Hi all, My name is Scott and I have always liked Fords and Mercurys. Have owned several Mustangs. Now I am into Cougars, have been since 1994. Looking to branch out into a smaller more economical body style. I snapped a picture of a Maverick a bunch of years ago at the Route 66 show in San Bernardino. Really liked the 5.0 and 5 speed, color and Boss Mustnag stripe I also thought was well done. Have been looking in the gallery, but this car is not present. I have a friend that co-built the car known as the Mad Frenchman. Haven't really poked around into all of the areas of this site. Is there a Maverick/Comet 101 section? Something that covers models and specials, maybe something that breaks down the door tag information. I am familiar with Ford codes so only need the specifics. How many registries are there? How would one go about posting VIN's? Is there someone that collects all of them dead or alive? Probably saw 7 or 8 today while junkyarding in the I.E. One was a Comet GT, could tell by the missing Cougar Eliminator scoop . Also saw what I thought was a grabber, but it had a flat hood. Yellow with black striped trim. Had a rimblow steering wheel. I bird dog Cougars all the time, can do the same for Mav/Comets too.
You can decode your numbers with this site: http://dixiemaverick.com/VIN.html There are several registries includeing a Sprint Registry run by Dennis (Mavaholic) and a Comet GT registry ran by Seth (littleredtoy), there are a few more. I'm not even going to try to go into the specifics between years, but a quick run down: We call the first Mavericks made when they started up the line in early 1969 "69.5" Mavericks. They were sold and are titled as 1970 model year Mavericks. They have many diffrences, like ignition key in the dash instead of on the column, diffrent steering column, steering wheel with a horn ring, and a plate riveted to the inside of the drivers side door instead of a sticker in the door jamb. '70 Grabbers did not have Grabber hoods to my knowledge and a V8 was not available in '70. They did have Grabber stripes, and spoilers (I think). '71-'72 Grabbers had the Grabber hood and spoiler and were available with 170-250 6 cylinders or a 302 2V and a C4 or 3 speed manual. They also had 8 inch rearends. The V8 cars were 5 lug, and 6 cylinder cars were 4 lug. The Comet became available in '71. There was a Maverick Sprint made in late '72. They were white with a blue stripe running along the bottom and white interior. '73 cars had a slightly bigger front bumper and the rear bumper stuck out a little further. In mid '73, they switched to the glove box dash. I'm not positive about the specifics of '73 Grabbers, but the ones I have seen had Grabber hoods and spoilers. The big bumpers started in '74. '74-'75 Grabbers did not have a Grabber hood or spoiler, just Grabber decals. They dropped the Grabber in '76 and came out with the Maverick Stallion which was one year only for '76. '77 was the last year of the Maverick in the US (they made them a couple more years in Brazil, but those are another story). There were also LDO (Luxury Decore Option) Mavericks. They had wide side trim, shag carpet and several other "upgrades". I can't promise any of my info is 100% correct, but it is my understanding of them. Look around in the gallery and you will see examples of all of the Mavericks I spoke of.
welcome to the board. just hang around this site for a while. no better place to learn about mavs and comets.
Okay, I'll bite: what's the I.E.? And to the boards! Mavs and Comets are pretty awesome little cars; coming from a girl who had electronic imports before they're SO much easier to work on!! Good luck finding one man.
I.E. is the Inland Empire, basically the San Bernardino/ Riverside area of Southern Californication. If you have watched The O.C. TV show on FOX, they bag on the 909, Chino, and the I.E. frequently.
