Posted by Mark S. Gustavson on May 24, 1998 at 01:59:32:
In Reply to: Your first maverick posted by Craig Selvey on April 28, 1998 at 19:54:31:
: Let us know if you get it N8.
I purchased my first Maverick, NEW, from Petty Ford in Sugarhouse, Utah (a suburb of Salt Lake City). It was painted that Dark Ivy Green (Jade Black in some catalogs)
with the optional decor group (14" wheels with whitewalls, upgrade plaid/earthtone interior, radio, 200 6-cylinder. It listed for around $2300 (because of all the options), but
no one wanted it because of the color (I thought it was great!).
Anyway, I had just started college (in 1969) and I had saved up around $1500 from high-school era work (a princely sum in those days). My dad helped me with the rest, and I purchased the
car for $1995 plus tax (no delivery charges, other stupid stuff) because the dealer wanted to get rid of a Maverick painted that color).
I quickly added the rocker panel moldings, wheel lip moldings, and much larger Appliance chrome slotted mags with then brand new Firestone wide oval performance radials. I also had the distributor recurved to advance the timing 4-6 degrees and I installed
Monroe H/D shocks (with a 1" piston shaft). Also, I went to Midas and added a 2" full exhaust system with a dual chrome outlet necessitating some bodywork on the rear valence to cut out a 'reveal' for the dual outlet pipe. I had some bodywork experience in high school, so customizing the rear pan and painting ith with factory pak paint
was easy. The car sure looked cool.
Later, I pulled the head, planed it .005 to clean it up, had larger valves installed with a three-angle valve job, and installed a larger Holley one-barrel carb. I eventually went to a floor shift for the manual trans using 1972 Maverick parts for the V-8 car.
That car lasted me through all four years of college, through three years of law school, and 6 years of subsequent use. I painted it twice.
I 'lost' it finally when I got hit, hard, from the rear on I-15 in Salt Lake County (by another attorney, no less!).
Since that time, I have purchased another early model '69 Maverick,
with dash ignition like my first car (the original car was constructed in late September 1969, and the
one I just purchased to replicate my first car, was built 24 days afterproduction
started in the Kansas City plant, with a DSO for Portland, Oregon. I am the second owner of it with only 84,603 miles!
I hope you guys enjoyed this pleasant reminiscence of my First Maverick!
Cheers,
Mark S. Gustavson