Jack Rouch's Maverick ?

Damon and I were just talking, and he brought up Rouch's Maverick That everyone (Chubby guys) complained about the short wheel base being an advantage , so NHRA made him go to a longer wheel base trying to force him into a Torino or Fairlane, I guess. But he went to a 4 door Maverick and still kicked their buts. I told him I thought it was the car called the Tiawana Taxi (spell)

Damon was wondering and so am I , was this one of Don Bowel's cars?

It was in one of the old Super Ford rags years ago, I am sure I still have the maga zine here if I could find it.

Anybody have any input on this?

Gapp and Roush??

Blake & Damon,

The "Tijuana Taxi" was not one of Donald Bowles cars. It was the Gapp & Roush NHRA Pro Stocker. Now that you have mentioned it, it might just be about time for somebody to recreate that car and build a new 4 door Maverick.

Charlie

Jack's daughter located the 4 door maverick.....I understand there isn't much left of it . Jack has the car and will redo it . Don Bowles has the manifold , carbs and heads that were on one of the engines that ran in the car and has donated them to the cause .

Lem Evans wrote:Jack's daughter located the 4 door maverick.....I understand there isn't much left of it . Jack has the car and will redo it . Don Bowles has the manifold , carbs and heads that were on one of the engines that ran in the car and has donated them to the cause .

The longer wheel based cars could run at 6.45 lbs per cubic inch instead of 6.80 which saved approximately 125 lbs. Gapp almost won the world championship in 1975 with the car, but Glidden just got past him with 10,517 points to 10,233. I remember reading about it way back then and I think Gapp lost the rods in the crucial race and the championship with them.

Roush does have a 4 door Maverick to duplicate the TAXI car. It's been a few years but somewhere on the net there was a virtual shop tour and they highlighted the 4 door build. Pretty neat deal.

Travis

I'm glad I was fortunate to watch all those cool cars back in the day.Me and My brother in Law would walk around the staging lanes and chat w/Dyno Don, Bob Glidden,but never got to speak w/Wayne Gapp or Jack.

Thanks Blake, I need to look for those old magazines myself (one of these days).

Now I recall the Gapp and Roush car

D. Sea wrote:Thanks Blake, I need to look for those old magazines myself (one of these days).

Now I recall the Gapp and Roush car

I have a room full of boxes of magazines. Of course they probably don't go as far back as you old farts!

Here's your sign!




Dave.

jasonf wrote:

D. Sea wrote:Thanks Blake, I need to look for those old magazines myself (one of these days).

Now I recall the Gapp and Roush car

I have a room full of boxes of magazines. Of course they probably don't go as far back as you old farts!

Ok pecker head................. Gout don't just happen to old people ..............

jasonf wrote:

D. Sea wrote:Thanks Blake, I need to look for those old magazines myself (one of these days).

Now I recall the Gapp and Roush car

I have a room full of boxes of magazines. Of course they probably don't go as far back as you old farts!

We're the same age there Genious

Hello...

Lot's of information about the 'Taxi' here: http://www.gapponline.net

The search is a bit goofy. Search: Taxi and then when you reach the bottom the page click on the left arrow for more info. I gotta fix that some day.

pleasure to meet you Mr. Gapp

Well...I'm his son, Jeff...but thank you..and glad to be here. If you get a chance and want to see something cool..Tom Tate picked up the Sudden Death Mustang II that G&R stuffed a 460 (really a 466" but who's counting?) in and he's restoring it. Good stuff.

gappster wrote:Well...I'm his son, Jeff...but thank you..and glad to be here. If you get a chance and want to see something cool..Tom Tate picked up the Sudden Death Mustang II that G&R stuffed a 460 (really a 466" but who's counting?) in and he's restoring it. Good stuff.

Glad you are here Jeff and welcome brother. I have never had the pleasure of actually meeting your Dad. I have all the respect in the world for him and what he has done w/Fords. Hope you stick around and share anything you wish w/us. We are all ears.

Would love to hear about and see the BBF Mustang ll.

Hi everyone!

I'm the guy who bought the 75 Mustang II that Gapp&Roush built back in 1975, known by the nickname "Sudden Death" after the Hot Rod magazine article called that from the April 1977 issue.

The car was built for a Detroit street racer in the summer of '75 at Wayne Gapp and Jack Roush's shop. Originally, it had the +.030 460 in it with SCJ heads, a roller, Shelby lettered aluminum intake, etc., then the fall of 1976 he brought the car back to them for more power. They pulled the 460 and installed a 505" motor with an off-set ground crank, a Boss 429 NASCAR aluminum water pump, 850DP carb, accel ignition, fiberglass pro stock bumpers, racing seats, bigger exhaust. Remember, back then, there were no stroker kits or aftermarket parts for these motors hardly at all.

He ran the 505" motor for a year or more, then took the car back to them again for more power. The 505" was pulled, the SCJ heads removed (you cannot pull the heads with engine in this car) and a pair of Roush modified D3VE heads installed to drop compression. Roush installed twin turbos on the car at that time and they are still on the car today.

Wayne Gapp and his crew did a lot of work to the car. They cut the firewall and moved it back to allow a 10" setback of the motor. They narrowed the rear, installed a new rear subframe, tubs, spring brackets. They tried hard to get all that motor under the stock hood, but it just would not quite fit! It required a cut down Mach 1 hood scoop just to cover the small air cleaner installed.

The car has quite a history. I'll try to post more on it later. My goal is to restore the car back to as it appeared in the Hot Rod Magazine article. Should be quite an adventure

Thanks, but this bunch loves Pic's. Keep the info coming, we love nostalgia.

Ask and ye shall receive!

Here is an article I managed to turn up on the car. Shows it during construction at the shop, summer 1975. Gives you an idea of how much work they did putting that motor in the car.

Here is the car again. This photo was taken the same cold day as the original "Sudden Death" Hot Rod Mag article, but not published until a November 1989, all Mustang issue of Hot Rod Mag.

This shows Gray Baskerville behind the wheel having a great time no doubt! At this point the car had the 505" motor, and other mods to lighten it up a bit.

really cool thread guys .... good to meet you Mr. Gapp and sudden death

Thats what i'm talkin bout

Here is the car in another early article from Car and Driver magazine 1976, in an article on Detroit Street Racing. Shows the original owner, Joe Ruggirello and the first configuration of the engine, the +.030 460.

Here is the car when myself and a friend of mine saw it at Gainesville Raceway in 1995. We knew what it was and waited around all day to talk to someone about buying it, but turned around at the end of the day and it was gone..like a ghost. Never saw it again for years, despite us looking for it!

The engine was in it's last configuration, with twin turbos. They were installed by Roush and the car had a custom fiberglass hood made by "Mr. Fiberglass" in Detroit. We did not see the hood anywhere that day. I have pics of the engine, but not on photobucket yet.