In a landmark move to celebrate and share its storied automotive history, the Ford Motor Company launched the Ford Heritage Vault in June 2022. This expansive digital archive grants public access to over a century’s worth of materials from Ford, Lincoln, and the now-retired Mercury brands. Created as part of Ford’s efforts to make its heritage more accessible and to commemorate the company’s 119th anniversary, the Heritage Vault is a goldmine for car enthusiasts, historians, collectors, educators, and anyone with a passion for American automotive culture.

Ford Lincoln-Mercury's second pony car was the 2nd generation Mercury Capri. For the sake of clarity and brevity, its moniker was simply the Mercury Capri, as opposed to the Ford Lincoln-Mercury Capri. Like the Mercury Cougar from 1967-1974, the 2nd generation Mercury Capri (1979-1986) shared the Mustang chassis that Ford produced at the time. This go round though Ford manufactured an all new chassis for the Ford Mustang known as the Fox platform from 1979-1993, it's 3rd generation platform for the original pony car. In this article, we'll examine Mercury Capri history and how it changed from 1979 to 1986.