I am looking into purchasing a 74 maverick today that has 53,000 original miles on it. I just wanted to see what the common problems these cars have and if i keep the normal check ups and maintenance on it, if this car will last another 100,000. Thanks for your help.
The most common problem you will face is rust. As much as we love these cars, they tend to be rust buckets. Of coarse, that depends on where the car has spent it's life. Southern cars are less likely to be as rusty as Northern cars. Make sure you check the floorboards, torque boxes,front and rear frame rails, inner fenders, inner quarters, trunk floor and the front cowl panels for any rust problems. Rust in the cowl panels is not easy to see, but if there is any indication of water leaks or signs of standing water inside the car under the heater box or on the drivers side floor pan, then the cowl panels may be rusted through. Also check around the front and rear windshields for rust. Water can seep into the car from those locations too. Give the outside of the car a good looking over and check for signs of old bodywork in the quarters, lower doors and lower fenders. Those are other well known rust spots.
The front windsheild support on the bottom has rusted out on two of my cars... it leaks, drains down the firewall, drips on the radio, etc, looks like a cowl leak...
The biggest common problem is finding replacement parts. They make many or most of the mechanical parts, but body panels, trim pieces are tougher to find everyday. Seth
if the engine still has the oem timing set in it, the plastic teeth on the top gear always wear away and retard the cam timing until it finally skips a tooth and stops you. can be a problem over 80,000 miles, but can be easily taken care of.