Grabber Maverick w/ 429, CT - NMNA

There has to be a taker for this sort of madness around here: https://newlondon.craigslist.org/cto/d/ashford-1972-grabber-maverick/7097076095.html

That is a lot of car

Whoa. That's 10 pounds of E36 M3 in a 5 pound bag. A wild ride, I imagine.

Tha problem with this car is that there's really no venue to exercise it near Connecticut. You need to travel several hours in one direction or another in order to enjoy 11 seconds of fun.

That's my kind of hairy E36 M3show. 

I'd happily ride that tin can straight to hell.

New tires (minus a few burn outs)

No doubt 

Holy cats! My grandmother had a grabber with a 302. That thing would just fry the tires. Can't imagine what this one does!

Where a 429 fits, a 460 will fit.

a 460 is a stroker crank away from 500+ cubes.

Looks like a whole lot of fun.

Would make a cool 70s prostock replica... or a sweet 80s style pro street car. 

Woody said:

Tha problem with this car is that there's really no venue to exercise it near Connecticut. You need to travel several hours in one direction or another in order to enjoy 11 seconds of fun.

You could exercise that thing constantly on the Merritt unless they finally put speed cameras on that road.  One of the things I miss the least about CT is driving on roads like that.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Dunno why everyone poops on the Merritt.   Drove it from Glastonbury to Sikorsky hq for a while no issues. Save one major wreck. No speeding tickets. 

BoostedBrandon said:

Where a 429 fits, a 460 will fit.

a 460 is a stroker crank away from 500+ cubes.

Looks like a whole lot of fun.

Im not sure that Maverick chassis is ready for that kind of power. Slapper bars on leaf springs and street tires will not likely get you in the 11's. If that is a 8" rear axle it's not going to hold up long.

I work on one that is 598", Stroker crank in a big bore block.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Dunno why everyone poops on the Merritt.   Drove it from Glastonbury to Sikorsky hq for a while no issues. Save one major wreck. No speeding tickets. 

It’s actually the Wilbur Cross from Sikorsky (actually Milford) north. The Merritt is the fun part from Sikorsky to the New York border. 

The problem with the Merritt is when it's bad, it's horrid. And that happens with regularity when half of southern CT is trying to get into or out of NYC at rush hour. Right now is probably the best time to drive the Merritt in decades (and the CT state police probably know that - they certainly do in NY).

In reply to Woody :

Wilber cross smilbur cross

same road. I don't know why everyone hates on it. 

Very cool, but I'll bet you can't access the plugs with the engine in.

The huge disparities in speeds and the lack of on/off ramps.  The whole "you have 1/2 a block to go from stopped to whatever everyone else is doing and they're doing well over the speed limit" stuff.  The lack of shoulders.  Jackholes trying to use any mean available to get one car ahead of where they would be if they weren't driving like jackholes.  General lack of speed enforcement because of the previously mentioned issues.  Lack of signaling of lane changes.  Undertaking.  Jackholes.  All this and more awaits on the Merritt.

And it's gone...

maj75 said:

And it's gone...

Right? I really wanted to see how they shoved a 429 in between the towers- they're pretty narrow cars.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

I love the Merritt.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/connecticuts-merritt-parkway/

Often our historic and scenic drives are well off the beaten path, in areas of the country unsullied by modern life. Not so with this month’s entry. It’s one of the busiest byways in the Northeast. The Merritt Parkway is a 38-mile stretch of asphalt, pulled tight between the cities of New Haven and Greenwich, on the New York state line.

Built in the 1930s, the Merritt Parkway was Connecticut’s first divided-lane, limited-access highway. Named for Connecticut congressman Schuyler Merritt, the Merritt’s purpose was to dissipate the incredible traffic that was already clogging the Boston Post Road, more commonly referred to as Route 1. Route 1 runs along the coast, cutting through the population centers of Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Westport and Bridgeport. The Merritt Parkway was conceived as a bypass, which would run well inland of Route 1, through sparsely populated puckerbrush.

Also known as Connecticut State Highway 15, the Merritt Parkway is today restricted to non-commercial vehicles not exceeding 7,500 pounds, 24 feet in length, 8 feet in height, and 7.5 feet in width. So you don’t have to get out your tape measure, let’s just say that if you want to take the Merritt today, you won’t have to deal with big trucks.

For almost its entire length, the Merritt Parkway is covered by a canopy of greenery, and even though it is a major link between Fairfield County in Connecticut and New York City, it often feels like you’re miles from any urban center, driving under the cool shade of its trees.

Constructed during the Great Depression, the highway represented a significant public works project, putting thousands of people to work. According to the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, in 1935, highway department officials estimated that the Merritt Parkway project employed 2,000 men for two years. “From Connecticut’s point of view,” according to the historical information on the Merritt Parkway Conservancy’s Web site, “the money needed to build the Merritt would have to be spent on unemployment relief.”

Crossing the Merritt Parkway are 69 bridges, all completely original in design. Architecturally, the bridges are mostly rigid-frame reinforced concrete. But in addition to being functional, staff architect George Dunkelburger ornamented each bridge with a variety of Neo-Classical and Modernistic designs. No two of the 69 (originally 72) bridges are alike, but many of the bridges repeat motifs such as the Connecticut state seal. Many of the bridges contain depictions of Connecticut’s Native American heritage, as well as its Puritan settlers, and the design and construction of the Parkway itself, according to the Public Archaeology Survey Team’s Web site at www.past-inc.org. The stylized wings on the James Farm Road bridge reflect the Art Deco movement, which was at its peak when the bridge was constructed.

For more information on the Parkway, contact the Merritt Parkway Conservancy in Westport, Connecticut, at 203-661-3255, or visit the site on the Web at www.merrittparkway.org.

Daughter and I drove that taking her back to college.  We drove from FL to MA.  Sure beats the hell out of I95.  IIRC, no trucks allowed.  It had a fair amount of traffic but nothing like the interstate mess everywhere in the NE.  I enjoyed the drive and it would be fabulous with no traffic, like now.

Ah... the Merritt Parkway... I have been on it a lot during my travels between NH and PA.  Yes, when you're going against the traffic flow, you can really fly.  I would generally average around 70 MPH and would by far not be the fastest car on the road.  It's even more fun when it's covered with snow.  Now I generally avoid CT entirely and take the NYS Thruway up to the MATP since it's a more relaxing drive and I get no rewards for making the travel time any shorter/faster.

Bummed the Maverick posting is gone.  I try to grab a few screenshots for posterity when I find ads like that.

Ian F said:

 

Bummed the Maverick posting is gone.  I try to grab a few screenshots for posterity when I find ads like that.

Sorry. Here you go: