Why did you Decide to Own a Maverick?

Ok here is my Question to all the Maverick owners on this Board. What makes you Crave a Maverick ,more than other cars, the style, being just plain different, your car in High School, Dads first car, your first car, ETC.

For me it was my first car,my dad bought one in 69 1/2 New for 1995.00 ,and it became mine in 1975. 1st date in this car,1st hop-up.Great little car easy to work on and service. It seems this car is just a overlooked vintage machine. I like the input from this Board, and there help with parts. Its nice to be a little different.......

Kirk

 

I have always liked the Mavericks and Comets, my cousin had a Comet when I was a kid and I loved it.
Any car show you go to you are going to see a few Mustangs (which I like too ) but you just dont see many Mavericks. Even my old heap gets a lot of attention at the local shows.

 

I like the style of the cars and have always wanted a different car I started in the hobby with Falcons and as they became more common then moved to Maverciks and as their popularity rises I have already got my 61 Valiant in waiting. My problem is I never sell them I just move on to another car and keep my Falcons,Mustangs,Mavericks etc.

 

Look at them, they are beautiful.

 

My 3rd car was a '71 Grabber and my Dad, brother and I swapped the 6 cylinder drivetrain for a 302, top loader 4 speed and 9" w/ 4.11 posi. Been hooked on Mavericks ever since then but it's taken me this long to get another. To me the style of the body is very good looking and ranks right up there with the 67-68 Mustang fastback and the 2nd gen Trans Ams. Unlike those cars, you don't see Mavericks all over the place.

 

I agree anyone can own a Mustang any year. I have owned Mustangs 66,67,68,69,83,92. And I could again but I Dare to Re-Think my Automotive Experience. are you Experienced? (per Jimmy)

 

Actually 57 Fords are my first passion. Got into MAvericks cause it was the only new car I could afford back in 72. I really wanted a Comet.

 

It's something different. Everyone has a Mustang (including me) and I wanted something else. Heck, you don't see many early fox bodies like mine. Plus, I like the tail lights/rear panel

 

because it was cool and it was the first one i have ever seen in my life

 

I am going to add one more thing here. I have seen Posts were people get up-set, or find it weird, when there cars are called a Vega, Mach1, Pacer...whatever, I think thats Great!! almost anyone can point out a Mustang ,Camaro,Corvette,GTO, but a Maverick is the hard to ID Car to most folks. Yes Rare, and only a special Few Own, and know to this Hobby.

 

i still like it when people say that they use to have one back in the day and it was fast... makes me feel special

 

I was in the Navy...I needed wheels since my 64 T bird had died on me(Trans/Frt end/electrics. Car was used up and out)Price was right at the right time on the mav.I have had others along the way...Mopars...VW beetles...Datsun Z cars(I put SBCs' in em) a 70 boss 9 stang(dont ask...it still hurts) 69 olds W-30...69 cougars (A Dan gurney XR 7 and a Hi Po 289 4 spd one...Weird story)They all came and went but the Mav...I just couldnt part with...Even my wife agrees that The Mavs are just...me... She said she is going to bury me in one, and use the other for the head stone...LOL...

 

