My story also relocated to proper thread here: http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=59240 (Thanks for the link guys. No dupe thread intended, just missed it when searching.) * * * * * My son and I had just came off a father/son Camaro project that was a complete disaster. We bought n '81 Camaro that was in the process of becoming a "race car" and we thought we got a great deal on it. Not! Once we got it home, we began realizing what a mess we really had. It ended up completely stripped and sitting on jack stands for 6 months before we finally cut our losses and got rid of it. (The only thing we have left is a never fired .060 over 350 we rebuilt for the car and some used black carpet.) I promised my son and myself we would NOT make that mistake again. So we began looking for a CAM/FB roller that we could put the engine in, and ultimately we ended up looking at late 80's early 90's cars. Son wanted a standard tranny, I really didn't care (std's are fun though!). Point is, the only thing we could find in our price range with manual trannys were V6 cars with blown engines. Unfortunately, we don't have a shop full of equipment and tools, or a big bank account, and the more I learned online about those cars, the more I realized a V6-V8 conversion was just asking for more expense, delay and frustration. Plus they are still subject to smog testing (in our county) and the high insurance of a 16 year old boy driving a CAM/FB as his first car. At that point, I just stopped and hit the reset button by challenging myself with several questions... What if I was 14 again (i.e. sons age) with stars in my eyes about getting a "cool" first car? What if tempered that with the wisdom (such as it is) of a 42 year old adult who had gone through plenty of "car projects" through the years? (Basically, what if I felt like I did way back in the day, but knew what I know today?) What if I stopped letting "cash on hand" be the final determining factor of our car purchase? (maybe I take on side jobs to increase the budget?) What if we broadened our search beyond the obvious teenager car choices: Camaro, Firebird, Chevelle, Nova, Mustang, etc.? What if we didn't get a father/son "project" car at all, but got a car we could actually drive and enjoy and most of the time and tweak on when we wanted (rather than sit in the driveway and mock us every weekend)? Answering those questions began to change things and our options starting looking brighter. We went to the second tier of "cool cars": short/wide trucks, El-Caminos, etc. But prices were still pretty high for what you get (IMO) and I kept thinking we MUST be missing something. There just has to be some kind of pretty cool car out there flying around under the radar. Something classic, relatively affordable, easy to work on, and fun to drive. Then I remembered a little hot-rodded car we had seen when driving through a small town a few years ago. What was that...think, think...a Cyclone? No, that's not it. Caliente? No - but it was a "C" word. Hmmmm...Comet maybe? (Look online - yep that was it.) So we started looking for Comets. Well it didn't take us long to realize there aren't many Comets for sale, and the nice ones we did find were REALLY nice and really expensive. BUT, it was a short step from Comet to Maverick, and that's where we hit gold. After looking online for months (eBay, CL, etc.) we kept seeing this hot little '72 Maverick pop up on the Dallas CL. It was in great shape but well out of our price range. Then one day it came up again at a price we could almost...almost...afford. So I opened up a dialogue with the owner. Short story: we both made some concessions and got the price down just enough to where it was a real possibility. I gave him a non-refundable (my choice) 10% deposit and he gave me about a month to get the rest of the money together. I took on some extra work and when all was said and done only had to get $400 out of savings. Thanks to the grace of God and help from my wife, we had earned all the rest! You can check out our car on another thread so I wont take up this thread with all those details. Suffice to say it's pretty cool !!! But my point is...WOW...once we started looking for Mavericks we were finding them all over the place, many in amazingly good shape (for their age) and they are selling for 1/2 to 1/3 the price of Camaros/Firebirds/Mustangs in comparable (or worse) condition. Plus, the parts are affordable, the cars are easy to work on, they are old enough to not worry about smog/emission testing, and insurance is very affordable. The Maverick is pretty much everything we were looking for in one neat package! So even though I had a '76 Rally Sport and a '73 Z-28 in high school, and a '90 LX Mustang about 10 years ago, I'm now a convert to the Maverick. It is absolutely, hands-down, unquestionably the BEST VALUE in a classic muscle car, and now I see what some of you guys have 2-3-4-or more of these puppy's. If I had the money and room, I'd be snapping them up too!!!
