Hi. This afternoon I'm going to take a look at a '76 Maverick w/ my youngest daughter. She, like her parents, has a love for classic cars and so we've been looking for something sensible and affordable for her to get into. We found a '76 2-door locally and it looks nice in the pictures and I'm hoping for good things when we see it in person. The deal is, I've been a Mopar guy my whole life and have spent very little time around any Fords at all and never even lifted the hood on a Maverick, so I'm wondering if there's anything inherent in this car that I need to be aware of. Any issues or quirks? It's powered by a 250 6 cyl. w/ auto (C4, I assume?) and that's all I know now. Any advice for a potential newbie would be much appreciated, thanks! Dave
Depending on where you live, Rust will be your number one concern. First, run a garden hose in the cowl, and see it it leaks inside the car, if it does..unless you are ready for some work, don't buy it. Other than that, the usual spots, inner fenders, torque boxes, floors, rear quarters, and rear frame rails.
I would not consider a Maverick something sensible and affordable for a 16 year old. I would say a Focus, Escort, Contour, Tempo would better meet those classifications. Having said that....keep in mind that like any older car....can't just run to the parts store or junk yard and get parts for it.
Well, what she WANTS is a mid-'60s Impala, so in light of that a Maverick seems very sensible. She currently shares time on a 2000 Cavalier with her older sister, but she's drawn to older American iron...which I really have no problem with since I have a lot of experience with it. Thanks for the replies so far.
My son (on his learner's permit now) has the option of daily driving the Maverick (when it runs again), even though it apparently has over 200k on it. He has the Gran Torino and 2 VW's as well, though. It wouldn't be his only car.
I had the same problem with my son. He didn't want anything new. It's been a huge investment, but not as much as a new car. Complete new front suspension (all original style), front disc brake set up, complete steering system, rebuilt rear end, all the weld repair, rebuilt AOD, all new door and window gaskets, tons of work on the engine, etc... I'm making him turn wrenches on everything, so he knows how to work on it.
That's the way to do it! We just got back from looking at the car. It's raining and the battery is dead, so we didn't spend too much time with it, but here's what the initial inspection revealed: Rust on both rear quarters/wheel wells Rust on the front fenders ahead of the wheels Repair work on the right rear quarter 250ci, auto on column, bench seat, a/c, power steering and power front discs. It had an older repaint and the 3/4 vinyl roof was gone, although the trim was still there. I told the guy I'd come back on a dry day to test drive it and get a look underneath. Being in the northeast/mid-atlantic area, there's no doubt more rust on it that what I'm seeing on the outside. I am feeling that it'll be too much of a project for my kid, though, and we might continue our search for something else. Thanks so much again for the replies.
A rainy day is the BEST time to test-drive it. It will show all the leaks (cowl, weatherstripping, etc). It will also show any signs of faulty ignition components and the like. If you are in the north-east, I would be nervous about the cowl...
