STAR STRUCK

IT’S NOT EVERY DAY THAT WE COME FACE-TO-FACE with a movie star, half a world away. Familiar yet foreign by dint of its surroundings (in this case, urban Yokohama, Japan), we were on hand to photograph something else entirely when this little monster came roaring up. We weren’t expecting it, but there it was, in all of its slammed, primered, lived-in glory.

So what? To a generation of muscle car nuts, the Maverick was a weak suck. It was an economy car that never really rose above its station: It launched in 1969 as a ’70 model with a $1,995 base price as its main selling feature. The strongest version (in 1971!) had a 210-hp two-barrel 302 V-8 under the hood. The Grabber appearance package, which seemed to aspire to muscle car status with stripes, a special hood, and a deck spoiler, was even available with the economy-minded six. Four-barrel carbs and four-speed gearboxes never quite made it