First published in Street Machine’s Australia’s Toughest Fords #2, 2004

Building model cars is no substitute for the real thing, but family commitments applied the hand brake to Mick Mancini’s hot car follies and prevented him from having any real toys for many years. This was bloody hard considering he grew up driving a string of gun streeters. So he turned to scale models as a way of ‘owning’ his dream drives. Those early rides included a 350 Chev-powered EH Holden that put down a 12.6@124mph back in 1986, an HT Monaro that ran a healthy 302 Chev, and a couple of small-block ’56 Chevs.

It’s been called everything from a Dodge to a Pontiac, even a Pinto

One of the models Mick built was a Maverick Grabber, so when a mate mentioned that his brother had bought one he knew it wasn’t a rebadged Nissan Patrol. At the time he was primed for a new toy and his interest was raised, so he went around and took a look at it. It had been hit right down one side, but was otherwise in reasonable shape and the price was right, so he bought it.

“It was so different to anything else around here that I had to have it,” Mick says. “As far as I can determine, there are only somewhere between 12 to 18 of them in Australia.

“No one knows what it is. I’ve heard it called everything from a Dodge to a Pontiac, Camaro, even a Pinto.” That was depressing, so to help get the message across that it was a Ford, Mancini stuck an original 1972 dealer sticker on the rear window, but even then the penny didn’t drop for a lot of people.

The blue oval first released the Maverick in 1969 as an economy sports coupe. It was a two-door fastback based on a shortened Falcon chassis, powered by a modest six-cylinder engine, and it quickly established itself as the poor man’s Mustang.

The Grabber was designed to give the model some more juice. First available in 1971, it was offered with deep-dish steel wheels, stainless trim rings, blacked-out bonnet and grille, twin bonnet scoops, driving lights and racy stripes. But the best option on the order form was the 210hp, two-barrel, 302ci Windsor V8.

Mick’s Grabber is a ’72 model with the aforementioned V8 under the bonnet and arrived in Adelaide about 10 years ago. It had already been converted to right-hand drive, and a previous owner had rebuilt the motor before being involved in the crash that left it scarred down the passenger side. It then found its way into the hands of Mick’s mate’s brother before finally ending up in the Mancini garage.

First job was the body work. Mario and Jeff at M&J Prestige Accident Repairs massaged the left side back into shape and Pauli applied the Orange Flame paint. While the Windsor was out, a Crane Fireball cam and a 650 Holley four-barrel carb were added, but apart from that the 302 is pretty much as it left the Ford factory. It might not give you a nose bleed, but in the lightweight Maverick it’s got enough punch to hold its own on the street. A four-speed top loader sends the punch rearward to a nine-inch.

The suspension is stock apart from some Koni adjustable shocks, while the stoppers are a combination of XA Falcon rotors and calipers at the front and stock Maverick drums down the tail end.

Inside, it’s pretty much the same story: stock. The seats are the high-back buckets which were part of the original Grabber package, along with a centre console. To which Mick added cruising tunes via a Pioneer sound system. If you get the impression that Mick’s Maverick is box-stock, you’re pretty much right, ’cos it’s factory fresh apart from the Pro Star alloys, Michelin XZX front rubber and American Racing rears.

Mancini’s main aim was to get the Maverick on the road and enjoy the rare driving experience before beefing it up a little. When winter arrives, the Windsor will be reworked so a little more grunt can be extracted from it, even though Mancini says it’s not too shabby as it is.

Aside from the Pioneer tunes, the interior is all factory, oozing 1972 originality

“It’s very light, so I don’t need to go too radical,” he says. “I’d rather be in it than under it, so it won’t be too wild.” However, the top loader is headed for the dumpster, and Mancini plans to replace it with a strong auto and stall converter, along with a shorter set of diff gears.

He reckons the mild mods should “liven her up a bit”, and is pretty confident it’ll have heads spinning. But even with the extra zip, you can bet the Maverick will remain a thick cloud of mystery to those who come across it, let alone those who can’t even figure out it’s a Ford.

Mick Mancini
1972 Ford Maverick GrabberColour:Orange FlameGRUNTType:302ci Windsor V8Heads:StockCam:Crane Fireball hydraulicCarb:Holley 650 four-barrelDRIVETrans:Four-speed top loaderDiff:Nine-inchGRIPSuspension:Standard height (coils and leaves)Shocks:Koni adjustableBrakes:XA discs & calipers (f), stock drums (r)Steering:Recirculating ballINTERIORSeats:StockTrim:Recovered in red vinylSounds:PioneerROLLING STOCKWheels:Pro Star alloys, 15×3.5 (f), 15×8 (r)Rubber:Michelin XZX (f), American Racing G60 (r)

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