How Did Yours Start Out?

Oh and to answer the thread bought my car completely stock and I think I'm ognna keep it that way except I will put on a header and run a dual exaust set up witht he 250.. eventually. I had " lost the aircleaner and had a cheap after market one, just replaced that last week, the only thing I need now to get back to stock is get the top redone and a new white halo top installed. Oh and I did put in a cheap cd am fm stereo an druning just 2 6x9's in the back window.

 

when i swapped the engine into my olds it involved a 2ton chain hoist hanging off a tree branch. i'd imagine a fully dressed 350 olds with an automatic trans wouldnt be too heavy right...? anyway i had to roll the first car under, yank the 350 out, rolled it out of tthe was then rolled the cutlass under and droped her in.

 

Not sure if it was uglier then, or now....

 

i think thats about the same color mine was and im still not sure if its better or worse

but i like it more now so w/e

 

Dan,
Your car has come a long way.
I never realized it, because your car looks so good in the pics I see all the time, but now that you showed that 'before' pic, I realize my Grabber was identical.
It was red with the same stripes. It was a 72 with somewhat oxidized paint, but not nearly as bad a shape as yours was. It was a bucket seat/floor shift/V8 car. Also had the console... but I think a PO added that. I sold it in 91 for $200 bux.
Last I heard it caught fire and burned down.

My next was a Sprint with V8/PS/C4/AC.
Bone stock when I got it.

My 75 was in great shape when I got it.
Looked much like Scoopers 74 being the same color and having big bumpers.
Even the same Halo top. Had a gorgeous black interior when I got it in 92.

My current Sprint was originally owned by the proverbial 'little ol lady'...
What you don't realize is little ol ladies lose their perpheral vision and run into everything in sight. The body is full of small dents, dings, scrapes, and a few repains.
Lowest mileage vehicle I own though.

 

When I got my all red 77' Maverick it looked like a rolling popsicle. The previous owner had changed the color of the car from it's original silver to red with a bright yellow front end. The headlight doors, gravel shield and the grill were yellow, and the front of the fenders and hood were yellow fading into the red paint. It looked just plain goofy. When I drove past a couple of little girls who commented that the car looked like a popsicle ,I knew it was time to get the car repainted. The car also had a set of airshocks on it that raised the rear up about 6 inches higher than it should have been and it had a cheap aftermarket chrome kit on the engine. Oh, the car was covered with Ricky Rudd stickers, the previous owner's favorite NASCAR driver. I think that might also explain the red and yellow paint job. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the car back then. I felt embarressed enough driving it that I never thought about taking a picture of it too.

 

Well, the one thing I had going for me there was it was about 22 degrees outside (that's part of why the picture is hazy looking, I was exhaling just as I snapped the pic ) so the ground was basically frozen hard. I hooked onto the hoist with a riding lawn mower and pulled the hoist (with engine hanging from it) to the front of the '72. And then yes, I rolled the '72 under the engine, dropped it down, rolled the car forward a little more, dropped it down some more, and rolled it forward over and over until the engine was in place. Good times.

By the way, here is what my engine looked like originally back before I got the '74 Grabber in the first place. This picture was taken by Hawkco when he owned the car. The engine had not ran since the early 90's when that pic was taken. The exhaust valves on cylinders 1, 5 and 6 had seized from sitting so long, which bent the push rods when I tried to start it the first time. I replaced the lifters, push rods, and valve seals and have been running the crap out of it ever since. If it makes it to 300,000, I'll swap it out. These old I6's are tough.

 

I got mine for 750 bucks. it was a faded oxidized dark blue. it had ranger 14" alum wheels on it. no brake pedal, the engine didnt run and it had some lousy bucket seats with one bolt each holding them in. The motor (a the orignal 302) didnt run and only had headers for exhast. i put a master cylinder in that weekend and then found that the fuel pump had goten stuck from siting. i just took it off, moved the lever and it worked. drove it up to my friends muffler shop had him put to flowmasters that i had laying around on it and was good to go.
Next i ordered some kirky seats and made some mounting brackets for them. the body was really rough. the roof had been smashed in then poped back out so it had a wrinkle line all the way around it. the pass quarter pannel looked like the the pacific ocean. A guy at an alignement shop had parted out 73 mav and gave me the shell. So i transfered most evey thing from the 72 to the 73 while makeing up grades as i went along.
So now i have a really ugly, but great running mav. it is now green, blue, primer gray, and primer black with some surface rust spots on the roof. I put a new fresh 320 horse 302 in it, had the c4 trans rebuilt and working at a diff shop i put a 9" diff in. it got willwood disk brakes on the front so i can stop all that extra power safely. I know this thread was asking what we started with but I feel im still just starting on this. I just got the car on the street 2 weeks ago and am still working out a few little bugs. Right now i consider the car ugly fast. Its so ugly I has to go fast.

 

Bragger Even though you are a bragger I have to give you and Dan the props for having the cars that caused my son to get bit by the Maverick Bug... I figured he would be over it by now but he is still pushing for a Sprit or Stallion clone to be his first car.