Happy Blue Monday…because aren’t they always? I don’t usually post on Mondays anymore, but as I mentioned a few posts back, I have so many new cars to profile that I’m stepping up my posting for the next few days to try to get them all out there. There’s been some rumbling at the track lately too, so even more is coming soon, but for now, I gotta tellya, I’m a little miffed at my friends at Road Race Replicas.
The awesome car you’re looking at here is only awesome because I put a good amount of work into getting it there, and considering the astronomical price I paid for it, I honestly expected more; never mind that this Maverick Grabber is NOT a “numbered edition,” and that it arrived on an AW Ultra G rather than a T-Dash, as every complete car I’ve ordered from RRR in the past did. Now, you may be thinking: “But why would you be upset by that? Isn’t the Ultra G your preferred format?” Yes, it is, but there’s a cost difference there! The AW may be a faster chassis but it’s cheaper than the T-Dash! Thing is, the traction magnet was removed, leaving a hole there (not removed but included, mind you, just removed) but the thing didn’t even have RWL tires on it! Come on Phil, throw me a frickin’ bone here! Probably the most annoying thing-which of course I can’t really blame RRR for-is that, even though it was brand new, it was just about the worst-performing Ultra G I’ve ever bought; I don’t know what was wrong with it-just a bad motor due to a manufacturing defect I guess, because I tried to tune it for hours and couldn’t get the lead out, so I eventually gave up and scrapped it for parts and provided a chassis of my own, making this is a VERY expensive body-only purchase.
Well anyway, I fixed it: I got a “Grabber Blue” ’68 Maverick Grabber, and now that its running right and has the right tires on it, it looks awesome! Now, I’m not going to say that the Ford Maverick is my favorite car-it’s no one’s favorite car-but the first gen models done up the right way can look pretty cool, and here’s proof. Stuck with coming up with a nickname for this baby, I took the easy path; I often think that giving a car a name that includes the color is a little cheesy, but sometimes it works, too. And switching gears from cars to music (gears which I change seamlessly all the time, since in my world one can’t exist without the other), classic rock historians will tell you that there is a friendly “rivalry” between fans of The Beatles and fans of the Rolling Stones, which seems to me to resemble the positions of “Ford Guys” VS “Chevy Guys.” You know which side of that camp your humble blogger is on, and I’m also very much a “Rolling Stones guy,” yet even so, I thought it was time to show some deference to the Fab 4, so I christened this bad boy “Blue Meanie.”
Was that too easy? Maybe, but I like it! It may be even more appropriate than it seems considering the character of its driver, Dan “Rancor” Rodman, who got his own nickname from his tendency to make trouble both on and off the track. “Rancor” has had some trouble with the law in the past but doesn’t quite rise to the level of a true outlaw…at least, not yet. Whether he’ll behave on the track at Drag City and follow the rules of sportsmanlike conduct or not remains to be seen as the 1985 racing season is just now getting started with muscle car time trials! Hopefully that new chassis will give him a good entry!
My aunt had a Maverick in a delightful shade of “stay around brown” She drove that car for years and years and I don’t know why I remember that particular car. Maybe it was just because I liked her a lot. It certainly didn’t look as grand as this creation from the Drag City design studios!