wow.. quite the welcoming committee here. Makes a guy feel important. lol yeah.. it is definitely an oddball in the sea of Maverick/Comets that I've searched and run into over the years. Been a long time fan of these under valued cars for.. well.. nearly forever really. Been a longtime Ford man from way back with more than my fair share of cool ones owned in the past 3 decades. Yellow 69 Cougar XR7 with mock Eliminator stripes was my very first car and I still miss that one to this day. And only an idiot would have gotten rid of my last car.. a completely solid west coast 1971 Torino GT with 429SCJ drag pack. Yeah.. I know.. and I've been called far worse. Here's some rough pics taken from the craigslist add. More to follow when I get a chance to get my own shots for the sake of documenting the build from start to finish. It'll be a driver at first and then eventually become a Corvette hunter with a 6 speed and suspension to match. Hopefully Seth shows up eventually to add anything that he may remember about the car. I did actually talk to him on the phone earlier today and he's agreed to follow up on it later. I was also thinking on getting the cheaper deluxe Marti report and then upgrading to the Elite later on when cash flow permits. The Marti site says that it will take 4-6 months for the Elite.. and that seems like a crazy long time to wait to receive something you pay for immediately though. Oh well.. I'm lost without it unless the original owner can be contacted. Them's some pretty slim odds there. Later guys and thanks again for the warm welcome.
Welcome groberts 101! I think it will take a lot more than 6 speed and suspension on one of these cars to be a Vette hunter - at least any Vette built in the last 20 or 25 years. As much as I like these cars, I believe the Vette is the ultimate sports car for the money. Anyway, I will also be interested in ur build. I wish u the best of success and hpe to CU here on a regular. BTW: U ever attend the "Back to 50's" event in ur back yard?
1971 Comet GT groberts, yes it looks like my old car. And, yes, I'm dumb for letting it go. I moved to AK in late 2007 and could not take the car with me. I left it in Boise with my son, but when he also moved to AK in 2008, I had to put it up for sale. Glad to know it's with someone who appreciates it. I have the Marti report for and I'll be happy to send it to you. VIN 1K31F550639 Door Plate: Built 4/71 62B - Comet 2-Door sedan M - White pain Ford #1619-A 9E - Vermillion Cloth/Vinyl Bucket Seats 3 - 2.79 standard axle ratio W - C-4 Cruise-O-Matic Transmission 54 - Seattle Ordering District 1 of 670 with these Paint/Trim Codes My son said he sold it to a Boise State University student from MN. We put a new punkin in the 8" with 3.25 gears and a posi when we had it. Jim
Very cool .... and now I can say without a doubt that it's definitely a small world after all. And that it seemingly gets even smaller when you get into Ford/Mercury "econo muscle" niches like these. Absolutely no offense intended of course. Really excited to have made contact with you, Jim! I hear ya about those occasional lost opportunities in life and this car definitely has such a great foundation to build from which would easily cause such regret. I too would surely carry some "slight aches" for letting it go along the way. And they say that guys aren't sensitive(and we all know who "they" are, lol). Hell.. I think that over half the guys hanging around this joint would probably agree(conservative guesstimate there too).. that we would all have small warehouses full of these old cars.. with matching parts/donor cars parked outside of course(and it appears that some here do).. if we weren't schooling, marrying, and/or raising kids as we try to enjoy the short time we've each been given. Even those who don't have such strings attached still float through life's various stages along the ever constant winds of change. Anyhow, enough philosophical "lost love" talk for now. Thanks for the quick history synopsis and let's get down to business with more details. A small from the hip type disclaimer up front though. Hopefully you can excuse my extra energy and often included too many questions as I usually talk a mile a minute by nature(as if you hadn't noticed from my initial posts here).. with the added ability to easily exceed the forums word count for a single post. So, I'll try to pick your brain softly and hope to not scare you off. 1st.. and most curious multiple question. What color was this car's vinyl top when you owned it? (and sorry to diss your sprayjob in my above post if you actually painted it yourself since we've all been there before. lol) Have you.. or anyone else reading this.. ever seen another Maverick/Comet with a red vinyl top? 2nd. Normally I would just ask for a simple fax, but my multi-function laser copier needs a $200 toner cartridge(damned multi-functions ).. so, I was hoping you may have a PDF or scanned image of that Marti to send me here via PM.. or to my e-mail addy? 3rd. Maybe this is more of a general question for all.. but from the little I've read so far indicates that out of those 670 cars produced with this Paint/Trim Code.. we have no real way of knowing just how many were GT cars? In other words, all the Comet models are lumped together which inevitably means that the actual number of GT cars having this combo would be MUCH lower? 4th. Do you have any additional info or even possibly contact info(however outdated it may be by now).. for the owner that you bought the car from? 5th and last one. At least, for now anyways. Was the motor in the car the original piece when you had it/sold it? Reason I ask that last question is that I do have the option to acquire the semi-finished engine(and supposedly original piece) from the guy I just purchased the car from.. but I'm told that it has been stroked to a 331 with some aftermarket pieces now.. which is a recipe I'll eventually be mimicking anyways since I love high-revving stroker's so much these days(I often shift my 383 at around 7,400 just getting on the highway). I have a serious weakness(my friends and family call it a "hotrodding superiority complex", lol) for upping the ante of engines built by someone else and I usually end up just tearing them apart for the sake of quality inspection and further improving on any weaknesses I might find. With that in mind, I'm debating on whether or not the engine would be worth the investment(plus, my wife would kill me!).. with the idea that I would not be restoring it to exact factory spec's from a purist's perspective anyways. If anything.. I'd probably just set it in the corner for anyone else down the road who may want to go back to showroom with the car many years down the road. Doubtful they will want to reverse engineer everything I would add to it.. but I always say.. to each their own when it comes to these things. What do any of you guys think based on my longer term intentions? I'll leave it at that with just a measly couple thousand words for now. Thanks again for the time and consideration from all. PS. my last Torino GT mentioned above was originally sold in Seattle too. I traded/part cashed a HIGHLY optioned(it even had a factory 8 track) 68 Mustang Coupe to a guy in Walla Walla for that car. See.. told ya it was a small world.
