GS -VS- RS (5.0L)

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 6:04 pm

I finally got the time to study this mess. If you have (or see) a 1986 unit that "smells" like a RS, (5.0L) but says GS on the back, here's how you can tell if it's mis-labeled:-

Items STANDARD on a RS (5.0L) that were NOT possible to have on a GS

1) The 5.0 Litre V-8 in combination with a 5-Speed Tranny. The Automatic was mandatory on the GS with the 5.0 Litre V-8 Option Package and the Automatic was available ON the RS with the V-8, BUT a 5-speed & V-8 combo was a non-no on the GS.

2) Articulated Seats (Premium Seating) with open fret Headrests were exclusively the property of the RS! No GS could have them, period.

3) Charcoal lower bodyside two-tone paint was exclusive to the RS and not possible on a GS.

4) Front Air Dam with Fog lights came only on the RS. It was the one with the fog lights each close to the license plate with Marchal foggies.

5) Charcoal Grille with no chrome accents was only for the RS.

6) Black Antenna & Black Antenna Base, RS Only

7) Black Door Handles & Key Hole Locks RS Only

8} 3-Oval Steering Wheel - RS Only, unless Speed Control was ordered !!

Now all that said......Numbers 4 & 5 could be damaged in a front end boo-boo, and replaced by an unknowing body shop who ordered the wrong part numbers.....
#6 could have been improperly installed on the Capri assembly line, when made.

So, i'd put my faith in numbers 8 (if the unit does not have Cruise), # 7 and numbers 1, 2 & 3.

If she's a 302 with a 5-Speed she's definately a RS
If she has the articulated seats - she's a RS

ascMcLaren Coupes could have trhe 4-Speed Auto with the 302.
They also had # 3 deleted at the factory, as well as # 4.

Otherwise the coupes were the GS (5.0L).

plumkrazy · Post by **plumkrazy** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:23 pm

Are you bored or what?

I think you are opening a BIG cans of worms.

Me, I call ANY 85 or 86 with 5.0 and frt air dam(pace car style) a RS and I take heat all the time.

GOOD LUCK on this one you are on your own.

Post by **negusm** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:16 pm

Sandy, we've been around and around on the FEP board with this. There are many many people with the GS tag on their 85 Capri hatch where the car is obviously a 5.0L (formerly RS) car. Way too many. Something weird was going on in 85.

I know others don't agree but I tend to feel it was some kind of big screwup with Ford. They really weren't "GS" cars even if Ford put the badge on the back. The bucktag says "CRS", they had sport seats, front air dam and only colors available to the "5.0L". The window sticker doesn't even mention "GS" on it.

But even so, I tend to believe that these cars did leave Ford or the Factory with GS badges on the hatch since we see them routinely.

-Mike

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:27 pm

But, that is/was my point. I guess somehow, I wasn't clear. If a car has those items, ESPECIALLY the 5.0 with 5-speed, the Sport Seats, and any/all of the others, IT IS AN RS, and the GS on the hatch is totally wrong, based upon the brochure, the dealer data book and the ordering guides......

Post by **negusm** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:26 pm

Sandy wrote:But, that is/was my point. I guess somehow, I wasn't clear. If a car has those items, ESPECIALLY the 5.0 with 5-speed, the Sport Seats, and any/all of the others, IT IS AN RS, and the GS on the hatch is totally wrong, based upon the brochure, the dealer data book and the ordering guides......

Yes I understand...but....

Is the car wrong if it came from the factory that way?

And if Ford was shipping them from the factory with a "GS" on the hatch...then why? What was their reasoning when like you said, all of there literature mentions nothing about it?

Kind of like your car. It was supposed to come with black power window bezels...and only one side did...the other was chrome. Was that wrong? Not to me it isn't really. I'm one of those guys who believes that Factory "errors" should not really be corrected. When I steal your car someday, I'm puting the chrome bezel back on!

-Mike

plumkrazy · Post by **plumkrazy** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:38 pm

Kind of like your car. It was supposed to come with black power window bezels...and only one side did...the other was chrome. Was that wrong? Not to me it isn't really. I'm one of those guys who believes that Factory "errors" should not really be corrected. When I steal your car someday, I'm puting the chrome bezel back on!

