Good afternoon all, My son and I are looking at a 1970 Maverick as a good father/son project that he will drive when turning 16 (hopefully ). Original 170 ci engine with the three speed. A prior owner has swapped the steering or maybe just removed the column shift. There is a hole cut in the floor/tunnel hump with a gear shift. The car is rough, reasonably original, but not a total rust bucket. Needs a windshield and much more, but that is part of the fun. The owner is a christian boys ranch I used to work at and I still have close ties with. They are asking $750 and I just wanted a few comments. As to a future build, I'm not keen on the front brakes (drum). I didn't know if there was a popular front end swap to get disc brakes. I cleaned up the drum brakes on my 52' Styleline and they stop the car OK, but for a teenager, I would likely prefer disc. Chris
I can see rust in the front of the hood. I bet the car is also rusty. Cars that have been sitting a long time needs lots of work. LOTS of work. I would think one could find a better candidate for a project.
Welcome to the site from northeast Ohio!!! I agree with Craig, keep looking. You and your son will loose interest very quickly with that particular car.
... drum brakes would likely not be a problem if you leave the 170 6 cyl. check the gas tank, if it needs replacing that could be difficult. check floor pans and cowl for rust, those are signs of more serious repairs. do you have any body working skills.(welding, fabricating, etc. etc.) Frank
I agree w/ the prior comments, body/sheet metal repair time consuming and expensive. If you don't have much in the way of body repair as Frank mentioned -- keep looking.
Thanks for the quick replies. First, this car will have some typical rust, but the brown spots seen in the pics are undercoat or primer where the white paint has chipped off. Engine spun some with a wrench, so not locked up. I'm no body guy, but I'm not figuring on a show car either. I can cut, grind, weld, JB Weld. I'm repairing some relatively severe rust on my daily driver this winter, but again, not a show car. Thanks for the replies. Chris
being it's for your Son, it's safety first. frame rails, torque boxes and suspension are a few serious areas to inspect. cosmetics are at the bottom of the list. safety and reliability are at the top. $750 is barely the price of a set of tires, much less a whole car. good luck
Here is my two bits. Since you have an affiliation with the group that owns the car, why not roll the car out of the garage, get a power washer and clean up the car. Then roll it onto some pavement and have a good look at the underside. Take a few more pics and post them. Right now we're making some guesses on the car's conditions. Truth known, most of us Maverick owners have some sort of attachment to our cars, often due to it's history or previous owners. We go through a lot of trouble to restore them, knowing we probably wouldn't get our money back. If we were terribly concerned about that, we'd be buying old Mustangs instead. We just want to make sure your car is safe and you won't have to spend a fortune it make it so. If taking over the car from that group means something to you, then do it. If it doesn't work out they can put an ad out to sell the car. Doesn't make sense to leave it in that garage. You'd be doing them a favour. MD
In all our chatter I noticed no one answered your disc brake question. Yes, there are several disc brake kits out there for around $1000. Start by entering "disc brakes" in the search function. You can also swap parts from an old Granada but time is moving on and it's harder to find them in the junk yards. Lot's of guys in this forum have direct experience with both methods. Aside from having a solid under-body, disk brakes are a great way of improving safety. Most guys who did the change are very satisfied with the results. MD
Thanks guys, I might hold out for a project with disc brakes where somebody else runs out of $, time or ambition. My son is starting to chomp at the bit though, we spent nearly an hour after I got home from work pulling parts off a 51' parts Chevy so we can make room for his Maverick (when we find it).
