For me it was even before i can remember. It was the summer of 73 and I was only two years old. When dad bought a new maverick grabber. Gold and white in color v8 auto with ps. This was his first new car. And having had my bother in 72 it was the family car. At the time he had a 68 firebird that he had bought cheap enough to use as a drag car it was stock and not fast but had fun. But at some point after getting the maverick the engine gave out. So the grabber became the all around car. Work m-f. store on sat. and track on sun. Now again it was bone stock and we all know how it ran lol. But for a 3 or 4 year old boy. And over time add the cragar ss wheels the hood scoop cut the y pip stuff on two thrush mufflers. Well you still got a slow 17 sec car. But at the time to me it was a beast. Now the good old days didn't last long. By the time the 80's rolled around 82 i think the car had rusted so bad it was junked out. As to why take your pick car was never undercoated in ohio we had some bad winters in the 70's no garage and remember it was driven ever day. But that car and those times put something in me that i've never been able to get rid of nor do i want to. Grabber soon after getting it not sure when but late 70's In 92 i bought a 72 grabber of my own pic's and info to come.
I'm with you, couldn't tell you when it bit me. Dad had some cool stuff but it was before I came along. My grandfather had a 76 station in the early 70's we got to hang out at which probably helped nurture it. We got to ride the lift, wash our hands in the solvent tank and many other things that would be frowned upon today. To this day the smell of solvent takes me direct to the station and thoughts of grandpa. My first car was a Fairlane pedal car that I "worked" on regularly, wish I still had it, would look great on the garage wall!
I always bought Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines when I was a teenager even before I could drive - Got my first car in 1974 which was a 1965 4 door Falcon and 4 doors was not cool to be driving back then so at least the hub caps came off of it and maybe that made be feel like the 170 cube 6 cylinder was more powerful than it was - it never was
As a 6 year old in the fall of 1971 I remember riding in my grandfather's '71 Grabber Blue Comet GT (302/3 speed stick with black stripes and interior) to the NASCAR race in Martinsville, VA with my dad and my uncle. I remember looking out the windshield and that hood scoop was very cool! I also liked the floor shifted 3 speed. I was hooked on these cars! When I was about 20 years old I was able to finally buy one. It was a lime green '71 Comet GT with black stripes and black interior. It had the 200 six cylinder and a C4. It was a decent car for what I paid for it ($200) and I kept it a year or so. A few years later I found a '73 Comet GT that was white with orange stripes and orange interior. It was a 302/3 speed stick car. I also kept it about a year or so. That is one that I wish I wouldn't have sold! I tried to find it a couple of years ago and from what I was able to find out it was wrecked and totaled not too long after I sold it.
Mine was riding with my Dad's little brother when I was 5. He had a Grabber Blue 71 Comet GT with 302 3 spd as well. He died when I was 11 and I said one day, I would have one like his. I got a 71 Comet 302 auto when I was 17. My dad saw it when he visited my older brother at Ft. Bragg. He stopped and looked at it and bought it for $50. It was Dark Ivy Green with the gold interior. The radiator had leaked and the lady that owned it got it hot and blew the head gaskets. He went back a couple weeks later and changed the heads, head gaskets, and radiator and drove it back to WV. I wish I had that one back. - Mat
January of '73 my old '63 Chevy II Nova's transmission was on it's last legs. I went to a nearby used car dealer where I heard they had a nice Impala SS on the lot. Didn't see an Impala there but the Maverick Grabbed (pun intended) my attention. I was in my Dad's car and the salesman said if I wanted the Maverick (for $1895) he would give me $300 trade in for the Nova sight unseen. The next night we all but pushed the Nova onto the lot to trade it in. The salesman just stood there shaking his head. LOL So in about 2 weeks from now, on January 10th, I'll have had my Maverick for 44 years.
