Imagine being able to buy a RWD car with a V-8 engine for that kind of money. Add the V-8 and you were maybe up to $2,500 or so in early 1970s dollars - about $14,000 in 2013 dollars. $1,995 for the base 1970 Maverick, plus another $194 for the Grabber package. 800 pounds more.Ī new Mustang GT also costs $30,750 - vs. Remember, this car only weighed about 2,800 pounds.Ī new (2013) Mustang GT weighs 3,622 lbs. The otherwise stock 302 - never opened up, with its factory low-performance camshaft in place - easily barked the tires on both the 1-2 upshift and the 2-3 upshift at WOT. The effect of these tweaks was like jumper cables on your nipples in January. We also managed to install a proper dual exhaust system - it takes some work, but it is doable - and changed out the economy-minded ring and pinion for a more aggressive set. I can vouch for this personally, having helped so modify a ’73 Grabber this way. And no one except you - and those you smacked down on the street - would ever be the wiser.Įven without changing cams, simply swapping out the stock two-barrel intake and carb for a four-barrel intake and carb, diddling the ignition timing to more performance-favorable calibrations - and installing what was known back in the day as a “bang plate” (shift kit) in the three-speed automatic (most of these cars came through with automatics) really woke the thing up. A weekend and a few hundred bucks later could - and often did - transform the 302 into a ferocious performer. And once the keys were in your hands - and the car in your garage. It was cheap to buy - and even more important, it was cheap to insure - unlike an out-of-the-closet muscle car. It could, therefore, slip under the radar. The Grabber’s 302 left the factory constipated - but this proved to be a blessing in disguise.Īs far as the government - and insurance companies - were concerned, this was an economy car. Restrictive, not because of catalytic converters - these would not be an issue until 1975 - but rather because the super-tight packaging of the Maverick did not allow for factory dual exhausts or even a decent-diameter single exhaust system. It was further choked-down by its economy-intended two-barrel carburetor and a very restrictive single exhaust system. Part of the reason for the modest output was the extremely mild camshaft - a stick designed to deliver good low-speed torque for A to B driving. The little V-8 was factory rated at 210 hp (SAE gross) in 1970 - or about 100 hp less than the output of a healthy 302. (For some perspective, the “compact” 1970 Chevy Nova SS weighed about 3,200 lbs.) a flyweight even by early ’70s standards. It had the potential to be a screamer - especially in a car that only weighed 2,786 lbs. The same basic V-8 that had made big power in other Ford vehicles and which only required a dusting with various factory and aftermarket performance parts to rise from its slumber. It was not a Boss 302 - or even a four barrel 302 - but it was a V-8 and even better, it was a 302 V-8. But buyers in search of a muscle car in the rough checked off the option box for the 302 V-8, which, became available shortly after the Maverick’s launch. Standard under the Grabber’s dual-dome scooped hood was the base Maverick’s 105 hp 170 CID straight six, with two larger (200 and 250 CID) sixes available as step-up options. “Select Aire” AC could be ordered, but the car’s effective ventilation system made this unnecessary. This was in addition to neat Maverick features such as the “flipper type” rear vent windows, which could be opened outward to draw air into the car. * 14 inch wheels with special trim rings.
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