Well this weekend I will start on the maverick build...well at least the tear down. Got front disc brakes broken down( (got 4 sets off of 1974 mavericks) and ready for powder coating, along with a bunch of smaller parts. I plan on power coating all the engine brackets and most everything that will fit into the oven. going to order a front rebuild kit and a rear 4 leaf spring kit from laural mountain mustang. can't see spending upwards of 2k on the tubular 'A' arm stuff for just a crusier. Sent the 74 to the crucher....after a through strip. Leaves me with 5 cars. out of all the cars i have 3 1973's(1 grabber), 1-1970, 1-1972, the 70, and one 73 have good floors, mild rust...except hoods are real bad and have 6cyl. the others have bad floor and hood rot and i concider them parts cars. was hoping to find a cheap 71/72 grabber but haven't had any luck. Here is what I have collected so far. the grabber is a v-8 and so does the 72 so i have all the parts to do a v-8 conversion. 2 sets of clutch pedals but no v-8 z-bar...got several 6 cyl. 2 grabber hoods and one good flat hood. 2 70-72 rear bumpers + what is on the 72 several complete front and rear window chrome couple sets of sport mirrors several sets of arm rests 2 sets of doors, beside what is on the cars. front and rear glass off a 4 door, rear wont fit 2 door. several gauge clusters with 120 mph 2 v-8 bell housings 1 borg warner t-10....still leaning toward a t5 with either cable or hydrolic Well you get the idea I have 3, 7 foot tall shelves full of parts and the whole side of my 24 foot garage lined with doors and hoods, and i haven't gone to my other junk yard this winter....it is time...the copperheads have gone to sleep . So i will be going there to get as many hoods and interior stuff that I can get. the 72 has a factory v-8 and the 73 had a factory v8 according to the vin but was replaced with a 351 and now has what i was told when i got it a mid 80s truck 302 with duraspark. I am hoping it is 85 or up so i can get a factory roller, that way it will be cheaper to build. Here is the question I have for you guys......which one would you build the 70 or 73. Looking at them the 70 trans tunnel looks smaller. there is more body work to do on the 70. but i am going to do a full strip and media blast of the car so it won't mater much which one i start with, unless somebody here knows something i don't. Robert
Wow, what a good stash of parts! Yep, the 70 has a more narrow driveshaft tunnel, at least in my experience. I'd start on the one that needs the least work. jmo Good luck.
I'd usually tell you that I would go with which ever needs less work, but I am actually trying to figgure out the exact same thing right now, too. The '70 cars do have a smaller trans tunnel which could cause problems. Likewise, my '73 is in better shape also. But I really want to build my '70 because it is the early key in dash '69.5 car. It needs alot of body work on the drivers side though. But my '73 is litterally ready to just clean up and put it together, with very little body work needing to be done. Very hard to decide.
Jamie, I was very close to buying Eli's / your's now 72 . but he sent me a bunch of pictures of it when he had it priced a 2,000 and i passed. The only thing I really wanted out of it was the buckets and the steering column. When it dropped to 1200 i was going to call him but you beat me to it. If it was closer i would have gone to look it over but it is 3 hours away. Robert
ditto... but the 73 is unique to its front bumper then any other year. of course i didn't bit 73 for any reason btw you got that many grabber hoods eh? i need one for donation soon... i wanna make a Carbon Fiber hood.
Yea, that is a good car. I sent Eli my best offer, and he said come get it. I'm takeing the parts I want and tradeing it to my brother though for the nice '73 body he has (mentioned above). That Grabber is better off with my brother, since he will drive it. This '73 is the best Maverick body we own out of all 8 of them. It's current looks are definately deceiving though. It has sat in Earl Branham's parent's backyard since around 1994.
I would build "MY" ultimate car out of the best parts.If your 73 has the best body,use it.If you want small bumpers,put them on,if you want the dash mounted key,put that and the colum in.Unless you are going for a 100% correct car.
me I'm partial to 73 grills and 72 turn signals other then that least rust better condition car goes.. on the 73 if you are making a cruiser it might have the door re-enforments make it a safer car if thats a concern if it's a racer I'd learn on the 70 body being lighter..
I think I am going to do a sleeper for the first one. I could just clean up the 70 and swap the drive train out of the 72 and have a running car. all the cars need new seals and rubber. Havent decided if I want to put mags on the sleeper or to put on a set of dog dishes, thing i have 3 full sets plus a couple sets of hubcaps. I may have a 9" rear with disc brakes, will know later on in the week, and the same guy with the rear-end has a late 80's roller motor too, so i may end up with both....I HOPE.... Got rid of the VW shell today so i am getting closer to having a garage area again. Robert
go with your most solid body and build off of that. aside from the tunnel all maverick shells are the same anyway. you have enough spare parts to mix and match your own idea of the ultimate maverick, maybe even an extra lol. you could probably sell off the extra stuff if your in need of something not in your collection. good luck
