During the designing of the Motorsport Capri, Mercury felt the car needed a little something extra.

Enter ASC McLaren.

From 1984 to 1986 ASC McLaren converted Mercury Capri’s into convertibles & decked out coupes just as Shelby did with Mustangs in the 60’s. Mercury’s involvement in the ASC McLaren conversion coupes & convertibles was minimal. Mercury basically just provided the cars & sold the cars. Due to warranty concerns, the Mercury Capri name & logo was left off all ASC McLaren products & given very little promotion by Mercury.

Things would be different this time.

The manufacturer asked ASC to help out by adding on the specialty parts that were being put on the conversion models. The Motorsport Capri was to be a show case vehicle for Mercury, so the cars would not get the full-blown ASC treatment. Just the exterior parts would be needed.

All factory Mercury & Capri emblems would remain & the ASC McLaren name & logo was nowhere to be found on the car.

This is the only time an ASC converted Capri would not feature the ASC McLaren name & logo.

The bulk of the cars were shipped to ASC McLaren’s Livonia conversion facilities on June 10. It was there that the cars would be completed. ASC added lower ground effects to the rocker panels & below the rear bumper. Smoke tinted headlight & taillight covers were added as well as a rear deck spoiler. All of the added parts were painted to match the cars existing trim. The stock 10 hole aluminum wheels that came on performance versions of the Capri & Cougar in 1985 were used instead of the ASC McLaren mesh rims.

The stock suspension, air dam & interior were also left intact.

Graphik Concepts applied the decals at ASC’s Livonia facility and all 30 cars received the same decal design.

3 or 4 cars were shipped to another Ford location to be converted into the pace car, safety car, and a back up car. The location is believed to be the Kar Kraft facility in Brighton, MI, or possibly at the Roush facility in Dearborn.

It was there that those cars were given something extra under the hood to keep up with the racecars on the track. Ford refuses to say exactly what was done or if the cars were actually there. Some sources claim that slight mechanical modifications were done, while other sources claim the entire drive train was replaced and others say they were never there officially. The most likely scenario is the engine & transmission (and maybe the rear end) were taken out & replaced with a special Roush prepared drive train. Roush Racing was heavily involved with the Trans Am Series Capri’s success in 1984 & was working with Ford Motor Company on many projects at the time. After the cars served their purpose, the original drive train would have been re-installed at Kar Kraft or Roush.

It was at this other location that Ford / Mercury would add more to the pace cars & the safety cars. The cars would receive additional decals. A black lettered decal stating “Official Pace Car” & “Official Safety Car” would go on both doors. A white “Motorcraft” decal would be installed on the front bumper.

Cribie decals would go in the rear passenger windows. A “Bendix Brakes – Trans-Am Series” decal would be added to the lower doors. The cars that would be used at the Mercury Motor City 100 would have the race logo cut out on the quarter panel decals.

A roof mounted light bar & additional flashing lights in the air dam was added to the pace cars & safety cars.