Cars already had my attention as a kid. My dad had a lot of iconic 50s cars when he was single. I also had a 2nd cousin (more like an uncle age-wise) who had a front-motor alcohol dragster when I was 8 and moved on to an alcohol funny car when I was 10. My little brain was permanently warped after hanging around with him. Mavericks and Comets were a small light car that still had a V8, and shortly after getting involved in bracket racing as a teenager, got my first one ... a 71 Comet with a 302, 3 speed stick, and very little else... manual steering, and NO AIR. This was in Florida, and this was my daily driver!.
I was looking for a car to work on in my spare time and also for it to be a father/son project in the spring of 2012. One day my dad calls me and says he might have found something. We drive over and there was sitting a 73 maverick. I loved the looks of the car and spent the rest of the night researching the car. The next day I talked to the owner and bought the car! It has turned into a mostly son project with me bumming random speciality tools off my dad! This is what I started with.
first real learning experience with cars was learned on a cold morning in Sep. my cousin, in his mid 20s went out to warm up his v8 56 Ford C.V. convertible to go to work. he cranked on it a min. or two and then got out and raised the hood. he took the breather off and laid it on the front fender. he was messing with something (later I learned was the choke). he got back in the car and cranked on it until he killed the batt. I guess that pizzed him off because he got out and slammed the door, being as cold as it was it busted the door glass. then he turned and kicked the front hubcap caving it in. he came around and slammed the hood, with the breather sitting there the hood buckled. he raised up the hood, picked up the breather, slammed the hood and then threw the breather through the windshield... all this happened within 5 mins. lesson I learned...Fords are cold natured...
My Dad fell in love with the Maverick as soon as they came out. He worked long hours at Firestone, so my Mom took on the responsibility to purchase a new one for him to drive to work. I'll never forget when we picked up that brand new 71 Grabber from Wade Ford in Barberton. I was so excited when I saw the 3 spd floor shift that I quickly lifted the hood. Alas, to my disappointment, a 200 CID six banger. Nonetheless, it looked really cool and I loved it!! Shortly thereafter, my Dad died suddenly and my Mom had to sell it with only 5K miles. I was devastated by the loss of both my Dad and his car. The next year, I turned sixteen, took all of my $$$ I had saved over the years and bought a used 72 Grabber with the same 200 six and floor shift. I couldn't find a 302!! We didn't have the internet back then, so whatever showed up in the newspaper was what you had to choose from. It had 25K miles on it and the clutch was completely smoked. I loved that car more than any I have owned since. After all, what can top your first Maverick??
'73 - '74, before I had a house with a garage, I shared a garage with another guy that had a '72 Grabber. He had a poster of Fast Eddie's car hanging on the wall. He was our hero along with Gapp & Rousch with their 4-door.
apparently i was bit at age 2 or 3 lol. they said id stand under my papaws 69 ford truck and point to the pipes and say "woombahh!!" for my own memory i think around 1982 when i started watching the dukes of hazard. that 69 charger just got me. the other cars on the show did to. from that point forward i wanted a bad ass loud car. i got a mean looking 70 ford truck when i was 17 and cut the mufflers off first thing and let the 302 roar. been hooked hard ever since. funny thing is, growing up a maverick was a car i didnt really like. i laughed at the 74 grabber we had because of the word grabber on the hood. it was green and white. to me it was an old papaw car that only old people had. but now, to me its the most under rated car to ever be produced provided what can be made out of a stock mav for the money.
My dad was a Ford dealership mechanic. When I was ready for my first car, he looked through the trade-in junk line and saw a '72 mav there. He helped me buy it for $200 and I spent the summer rebuilding the motor and got it painted - getting ready for when I got my driver's licence. Unfortunately, a big storm came up in the fall and blew a monster tree over onto my dad's truck and my Mav that were sitting side by side. Folded in my dad's truck length wise with the trunk, and a big 2' diameter branch split the Mav down the middle right over the seat, pointing both bumpers towards the sky! 15 year old me was just as crushed as that car was, emotionally anyway! (My dad wan't too happy about his truck either!) A '72 mustang fastback was the next $200 car that got dragged home a week later. That restored my mood.
