, Germany in December of 1971. The car was originally owned by Gordon B. Dewar of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Dewar was a race driver, who raced Can-Am cars in 1970 and 1972. The RS-2600 was purchased in Cologne, Germany on 4 Feb. 1972, and it was shipped to Canada shortly thereafter. Legend has it that the car was part of a secret test program, and that Ford actually gave the car to Mr. Dewar. We have no conclusive proof of this, however. The car was later owned by Peter Dixon, also of Ottawa, Ontario Canada, who had fun racing it in Solo I and Solo II events, and just driving it around.

Peter Dixon racing the RS-2600 in the '80s.

Dixon said he was able to take on and beat big-block Chevys. (Yes, there is a substitute for cubic inches!) Apparently, the car was driven in the winter for a few years, and it got a partial restoration in 1986. Dixon stopped driving it in 1989, after a piston ring blew. (Really violently, as we found out later.)

Bad piston, at Drake's Engine shop, Rochester NY

The RS-2600 then sat at a garage in Richmond, Ontario (near Ottawa) for 8 years. Peter Dixon sold it to us in August 1997.
RS-2600 at the David Ailes' house, near Ottawa, Ontario August
1997, immediately after it was purchased by the Wells Brothers

We towed it back to the US......

Larry with RS-2600 at the US/Canada border August 1997

......and took it directly to the restoration shop.

RS-2600 at Cristo West body shop, Rochester NY, August 1997

We've been restoring it ever since. We had to track down numerous parts for the car, including all the RS-2600 badges, and the "FORD" lettering on the hood and trunk. As of now (May 2000) the metalwork is all done,

Freshly rebuilt fuel injected Cologne V-6, at Drake's engine shop, Rochester, NY, December 1998

the engine has been rebuilt and installed, and the body shell has been repainted. The orignial blue paint was quite unusual - it's Special Competition Blue, and it took quite a while to track down the correct formula. The results were well worth the effort.

Freshly painted body shell at Cristo West, Rochester NY, spring of 1999

Glass installed, two wheels in place at Cristo West, Rochester NY, September 1999

Larry had the original FAVO 4-spoke wheels have been refurbished by his local wheel shop, Wilberts. (And they look GREAT!) The glass is finally back in place now. The seats have been re-upholstered using cloth from the original manufacturer. (Scheel, in the Netherlands) The engine was fired up in 2000 for the first time since it was tested at Drakes in late 1998.

Reinstalling the interior turned into a rather protracted project.

Interior, or lack thereof. April 2002

The interior was at last reinstalled during the summer of 2002.

Cristo West then enlisted the aid of Performance Auto, Webster, NY to complete the mechanical reassembly of the car. This work was largely completed by July 2003, and shakedown testing began. This revealed a number of minor problems which were soon corrected. By August 2003 the RS2600 was at long last roadworthy!

More Recent Pictures

Side View, April 2002

Front View. April 2002

Front Quarter View. April 2002

Engine, Driver's Side. April 2002

Engine, Passenger's Side. April 2002

Tires

We had a bit of a philosophical debate about tires. To be truly original, we would have had to find a set of 185/70 R13 Pirelli CN-36s. That would be fairly difficult, and would not have given us the best handling. Tires have come a long way since the early 1970s. We eventually decided that since the wheels would support 205/60 13s, we would use that size. We were arguing about what brand to use when we found a set of Goodrich Comp T/As at a good price, so we bought them.

Modifications

The car came with several interesting modifications, most of which we've decided to leave intact.

Heads
The car is fitted with heavily modified cylinder heads of undetermined origin. They are said to be Weslake items, but once again we have no proof. The heads are similar to the Swaymar modified heads found on some British Capri 2.8i, but they clearly started life as 2600 heads of some type. The part numbers do not follow the usual Ford pattern, unfortunately.

Engine Block
Ford's "Cologne" V-6 evolved considerably over the years. During the Capri era, there were two different engine blocks: the 2600 block, and the 2800 block. The stronger 2800 block was introduced after some racing RS-2600s had trouble with the earlier 2600 blocks cracking.
Our car is fitted with what appears to be a prototype 2800 engine block that Ford used for testing. The block has no part number at all, which is why we think it's a prototype.
Headers
The car also has a set of proper tubular headers, also of unknown origin.

Electronic Ignition
The car has an "Luminition" electronic ignition. This may have been added by Peter Dixon in the 1980s, but we're not sure. It has actually given us a bit of grief. The optical sensor had gone bad. Larry tracked down another one.

Windshield
The car came with a US-spec Capri windshield. It probably wasn't original. It's slightly thicker and heavier than the German-spec version.

Fuel Pump
We're using a low-pressure fuel pump from a Capri 2.8i.

Bodywork
The car has no identifying badges - not even the "FORD" hood and trunk lettering. All of the mounting holes were filled in. We initially thought that the badges were removed during the 1986 partial restoration, but we recently heard from a friend of Gordon Dewar who told us that the badges were removed before the car was shipped to Canada. Supposedly this was done to conceal the fact that it was a test car. This raises a thorny question: Should we reinstall the badges we spent so much time tracking down, or should we leave the car in its "test car" state? Stay tuned......

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