The Maverick is many things to many people. From a badge-engineered Nissan Patrol for Australia to the Escape for the European Union, this nameplate has served the Blue Oval well in the past. Come 2021, the Maverick will come back as a small pickup truck.
1969, however, is the year the nameplate was introduced to the North American lineup in the guise of a two-door sedan with underpinnings from the Falcon. Aimed squarely at the Chevy Nova and Dodge Dart, the rear-wheel-drive economy car featured an inline-six engine as standard. Ford also offered the Windsor V8, but the one-off build we’ll talk about today has more than five times the optional engine's output thanks to a twin-turbo 427 motor.
Jimmy Shaw approached the Greening Auto Company for a pro-touring makeover of his Maverick, and the performance shop was much obliged to make it happen. The pro-touring build is capable of drag racing and hard cornering, but it’s equally capable of daily driving down the highway.
Greening Auto Company worked with BASF to create the custom color that showcases the body mods, which include the forward-tilting hood and widebody fenders. The carbon-fiber side skirts, rear spoiler, and aerodynamic diffuser add to the visual drama of this fellow, but the changes don’t end here. The wheels feature a custom design as well, and they’re wrapped in super-sticky Pirellis.
Now riding on a modern frame from the Roadster Shop, the one-of-none Maverick is rocking independent suspension at all four corners, Baer brakes, FAST engine management, Precision turbochargers, fuel injection, and a four-speed automatic.
The tranny comes courtesy of General Motors in the guise of the 4L80-E, a heavy-duty unit that’s popular with the go-faster crowd as well as a handful of automakers. Based on the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 from the 1960s, this transmission was used in the ‘90s and ‘00s by Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, and Aston Martin.
On an ending note, care to guess how fast this Maverick is? Make that 169.364 mph (273 kph) on the half-mile run and 202.748 mph (326 kph) for the standing mile.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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