Turning in a 17 second 1/4 mile time slip, with a light Grabber Maverick with a 302 is not impressive ! I am surprised they did not have some lower gears and 4 barrel carbs, 1972 and before. Hard to think a Mav could not have turned some 14s at least. That being said, that is what modifying your own car is about !
That is a great point ! And probably the ultimate truth. The Mustang was the flagship. I just read you could buy a 72 Mav for $1995. A 72 Mustang hardtop was 2766 and a Fastback $2996. They did not want too many to flock to Mavs !
The not compete with Mustang is total BS. There were Drag Pack Torinos that could slaughter the average Mustang. Even in '72 & '73, it'd require more than than a 4bbl 302 to stay with a 351CJ & HO. Other than Boss 302, before the eighties, the only 4 bbl 302 was in some of the '68 models. From it's introduction, Maverick was sold as a inexpensive, economical, & easy to service car. A performance version would be in contrary to all the hype. Targeted at young families, secretaries etc. One commercial showed a group of stewardess reassembling one. Basically was the '60 Falcon's rebirth. In it's introduction year & through '73, Mav slaughtered Mustang in sales. Not till '74 did Mustang turn the tables & didn't even have a V8 option. Maverick had one though.
But the Torino was not a cheap car whatsoever. A 72 Q code was $4200 with a 351. The Mustang went with the design change in 71 which probably killed it. The 69-70 Fastbacks were so much better. I guess the Vega was the Chevy answer to the Ford Mav in 71.
Maverick was mostly by itself. Unlike Nova & Duster which could be optioned with 250-275 Hp engines, Ford's performance offerings were pale in comparison. I don't believe Vega ever had a engine other than the aluminum half motor, Pinto did offer V6 in later wagons. Add enough go fast goodies to Maverick & it would not have been cheap either. By '70/'71 insurance companies were penalizing high performance vehicles, along with the oil embargo in late '73, the performance market was a shadow of its former self.. The oil embargo is what saved the double Mustang, it'd been a bust if that had not happened. Price is what sold Maverick, not performance.
Those Vega motors were notorious for failing. The drag race community loved Vega's though ! The First gens, 71-73 people really like. One thing about a Vega, they rust badly , even in Oklahoma. I traded a number of them. The last one I looked at, the guy said it was pretty rust free. I think he meant rust for free ! I pulled up and the guy was trying to put it on my trailer before we even talked ! Nope ! I think the Maverick is a better looking car than the Vega.
That could be. The Vega was a better looking car than the Pinto. A Maverick is quite a bit longer than the Vega.
Pinto, Vega, Capri & Plymouth's Crickett were competing domestic models(Capri & Crickett imported). Maverick, Comet, Nova, Ventura, Duster, Demon plus AMC's Gremlin & Hornet that were sort of in same market.
My '73 came from the factory with a 302 , A/C, C-4, and 3.00:1 gears. I was "told" that V-8 cars without A/C came with 2.79. I had a '75 Comet with 250, manual trans, no A/C, and 3.00 gears...
I had a 72 4dr Comet with a 302 engine w/C4 and A/C and it had a 3.00 gears and I had a 77 Maverick 250 six W/C4 with A/C and it was a 3.00 gear. My 72 Comet is a 302 C4 with 7out A/C and it is a 2.79 rear gear. I bought a new 71 Comet GT 302 no AC and it had 2.79 gears. Hope this might help.
Factory A/C? Or dealer-installed? If factory, that blows the theory of what I'd heard regarding what determined which gear ratio the cars got...
According to Marti report, factory AC. It is OE, AC unit. Back in that era, options didn't come as package deals like they do in last few decades. IIRC, there was a lot of flexibility w/ order forms.
