To convert or not to convert. A bumper question

I also read that Ford killed the Maverick because it was out selling its flagship car the mustang.

 

.. Maverick. It's sales pulled from Opel Kadett, Yota, Datsun, Pinto, Vega, Cricket(Plymouth), etc, etc.

... yeah, first time I drove the tight little Ford 'world car' SOHC 4Spd , rack and pinion steering Pinto it figured that 60's platform Maverick/(Falcon) was not going to be able to compete with Pacific or Euro contenders. Except for the low price which sold a ton of the Mav/Com's already billed as an economy car for the MPG worried masses. Iaccoca re-tinned the Falcon into the sporty Mustang but sold 3 with the- 'Falcon Six" for every HP V8. .. .

The 'you must wear seatbelt'-ignition interlock on my '74 is long disconnected but new cars audibly complain until you buckle in... Big bumpers and seatbelt-ignition interlocks are a design statement of then times .

Behind the 'big bumper' is the resilient subframe bumper mounts and heavy ballast bar behind flimsy thin chromed steel BIG outer bumper. With a little styrofoam instead of ballast bar, the early ballast bar bumper could rival the plastic/styro FASCIA snapped on 'modern' car front clips.

My '74 has the front rad support moved forward to support the drive belt and oversize radiator of SC'd 250 and simple slotted steel brackets for the lightweight tucked outer vintage BIG bumper.

. .


hav e fun

 

The big bumpers look a lot better tucked. Build it your way.

 

Move into the real world, don't believe everything you hear, I-net is full of BS.... Building autos is all about selling, & making a profit. If Ford dropped Maverick because it was outselling Mustang, investors would have had a fire sale with Ford's stock.

By '77 model year Maverick sales were poor, replaced by the far more ergonomic & efficient Fairmont.

 

By '77 model year Maverick sales were poor, replaced by the far more ergonomic & efficient Fairmont.

... and the Granada also moved from 70's style Falcon / Maverick derived platform to Fords' very successful Fox Body platform. I believe the T-Bird was only Falcon type platform left intact.

 

Mustang wasn't much of a flagship by then!

Tbird was never on the Falcon platform. In the 70s it shared the platform with Lincoln then moved to the fox platform.

 

Last of Falcon based chassis was the '80 Granada, then into History books...

T-Bird used Fox chassis from '80 thru '88(I have one). Except for drive shaft, rear portion of exhaust system & gas tank, virtually everything readily swaps from Mustang. For '89 switched to MN12 chassis.

Mark VII Lincoln used Fox Chassis from '84 thru '92. Again most Stang parts swap, those even used same HO 5.0 as Mustang. The Birds had Lo Po 5.0 from Crown Vic.

Here's a conspiracy theory that probably has some truth. Ford would not install 225Hp HO 5.0 in T-Bird as the Turbo Coupe with 195Hp was it's flagship. When one of the car rags(forget which) asked when T-Bird would get the HO, Ford flatly stated, wasn't going to happen. Didn't bother me none, pulled the pressurized half motor from my Turbo Coupe & installed a Trick Flow headed 5.0.

 

I was cruising youtube videos of Mavericks at the track and this came up. It echoed what I have read over the years. I will admit there is some personal biased towards the maverick but it's not the first time I have read (now watched) something on the matter.
Although I laughed at the 73' having the dual dome hood.
Hey I have a dual dome hood wonder if it's worth restoring and putting on the car?

 

Well the majority is in favor and I do like the small bumpers best. I can always shelve the parts in my Garage attic if the Smithsonian ever calls for an all original grabber that no one has anymore .
It will be an expense though, so when I finish my 1919a4 soon I might start getting parts. But I have another mg build to do too.
That said should I notch the fenders or the stone guard for the front bumper. I would think the stone guard would be the best way to go.

 

Info in that video is so bogus, should be removed from youtube. Notice comments are disabled, within couple days it had so many negatives calling BS(mine was one), user took them down.

 

lol I posted it as kind of a joke. Hence why I commented on on the duel dome hood scoop. The guy was pretty biased towards mavericks. But it did echo what I have read several in magazine articles through the years that stated the mustang did contribute to the Maverick's demise. Those articles could be a bit biased too. Not saying it's true but I have read it.

 

@Krazy Comet I would have given my eye teeth to see those comments before he turned them off. I'll bet they were funny and berating all at the same time

 

Beginning with '74(gas crunch), 4-door Mavericks were selling as well as 2-door,
1975 thru '77, 4-door out sold 2-door by a wide margin..

Someone please 'splain to me how 4-door Mavericks were competing with Mustang.
Obviously market shifted, buyers now wanted small 4-door vehicles.

I will make a concession that earlier Maverick probably did siphon off Mustang sales,
but I'll guaran-damn-tee, Ford laughed all the way to bank. Nothing more than a new
model entering the market, followed by dwindling sales. Look at new Stang figures for '74 & '79...
With no V8 option, the '74 Stang out sold the the '75 by over 197,000 units.

Sales numbers


Mustang
1964.5 - 121538 (end Aug '64)
1965 --- 559451
1966 --- 607568
1967 --- 472121
1968 --- 317404 ----- Maverick
1969 --- 299824 ---- 127833 -- 1969.5(end Oct '69)
1970 --- 191239 ---- 451081 -- 1970
1971 --- 151484 ---- 271897 -- 1971
1972 --- 125813 ---- 254964 -- 1972
1973 --- 134817 ---- 291675 -- 1973
1974 --- 385993 ---- 301048 -- 1974
1975 --- 188575 ---- 162572 -- 1975
1976 --- 187567 ---- 139687 -- 1976
1977 --- 153173 ----- 98506 -- 1977
1978 --- 192410
1979 --- 369936
1980 --- 271322
1981 --- 182552

 

Wasn't 75' also the year they dropped a lot of the options for the Maverick?

 

What options would that be? I don't have option list beyond '73. AFAIK, Mav never had power seats, windows or embroidered ashtray mats. I believe '75('74?) was first year for power brakes. By mid '70s buyers were generally wanting more than just basic transportation. IE, 6cyl, three on tree with AM radio & no power options.