What do you regret doing to your maverick/comet

I had an idea for a neat thread, what do you guys regret doing to your maverick or comet? For me its mounting gauge and switches into my radio delete plate. If I had a chance I would do it over.

 

I want to mount mine in the dashboard ac vent, but then I've got to figure out where I'm going to duct the air. I haven't done this yet, but I think I'll regret it if I do!
The reason I didn't mount them in the radio slot, is that I would have to keep leaning over to see them. My steering wheel obscures the vision unless I'm making a turn. Looks like we're both looking for a solution to this!

 

I regret having (2) Mavericks w/ a garage full of parts and no time to work on them!

 

This car I can honestly say nothing so far. Couldnt be happier with it.

My first Mav it would be making it barely streetable by going overboard on the drivetrain. Big lesson learned on that one. Never again.

 

I regret painting mine with Rustolium and not having the body work done well enough so it all has to be stripped and re-done (without the Rustolium)

 

Not changing over to a 5 speed during the build phase. Next time the engine is out, I'll be looking at swapping out the auto for a stick...

 

I regret not having my blue one done yet...I miss driving it.

 

Not painting it while it was all apart.I have never liked the color and now the 15 year old paint is really showing its age.Now the car has to be gutted to a empty shell again to do a proper color change.

 

Wrecking it (my first one)

 

Doing a burn out and breaking an axle in the jag rear end. So much work just to get it out

 

Not tearing down and checking out the rotating assembly in that 351w I installed last year... But it's okay, I think it's going to work out for the best. Because now I can do with this next engine what I would have eventually regretted not doing on the last one, if that makes sense. I mean besides the tired-ass shortblock it had.

 

When I started on my Mav some 9 years ago, I hadn't nailed down the theme I wanted to pursue. I was seeing a lot of guys that had pro-street cars tubbed and half finished in their garages while the pro-street look had already gone the way of disco. I was afraid of following a style that would soon date my car because I'd pursued a look that would eventually go out go fashion. It occurred to me that about the only look that never went out of style was the factory look; either bone stock, or a phantom of a factory car.
After a while, I decided to do a "what if Shelby had built a Shelby Mav in the U.S." car. At first I did like so many other guys, and started collecting Shelby Mustang bling to add to my Mav. Then one day, I realized that if Shelby had built a Mav, he wouldn't have built it so that it was in direct competition, sales wise, with his Mustangs. Instead, I think it would have been a vehicle that sought to put Shelby performance into the hands of "the poor", without the bling of the Mustangs. This car would have the same drivetrain as the Shelby Mustangs, but no mags, no body pieces that weren't off the shelf, no stripes or other paint embellishments. Just a Shelby engine, a 4 speed, a roll bar, and maybe a Shelby emblem or two.
In any case, back to the original question; I wish I hadn't put braces (into the trunk) on my roll bar, scrapped the mint stock hood in order to use the bracing from it to fix a Grabber hood, gotten rid of the stock seats for Pontiac Sunfire seats (same as Thacks), and a couple of other details that run against the theme I finally settled on. I'm still determined to pursue the same plan. The execution of it will have a few flaws, unfortunately.

 

I started putting together a few regrets that have accumulated in 20 years of owning this car, but they were tied together with a common theme and it boils down to this ....

My main regret is not having an unlimited budget to do everything I want with this car.

Building it on a shoestring budget means some compromises occur, timelines get shifted, and (this is a GOOD thing ....) .... new skills get learned.

Pretty cool to be in my fifties, and doing some things for the first time ever.

 

I regret taking my 74 Grabber apart, it's been 12 years now...