Last year my roommate was told by our landlords to get rid of his old junker sitting in the driveway. So we hopped in, and drove it down to a gravel parking lot... and left it there for a year. Well, summer started and I was board out of my mind... until a friend of mine reminded me of the old maverick. So I rented a car dolly and towed it up to my place. It's a 1970 2 door, with an inline 6-cylinder, and automatic transmission. I think it is a 200, but I'm not sure yet. It runs, and sounds ok. I've been working on the brakes this week (installed a rebuilt master cylinder), and stripping the interior of nasty carpet shreds, and seats that look more like rat's nests. My problem is that I don't have a clear idea of what to do with the car, after I get the brakes working, and new seats. I have a vague idea of driving in gravel/semi-off road (rally?), but I'm not sure if the mavrick is a good platform to start from... (wouldn't a jeep be better for offroad, and an old datsun510 for rally?) I could also try restoring/building up the car with an engine, tranny swap, and a lot of body work. I've been browsing around on these forums and it seems that most of you have gone this route. However, I'm worried this might end up costing to much, and that the car might be to far gone to be worth it. (Although if it still runs...) I'd like to do most of the work myself. Lucky for me, my roommate, and my upstairs neighbor are each restoring 70's Blazers. So I have access to a welder, compressor, various tools, and jacks etc. Since I've never done anything like this before I'll be learning as I go... The only things I'm sure of are that I want it to be legal for the street and more fun to drive than my Bronco II (It may already satisfy this requirement). Thanks!
Sounds like, at this point, you just want to get it running well and in reasonable overall running condition condition while your deciding on how to use the car. I can't get to much of a feel for how it would be used 'off road' but for serious running of that nature, I don't think its the best choice because you will have to put a good deal of effort into handling and changes. That also means money. In any event good luck and have fun.
You gotta really ask yourself how much you like the car and what it is worth it to you. I can tell you that they have become extremely rare now. My best suggestion to u is to swap in a mildly built 302, and build yourself a little street machine. Your limits are almost boundless as to what you can do legally for the street.
K. Merring: Yep, after I get it in running condition and registered/insured I'll be alot better able to figure out what to do with it. Jeremy: You're right, I think hot rodding it a little bit is the way to go. As far as what it is worth to me... It sort of fell in my lap, I didn't even realize all the things I could do with it when I first got it (enginewise)... I just wanted to play around on gravel rounds. The problem is... the body/paint is not very good... there is a good size dent in the driver's side rear fender and lots of smaller stuff all over, plus rust in the rear quarter panel bottoms and the rear interior floor is also rusted through (ventilation? speed holes?). I would love to get it looking like some of the fantastic mavericks I've seen in various pictures, but I'm not sure if I have the money/know-how to do it right. I don't really care about keeping things "stock" except for the the dash/instruments/radio. I guess I'm worried that the body may not be in good enough shape to be worth working on the rest of the car... maybe I just shouldn't think about it to much, and instead concentrate on having fun.
My roommate and my upstairs neighbor (in duplex), are both restoring 70's blazers right now, and they seem to think that my mav is too far gone to bother attempting a restoration... or even any bodywork/paint. They advise I make it into a "dune buggy" by removing the sheet metal, and adding a rollcage... I'm not at all interested in doing that now that I've seen how nice street mavs can look. But I am worried that they may be right about my cars condition... I don't want to start putting alot of money and labor into it... only to decide later that it's a piece of crap and I've made a mistake. Please give me some advice here are some pics: There are lots of small dents, the bottum of both rear cornerpanels are rusted through in small spots, the rear floor is rusted through, the doors have some rust/holes, you can see the spray paint, there is a large dent in the rear drivers side quarter panel, but the engine runs...
