Got it in the mail yesterday, thanks to the folks at Ford's Customer Relationship Center: 3 1973 Model Year X Manufactured at the Street (sic) Thomas, Canada Assembly Plant (I'm pretty sure they meant "St." not "Street" :16suspect) 93 Ford Maverick, 2-Door Grabber Sedan F 302 CID 8-Cylinder, 2V Engine 319622 Consecutive Unit Number This vehicle was produced on 06/27/1973 with the following options: Bright Blue Metallic Glamour Exterior Paint Color Vinyl Interior Trim Scheme Bucket Seats Medium Blue Interior Trim White Vinyl Top C-4 Automatic Transmission XP Type Conventional Rear Axle DR70 x 14/B Traction Tires Power Steering First Gear Lockout Bumper Protection Manual Air Conditioner AM Radio Tinted Glass Aluminum Wheels Most items I already knew since the car is mostly original. But now I finally know what kind of radio it came with (already had an aftermarket unit in it when I got it). So now I can start looking for a dead AM radio to hack up into an authentic-looking head to a modern automotive audio system... I thought the term "Manual Air Conditioner" was strange... I always thought "manual air conditioner" was "windows rolled down"... But what is the "First Gear Lockout" option? Looking around on the web it appears to be something that automatic transmissions had to keep from going into first gear under certain conditions. But what conditions? And was it a separate option, or did it come with every automatic tranny?
Nicely optioned car, with the "Glamour" paint option (that cost more) and the wheels. Never heard of the "First Gear Lockout" Sometimes I wonder who they hire at Ford, for my 74 it said I had "Cooper" interior, and I figured they meant "Copper" which is Orange in anything I seen ????? Do you have a Marti Report for it??
Interesting question. The info I found (google) would indicate this feature actually prevents the tranny from shifting down to 1st gear. I know someone on here will know for sure - but until then....
Can anyone add information on the "First Gear Lockout" feature? What does it do? Why? What is different in the tranny, converter, or other to make it a 1st gear lockout? Anyone? thx
Only thing I can think of is the ability for the C4 to start off in second gear when selected on the shifter. Just a wild guess though. Sometimes options lingo is like another language. "First gear lockout" could be second gear start.
I looked in all the paperwork I have, (dealership catalogs, order forms,option books) and can't find anything that even talks about it... But...under LTD, I found "Delete First Gear Lockout" "Available with Police Packages" Suggested retail $5.00 On a side note, they had cool names for Law Enforcement packages, Sentinel, Guardian, Cruiser, and Interceptor
Cool info Dave. Ford always did come up with cool names and phrases. I mean come on whats meaner than Cobra Jet, Drag Pack, guardian, interceptor . I think I'll start a thread on this one.
Dave, you might be onto something. I had a '79 LTD (302 C4) that I could override the kickdown. Normally, when I'd floor it in 2nd gear, it wouldn't kick down to first, however, I could override it by pulling the gear shift into Low gear. That might've been a linkage adjustment issue (or other), although it would go from D to 2 without having to use the gear shift. I wonder if mine had the "Lockout", and not the "Delete" opt. I'm surprised one of our trannie guru's hasn't chimed in. Intriguing topic (well, to me anyway).
I believe - and I am using my memory here - that the C4 first gear lock-out was to prevent shifting into 1st gear above 20-25 mph. It can be over-ridden to some extent by putting the selector into the low gear manually and "goosing" the pedal. This is hard on the C4 as it artificially raises the line pressure to override the governor. It is easier to modift the valve body to manually control 1st and 2nd gears. (which is an option on my C4 builds)
Thanks Paul! I was wondering if it was something like that... I don't recall ever trying to manually downshift to 1st while doing more than 20 - 25 MPH, so I can't say whether it worked. But doing less than that speed, I used to pull the lever all the way into 1st and then mash the gas for some get-up-and-go. Sounded like the engine wanted to leap out through the hood before I would finally back off on the throttle enough for it to upshift. So which was the real option: adding first gear lockout or deleting it? Sounds like it was standard except in the police vehicles? Just curious more than anything... In any case, I'll take that transmission any day where the reaction to the mechanical kickdown linkage is IMMEDIATE compared to my more modern cars where the computer has to think "let's see... uh... throttle position sensor says 100% WOT... current speed... uhm... 15 MPH... traffic situation closing REALLY fast... I guess you want to... GET OUTTA HERE!! "
Agreed. Even our SRT line up with 6.1 hemis have terrible software in the trans. The auto-stick is slow and shifts are sloppy. I wouldnt even consider owning one unless it had the 6 speed manual. Its a joy to drive. My 300m special is the exception for a late model electronic trans. They went over board on the software. The autostick shifts so hard and fast its breaks the tires loose into second. I dont do it often its pretty violent and I'm sure you could bust something in the trans. Even shifting on its own the average shift point is around 4000rpm. We had a lot of complaints when these cars were new about hard shifts. I like it though.
