Vehicle Description
A Ford Maverick, you say? The Mustang's low-key cousin actually
looks anything but dull when dressed in killer Grabber livery, as
this 1976 Ford Maverick Grabber Tribute so aptly presents. With
that red-hot color-combination, a thumping 347 Stroker V8 under the
hood, and a comfortable A/C bucket-seat interior, this Maverick
makes Mustangs blush. To be honest, we rarely see these anymore and
for an entry-level hobby car, it represents a whole lot of fun for
not a lot of cash.
We really dig the bright Grabber Orange and Black combination on
this Maverick, which gives it a more performance-oriented look with
a more modern twist. All the orange paint look fairly recent and it
was finished to a strong driver-quality level that looks great
today, and the black accents were expertly applied - with
painted-on LeMans-style hood stripes and slick profile decals
breaking up any potential monotony giving the car a very racy vibe.
Bodywork is quite straight when you look down the lines, and there
isn't any evidence that this Maverick was abused in its day. Of
course, chrome bumpers were still in fashion in 1976, but otherwise
there aren't many shiny bits on this car, which has a
forward-looking appearance that works rather well. The neo-fastback
roofline has aged well and the car makes the most of its curves
with that high-impact paint job.
The interior is definitely comfort-oriented with a little
sportiness mixed in, anchored by the black vinyl buckets up front.
The vinyl seating surfaces are in excellent condition (and the
stuffing is all-new too), the matching dash looks so good it could
very well be an OEM replacement, and the door panels at the flanks
look fairly fresh too, with period-perfect designs that soften
things up inside a bit. The carpets are nice and plush, protected
by rubber floor mats, and the headliner up above is taut and ties
everything in together perfectly. Two deep, round pods house the
speedometer and fuel gauge, and if you've driven an early '70s
Mustang, you'll feel right at home here, and an aftermarket
tachometer was strapped to the column to keep an eye on the revs.
An aftermarket 3-spoke steering wheel was added to sport things up
a bit, and a set of auxiliary units were neatly stashed underneath
the dash to augment the factory units. It's also equipped with a
modern stereo, a Delphi AM/FM/CD/AUX unit that fits into the center
of the dash, the factory A/C system has been upgraded and blows
cold, and there's a chrome T-handle shifter that manages the
automatic transmission below. The rear seat is in great condition
and probably hasn't seen much use and the finished trunk is
reasonably well-sized and has a factory style mat to tidy it
up.
In the relatively lightweight Maverick, the 250 cubic inch
inline-six found in most of these was actually a decent performer,
but it wasn't enough for the owners of this Maverick. So, in came a
thundering 347 Stroker V8 small-block, and now this lightweight
Ford has plenty of pop under the hood. It's smooth and virtually
indestructible, and if you want economical transportation with
plenty of juice, you could do a lot worse than this Maverick, with
a big 4-barrel carb and performance intake helping things out. It
looks slick under the hood, with black Edelbrock valve covers, a
matching open-element air cleaner, a gold Milodon oil pan, and it
all looks very slick against the satin black inner fenders and
firewall. The C4 3-speed automatic transmission is capped with a
TCI pan and feeds a heavy-duty rear end with driver-friendly gears
inside, and the custom dual exhaust underneath sounds nice and
throaty. American Racing 'Old Style' Torque Thrust wheels are a
nice addition to this most sporting Mav, and they wear 205/65/16
front and 235/60/16 rear performance black-wall radials to complete
the look.
You rarely see Mavericks these days and I'll wager that very few of
these special cars still exist in this condition. Who says
entry-level hobby cars have to be boring? Call today!
