Just imagine: An Import Mav

All right, now that I've gotten your attention, I have a question. I have a nice 71 Grabber. I just got a custom I6 for it, cuz that's all I could afford. Now I'm looking towards the cosmetics. What are your opinions on tricking out a Mav like modern Imports? As in visual mods like ground effect and Street Glow, etc.... . Now I realize that most ppl on here prefer Mavs made out like a hot-rod or stock, but I'm just looking for some opinions. So let me know, okay?

 

well to tell you the truth i have thought about that my self:
i did have a green neon kit on the mav when i got it but who ever hooked it up did a bad job and i am trying to get my hands on a saleen or vett suspension kit that well lower my car and make it handle good
but my problem is trying to get it tuner like you can do some body grapics but i wouldnt to any body kits becuse then it aint a mav/com but hell its your car try to have fun with it thats what i am doing with both of mine..

 

Some "ground effects" can look good. I like the addition of a chin spoiler, and even some of the Brazilian Mavs look ok with their custom spoilers. Thomas Hackmann actually built his own that are very tasteful and understated. If you're talking more like the fake Ferrari Testarossa cladding, number one, I don't know where you'd find it, and number two I think it would look stupid. The Mav already has great natural lines and doesn't need all that crap to make it look good.

As far as "street glow" is concerned, that stuff is for kids. It doesn't make the car look or run any better, and it attracts cops. The money would be better spent on just about anything else.

You'll find that you get a lot more respect with a nice clean car that is mechanically sound than you will with one that is all junked up.

Hope you're not offended, but you did ask for opinions.

Sam

 

i tried this once and got shot down when i brought up a roof scoop. im also going to try some euros if they come close. all i can say is they just dont like my american made import. heck they even told me to put the engine in the trunk which makes me wonder. if my gas tank is in the trunk how do i put the engine in there

 

as far as importing out a maverick.. hum well i think it can be done right and also done very very tacky and just plain ugly! i think the import world has alot to offer to the hod rod world. infact the last Street Rod show most of the top show winners had alot of ideas that they stole form the import market. very one there thinks the ideas are new but its not! they win cuz they are differant!

again i think you can import it right... use the ideas from the import world, try to avoid using a universal part and just bolting them to your car. be innovative, custom the parts to make them work.

defanite NOs... don't put a Super Street decal on your winshield with an annodised muffer tips with glowing valve stem caps and windshield wipers quirters and diecut graphics on the side of your car... personally if i judged a car show it would get zero! a good rule of thumb.. if its sold at kragen

some might say that its not their style and keep the car a hot rod... but i ask you this.. what makes your car stand out from the other car just like yours? why do some cars get featured in magazines and why do some not? why at a car show they looked at the other guys car instead of yours? call it ugly, call it rice, say its not your style and say its not thang... but face the facts being differant is what gonna get your car attention.. i mean thats why we drive mavericks right?

as most already know... i have stoled lots of ideas form the import world on my car. most domestic cars show i take it too, the people there have no idea what carbon fiber is, never seen disk brakes bigger then 11 inches on a domestic, never seen a car with duel nitrous bottles, never seen clear and smoked turn signal lenes, don't even know what a H4 headlight looks like, or never seen seats like the ones i have. the funny thing is most don't even know where i got some of the ideas from. and yes none of these things make the car go faster but i think you resoning is that you want to make your car get some attention!

even import guys hate it as well when they see some "domestic" car imported out or as some would say "riced" out. but i have also proved that it can be done right... by taking best of award at a dominated import show (7 domesitcs to 100 imports cars). so it can be done correctly.

lasty i don't see nothing wrong with building an I6... infact hum? i was thinking.... what about a 250 I6 77mm turbo charger with parts form HKS Japan? uh oh... so sue me!

 

As far as building an I6 goes that would be great and something out of the norm for sure.
Not being sure what your after by importing a Mav all I can say is Mavs are an attention getter without a bunch of plastic screwed to em.
The guys on here with the really fine Mavs and Comet can attest to that. Mine being a far cry from a good example of a Mav still draws its fair share of attention.
I'm not saying something can't be done tastefully, Thomas Hackman's car comes to mind in that respect.

 

It's your car. Do whatever makes you :bananaman .

 

yeah, its your car, you need to be happy with it.

personally i'd NEVER put that 'fast and the furious' stuff on ANY car i owned, because theres too few people who actually tune their cars and have performance upgrades to the vehicle, you'd just get stereotyped as another guy who 'drove through pep boys with a magnet attached to their car'

granted, since you're driving a 30ish year old car, that opinion might be different. i've seen DeLorean's that are imported out, and they look awful. the DeLorean is a different case than the Maverick/Comet, and its lines are completley different, but i use the comparison because its another older car that people have done that to.

that said, i think you may be able to pull this off with more or less functional upgrades and still get the look you want.

the chin spoiler and a mach1 spoiler will help you out there, since you have a small bumper car you could replace the parking lamps beneath the front bumper with fog lamps. a LOUD paint job, something bright that a maverick NEVER would have come in. that orange spice color ford puts on the focus comes to mine, but possibly a lime green, but then thats just me rambling, any color you want the car i'm sure you could find, with TASTEFUL, NON CLASHING designs on it, probably colored in silver or light blue, some modern wheels and modern touches to the interior(i.e. new gauges, possibly one of those 'gauge pods', new steering wheel, seats from a probe would look good). a grabber hood and a comet gt or boss 429 scoop would look sharp. dark tinted windows would look good, but STICKERS covering every bit of them looks tacky, i think. as for euro lights...good luck finding some that fit! i don't care for them myself, but this is YOUR car. if you like them, go ahead.

really, the only things i'd steer away from are loads of tacky stickers or banners covering most of your windshield(except maybe a 'power by honda - i eat them for breakfast' decal ), exhaust tips that don't do anything except make your car buzz, that sort of thing.

imports really draw a lot of their styling from old muscle cars with wild scoops and flairs and things, and since you have an old car, you can use that to your advantage. euro-import stuff isn't my cup of tea, but i'd love to see YOUR car like that, if it makes you happy, so take LOTS of pictures.

just don't come near mine!


thanks for listening to a ramble and a half,

jim

 

This being my 1000th post (without realizing it), my suggestion must be the one to follow.

uh...... er....uhm.... or just a reminder to me that I'm spending
waaaay too much time at the PC. :confused:

 

ok i take back everything i said.... i give up.

heres your options

1. don't be differant, just make it look like everyone elses maverick... then everyone will like it and you won't have to worry what people think.

2. buy everything you can in the so called import section of JC Whineys catalog: 7 inch wing, motegi 17 rims, apc tail lights, 3A (i dont want to live) seats and if it makes you happy to hell with everyone else

3. do nothing to it and sell it. buy a import, it will last longer (i did )

 

well then i'm half right then. cuz i'm at a bit over 500 posts

or i just have no life....

 

Noobs.

 

I'm guessing the ricer thing is just a fad - kinda like the Internet.

 

then we are all in trouble... cuz i guess its here to stay.....