My spelling/grammar was horrible in those days... http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=14496 http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=14506
I had a 1977 4dr i6 when I was 17. I spent 200 bucks on it an drove the piss out of it. All over Kansas Oklahoma and Nebraska. The tranny finally gave up climbing a hill out side of Amarillo TX a yr later moving to Vegas. Long story short I towed it into town and left it at the wrecking yard. (One of you may have it now ironically enough) Wish I still knew the vin. Anyway, Greyhound got me and all my worldly possesions the rest of the way. I allways had big plans for that car but always wished it was a 2dr. 10 or 11yrs later I came across my current 1970 maverick 2 dr for $500, running and driving w the original 170ci I6. She was a Dog! But with the help of the folks here and some close friends she runs like a champ. (new motor, 5 lug conversion, intake manifold, exhaust, tires, new brakes..etc..etc.. etc...didnt hurt either lol) Shes got new paint and mostly new interior awaiting the disc brake conversion, and new headliner. My 5 yr old loves the mavy and we call it "dads bat mobile". When I see him grin at the grumble she makes fireing up, it reminds me of me in my dads old corrvette when I was his age. I cant wait to see what lil charlie is inspired to build when its his turn, but im sure its coming. Its in the blood!
Also here is another one started by me early 2009. Before the previous one jamie posted. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=53002
My story starts out with my 1995 Mitsubishi taking a crap. I had always gone for newer Japanese "rice" cars, even though I was raised around old muscle cars... Heck the only car my parents owned until I hit high school was a 1969 oldsmobile cutlass, which he had traded my moms dart for when she was at work before I was born lol (she wasn't too happy). Anyway after constantly having problems with cars and never being able to fix them, my dad said "I know the perfect car for you. A maverick. Easy to fix, affordable, and they look real cool! Well, I had done some maturing since my last major car purchase (I'm only 23 you see) so I thought long and hard about it and decided that I should listen to my dad because. That, after all, is why he is my dad...to lead me in the right direction when I can't see where I'm going or haven't learned my way. So the first car I came across was a 1966 mustang but, when I called, it had already been sold. A few days later, my maverick was posted on craigslist, but for more money than I had available at that time. I told my dad about the find and he said that he was proud that I was making this decision and that he would cover the other half... So that weekend we went and bought it and haven't looked back since!!! It has been the best vehicle I have ever owned, and I wouldn't let it go for the world. When I used to be petrified of cars and fixing them, now it's my hobby and I love it! I never knew working on cars was this much fun. You see, I'm a stubborn female. My father and I have always had a difficult time seeing eye to eye, but this maverick changed that. This car helped me slow down, de-stress, and take life by the horns!!! And it mended and strengthened a father-daughter relationship that was broke a long time ago. I love my maverick and am proud to be part of this club.
My story is pretty simple. I bought my first 71 Grabber in 1974 shen I was in high school. Loved it! Got as many compliments on it back then as I get on my blue car right now. I presently have nine Mavericks including my original one, a 72 Sprint, and a 76 Stallion. I'm 53 years old and have told my wife of 32 years that when I die there is no need to buy a coffin. Just bury me in one of my Mavericks and give the rest of them to my only grandson...unless we have more by then which doesn't look so promising right now.
I was traveling in N. Mich for work and as I was coming back to town I saw my current car sitting on the side of the road. As I passed it, I cranked my neck around and thought to myself "that's a cool car"! The next day, I had to go back past the same spot so I left a little early to give myself time to stop and take a look at it. As I drove up to the same spot, I saw this hot a$$ gal tear out of the drive way with it and blow right on past me. I wasn't sure if I liked the car or the girl better but I was bummed that she might have bought it before I had a chance to. When I came back through later in the day, the car was sitting back where it was. I called the owner and told him I would be looking at first thing in the morning. I went home took my wife out to dinner and told her that I might be buying a little hot rod the next day. She rolled her eyes at me and said "Whatever!" The next day after I bought the car and brought it home, my wife came running out ready to go for a ride as soon as I was pulling into the driveway. And we lived happily ever after!
