New Member, 83 Crimson Cat

[86EuroCoupe]

New Member! I just bought the 83 Crimson Cat off Ebay. This is my third capri. I had a 79 and an 84 RS. Cant wait to get the Crimson Cat home!!

[fredzilla]

Welcome, C.C.
I remember a thread on that cat ...did it have
the ten hole rim on it?
Congrads.. and good luck with it.

[86EuroCoupe]

Yes it does have the ten holes on it. Needs a little interior help but is all in all a nice car.

[svt1996cobra]

Welcome Rich,

Glad to see you in the room! Looking forward to going to pick up the car with you!

David

[86EuroCoupe]

Thanks Dave. Cant wait to get the darn thing home.
Anticipation is getting to me.

[negusm]

Welcome! You have one of my fav Capris! And I think got a good deal too.

-Mike

[Capriman86]

Congrats!
Be sure to take some good pics for us!

[75coug]

I will repeat the others: Welcome. It's great to have a great car like yours on the site. We will be looking forward to many photos and your involvement on the site.

[86EuroCoupe]

Just got the CAT home today. It is a little rough around the edges but is definately salvagable. Sure wish the guy knew what he had when he owned it. The guy I bought it from said if he had known what it was he would have kept better care of it. It is in good hands now. Thanks for welcoming me to the group!!
Rich

[evlgt85]

It has survived and it is now in good hands, that is what matters. Congratulations on the find, and thanks for keeping another one safe.

Welcome to the board.

[Evil86lx]

Welcome...

Very nice score. I have never actually seen one of the Black magic/Crimson cat's in person.

Very cool..

kyle

[tlennyrs]

Congrats on the Cat.
I have an '83 Crimson Cat myself that I just rebuilt.
Mine was in good shap but needed a good refresh.
I you have questions just ask.
Next question is:
I yours a true crimson cat with the cat on the front bumper.
Or
Is it the RS Crimson Cat no hood scoop or cat on the front but has everything else.

TLennyRS

[svt1996cobra]

Congrats on the Cat.
I have an '83 Crimson Cat myself that I just rebuilt.
Mine was in good shap but needed a good refresh.
I you have questions just ask.
Next question is:
I yours a true crimson cat with the cat on the front bumper.
Or
Is it the RS Crimson Cat no hood scoop or cat on the front but has everything else.

TLennyRS

Would you elaborate on this? Both examples should be a Crimson Cat, just optioned differently.

David

[anthonydalrymple]

Welcome & congrat's on the new aquisition. I really like the looks of the Crimson Cat's. you just never see them on the road; even out here in "no-rust' land.....

[86EuroCoupe]

From everything that I have seen and read, there is not a cat head on the front bumper. I have a detailed standard equipment list in front of me at this moment that describes every decal on the car, every stripe on every panel and it does not state that there should be a cat head on the front bumper. As far as I know, only the black and white magic cars came with the head on the front bumper. If anyone else knows, please advise.

[negusm]

I have been told that they all should have gotten it and alot lose them over the years. The decal tends to come off...especially in a car wash. I have seen one or two with the cat and one or two without.

But you are right in that I have not seen any Ford literature showing the car with the cat head on the front fenders....but the literature is extremely scarce as these cars were made for only a few months. And as such any of it is early stuff and when they built the cars they probably made some changes....maybe even part way through the production run.

One other thing to note on the standard equipment list....they do not show the gold cougar wheels. But they were made for the CC and do exist.

-Mike

[caprin1982]

hi all, I believe I have an NOS set of the front nose pin stripe for a CC that has the cat head in a circle.

Lenny, man we need to hook up with our cats and get some pics.

[silverfive0]

Well, first of all, WELCOME!! Secondly, let me introduce myself...I'm Ray and I now own your old 79 RS!! Thanks for keeping it so nice, I can't wait to get it up and running this spring. It's going to be a mild 302-T5 just as a fun driver/cruise night toy. I plan on playing more with my 86 5.0 Capri this spring and may even send it to the paint booth this summer so I'll have "your" car to play with in the mean time!! We need to get together this summer sometime and get some shots of our Capri's. Maybe Dave will join us with his DGP Capri? (hint-hint DAVE!!! LOL)
Again, welcome to the board and keep everyone posted as to your progress.....and by the way, we LOVE pic's!!!! RAY

[not-a-stang]

Welcome. Cool that you have a Crimsom Cat. The only Crimson Cat I ever saw was in a junkyard.

[86EuroCoupe]

Hi Ray, glad you are enjoying the 79 RS. I hope you have as much fun with it as I did. I still miss the ol girl but I hope she is in good hands now. I hope to get this Crimson Cat looking as good as the 79 you now own. Thanks for wecoming me and I hope I can see YOUR 79 RS in the future. As far as pics go, I do not have the capabilities to post pics so maybe someday I can go to Daves house and he can post them for me. What do you say Dave?

[mercrs]

No Cat head only the White and Black Magic got them.Used to have one
CC and 4 Black Magic cars.

[silverfive0]

Yeah, DAVE, what do ya say?? Wanna post some pics for us?? We need pics!!!! Anyways, I'm glad to hear you have good plans for the Crimson Cat Capri, and I will keep you posted on MY 79 Capri's progress!!! LOL Like you said, it went to a good home. Between me and a couple friends, we now have 6 Capri's: my 79 RS, a buddies 79 RS-undergoing FULL resto-mod, his brother-in-laws 83 Drag car - 84 RS with full 93 Mustang interior and drivetrain - 85 RS 5.0 5-spd undergoing basic resto, and my 86 5.0 5spd-LOTS of mods. Maybe one of these days this summer we can get a few of them together and get some pics??
Keep us all posted on your progress!!!! RAY

[tlennyrs]

Yes there seems to be two different options for the Crimson Cat.
RS Crimson Cat:
Has all the RS badges on the dash, Red Devil Seats (HiBack Red center,black sides, Fishnet headrest), Gold grill, Gold Mercury Capri external, gold stripe, No Cat on the front bumper, No Hood scoop but everything else is Crimson Cat.

Crimson Cat Package:
Has all the above options but does have the Cat on the front and does have a hood scoop.
I have seen both of these options, I have the crimson cat package and has RS badges.

If you look in the '83 sales brochure it shows a picture of a Black Cat but could be ordered in Crimson. All Cats before have the cat symbol on the front as just the cat head. The '83 has the cat with a circle around the head. '83 was the last year for the cats and I think the hood scoop.
'84 had the cool RS side molding between the door and the back wheel but so few were made that you can't find these anywhere.
I have pics under TLennyRS

TLennyRS

[negusm]

Yes there seems to be two different options for the Crimson Cat.
RS Crimson Cat:

Generally speaking if you ordered the Crimson Cat (Code 937) you could option it with the 5.0 (code 99F). In the dealer books (printed Feb 83), the RS option (code 933) was explicitly NOT available for the Crimson Cat.

Now who knows what really happened with the early ordering of the cars...maybe the option was available. Being that this car was made in a very short time...who knows what production changes happened before that time.

If you look in the '83 sales brochure it shows a picture of a Black Cat but could be ordered in Crimson.

Where does it say it could be ordered in Crimson? I don't see it anywhere.

The "Red Feature Car" aka Crimson cat was a wholly separate order from the Black Magic car.

-Mike

[svt1996cobra]

I will post pictures tonight! After all, I did get to drive it home! That's the least I can do!