1972 Maverick

Let me introduce my car which I refer to as 38 Special, the name comes from the fact that the car was the 38th Maverick/Comet that I had purchased (mostly parts car but a few sold as complete cars). This was the one that I had searched for many years to be "the one". The car also holds the honor of being the car that Johnny Lightning used as a picture of to build a model put out to market a couple years ago.

Purchased this Maverick in 2008 from the original owner who ordered it fresh out of college. Being that she was just getting her legs under her and wanting a new car but not having a lot of money she had certain desires that she wanted the car to have. First and foremost she desired to have a V8, next on her list was bucket seats, and the last item was to have a floor shifter; so the car was ordered with these options. What she ended up with was a plain Jane Maverick with rubber floor mats, no chrome trim on the drip rails or doors or boomerangs; but it had the Grabber interior with deluxe door panels, high back bucket seats, and the floor shifter. She did not have the money to buy the Grabber but she got the items she wanted and was happy with that. The car cost $2,874 upon delivery. The lady I purchased the car from shed a few tears when I drove off with the car as it was her baby and she kept it in pristine condition.

Now on to the upgrades the car went through after my purchase. Although there are times when I wish I would have left the car as bought, I had the desire to build a race/show Maverick and the transformation began. I had always wanted a stroker motor so that was the first item on the agenda and had a short block built for it by Fordstrokers. I had them top it off with a set of worked over Trick Flow Fast As Cast 190 cc heads then added the whole gamut of MSD ignition components, an Edelbrock RPM Performer intake, 650 Quick fuel carb, and a set of 6901 ceramic coated headers. To handle the horsepower a new custom built torque converter was ordered, and a c4 built by transmission guru Paul Stephens was built, to which I installed a reverse manual valve body. Not to be left at the starting line with broken rear end, a 9" was installed with a set of 4:00 gears and a Detroit locker, a set of Cal Tracs, and of course a line loc. Originally the car had a header evac system on it but have since switched it over to a GZ Motor Sports vacuum pump. A good cooling system is a much needed item so a 3 core Champion radiator was added. Exhaust is a 2 1/2" into some Magnaflows dumped under the rear wheels.

Now to the body and interior. Rubber floor mats were stinky and not my style so new black carpet was installed, new Auto Meter Phantom gauges and tach, B&M shifter with line loc button t-handle and a nice stereo with amp. The rest of the interior remains stock and is in like new condition. As for the exterior, a Grabber cowl scooped hood with snorkels (made by a former member of this site) was added, along with a set of sport mirrors and a rear spoiler. Then to top it off a set of 67 Caprice tail lights wired up to be sequential were added.

The car has seen a lot of racing action in its early years at several tracks in the northwest but now has been retired to just being a fun car to drive and go to shows occasionally. It will hit the strip for Ford only race events.