OH MY Sandy your car is not worth as much now knowing that the window bezels have been changed and are not Factory OE

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:38 pm

C'mon, guys, I'm being serious! (It was only the passenger side door panel's Pwr. Wind. switch that was chrome.)

Regardless, when I sold Dodge(s) we used to frequently get in a Diplomat that said Diplomat on one front fender & Gran Fury on the other side. Many Dodge Chargers with Chrysler Cordoba steering wheel emblems.

Factory goof ups have always been there. Just that the public never got to see them as we changed them, and made them correct, before showing the car.

Nothing was going on then, trust me, guys were just sticking on those GS emblems 'cause somebody thought they belonged on there. No GS was to be made with those articulating seats, nor a 302 5-speed.

How could the brochure, the data book, the ordering guide all be wrong ?
Furthermore, the 1986 Mustang followed suit, regarding the seats and the engine/transmission availablity, as well.

75coug · Post by **75coug** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:52 am

Long live the GS-badged RS/5.0.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:55 am

No, that's a Mercury GS 5.0 RS Get yourself some waxed dental floss and tar remover, and remove the "GS" (only)
and send to me - so I can put it on my ascMcLaren nd make a 1-off Mercury Capri ascMcLaren GS 5.0 litre

and if that's not bad enough, you've got a whiteblack magic, too ??

1985 Motorsport Capri · Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:50 am

actually if you have a 85 gs 5.0 (like 75coug's) its not an rs, its a gs 5.0. kinda sorta

you have to remember there was only 2 models of the capri available in 1985.
the GS & RS.
when they dropped the RS name mid run, the only other model was GS.
so all capris built at that point would have to be GS since it was the only model left.

eventualy they would market it as capri 5.0 (thats when the gs badge dissapeared) at the end of the 85 run & throughout the 86 model production run.

so there were 3 phases for the 1985 in question.
& it seems that the GS badged 5.0 (with RS features) is probably the most common variation produced (in the US).

it would be interesting to find out when the change occured each time during production.

75coug · Post by **75coug** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:50 pm

1985 Motorsport Capri wrote: when they dropped the RS name mid run, the only other model was GS.
so all capris built at that point would have to be GS since it was the only model left.

. . . except that the CRS on the buck tag would seem to indicate that the car is an RS with a misplaced GS badge, right?

1985 Motorsport Capri · Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:53 pm

wrong.
it means that the RS model was still available, but there was no official name or model given to the car.

Post by **negusm** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:05 pm

1985 Motorsport Capri wrote:wrong.
it means that the RS model was still available, but there was no official name or model given to the car.

This is what confuses me.

Literature dating from August 1984 says there ARE 2 models. In the literature there was NEVER a single model. It was always the GS and "5.0L". It's very consistant that way.

Somewhere there is a disconnect between marketing and what happened at the factory then. I would love to find a memo outlining what the heck was going on at that time.

-Mike

1985 Motorsport Capri · Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:01 pm

the reason there was never a single model listed in literature is because the brochure was made before the RS name was dropped. i may stand corrected, but somewhere in mid production, another brochure was produced removing any sign of the name RS.
the GS badged cars(RS style) were built sometime inbetween.

Post by **negusm** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:15 pm

1985 Motorsport Capri wrote:the reason there was never a single model listed in literature is because the brochure was made before the RS

Hmmm. Yes, that I think is correct.

The RS is listed in the brochure and also in the early salesman guides. The upholstery book has "5.0L" glued over (I assume) what used to be the "RS". The revised Fact book which is printed in February has 5.0L in it. I might need to see if I have the early one but I don't think I do.

Now there is one more question. RARE-ASC who has that low mileage GP4 in GA...he has the "GS" on the hatch. However, his build sheet has "5.0L" on it with no mention of GS or RS....I would think it would have said RS on the window sticker if they were still updating everything or the car wouldn't have the GS on the hatch since the window sticker has "5.0L" on it.

Curiouser and curiouser.

I think you and Sandy need to Duke it out. I've pretty much given up on the issue. To me its just a tag on the hatch. If it's an 85 and it's there or not it's no big deal.

-Mike