I'm trying to stay with the mid-70s to mid-80s theme of american market cars that somehow slipped under the radar and are obscure and possibly extinct by now.
Comet GT.....available with V8 and manual transmission like the maverick grabber.......though not all grabbers were V8s.
Shelby of mexico offered mavericks but it is not american market but it is worth noting.
Mavericks weren't the only pedestrian cars that ford jazzed up with super rare options that also slipped under the radar of most.
The Granada/monarch/versailles cars were relatively advanced for thier time with options of 4 wheel disc brakes available as well as a performance handling package that involved a faster ratio power steering, addition of a rear sway bar, and very thick front sway bars.
Ford made the mistake of comparing the Granada to a mercedes of similar looks.
Mercedes countered with a picture showing the underside of both cars contrasting the sophisticated suspension system as compared to the granada which looked very similar to ford cars of the 1960s.
Of course, we all know that the supposedly unsophisticated solid axle fords overachieved in handling and still do to this day.
The granada ESS.
The mercury cougar was a well known car and not really qualified for the thread title because of thier popularity but a couple of models were rare versions such as the 1973 XR7 with the 351 cobrajet (one of the last uses of the cobrajet name on an engine).
Same goes for the ranchero and the fox body mustang/cougar/fairmont/zephyr which are already well known in most every trim level.
Ford Capri is from ford of europe and they got all the good stuff and were also common in the few trim levels they were offered in north america.
Lincoln had some unusual models with the MK VII available with a BMW turbo diesel.
The mustang II was a common car but it had some rare options near the end of it's production run with the "cobra II" appearance package followed by the "king cobra" which was only available with a V8.
Sadly, most every mustang II body/frame was used up by the kit car manufacturers and racers by the middle of the 1990s.
The SVO mustang is worth mentioning but it was always a hero car and never slipped under the radar.
The Merkur XR4ti had the same drivetrain as the SVO mustang but also got pretty big press and I still see them often in the junkyards.......hardly rare as I will see two today as I do my normal friday walkthrough at the two huge salvage yards near me.
I'm off to score some harnesses and ECUs for the Nissan turbo specialty stuff I build.
