Either of these two cars in the foreground would be worthy CC-photo opps on their own, and in fact both of them have received extensive write-ups, in the exact same colors no less. Yet parked together these oft forgotten early-’90s cars make for an interesting double feature.
Sold through Mercury dealers from 1991-1994, the third generation Capri roadster flew in from down under, as a rebadged version of the Australian-produced Ford Capri. While all other Mercurys leaned towards conservative, quasi-luxurious family transportation, the youth-oriented convertible Capri was by far an outlier in the Mercury lineup. Not appealing to the typical Mercury buyer, it’s no surprise that sales were disappointing, resulting in Mercury withdrawing the car from the market in 1994 with no successor.
The LeBaron LE sedan behind it was also somewhat of a forgotten odd man out in Chrysler’s lineup, especially by its final model year, also 1994. Sure the storied LeBaron name was well-known and still remembered today, but early-’90s LeBarons are usually remembered for the convertible model, or in the case of the sedan, the wire wheel/vinyl roof/button-tufted seat Landau sedan.
The base model (later renamed “LE”) was nothing more than a well-equipped Plymouth Acclaim, whose only value proposition was the somewhat more prestigious Chrysler name and its crystal pentastar. When it was quietly discontinued in 1994, the LeBaron sedan was the last boxy, formal-roofed vehicle in Chrysler’s mostly swoopy lineup of LH cars.
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I think 90% of the Capris sold between 1991 and 1994 were that red color.
Rarely see a Plymouth Acclaim anymore, the Le Baron is rarer than rare.
One of these LeBarons used to park in the same deck as me when I lived in North Carolina. Still there when I moved away in October ’12, but of course I’ve not been back to that parking deck since!
Interesting story…
Ford Australia was given a choice of Mazda platforms for Capri: 323 or MX-5. Since Mazda 323 was build in Australia as Ford Laser and Meteor, the logic was to use same (or similar) engines and mechanicals without investing enormous cost in unique rear-wheel-drive body chassis that wasn’t shared with other models in Australian Ford model range.
When Mazda MX-5 was revealed at the auto show for the first time, a chorus of WTF came from Ford Australia. The Australians regretted their decision ever since…
Ford Australia merely reskinned a Mazda 323 Cabriolet, why they fell behind schedule doing it is a mystery but it was another lemon from Broadmeadows at a time when they could ill afford another mistake.
At the time I thought it was a particularly daring move for Ford Australia to take. The home market for such a car was negligible, so it would be totally reliant on export sales to make any profit. And we know how that turned out. We’d have done better to send you guys the Falcon.
So would the Capri have done better in Ford dealerships rather than Mercury – or would it have been a dead loss in either case?
Yes, Australian car industry was still feeling the stifling effect of Button car plan in the 1980s. One clause in the plan called for export drive as to eliminate the exorbitant high import tariff on one-for-one reciprocation. Export one vehicle equals one brownie point toward importing a vehicle free of tariff.
Thus, Ford/Mercury Capri came into the stage as to help Ford Australia obtain much desirable smaller vehicles from Europe without steep import tariff.
There were many more Ford dealerships, and Ford had a broad line of sport models. Mercury isn’t where you’d go for sport.
Opposite ends of the spectrum of 90s dreariness. Traditional luxury done poorly and a sporty roadster done poorly. These are two cars that I can honestly say I have never had even the slightest desire to own.
Agreed!
Very well put!
I’ve heard from people with access to Ford quality and warranty return data that the 91 – 94 vintage Capri was the worst car Ford ever sold.
You’d think with the Mazda based mechanicals it would be somewhat reliable. I guess not. I wonder if it has to do with brand bias. I recall reading some JD Power quality surveys where a Lincoln would do well but the almost identical Ford model would do poorly. Same thing with Chevy/Geo Prism vs Toyota Corolla.
The story I heard is it was a combination of horrible build quality and the unique components (mainly body hardware) were complete junk. Window regs, door mechs and convertible tops were the big issues I recall.
