If there was one car that many, many people have been waiting to see at SEMA 2016, this white 1972 Ford Maverick was it: Project Underdog, the car that three teenagers from Alhambra High School in California built with the help of Sung Kang and Steve Strope from Pure Vision. Kang, whose “FuguZ” Datsun 240Z rocked the 2015 SEMA show and took the Gran Turismo award, fell in love with the Maverick after driving one around during movie filming in Brazil, and brought Strope in to assist the high schoolers in turning what was a stock, California blue-plate six-cylinder car into the EcoBoost-powered beast you see here.
It took two days to get past the swarms of fans who covered the Ford like swarming bees, but we managed to get about a minute of time to shoot the car. In person, the Maverick is much, much more aggressive than the concept renderings led us to believe. The Rocket Bunny body kit is flared off just right, making us picture a phantom Maverick Trans-Am race car. The Brazilian-spec taillights look killer…unfortunately, they didn’t show up well in the photos, so here’s a clearer photo of the shape so you know what they look like:
The small bumpers front and rear and the Grabber hood are solid factory choices, and we are digging the Japanese-style fender-mounted rear-view mirrors. We didn’t get to see underhood (yet) and we could barely see inside of the car, but we aren’t kidding in the least when we say that few other cars at the show are as swarmed as this Maverick. Big kudos to Alexis Hernandez, Tony Chen and Christian Quiroz, the Alhambra students who spun the wrenches and put in the work turning a desert find Maverick into a lust-worthy show beast that looks ready to hit the track. Now, to just see (and hear) the Maverick in action. We will try to pin down Sung Kang and see if he’s willing to show it off some!
The Sema car is great. Glad to see some schools out west have not dropped there auto programs. Near Detroit where I’m from most schools have drop them. It’s such a shame. I have had cars a part of my life since i was 15. It’s how i supported my wife and kids. Just knowing that my grandkids, in years to come as they get into high school. They won’t have a chance to take autoshop,or bodyshop.
I really want to see how the ecoboost fits under the hood of this thing. I’d also like to know which ecoboost they used. Is it the 2.7, 3.5, 4 cyl?
They used the 2.3L four-cylinder.
Why no under-hood shots?
If the Ecoboost is half as neat as the rest of this baby we should all be dazzled by its brilliance. Also the fact that the next generation of budding hot rodders have some imagination – not an LS in sight!
Likes: Mavericks, Younger generations into cars, auto shop programs, brand appropriate powertrain, quality of build
Dislikes: Throwback Japanese styling (i.e. flares, forward mounted mirrors, etc)
The only thing I would eliminate are the mirrors, other than them the csr looks awesome!
Also seeing a trend of RWL on the tires, what’s old is new again!