Gapp and Roush 4 door Maverick Race Car

This one is mostly for gearheads and drag racing fanatics...but if you want to tag along, please do.
My mission today is to make a mid 70's four door Ford Maverick, into an object of desire. Seriously.

Let's begin with professional drag drag racing. Bound by rules set up by the NHRA ( National Hot Rod Association )..the race cars are divided into different classes. Different classes have different rules. The rules change as technology changes.
Pro Stock is one of those classes. I'm going to gloss over the details in the interest of speed and simplicity,... if you are a Pro Stock afficianado...just sit on your hands for a sec.
Pro Stock cars are supposed to look very similar to the street version. This comes from the old Detroit thinking of "Race on Sunday, sell on Monday"  ( win at the racetrack...sell more cars )

Pro Stock cars in reality have nothing in common with the factory built cars, except the shape. The sheet metal is draped over a specially constructed steel tube frame and roll cage. A very high tech, usually experimental, high horsepower motor is installed...and only parts that are for more speed and safety make it into the mix.

Let's zoom back in time to the mid 70's. I was just getting going with my passion for cars, was going to watch drag races by the time I was fourteen.
In those days, the Pro Stock rules changed quickly and sometimes radically. The people that raced Pro Stock were professional racers, and at the high end, were in some way connected to the factory in Detroit.

Wayne Gapp and Jack Roush were Ford Pro Stock racers in those days. ( if you look up Jack Roush, you'll see that he has done very well for himself...and you can see his modified Ford Mustangs and trucks on the street today. ) I don't have any current info on Wayne Gapp, but he does have an website  with tons of cool photos and stories       More results from gapponline.net »
When the rules for the 1975 racing season changed to allow heavier cars to have a chance, the Gapp and Roush team stepped up to the plate. Having done the calculations on the  wheelbase and cubic inches allowed, they came up with a 4 door Ford Maverick as the answer. Thus was born the famous ( in this micro-world ) Gapp and Roush Tijuana Taxi.
The custom built 351 powered car raced for one season, before the rules changed again and made it obsolete. But the Tijuana Taxi remained in the drag racing lore and history books for decades.

Gapp and Roush Maverick race car interior

Gapp and Roush Mustang

Gapp and Roush 2 door Maverick

Gapp and Roush 2 door Maverick

Flash forward to today.
There is a trend in the hot rodding world to restore or recreate some of the popular 70's Pro Stock race cars.
The original Tijuana Taxi was mangled in a pit area accident after it was sold, and was never recovered.
 Jack Roush and his daughter are building a clone car at the moment for exhibition races and car show displays.
Not many of the old Maverick street cars exist anymore, and certainly not many 4 doors..mainly because they  were crappy cars with very little hot rod value.

Jack Roush's own version being constructed

From humble beginnings....

But here in this field is a great, solid example of a car that could be used to re-create the famous race car, the Tijuana Taxi. It looks to be in better shape than the one that the Roush team is using on their build project.

There we go...a mid 70's Ford Maverick 4 door, just became an object of desire.

There it is waiting for your bid...the now glamorous and desireable 4 door Ford Maverick

Come on, you know you want it