Hello All, I own a 73 4 door Maverick that my Great Grandmother bought new off the lot, then gave it to my Grandpa who passed it down to me. I drove this car to drivers education when I was a kid because I convinced my mom that a learners permit gave me freedom to drive with-in 30 miles of the house . I have the original dealership paperwork with all service receipts of work ever done on the car. The car has 52,000 miles and all I have done to the car is put on a 4 barrel intake and street avenger carb after the old 2 barrel gave out. It has sat in the garage since 08 because it stopped working and I have not had time to work on it. I have a ton of memories of my Grandfather driving me around in this car as a youngster to church ( he always let us pick a pack of gum out of the ashtray), out for ice cream and school. Everyone in the family used to hate the car except for my Grandpa and me. He is now 84 and his memory is deteriorating from Alzheimer's. My plan is to fix the car and take him out for ice-cream like he used to do for me. I hope this sparks some old memories because he has not seen the car in over 12 years. So, my overall goal is to replace the fuel pump, tag the car and pick Grandpa up. Next, the wife has agreed to let me spend 6k to make the car a little quicker, So I will be asking a lot of questions and recommendations here in about a month.
Welcome to the site ... and that is really a cool goal to get your Grandpa out in the car. Best of luck and spoil him rotten soon ...never good, but if lucky, Alzheimers can be a slow thing, especially if he made it to his 80s before it kicked. I've seen it go pretty quick if it starts earlier though ... cruel stuff. Just sayin' ... don't dawdle. ... get that quality time in, with or without the car.
from Ky. Sounds like a great plan, Jim Allen put a 302 in his 73 4 door and added air and cruise, super nice. I'll see if I can dig up some pics for you.
Welcome to the site! I love how much back story you have with that car, and it is really a rewarding goal to get your Grandpa out in the car again. Hopefully you will pass the car down to yet another generation in your family has already gone through 3, skipped one.. so 4 in reality.
That is the plan. My son is now 10 and we are going to rebuild the car together so the old Mav can be his first car too. I am a little worried about making the car too fast because I remember being a teenager with a lead foot. The tentative plan is to turn the 302 into a 331 stroker. My wife's family is full of master mechanics who all race/build Pro Mods and they have already showed interest in helping out.
If your worried about speed put a 170 in it. A 302 and or 331 stroker is going to be a screamer Can always make him wait till he is 30 to get to drive the car