Those things disappeared from the roads incredibly fast, even in SE MI.
Mine is currently down with a broken crankshaft
Threats to close Ford Australia began with the release of the awful EA Falcon and the Crapi, the warranty issues on both were immense warranty repair refusals sported huge lemon decals and could be seen parked all around the Broadmeadows plant, Ford AU eventually improved their products but the Crapi missed the cut it was ditched as it should have been export sales were dismal and touted exports to the UK the home of the small sports car never eventuated as the car wasnt good enough to even bother with after evaluation.
Worse than the 1988-1994 Lincoln Continental? Wow it doesnt get much worse than that.
Continental didn’t have a convertible top or hidden headlights, two things sure to drive warranty costs if they aren’t done properly.
Oh, man. A friend of mine bought one of these Capris brand-new. His first-ever new car. The guy was flipping burgers for a living at the time. How he got a bank loan for it I’ll never know. Turned out to be a major financial disaster…
The Le Baron was a relatively popular rental car. Thrifty and Dollar, then owned by Chrysler, leased many of them. As with many such “upgrade” cars they cost little more to build than a base Plymouth Acclaim or Dodge Spirit, rented for more, and with their Mitsubishi V6 were more spirited to drive, with decent family-sedan handling and plusher, quieter interiors and upgrade audio systems. They were surprisingly good, shedding the “cheap fleet car” feel of their low-line brethren quite effectively, something about which those who never drove one can have nothing valid to say. I rented cars often in those years, Thrifty had a “preferred” rate with us, and I always had a plentiful supply of upgrade coupons.
At the end of the lease, the rental car companies would either sell the cars, or turn them back to Chrysler which sold them to their dealers or to wholesalers, for more than Acclaims or Spirits would bring, perhaps making back more than the extra cost to build them. It was all in the name of “doing business.”
The base engine on the LeBaron sedan was not the Mitsu V6, it was the TBI Chrysler 2.5-litre 4-cylinder with 3-speed automatic transaxle. Most rental units had the four, not the V6. They cost not a cent more to build than an Acclaim (identical except for trivial trim, taillamp styling, and badging) and a few pennies less to build than a Spirit (7-bulb vs. 9-bulb rear lighting system).
Even with the wheezy (especially at high altitude!) 4-banger and outmoded (but sturdy) 3-speed transaxle, you’re right, these—no matter how badged—were several very perceptible notches better than the direct-compete GM and Ford models.
My mother bought a ’92 LeBaron sedan with 70k miles from one or another of the rental companies in ’95. Silver 4-cylinder car with grey mousefur split bench. Power windows, power locks, column automatic, A/C, and that’s all. She put another 70k miles on it, then I bought it, put an exhaust system and brakes on it, and drove it 50,000 slow but dependable and affordable miles on it before selling it on for about what I had in it.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Capri with the optional hard top! In fact, I’ve rarely ever seen one with any top up on it for that matter. Interesting find. And I think Howard is correct above, the balance were mostly that oh-so-early-90’s teal color..
That Australian Capri (never seen one) reminds me of the Toyota MR2 sold in the States.
Or the BMW Z1
My favourite thing about the MR2 is how it’s pronounced in French.
Having been in my teens and early twenties in the 90’s, boy things looked bad then, I mean, from the late seventies until the early 2000s, the bright spots were few and far between, from all perspectives.
Ehh I never agreed with that “everything used to suck but everything is great now” philosophy. It’s similar to the excessive comments on all late 70s/early 80s cars on this website where people have a particularly bad habit of repeating “malaise malaise malaise” over and over like they have Tourettes syndrome. Yeah some cars looked shitty then but a lot look shitty now too. I’d take the far more visually-appealing lines of the late 70s and 80s over the extremely bloated, safety-obsessive, angry-faced blobs rolling around today. When a Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic are trying to look like supercars, it’s time to start over.
Ha….I wonder if the owners of these cars will ever find out their cars are on this website where everybody is dissing their cars in the comments…. 😀