DRESSED UP AND READY TO GO.(Escape Roads)

Byline: JOHN MATRAS

If you gild it, they will come. Dress up a pig, call it a chorus girl, and people will pay to see her dance. Now the 1970 Ford Maverick wasn't a pig, but it was economical, plain and simple, and that's how Ford marketed it. Yet within six months of its introduction, Ford released the Grabber version, made "sportier'' with paint and nostrils on its hood. Then for 1971 Mercury got a swankier Maverick and called it Comet.

The grille and taillight surround were the major differences between the Maverick and Comet, the latter's fancier, of course. It follows, then, that if the Maverick had the Grabber then the Comet must have an upmarket model as well. Ergo the Comet GT.

The GT, said Mercury, "impart(ed) the appearance of performance,'' with blacked-out grille and color-keyed hood scoop. In addition to that, "the `competition car' look'' was enhanced by dual "racing mirrors,'' a tape stripe and wheel trim rings. Trim rings are, of course, the sine qua non of race cars. Bright metal window trim was also included, as were bucket seats. The GT package added $178.80 to the $2,387 price of a Comet with a V8 in 1971.

Ah, the V8. Putting V8s in compact cars was more gilding the ordinary, and the Chevy Nova, Dodge Demon and even the AMC Hornet could be loaded with eight cylinders. In the case of the Comet-and the Maverick-the V8 was Ford's 302, with, unfortunately, just a two-barrel Autolite carburetor. Rated at 210 hp, still SAE gross and therefore inflated, and 296 lb-ft of torque, the Comet had vigorous acceleration, even if it was short of, say, a Demon 340. Contemporary tests had the Comet V8 turning the quarter-mile in the mid-16s. The Demon 340 did it 1.5 seconds quicker.

Options abounded on the Comet GT. Putting the three-speed shifter, whether ...