Hey guys, I've been so busy lately I haven't written in for a while. Some of you may remember hearing from me a few months ago when I told you about a 71 Grabber I won on auction from eBay. Well, after a pretty extensive 8-week restoration job I was able to get the car ready for the week long Cruisin-the-Coast which I participated in recently here on the Gulf Coast. I've actually had the car for about 11 months but it's just been sitting in the shop. I decided 2 months before the show that I needed to get off my butt and get this car ready to cruise in. Lucky for me I run a body shop as I did have to get a little help from my guys to accomplish this task. Actually I was suppose to have it ready to give to my 17 year old son at the beginning of the school year but it just didn't happen. For the last two years I have cruised the show in the red 71 Grabber I built for my oldest son. Most of you have seen the red car on the Maverick website. This year it was time for a change. I now have two nice 71 Grabbers sitting in the drive way with a third one going to my shop in a couple of weeks. Of course the third one is my own personal car that I've had for 28 years. It's grabber green and pretty hot under the hood. I've had it in storage for the last 8 years due to too many other projects. That happens a lot when you got kids. Anyway, I have accomplished one of my biggest goals and that was giving each of my sons a 71 Grabber in their senior year of high school. I too, got my 71 Grabber when I was a senior so I thought it would be pretty unique. My next goal is to do one more restoration on my green car and have all three cars ready for Cruisin-the-Coast next year. So be on the lookout...I'll keep you guys posted at I make my progress. And here is a pic of both of my sons cars. Of course the yellow one is the one I just finished with. Let me know what ya think. Ray Parrish
Very nice job. You did the mavericks proud. I am going to get my son a maverick when he turns 16. From the way you are talking I need to go ahead and get it to make sure I have it ready for him. I mean he is already 9, 16 will be here soon enough!
8 week restoration?!?! Please share details. Is there any way you could do my car? haha , just kiddin. they sure are nice.
It is people like you who preserve the Maverick memory, and make us look good!!! I have seen the red one b4 when you posted previously Must say, thank you for saving 3 grabs that would have eventually wound up in the crusher. They are gauranteed now to be imortalized!! You have a quality of work that I see rarely. Do you do a lot of the work yourself, or bring it in? Do you have interior shots?? What about pics of #3, maybe you could photographicaly document the restro on #3, I would love to see that. If this isn't too personal, how much $$$ does it take to get a maverick to that state. Don't answer this question if you don't want too. Take care, and thanks for the pics!!
Razorsharp will you adopt me? I'd even get you a tie for fathers day. Seriously those look great! I like to see fathers give their sons something that they can enjoy together. Someday my son will have my Mav. Maybe when he's 16 it will be ready. He's 5 now. Again nice job. Russ
Wow Wow Ray, those are sweet cars. Is the red one lowered a bit in the front? Any interior shots of the yellow one? Oh yea by the way Ray I am your long lost son Rudy, where is mine?
I was at the Cruisin the Coast and got to meet Ray and see his yellow car. That is one of the nicest mavericks i have seen in a long time. I bet the next one he does for himself will be even nicer.
Thanks for all the great compliments guys. It's people like you that make putting all the work in these cars seem worthwhile. They had over 5000 registered cars at Cruisin-the-Coast this year and I spotted only two Mavericks other than the one I was driving. I got an unbelievable amount of attention just due to the rarity of these cars now. I thought I might relate some of the facts I come to find out when people kept stopping by to talk to me about the car. Fact #1: Did you guys know that 99.9% of the population has owned a Maverick at some point in their life? (I just want to know what the hell happened to all of them) Fact #2: Two different people that stopped to talk to me about theirs had Boss 302 engines ( Was no telling them any different either) Another guy had one that came with a factory big block but he couldn't remember what size. :confused: (I gave up on this one) Fact #3: Eight out of ten of these Maverick owners surveyed declared that their Maverick was their most favorite car they ever owned!!! (WHY DID THEY GET RID OF IT THEN???) Oh well, enough facts for now. If you guys wanna know everything there is to know about a Maverick you need to come down to Cruisin-the-Coast next year. It really is an awesome show or weeklong Cruise I guess is a better word. There is no way to possibly see all of the cars there and I took a weeks vacation and was there every day. MaverickOutlaw and I did discuss possibly doing a Mini-Meet there next year. Heck, I should have enough there of them there to have my own mini-meet next year. I have also purchased the domain name FordMavericks.com and as soon as I get the time I'll start building the website. I have lots of detailed photos of the restorations of the red and yellow cars and will have even more of the green one. As soon as I get it started, I'll let you guys know so you can keep tabs on my cars. Here's a sneak preview of my green 71 Grabber. This picture was taken about ten years ago before I got my digital camera so it's not very good quality. I've had the car in storage for several years but I'm de-icing it now. It's not in bad shape but I've got to go ahead and disassemble it, go through everything bumper to bumper...and make it BETTER and BADDER than my son's cars. Can't let them show me up. Thanks again guys for the nice comments! Ray Parrish
Hmmm even though I'm not the kind of guy to have dice in his windshield......I like it....do u still have those after all these years?....it's cool how it matches with the exterior U GO RAY!!!
