Should I save it? 72 Sprint

I sent the guy an email but I haven't heard back from him yet. I may call him tomorrow. Will probably buy it, but unsure of what direction I will take until I see it in person.

-Corbin

 

not necesarily. not trying to argue, but i was thinkin maybe theres some with rotted floorpans and trunk and the undercarriage is junk. then all it really is is a body and doors and maybe fenders and a hood. (not counting the smaller stuff. take too long to list.) and if you use that as a donor then there's not so much waste and then you can sell the parts you don't use. and i don't know the chances of a good body with a rusted out undercarriage, but it is possible. my wagon has only one rust spot on the body that i've found, and when i pulled the motor, i unbolted the driveshaft through the floor rather than get under the wagon. mavs may be a different story, but it cant hurt to look.
and i don't know why people always rate a cars deserving to be restored on its value afterwards. i know some people fix em for the sole purpose of flipping them (no pun intended) but me, for instance, i've been told by more people than i care to recall to scrap my wagon cause its not worth fixing and not gonna be worth anything when its done. well thats fine with me. i also had another guy offer me 1000 for it after i showed him pics and thouroughly described the damage. and hes a car guy (even has a maverick and teaches auto body) but i wouldn't sell. im doing this wagon because i like the way it looks and i want this wagon. i don't want the one thats worth more unless i like it better than the other options. now, i would fix up a mustang or corvette, but if there was one of either in the same shape as my wagon and was offered to me as a trade for the wagon, id turn it down cuz i like the wagon better and there aren't many of em out there. i guess what im trying to say is market value isn't everything, and i can't see why so many people act like it is. sorry. didn't mean to start the rant, but it happens.
in short. my opinion is go for it. it could be fun, educational, and you don't just get an awesome sprint out of the equation, you also get more experience, maybe learn something new that'll come in handy in the future, havin some fun workin on a car, and when you finish, you can be damn proud of what you've done. its not another one of those, "i threw some money at it and replaced a part" or paying someone else to do it cars. not tryin to bash those, (thats what my mav will probly be) but there's so many of em out there. a car means a lot more when you've worked that hard for it.

 

I would rather have a 6 cyl plain jane Maverick cloned to look like a V-8 Maverick Sprint than to have a real Sprint which the is actually over 50% of another car welded to the front half of what is a Sprint.

Until we see pictures of the underside and get measuments, etc....this is all "blue sky" thinking. But....fun to discuss all the same.

 

I'd buy it. Wrecked or not. They fix newer cars these days that are much worse. Get it on a frame machine and see how bad it really is, before you make a final decision.

 

I have to agree with Craig & Mean_Maverick. Yes, it's a well optioned Sprint, so what? Unless you just REALLY have to have a # matching, original Sprint I'd rebody that car or part it. To pay someone else to repair that body would cost more than the car's worth.
Duct Tape, the reason a cars value dictates whether it's saved or not is just simple economics. Old fastback Mustang shells(I mean basically a roof & cowl w/a vin)will bring big money because it'll be a big money car when finished. On the other hand, old Mustang coupes are still cheap in comparison, just like the finished cars(compared to fastbacks). Now, I've been guilty of putting way too much money into cars over the years because I liked 'em and didn't care what they were worth. Then, when I "had" to sell them I took a beating. Doesn't take long to realize "hey,I better stop doing this".
Having said that,I will probably end up with about $10k in my Comet. Is it worth it? I don't know. But I don't care because this car holds sentimental value to both me AND my wife. Alot of people do things like this. But you can't go out & buy every car you think is pretty neat(at least I can't) and sink bookoo bucks into it. Not picking a fight, JMO
Corbin could rebody that car cheaper/easier than fixing it I would think. And I don't think it would be a really big deal if he transplanted everything from that car into another,and kept pics/documents of the build. Yea,I know It'd be missing the "right" trim code,but we're not # match,date coded Hemi/LS6/SCJ type freaks. Are we?

 

I don't know about the USA, but here in Canada, rebodying a car is illegal.

 

Dave,

I don't believe they're talking about swapping the VIN from one car to another, that is against federal law here in the states.

What I believe they're talking about is taking all the good parts off of the Sprint and putting them on a lower optioned car and making it look like the car that the original parts came off of. Basically cloning the original Sprint.

-Scott H.

 

just buy it and park it. its not like its gonna lose value if it sits in storage...

 

I know many many people do switch vins it is illegal but nobody ever gets caught i have never attempted it and never will because i like to know my stuff is original.

 

Corbin

IF you can get it FOR YOUR PRICE BUY IT and set on it . Don't make any decision weather to fix it or not just wait maybe you with find a good parts car and be able to due a back half and roof later..


Jay

 

Our Mavericks/Comets are not high value cars.Is a Comet GT rare? yup...
Is a Stallion in White/black rare? heck any Stallion! yup...
Is a White Grabber with yellow stripes rare? yup...
How about an orange and white grabber? yup...
Soo with that train of thought, it stands to reason that a Sprint Maverick is rare,Correct??? Lets face it 15,400and some odd Mavs in a production run that lasted 3 months makes for a low number.If this reasononig quantifies rarity among Mavericks/comets then...This rolled Sprint is worth saveing.Personally...its not about value and or how much $$ you can get out of it when restored, its about the history of an era gone by.Have you ever seen a 63 Studebaker lark Daytona??? Not many were made...Rare? yup...not desireable collector car wise... its an ugly Studebaker.BUT...It came with a V-8 and a factory belt driven supercharger...Talk about a handfull!!! Its valuable and has a cult following.Our cars have a cult following (us here on this forum) as well as members of the MCCI and MCG. To us they are valuable,be it sentimantally or finacially or emotionally.I am not a purest nor am I being biased since I own one.Face it...the Sprint is a rare car...worth saveing...even if it was rolled.How many have long since been crushed melted down and recycled into new hondas and toyotas.How many do we think are left in the world?? Granted we are a small portion of the car enthusiast community but we only know of what 20? 26? Sprints that we can verify as being the real deal that still exist.
Would you pay a 100K for a Shelby clone??? how about a hemi cuda convertible clone??? Emulating a cool and or rare car is cool.Nothing wrong with that. Passing it off as the real deal... O0ps my foot just went through my old soap box.Guess I'm done.

 

If it's done right, it would be impossible to prove, and that's relatively easy to do on our cars. Cars this old in GA don't require titles, but they do require that the same VIN be permanently attached to the car in at least 2 separate places. So you swap the dash, and get a reproduction door sticker. Then if you really want to all out, swap the VIN's on the fender aprons as well. Bam, impossible to prove.

 

Update:

I got a hold of the guy, and I am going to go look at it on Sat morning. If all goes well it should be coming back on the trailer with me.

As far as rebodying the car, not going to happen. In my opinion, if a car wasn't born a Sprint, it's not a Sprint. Wasn't born a Grabber, then it's not a Grabber. Etc..

If everything pans out on Saturday, the plan now is to sit on it and see what happens. I do have a Sprint already, so this isn't out of desperation for owning one; I just think it should be saved.

The guys says the underbody and everything else is still straight, but we'll see. Apparently he lost control and got into a ditch and it rolled on the driver's side and roof.

I will update as I know more, and add more pictures if I do get it. And yes, Dennis, I will send you the info for the registry!

 

Cool!

 

Thats good to hear...Hope it pans out well for you.