75 owners, let's discuss...

What are the known differences between early and late 75 models?

Is your's an early or late 75?

Should we create a distinction like 75 models and 75 1/2 models?
I like the idea. Wouldn't have made sense a few years ago But now as we are learning more about our cars, as they come into their own popularity, our community grows, and the values are going up... we should make the distinction.

It would be nice to go to the For Sale forum, Craigslist, or evilBay and know the car or parts we are looking at are for a 75 or 75 1/2.

I'll start by putting it on record that I have a 75 (not a 75 1/2).

It was built March 75 IIRC... May have been April, but I don't think so.

It has:

NO cat.
Early speedo and hookup.
Seatbelt/starter interlock system.

Those are the things I KNOW are different from 75 1/2.

Here are some things I wonder about, and some of you 75 1/2 owners
might let me know if you have the same or different.

*I believe 75 1/2 got Duraspark 2. My 75 has the "Solid State" system.

*I wonder about front turn signals. With all the controversy over clear frosted or amber frosted lens, and crosshairs vs no-crosshairs...
My 75 has clear frosted lens with crosshairs. What does yours have?

*I would like to know from Comet owners if their cars/build dates show the same changes... Are their 75 1/2 Comets as well?
I would think so. Some early 75 Comets are said to have the seatbelt interlock system. Surely they also had the no cats and different gauges too.:Huh:

What other differences can we find?!?
Let's make it a challenge to finally define our 75s.

Thanks for your participation!
Dave

 

Are you sure you don't mean 74

I was thinking that 74 was the year where everything started changing. Mine has no cats, DOES have the seat belt doohicky (yellow box and jolly, candy-like red button). There are 74s with cats, and without the seat belt doohicky. That is why when I ordered carpet, mine had lots of extra material. They assumed I had cats, and I HATE cats (pun intended) and do not have any.

Still have solid state dizzy.

There is a website that lists the changes from year to year on our cars, but I don't think it lists mid-year changes.

 

great minds think alike
ive been wondering


build date is 6/75

250 6cyl
with cats

cross hairs with frosted lense

no seat belt interlock

my car did have duraspark on it

had a halo top on it, but it wasent an LDO

manual brakes, with drums all around

A/C , P/S

 

The only 74s that I could imagine having cats would be Kalifornia... But I have no proof.
Personally I have never seen a 74 with cats.

Early 75s do not have cats, but do have the 74 seatbelt interlock, and have the early guages/speedo cable.

75 1/2s have the later cable and speedo, no interlock, and have cats.
Those are the differences I KNOW about. I started the thread to seek out confirmation on others we may have yet to find.

 

Didn't take me long to find it. First hit in Google when I typed "Ford Maverick".

http://www.fordmaverick.com/

 

no Scott cause 75 still had some early model parts on it with some late model parts

74-75 were probley the same

75 1/2-77 were more alike i think , its confusing

 

i think your on to something here

far as speedo i dont know the differences

 

Wait, here is stefan's year to year changes site...http://www.maverick.to/grabber/mavchanges.html

 

Great start!

I'd venture to say that June 75, with September being the start of the 76 production, is definately a 75 1/2.

I was wonder about the Halos myself, I am glad you mentioned that.

Mine has a Halo, and deluxe interior, but is NOT an LDO.

I think the cats are a sure sign of a 75 1/2 as well.

Eddie, let me ask you about your steering wheel...
Did yours come with the earlier or later steering wheel originally?

Mine had an aftermarket wheel on it when I bought it in 90, but I believe the original owner said the wheel was the early style deluxe wheel.
I have no proof, but am curious if we can sort that out.

 

Interesting...

1975 Catylatic converter required with 200-6 only.

1977 Duraspark introduced, basically same ignition system as 75 models.

These are quotes from the site...

 

well thats funny , cause i worked on a 74 today and we were pulling the steering wheel and its different

 

yeah 200 only but came on certain models

my car was defintly a duraspark

 

Every year Maverick had production changes, so I guess my 73 could be a 72 1/2 since it has the under dash tray and it was built 9/72??
I had a 75 Comet, no idea on the build date, had the floor hump, and orange lights in the grill, and Duraspark ignition. thats all I remember, it was over 15 years ago.

 

Okay, good link.
Gives us more to talk about, but also leaves some things out.

The link says 75s got the 85 mph speedo, but it is known that those weren't until 75 1/2. Mine has a 120.

My car has F O R D letters on the hood nose and trunk deck.
So apparently that is a mod carried out for the 75s from the start of model year production, unless someone with an earlier build date than mine can dispute that.

Link says only 200s got cats, I think that will be disproven quickly.
Especially since Eddie's 75 1/2 has a 250 with a cat.

We need someone with an early build date 200 to confirm or deny if their car came with cats...

Lets nail this thing down!

Link says tank size went from 16 to 19 in 75.
I wish I could remember for sure, but I seriously don't remember my tank ever needing more than 15 or 16 gallons.
The 19 gallon tank may prove to be a 75 1/2 part.
This is another difference we may confirm or deny.

 

I know that the 200 cat thing is wrong.
I have seen 75s with 302s, with my own eyes, that had cats.

Now the DS 2 thing, I am not sure about...
Most folks think that the DS2 must have the large diameter cap, but I don't think that is a requirement.
I think the large caps came in 77, regardless of when the DS2s came out.
I could be wrong... I seem to remember my manuals saying that DS2 was a 76 thing.