Thanks for the meet and greet there, mojo. Yeah.. I do hear ya bud. But 20 grand into one of these cars will get you damned close or beyond. Heck.. 10 grand into my 383 S-10 Blazer beats up on Vette's and Vipers along a stright line up to about 130, so I do know it can be easily done. Just don't ask me how I know that. Then there's always my old saying after I beat up on one with a lessor vehicle. "Just because you can buy a Corvette.. doesn't mean you can drive a Corvette". And yeah.. I have been a couple of times and was even thinking on attending the spring picnic tomorrow since it's just quite literally a few miles away from me in Anoka. Have to see how the weather holds up though. I'm not quite that old yet(44).. and usually prefer the Car Craft Summer Nats and drag races more than anything these days. Me and my 2 boys(10 and 12) used to go down to Porky's in St Paul until they closed it down and tore up the roads to make way for the new rail system running along University Ave now. Oh well.. the cops started to rain on everyones parade too much with bigger and bigger street racing task forces every year.. and what ya gonna do but just move on with life, I guess. Lots of history, over 30 years, went away there. Seems like a great buch of guys around here and I look forward to shooting the shiznit as we head down the road together.
PM sent. Your attention and follow up is much appreciated, Jim. Please let me know if I can help you with anything in the future. Particularly in regards to Ford engine building or tuning since I've built well more than 30 over the past 30 years. First head, intake, cam swap was done at age 18 on my 69 Mach 1 and I chose an Erson cam from supershops that was WAYYY too big. Of course.. then I just HAD to put a Holley 750 on it because it seemed like it would be better than a 650. Talk about a turd down low.. combined with freakeshly amazing top end pull. Live and learn. On the plus side though.. it did have a very nice lopey idle at about 850rpm and made the car rock back and forth at stoplights. LOL EDIT: Just got that Marti via PM and can't thank you enough for your time and sharing, Jim. I'm kind of green here, so I'll ask a possibly stupid question. Is it cool if I post the Marti here?.. or is that frowned upon.. for whatever reason?
I talked to my son. He said when he got the car it had the bad freezeplug and had been sitting for a while because it overheated when driven. It was severely out of time which was causing the overheating. He fixed the freezeplug, pulled the distributor and got it on the right tooth on the cam and it ran OK. He then put an Edelbrock Performer cam and lifters in it and a Performer manifold and carb, and a set of headers. He said he did not change the punkin like I thought, so it should have the 2.79 gears in it. He also put some cheap mufflers on it. It had the slotted mags on it when he sold it. The pictures posted looks like it has been repainted and new stripes installed along with the GT wheels. My memory says it had black carpet in it when we had it.
ok.. what the hell.. I'll take a shot at it for the sake of others having more info to help me along the way here. Plus.. I'm so new here.. I can always claim stupidity over ignorance if it comes down to an edited post. lol I just noticed that the Marti says that it was originally sold in Boise? I must have misunderstood. I thought the car was originally sold in Seattle?.. whereas it may have only been ordered in Seattle and then shipped to Boise for sale at that dealer?
well crap!.. my answer is right there in black and white! Nice! Another question.. yeah I know.. I am seriously trying to contain my enthusiasm here though. You or anyone else ever hear of Red Comet GT stripes?.. or were they only available from the factory in black or white? Maybe even silver too?
Thanks. It seems doubtful that the car came with red stripes though.. and I can't seem to find any pics to verify that option was ever available. I suppose it was probably just an aftermarket repop color that came along later as restoration parts became more popular for many classic cars. Then again.. I can't find any pics of a Maverick/Comet with a red top either despite mine having been built that way. So, anything seems possible in the sea of potential combo's that buyers had available on the option sheet.
