![]() 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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