There were a few great looking older Fords at the Fun Ford Weekend in Houston this past weekend; Falcons, Fairlanes, Galaxy’s, Torino’s, Comets, Mustangs (of course), and best of all, great looking 10 second Mavericks! The weekend started on Friday with Test and Tune. I was at a different track that night helping my neighbor with his bow-tie (horse-power is horse-power to me – I’m non denominational when it comes to h.p./c.i.). Saturday was the “True Street” competition. We made a 30 mile trek through the country side south of I-10. I was riding with a friend in his 1989 Saleen convertible (signed by Mr. Saleen himself!) and my wife was with another friend in a 1990 GT convertible. I can admit, the 30 miles in the sweltering heat, stop-and-go Indy 500 was a toll on a few of the Stangs. Thankfully, both cars we were riding in stayed at a constant 180 deg the entire way. I haven’t looked at the stats yet, but there were over 100 ‘True Street” competitors there! Ninety-nine percent of the small block Fords made three (back-to-back) successful passes (I can’t say enough about the Ford 302 block. A work-horse if there ever was one). In Fast Ford and Quick Ford classes, the Mavericks (5-6 I believe) were strong contenders. All looked and ran great which spurred even more interest in the Maverick/Comets. I met all the driver/owners of the Mavericks and they were true ladies and gentlemen. I had a ton of questions to ask them and they were all more than willing to answer my questions and show me their solutions to a few drag-racing specific improvements. If you guys are reading this, ‘thanks again’. Doug Bauer (nick = DAB), Texas Rep, drove his Maverick down from Austin. The longest trip his Mav has seen in a while. It was great to see him and spend some quality time with him and another fellow MCCI member, Tracy Norris (nick = Pegasus). I’ll try to link the FFW site(s) and post the Maverick related articles. The early scoop is, from a biased spectator’s point of view, the Maverick guys served us well on the track and their genuine desire to share their knowledge and experience to fellow Maverick/Comet owners was apparent in the pits. Even though the heat was a little much at times (90+ degrees, no wind), I believe a great time was had by all. I’m sure Doug will post a summary report as he is much better at remembering names and specifics than I am. I think I'm exhausted from the heat (“It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity!”). Try to make a FunFord Weekend event this year, you won’t regret it. Rick
how about pics? anybody snap some we could see? were the quick ones running stock style front suspension?
Doug Bauer got some pics and should be posting shortly. The front ends went from stock to all-out tubular with Pinto suspensions and everything in between. One with a 302 without any mods to the shock towers. Running Hooker "Competition" 1-5/8" long tubes. The number one cylinder runner was about 1/8"-1/4" away from the shock tower (looked like it'd be a bear to get to the header bolts and plugs). Two had the Mustang II front suspensions on them (one guy bought a Mustang II for $50 in a junk yard and did a very clean change). The omission of the shock towers gives gobs of space on either side of the headers. The one with a Pinto front suspension was an all-out tubular, full tubbed 4-door - 460 block, running a mere 10.2X at a million mph's! Way too many mods for me to even think about adding to my Maverick. The reader's digest version of the history of the car. The present owner rode with his dad to pick it up from the dealership. He and HIS sons are racing it now. One family owner. Nice. All had various size 9" rears and different ratios. Two main mods of interest to me were: 1) Ditching the leaf springs, going to coil-overs. This frees up the cramped space between the tire and the existing leaf springs. Most were running 14-1/2" wide slicks! I'm having trouble getting 29-1/2" X 9" under mine. But I do intend to do a 'mini-tub' to be able to run 10-1/2" or 11" on mine. 2) If I had it to do over again, I'd find an old Mustang II junker, cut out the entire A shaped shock towers on the Mav and transfer the front II's suspension to the Maverick. Hopefully, Doug will have pics soon. Later, Rick
Fun Ford Weekend Pictures are developed, but.... .....Sorry, guys, but I've been working 10 hour shifts this week and haven't had time to post them. (Also my scanner is on the fritz, so I might have some trouble). Rick did a good job in summarizing the event! There isn't much else to add, except for pictures. We saw 5 Mavericks on the dragstrip. Some of the more unusual: One was a '75 (Big Bumper Maverick) with the bumper supports removed. The driver was a lady from here in central Texas! Then there was a 4-door Maverick with a 460 engine! Brings back memories of the Tejuana Taxi? My '72 Grabber performed real well on it's first voyage outside of the Austin area. (Bought without motor last year and have fresh 289 in it now with less than 1000 on it). However, I lost forward and neutral gears when a swivel bolt on the linkage fell off my block, conveniently, however, at the motel parking lot. My thanks go out to Rick for putting it back together! I'm working Saturday, too, so it might be a while on the pictures. Please be patient. Doug
Thanks for taking the pics Doug. Can't wait to see 'em. (I know your job has you real busy). For the guys who are interested, here's a write-up on the FFW event (over 750 Fords!): http://www.funfordevents.com/Events/houston02.phtml (Doug, YW on the quick 'fix')
