Question on Safty of a Maverick.

I've been driving Mavericks daily since May 2005, and they are reasonably reliable cars once you get all the bugs worked out. I will hit 100,000 miles I've personally driven my '72 within the next month or so. Using a car like this for a true day in, day out primary vehicle definitely isn't for everyone, it takes a certain level of patience and respect to deal with the idiosyncrasy's of driving and maintaining an older car. Remember, these are 30+ year old cars, and are going to have problems every now and then. I've had a total blast driving mine though, no regrets here. Just get used to talking to random strangers in parking lots and gas stations about the car.

As for safety, well, like I said, these are 30+ year old cars, that are mostly designed and built around early 60's technology. They do at least have safety equipment of the very most basic variety, like seat belts and collapsible steering columns. I wrecked my first Maverick in November 2005, was making a left turn and got hit by a Lincoln Navigator that was cursing right along at full speed. I had my seat belt on, but it was the original one to the car, and it snapped, so I got thrown sideways into the dash, steering wheel was ripped out of my hand, bashed my head into the rear view mirror, etc. My two passengers and I were sore and bruised up, but walked away. The body of the car folded at the transmission tunnel, and was distorted all the way to the rear torque boxes. We were just lucky it hit in a more sturdy part of the body, and the roads were slick so it just bounced off and slid around.. Had it been hit in the door, road conditions been different, I cringe to think what the outcome could have been for myself and my passenger.. These cars fair relatively well in mild to moderate wrecks, but a newer car will always be far safer regardless.

They make great weekend warriors.

 

I wouldn't want to depend on it as a family daily driver but that's me. By myself the other drivers better watch out lol. I'm in Ok also and the rules suck. Gotta have a title AND it has to be notorized. Where in OK?

 

Around the duncan area.

And it would be a daily driver for, being im young and have no family =P

 

Same here. It's been super fun, and the conversations with strangers make it just that much better.

 

I've heard that the maverick was the car of choice, for middle income parents to send a kid to college in?

 

Been driving mine for over 37 years with well over 200k miles and has never broke down yet. I'd put that in the reliable column.

 

Mavman 72 and Jamie pretty summed it up pretty well.

I think your folks main concern is safety ... it will not be as safe as a new car... period. No airbags, crumple zones,etc. You are more likely to get hurt. Bad as an early Pinto? ... no way.

First order of business ... if the car is drum brakes on all corners, at least get front discs. New cars can out-stop one of these by a large margin, and do so on a regular basis. You at least want to be on somewhat equal footing with everyone else out there.

Handling ... they do not handle like a new car. If you are going to drive one of these on the edge, they are not forgiving. You will get it backwards pretty easily if you push it too hard. They are nose-heavy (so are early Mustangs). As a young guy, driving my first Comet like a lunatic, it potentially could have killed me three separate times ... two of those events would not have even happened in a new Mustang driven the same way.

That car that I am referring to is the white one below ... it was wrapped around a tree two weeks after I sold it. 18 year old kid was driving it a bit too enthusiastically. He lived, but the car didn't.

 

Yea... I'm not saying I'm an expert driver... But I know not to drive like a maniac until I know the car in and out and how it handles and even then it still has potential to get away from you.

This car I found... is a 73 Maverick up near Tulsa. It has a 302 with a C4 and it says it runs... doesn't give much more of an explination then that. Other then the fact it says it has no title... Which is why I'm going to go talk to a tag agent and see exactly what I can do and what can be done. They arn't asking much for it... though I know *from a past experiance with a 68 mustang* to check EVERYWHERE for rust. *Was to eager to buy the 68 stang and realized after I got it home it was a rust bucket*... they arn't asking much money for it which is why I'm doing my research and and wanting to know what it takes to get a title if possible. the outside doesn't look bad at all, but a picture you can only see what they let you see.


....Anyone on here selling a black Maverick with a red scoop that lives in the tulsa area? lmao

 

Rust ....

These and old Mustangs ... look at the cowl area (pan under the vents between the hood and windshield). If the floors are wet or rusted, that is the main culprit and a big job to fix.

Happy Hunting

 

lol Like I said, I've been down the road before with the 68 =P... lol These things have the dreaded Cowl rust to?!.. Damn. But Yea... I know floor boards... Screw driver and pokey pokey!

 

Well I guess it depends if your talking about when they were new or now that they are 30 plus years old. When new they were cheap, reliable transportation but like most of the cars of the early seventies the quality standards were crap. They got a bit of a bad rep. in the seventies and early eighties. You have to remember that Ford sold an awful lot of these cars so as they aged they did become less reliable as did all the cars of that age. There were a lot of these cars on the road to break down. Its a numbers thing. The chassis design and parts of the car are they same or similar to all the uni-body Fords of the time and yes they all had issues as they aged. The Ford uni-body/shock tower design didnt fair well up here in the salt and the Mav body panels rotted through in a few years from new. It gave them a really bad rep up here as rust buckets and they were.

At 30 plus years old I dont think any of the reputations from the seventies come into play. At this point the average Mav cant possibly be considered a safe reliable car.I certainly wouldnt want my daughter driving one as an every day car lets put it that way. Shes much safer in my 300 with crumple zones, seat belt tensioners,air bags,etc.
With some work and mods they can become a good vintage driver but they still only meet the crash standards of the seventies at best.
As for a project car you cant go wrong. The price is right compared to other V8 vintage cars, they look great when finished and the weight makes them a ton of fun to drive. My first 302 Mav ate up its share of big block muscle cars much to there owners embarrassment. 600-1000 pounds lighter makes a big difference at the track assuming you can keep the light little back end glued to the track.

 

All cars from that era put the gas tank in the same spot. Under the bumper behind the axle.

If you think the pinto was bad, the dodges were even worse as they tended to drench the driver with gas when they were fit from behind.