There is a particular kind of car that arrives at exactly the wrong moment, and the 1991 Ford Mercury Capri is one of them. I remember a college friend's older sister who had one, red with the top perpetually down, and the general consensus among us was that she'd been sold the wrong roadster. The Mazda MX-5 had landed the same year and rewritten the rules, and here was this cheerful little front-wheel-drive convertible turning up to a knife fight with a picnic basket. Time has been kinder to it than we were. This white example in Preußisch Oldendorf, a manual on the German market with an H-certificate already in hand, makes you reconsider an old verdict.
Melbourne's answer to Hiroshima
The story is stranger than the badge suggests. The Australian Capri, codenamed SA30, was an entry-level convertible based on Mazda 323 running gear that Ford Australia also used in the Laser, its exterior designed by Ghia and interior by ItalDesign. Built in Broadmeadows, near Melbourne, it was aimed squarely at a rival it could never quite catch. While the Capri was in development, Mazda was building the MX-5, considerably more expensive and commonly cast as its direct competitor. The Capri looked great and had decent power, but the front-wheel-drive layout left it in the Miata's shadow. Total production ran to roughly 66,000 across its life, which in European terms makes it genuinely uncommon rather than merely old.
Drive one and the Mazda underpinnings do the talking. The 1.6-litre four makes 74 kW (about 101 PS), the mid-range naturally aspirated unit Ford slotted in for 1991, and it pairs with a five-speed manual that shifts with the tidy, short-throw honesty Mazda was quietly perfecting in this decade. One owner called it a little skateboard with agility, which is exactly right: light, wieldy, front-drive but sweet, happiest on a minor coast road with the top folded and nowhere in particular to be.
What to check before the daydream
Here realism earns its keep. The seller lists a wind deflector, hardtop, air conditioning and a ground-up inspection carried out in 2019, with 44,160 km showing and original condition preserved. At 4,200 EUR it sits comfortably in the model's usual band, and for a car this close to the market's low-mileage sweet spot the figure invites scrutiny rather than suspicion. Watch for rust, particularly around the wheel wells and sills, and general wear on older convertible tops. Then the roof itself: raising and lowering the top is a precise manual operation, and misuse often breaks the latch handles, a frequently reported fault. Affordable replacement parts can be scarce, with some Capri-specific components hard to source.
Having crossed the 25-year threshold, this one already qualifies for Germany's historic-vehicle status, which brings cheaper registration and relaxed emissions rules that push nostalgia buyers toward the best-kept survivors. That is precisely the segment a low-kilometre car like this speaks to. Before the daydream hardens into a bank transfer, verify the service record, confirm the H-certificate paperwork, and have someone who knows Mazda B-series engines look it over in person. Get that right, and you own the roadster we should have taken seriously the first time.
