So what got you involved in Mavericks?

You can pretty much sum up the cars at shows as 90% Camaros, Mustangs, Novas, Chevelles, and tri-5's. 10% everything else.

Well Dad always had a thing for Mavs. One of my earliest memories growing up was him sitting me on the fender while he worked under the hood. Now later in life I am in a position to get a car to toy around with. He has one as a project and was going to work over-seas for a couple years... So I took his. LOL

 

Thats good because your too big to fit on the fender now

 

My dad always had this "green car" in the barn that I rarely got to see and he rarely started. As a kid he had a baby blue maverick that we used to cut donuts in the cow fields with Anyway I bought a junker S10 for my first car, over 150,000miles, yada yada yada whatever it was a good truck. When my younger sisters both turned 16 my folks bought them new Cavaliers. Not a super nice car but it was new. I think my dad felt bad about giving them cars and I had asked so many times about the Comet one day he just handed me the keys!! Turns out he bought it from his brother who bought it new. So its a family car that had 74k miles on it when I got it. He picked up my mom in it I've had the car for about the last 8 years and I've redone a ton of stuff. I took it home for the first time in about 4 years at Easter and let he and my mom take it for a ride, he had a $h!T-eating grin when he got out of the car you just couldn't wipe off. It made my day to see him drive it and be happy with it.

 

I got into it by letting my brother take my jeep to college in trade my parents basically traded a trailer for the mav so i could have a good begining v8 car to take to the drags instead of the little inline 6 jeep lol

Starting running 16's in it swapped a 289 was running low 13's and then mid 12's after mods

and now im putting in a new 302 347 stroker kit efi with a supercharger

I just keep getting the bug to go faster!

 

Thats a great story, I think thats what kinda drives me to finish mine, is the look Im hoping my dad gives when he sees it finally done...lol

But hes a mopar guy, so I might not get to see it at all

 

when i was eight years old. i played with a hot wheel called mighty maverick, wanted one after that.

 

My Mom's first car was a 1974 Mercury Comet 2 door. I can still remember getting into it for the first time as a 12 years old. It sure beat waiting for the bus in the rain or snow and i really remember sitting in the front seat and looking at the Comet logo on the dashboard. I feel in love.......... so years later i got me a 4-door 1977 Maverick, after that a few years later i paid $200 for my '76 Comet. That was 15 1/2 years ago. I have loved them since my Mom's Comet.

 

I had seen mavericks from the time they came out in late 69 but didn't notice them until one day in summer of 70 when i was passing the ford dealer (in my 69 road runner) and there in the showroom was a grabber blue 70 grabber. I thought to myself that that would be a great muscle car if they ever put a hp302 and top loader in it. Well from that time on i started looking more at the the maverick as a car i would like to have.

Well as time when on my want was to much to ignore and in apr 72 i when to the local ford dealer and ordered a 1972 dark blue matalic grabber with 302 and 3 speed in the floor along with black interior.

I sold that car when i got orders to Thailand in 74. and when i got back to the states and got settled in a another military base i got the urge to get me another one. I bought a 71 from a dealer and worked on refining it and would sometimes set my son on the fender to help me work on it.

 

Hey! I know that guy.

 

Mid May 1972, 1 month from graduating HS. Dad was in the Navy and getting transfered to RI. Did not want to go. I needed wheels I could depend on since Dad;s 65 Galaxie (my back up car) was going with him, so I talked him into cosigning for a new car. Couldn't afford a pick up, and Dad would not sign for any V8 powered car. He knew me too well. I really liked the Comet but that Sprint package sold me. Plus it was $300 less. Bought it, kept it. Still am driving it 37 years (next month)later.

 

never heard of a mav till i was about fifteen. saw one at a golden corrall in branson, MO. didn't know what it was, neither did dad. i was just getting into cars, and forgot about it soon after. Last year, i was on facebook, and bored, so i decided to check out the market place. looked for the 57 chevies, 57 fords, and then decided to broaden my search, so i typed "antique" in the search field. ad came up, "Look! 1977 Ford Maverick Antique in Conway!" i wasnt expecting to get a car, but the price 600, i asked dad if we could check it out. Dad, Uncle Jeremy, and I went to drive it around the block, sounded rough. (and LOUD- no exhaust past the firewall.) died when we tried to back it in the driveway. dad asked the guy if he'd take 500 for it, he said sure, and it was mine. I always had a thing for outta the ordinary vehicles. it runs in the family. my uncle has the 64 corvair 95 rampside pickup. now i have an un-popular car that was covered in duck tape. thats unusual enough for me. only thing is, most of my dads family is into cars, but they prefer chevies, and the ones on my moms side that are into cars are mopar folks for a large parts. so im a non-biased guy who just happened to come across a ford for the right price. I thank God it was a Maverick, cause if it wasn't, i wouldn't have come across this forum while googling Mav parts. greatest site on the net. great people, great conversation, great everything. HATS OFF TO ALL THOSE BEHIND KEEPING THIS FORUM TICKING!!! without you guys, i would still have a ducktape covered whats-it-called with a bad carb and boat gas tank in the trunk, rusting away in the front yard while i tore it apart with reckless abandon.

 

I bought a new Maverick when they came out. I took delivery in June 1969. I got rid of it in 1976. My dad bought a 1974 Grabber for my mom in about 1985. My mom wouldn't drive it because it steered so hard. I bought it from my dad and worked on it for about a year. I finished it and put it on the road in 1990. I have been driving it since then. It still is a work in progress.

 

In the Spring of '72, I went into a Ford dealership in Louisville to look at a Mach 1. I opened the door and saw the most beautiful car I had ever seen, a sportroof Sprint Stang. It was love at first sight! I special ordered one. It was the longest 10 weeks in my life. I kept that car for many years.

Fast forward to '04. I found one very similiar to my original one on Ebay and had it shipped to me from Pa. It renewed my love for the Sprints and I began thinking about the other 2 Sprint models. I began coming periodically to this site and began to realize how rare the Maverick Sprints were.

In the Summer of '07, I was looking on Ebay again and found a Maverick Sprint project in Ga. I went up and picked it up, meeting Mark Lee, a member here. It got the Mav/Comet bug started.

A month later, I was on this site and saw a '72 Comet GT for sale. I went up again to Ga. to pick it up, also buying a '72 Comet parts car and a '71 Grabber from Tim Holland, also a member, bringing my total trips to Ga. to 4 for cars.

I thought, the only thing missing was the 3rd Sprint, the Pinto. I began a search on the Pinto site. None were there and only a couple ever mentioned. I kept going back until I saw where one had been recently sold to a young man in Mich. I contacted him and he sold me the Sprint Pinto to complete my collection. In order to buy the Pinto, I sold my Grabber to a local friend in our Mustang club. Ken got his Grabber, Brad got the Maverick he really wanted, and I was able to complete my trio of Sprints.

Thanks to this site and fine folks like Mark, Tim, Ken, and Brad, I now am the only owner of all 3 Sprint models in the USA. Thanks also to Sarah, who helped me in the Pinto purchase. She also ended up selling Brad his Maverick. Sites like this sure shrink the world, don't they?

Thanks, Stefan.

Jim

 

glad i can help jim :Handshake

brad