Emerson test driving a Maverick prototype.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

[Ace-Garageguy]

Pretty cool. I remember well the Fittipaldi VW road racer too.

      

                                                                                                 

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Pretty cool. I remember well the Fittipaldi VW road racer too.

      

                                                                                                 

Yes, the Fitty-Volks as people called it. The car was under restoration sometime ago. Have to take a look to see if it's back on the road.

[Maindrian Pace]

Our Lady of blessed terrifying understeer, don't fail me now!

[ChrisBcritter]

^^^And I bet even then, the suspension was much beefier than the American version. He went through a couple sets of tires, as the different-colored wheels from shot to shot indicate.

[Dragline]

He did let it hang out.. Quite the set of mutton chops on old EF...

 

I could see the headline. Top Driver Fittipaldi Killed By Ford.......

[Ace-Garageguy]

Little Maverick was probably thinking to itself "whoopeee...I'm a sports car! I'm a sports car!!".

[espo]

As you can see in the slow motion shots, the suspension geometry was very bad. With the inside front tire dragging on the corners and the right rear tire going up in smoke almost everywhere. It is a testament to his driving ability, I'd love to see the out takes .  If anyone  has ever seen the suspension on this and other cars of that era you would realize just how cheaply they were put together. 

[Lovefordgalaxie]

The car on the video is still a import Maverick, with skinny tires and front drum brakes. Emerson was the guy that helped Ford to tune the Maverick for the GT version, that had a completely different spring/shock combo, and had a improved front suspension geometry. The final car also was equipped with F-70X14 Firestone Wide Ovals, and was about two and a half inches lower.

The final product, the Maverick GT with the standard 302 V8 was a better handling machine than it's competitors, and out handled the '73 Mustang (year of launch here) at Interlagos. The Maverick GT is a sports car, some sort of a legend here, and a good original one goes for about 160 000 Reais these adays (about 50K Dollars).

The Maverick dominated the Stock car category in racing, winning it all from about 1973 to 1975, when the gas crisis made the category go the way of Dinosaurs....

The Maverick GT is a dream car of mine. Would own one over any other sports car, including the Mustang (never looked so good as the Maverick)

Here is a all original GT:

1974 Ford Maverick GT 302 V8 by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

1974 Ford Maverick GT 302 V8 by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

1974 Ford Maverick GT 302 V8 by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

1974 Ford Maverick GT 302 V8 by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

1974 Ford Maverick GT 302 V8 by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

The Maverick V8 on duty:

Racing!! by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Edited July 16, 2016 by Lovefordgalaxie

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Example of Maverick on races.

The Maverick was a Divisão 1 racer, and most ran on Class C. The competitors were the Chevrolet Opala, and Dodge Charger. 

On this race, the Maverick dominated, as always. Look at the results, highlighted in yellow.

Maverick on Races by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

Maverick on Races by Túlio Lazzaroni, on Flickr

[Ace-Garageguy]

Now you have me wanting to build a pro-touring style Maverick.

[Joe Handley]

He did let it hang out.. Quite the set of mutton chops on old EF...

 

I could see the headline. Top Driver Fittipaldi Killed By Ford.......

LOL, I looked at those and thought "Now those are some Elvis level sideburns he's got there!"

[Dragline]

That is like no Maverick I ever saw. Why do the Euro's get all the good stuff?

[Ace-Garageguy]

... Why do the Euro's get all the good stuff?

Maybe because they're in South America. 

[Dragline]

Euro's still get all the good stuff. Now I can add SA to the list.

 

 

You could have let it slide that...........

[Ace-Garageguy]

Euro's still get all the good stuff. Now I can add SA to the list.

You could have let it slide that...........

Hey man, no offense intended, seriously. Hope you'll accept my apology if you took it otherwise. 

[Joe Handley]

Sorry, you two just made me laugh out loud, good thing I'm home alone!

[unclescott58]

I'm afraid I do not understand Spanish or Portuguese. So does he like the car or not?

[Dragline]

No worries Bill. I like to poke back is all..... I have a rather thick outer layer.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Here's an interesting page all about the Brazilian Mavericks...

http://www.fordmaverick.com/mechanical/brazil.html

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Here's an interesting page all about the Brazilian Mavericks...

http://www.fordmaverick.com/mechanical/brazil.html

Useless. full of mistakes.

Ford Corbel, Chevrolet Opal, Maverick GET, and many many other errors, including dates and actual facts about the cars.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

I'm afraid I do not understand Spanish or Portuguese. So does he like the car or not?

He never says it on the video. He describes the full lap on Interlagos racetrack, with the particularities of each turn, and all tricks to drive there. He states nothing about the car itself. The video is a fragment of a larger documentary. The full version is really hard to come by.

[Lizard Racing]

Fittipaldi has always been one of my favorite drivers; a unique combination of skill, brains and guts.

I kinda miss the sideburns and bell bottoms.