Bought my first Mav when I was 15. It was red oxide primer with g60-14 alum. slots on the back. The car just looked mean. It was a 72 2 door with a 200. It never did hit the road. It was too rotten underneath. The hood hinges had fell off the inner fender due to rust. Thats how rusty these cars were by 1984 up here.
At 16 I bought a 71 2 door 302 car for 50 dollars. This is the car that I fell in love with. The car was an absolute riot to drive. It would cook that little 14 inch tire off the back. Then I decided I had to go faster and I started looking for a solid shell. Found a BC car for a shell. Very cool car with the rim blow wheel. Started to build my 302 power plant. It took a few years to get the powertrain built. I had to fund it while going to high school and then college for a year to start my apprenticeship. Did carbs on the side and bought and sold parts to put towards the car. Made a killin off the Chev guys and the Holleys they couldnt set up. Charged 150 plus the kit including set up on car. Took a lot of heat that my car would never hit the road. I had the drivetrain ready to go but the car was a shell. One thursday night the Chevy guys really got on my case about the Mav. I couldnt take it anymore. I lost my mind and told the mouthy wop with the 454 Camaro that my car would be done in a week and i'd blow his doors off. I'd even start in second gear. Even my best friend thought I'd gone too far with that one. You have to understand that this 454 car had a huge cam and carb, no converter and no gears. I was confident his car would be lucky to run a 15 second time.
Started on the car Fri. night and it was assembled and ready to run late Sunday night. Fired it up open headers around 9 pm to break in the cam. It shook a plate off the fireplace in the house and my Mom let me have it bigtime. Police showed up around 11 thanks to the lady across the road. It was all good though they were car guys.
The next weekend it was race the Camaro time. Ended up taking him by about 2 car lengths the first run. He didnt believe that I left in second and wanted a rematch. I was laughing so hard I could hardly gather myself up to get back to the start line. I knew I left in second so this was going to really embarrass him this time. Sure enough I left him at the start line rolling into the throttle and just kept pulling all the way down the quarter. Car went 13.10 to his 14.90. He didnt even come back he left the track never really spoke to me again after that. My car never made it out of primer and always wanted to paint it Grabber Blue.
Drivetrain-
302 - 11:1 - 289 heads fully ported, 351 Windsor valves, screw in studs etc.
512 lift 300 duration cant remember separation etc. hardened push rods,roller rockers,gear drive, hardened oil drive,Mallory dual point and coil. Good old school stuff. this was around 1989.
650 holley, single plane Offy, 3500 converter, 4:11's.
No heater box,underpad. Everything it didnt need to run got chucked radio and all. This car just worked really well together and was well worth the years it took saving my pennies. It was a monster compared to some of the other cars around here back then.
I ended up parting the car out about 6 years later due to a growing family and lack of interest. I kept the hurst pro matic shifter that is now in my present car. The headers and cluster hang on my garage wall. The 3500 stall is in the basement still. Sold the engine to a young guy at work who put it in a Cougar he still has. It didnt hit the road. It just sits in storage. He wants to put a stock 302 in it and get rid of it. He offered me my old engine back if I want it. Figure I'll take it and tear it down, freshen it up make some changes and build a back up engine.
So thats where my love for these cars comes from. Long story but I like telling it. I now finally have my Grabber Blue Mav and it has the Hurst shifter in it that I saved from the other car all these years.

 

It was just meant to be. I've posted this pic a gazilion times over the years, but I just love it. I was brought home from the hospital as a newborn in my dad's '71 Comet GT. The car had a pretty stout 306 in it by that point, and was loud. My mom said when he pulled around to pick her up at the hospital, the nurse that walked out with her was like "You're riding in THAT!?"

My dad bought the car when he and my mom moved from Indianapolis to Atlanta in the spring of 1984 just because it was cheap, reliable transportation for him to get back and forth to work with. He had an old VW Beetle at the time that was beat to death and had a lot of problems, and my mom had a '77 Corvette that they drove most of the time (we found this car again nearly 15 years after she sold it, it's been totally restored). A buddy of his had bought the Comet at an estate sale, and offered it to my dad for $850, so my dad sold the Beetle, scraped some money together and bought it.

Over the years, the car was rebuilt completely once and totally changed appearance several times. In it's last iteration, it made it into Popular Hotrodding, May 1998. He sold the car in the summer of 2001 while I was spending the summer at my grandparent's house in NC. I remember he called me and told me and my heart just sank.

I pretty much totally forgot about these cars over the next few years after that, until January of 2005. I was 17, and looking for my first car. Had decided I wanted an early-mid 80's Mustang, when I came across a photo album in our garage one night with all the pictures of the Comet from over the years in it. Changed my mind then and there, and set out looking for a Comet. Found this site searching on Google. Posted I was looking for a Comet, and Hawkco posted he had a '74 Grabber for sale. Went and looked at it, met him and Earl Branham, and the rest is history. 9 Mavericks later, I still don't have a Comet, and doubt I'll get one unless one just falls into my lap at some point. With all the friends I have made in GA and the surrounding states, and the way the whole Dixie Mavericks thing has fallen into place in the last few years with all these great guys, I really couldn't have hoped for a better scenario.

As for the ol' Comet, it changed hands a couple of times after my dad sold it. The guy who bought it from him moved to Florida and ended up getting shot and killed some how. All I know right now, is it is registered to someone named Lark Bragg in Pensacola, FL, who seems to have something to do with the Mustang Club Of America. I've unsuccessfully tried to contact him a few times.

 

I originally wanted a Mustang... (I used to be one of those MuStAnG BoYz lol) But one day my dad was like "let's go check out this 71 Comet in a junkyard" I didn't know what they looked like so he told me "it's like a baby Mustang" I ended up liking the car so much that he let me trade my '84 Bonneville for it(not a bad deal huh?)

We bought the 69.5 as a grad. present for my sister from Jamie(69 in a 1/2) from this board and I can't stress how much of an awesome deal it was/is.

My family has owned 2 or 3 Mavericks in the past, all 200 cars, my Comet was the first 4 Door V-8 in the family.

Thank God I saw the light xD