As photo manipulation gave a rise to the numbers in alleged UFO-observations, social media similarly gave a major tailwind - among many - to old, touchy stories of barn find cars. Barn-finds have actually become some sorta re-unboxings for car guys. And it's forgivable if there are some blind spots in the background history as it winds back. Not in this case though, 'cos Alberto and his Ford Capri each have an adventurous background story till these two met.
Alberto Panadero Palacios was given a strong bond towards cars since the beginning, as his childhood was mostly spent among cars in his father's Fiat-Lancia dealership in Spain, where he saw some real gems like Ferraris, Porsches, and BMWs as well. Still, Alberto chose to work in the media growing up. He traveled the world around and seen its both edges; from nice, exotic places to conflicted areas, and time to time cars were involved in his job as well. He was in the first Spanish TV crew to take footage inside the Ferrari's and Lambo's factories in Italy, and took part in some mad projects as well. Like when he duelled a Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter with a Audi R8 on the air base of Albacete, and also made content for the famous YouTube channel Petrolicious. He even lived in Germany for a while - in his Volkswagen Campervan just to stay the closest possible to his wife. How sweet and cool is that!
It was a light October day as the sun mildly shined on the Capri's matte black bonnet when she first left the walls of the factory in Cologne in 1969. She was bought by a Spanish gentleman to have some everyday wheels moving to Switzerland, and to ride back to Spain sometimes for some holiday visits and fam reunions. At least the first years of the Capri's life were something like that until this caballero passed it on to his son in the early 80s. Like father, unlike son - 'cos this young hombre apparently wasn't a delicate driver like his old man was, and his reckless redlinings resulted two burned head gaskets in a short period of time. Sure daddy was not happy about this so he eventually taught him a lesson by taking the Capri back. Then bought him brand-new Seat Panda instead. That's a peculiar form of punishment, gotta tell...
But in retrospect, it was a wise decision. At least the Capri got saved and returned back to his old, calm ennui'd rest. The car got to a farm. Then into a barn.
Then under dust.
So yeah, Alberto fortunately never lost his interest towards cars entirely. He's been working on cars as a hobby since 2014 and he collected a decent lineup at home during the years: seven cars and one moped, like a Ford F350, and an original Land Rover Series 1 - there are good odds anyway that Alberto is among the most enthusiastic Land Rover fans in the world.
Then that seven turned eight when one day he heard about a first-gen Capri lying around on a nearby farm. Alberto went, saw and faced a one-time deal.
"Okay, it has to be mine."
- said Alberto muted standing in that barn, seeing that Ford Capri-shaped 36-year old pile of dust. Her brakes got totally stuck in the last three and a half decades, so it was pulled out to the sunshine again by a tractor. Nevertheless the car was in quite an okay shape, partly thanks to the Southern climate as well, which was merciful to the body.
The deal was made, work could start, and Alberto put all his free time effort into the Capri. Containing of course a head gasket replacement, following with the Ford Scorpio valves made in Madrid, got a new alternator and a custom-built exhaust-system, so as her body got a nice massage as well. The interior, the brakes and the rear axle were completely rebuilt. Even though she doesn't have her fancy untouched vibe anymore, this car is very close to the factory state. And this is actually true to the matte black bonnet and the red leather interior 'cos all of them are stock features right from the factory. The alcantara-covered dashboard just seems so, because that was actually made by Alberto. Since the car was made in Cologne, there's a 1.7-liter V4 Ford Taunus engine inside. Inline-4 Kent engines were only built in in the UK.
Despite Capris have already reached some cult status by now, it was really hard to find proper parts for the car. Still if you compare Alberto's particular project to similar ones, Alberto wins the contest big time, since this car got finished in just five months. Gotta add that some days Alberto spent like 16 hours working on the car. It's an extremely tense working pace, but looking at the final result, it's not bad from a 50-year-old lady.
Personally I think that this imperfect, slightly-used but mechanically flawless shape fits it much better. And anyways, there are more than enough sheltered oldtimer treasures. If this car was one of those ones, well that would be a real waste. At least she does some occasional workout when Alberto takes her to the local events. But maybe they'll go on separate ways shortly, because Alberto's about to sell the Capri to finance his next project. Hoping that'll deserve a feature too.
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