Capricorn - the car that never was

IN the petrol crisis days of the late '70s and early '80s, Ford was ‘having a few bob each way’ on the design for the XD Falcon replacement. In a case of bad timing, it had introduced the full-size XD at the same time as Holden had ‘downsized’ with the new Commodore.

Ford’s engineers and stylists set about designing a smaller ‘Commodore-sized’ Falcon in both sedan and hatchback styles.

Code-named ‘Capricorn’, the car reached full clay and fibreglass model stage. The interior had been designed and, by late 1981, all it needed was final approval before going to the next stage of driveable prototypes.

At the same time, Ford was revamping the Falcon range of engines and introduced the alloy head and other improvements that kept the Falcon’s fuel economy on a par with the smaller Commodore. Falcon sales soared, Ford became No.1 in the market place and the Capricorn died!
So what did it look like? No pictures were kept. thanks to Ford corporate philosophy that any still-born project simply ceases to exist and all related materials are destroyed. But more than three years after this article was originally posted, we receive this from a mate...

It's an old pic, but the Ford badge is unmistakeable on something that could have worn any number of badges in the `80s. Wonder what a current Capricorn would look like...