hey doug This is john C.... Good to hear that your bussy at work. I'll have to up date my page with new pictures of the 302 swap(and fix it all together because it's rough). All I need is exhaust and to tune it....as well as, get the transmission to work. I hope all it needs is more fluid. Anyway, I put a new starter in it today and it sound real tough with just headers. Wish I could still be in Texas for the show. Thanks for all the board members help too! take care, Doug
Fun Ford Weekend... (LONG) Hi All! Just thought I'd pop in with my thoughts on the Ford Fun Weekend! After talking with Rick Book & Doug (alias DAB) it was agreed that Rick would go with his local car club and meet up with us on Saturday at the FFWE. I called Doug and he agreed to drive down from San Antonio in his fantastic origional grabber-green Maverick Grabber. As this was, by far, the longest trip that Doug has taken in the Grabber since the 289 install, we kept in contact as he made his trip. Around noon he showed up at my place and off we went! Note: My '76 Maverick "Pegasus" has never been more than 75 miles away from my house, and is currently being powder-coated. So this was my first "road-trip" in a cool Maverick since 1977 when my mom had one! What a kick! Doug's 289 Grabber purred its way the 12 or so miles to the drag strip and I had the time of my life remembering my '70s days and "hanging cool" with my arm out the window just like I did when I was a teen! Of these things, memories are made! The "thrum" of that 289 strolling along at 2300 rpm with the *very* cool sound of the flowmasters definitely turned heads! They were not loud at all (unless Doug "stomped it hehehehe) but had a throaty sound that scared the hell out of the rice-burners we passed. I could go on-and-on about that ride but suffice it to say that it is seared into my brain right along with memories of my first kiss, first car and first... Whooopssss, we won't go there but it was really cool! Once we arrived, we checked out anything Maverick like a bear to honey. I was surprised to see so many! (un?)fortunately they all seemed to be set up for pure-drag duty (Rick Book was drooling and probably dehydrated more from the drool than his sweating!). Doug was patient with me as I checked out everything I could lay my eyes on; from engine-plates, 9 inch rear-ends, gauge setups, etc, etc, etc. I'm still in awe of the tub jobs these guys did to fit those huge mags under there! Doug and myself, after seeing how hot it was, decided to get some really cool commemerative Houston Raceway Park hats to save our heads. $20 for each was a bargain in the Houston heat! We met up with Rick a short time later and watched the excellent drag action! Mostly Mustangs but quite a few variants were in the mix. I couldn't help but look down on all of those Mustang drivers and think "Heck, if you wanted to REALLY stand out, you'd have gotten a Maverick!". Oh well, I guess being "part of the pack" is important to some people... *grin* ... I have my "car crowd" and they are all part of this board... I had family coming in for Sunday so I couldn't join Doug for that day. Being torn between family obligations and so many Mavericks is a tough decision, but one each of us has to make on our own *grin*. All-in-all, I had the time of my life and really enjoyed Rick and Doug's company. I just wish the weekend had lasted longer. I can't wait to do it again! Regards, Tracy '76 Maverick "Pegasus"
Fun Ford Weekend in Houston (May 4th and 5th) Well, I finally had some time to sit down to my "new" (refurbished) scanner and scan some of the FFW pictures! I've put a webpage together that can be found at: http://home.swbell.net/dablbdab/FunFordBaytown02.html (You'll have to be patient, the JPEG's take a while to load--I didn't spend the time to reduce them yet). I will post more of the pictures soon. Enjoy! Doug Bauer Texas State Reprsentative, Maverick/Comet Club International
DAB, is that your mav. nice looking car. what brand hood & are you happy with the quality, etc. thanks, don graham
Sorry, that's not my car.... .....Rick said I ought to get in front of the purple Maverick for a picture, since I'm never in any of the shots. Now I'm in One! Unfortunately, we talked to all the Maverick owners except this one. I'm not sure who's it is. Maybe Rick knows? Doug
Rick, I've got 275/50/15 BFG drag radials on my 1970, they have an 11/3" section width and a roughly 10.5" tread width. They fit tight but well under my Maverick with stock leaf placement!
Thanks Charlie, I'll have to try that before mini-tub. It'll definitley be a lot easier. As long as your hooking up...! (I think a buddy of mine is going to move the springs in an inch or so, and I'm going to go ahead and roll the fender lips also. Thanks, Rick
Well, I am only about .5" away from my leafs, but the same distance away from the inner fender. So I don't think moving the perches will help unless you mini-tub at the same time.
Charlie, What's the back-spacing and width of your wheels? Hell, while I'm at it, I may as well ask you the brand and model (front and rear) Thanks, Rick
I've got 15x7s, which are really too skinny for the big Drag Radials. You could fit 15x8s a lot better on those tires, definitely no clearance problems. I run a Versailles rear so my offset measurements probably won't help. But anyway, My spacing is 11mm offest from center towards the outside of the wheel. This type of offset (from center) is more widely used and better than measuring from the insdie edge to the flange because you can use a wider wheel with the same offset from center without hurting anything. My wheels are an unkown brand, aftermarket wheels to fit a Fox Body Mustang. I got them for free.