I'm at a little bit of a standstill. I want a classic muscle car badddd because I love them so much. But they can be expensive to restore and I'm 19 and in college and drive 300 plus miles every week commuting to work and school so I gave up on that idea because the price of gas would kill me alone. and so i bought a 2001 Chrysler, its my daily and has never let me down. I do all the maintenance and everything myself and its been dependable, but I was talking to my dad/occasional mechanic about how much I wish I had a muscle car. And he said that if I want the muscle look but none of the worries of the high gas costs I could get a ford maverick and make it custom. He says that when he had one when it was properly tune he got around 17-19 in the city and like 22-24 on the freeways. Which is what my car gets now. I looked it up and love the way they look, body wise. So I searched around my area and found some that run but need some work from 800-3000 dollars. I plan on taking one that runs fixing anything on it that would hinder the reliability and using it as my daily. I currently have a nice paying job and plan to start this project in 6-7 months. By then I will have 6500 dollars total to spend on buying and customizing this car that's my budget,and it will be summer and ill be able to work more so anything else I may need I think I can work the hours for it. I'm good with my hands and very mechanically inclined. I trust my dad but he's old and can exaggerate so does a maverick with a inline or v6 engine get this kind of mileage? How much do you guys think this will cost me, is my budget of 6k too low? Is this a good platform to work on? I'm aware that I'm only 19 and in Scholl but my finances are in order and I can swing 6 grand without too much trouble I just want straight answers that will actually help me please. P.s I'm new to this forum so, HI ALL!
here's my advice from across the pond: look around for a nice straight 70-72 2 door model. thus you get the small bumper look. rust issues would be my main concern, as they're the most expensive to fix. so get a solid car. bench or buckets wouldn't matter, you can always swap them along the way. i'd always favour a manual steering car, but that's a matter of personal taste. p/s is just one more thing that can break. a/c is not that easily swapped, as it requires changing the dash. so choose wisely whether you need it. if you start with a 6 cylinder, look for a car with the 8" 4 lug rearend. with that, you have tons of choices for the gear ratio. with the small 7 1/4" rear not so much. i'd go with a stick shift car and plan on swapping out the transmission. get a t5 overdrive trans, they can easily be mated to a 6 cylinder engine and make a good daily driver. try to get a car with the 200ci engine. tons of tuning info on here and over on fordsix.com. swap out the ignition to a duraspark system. much more reliable. in my opinion, well maintained drum brakes are enough for the 6cylinder. you can always change over to disc brakes, but that in turn changes the bolt pattern from 4 to 5 lug - if you want the same wheels all around, you also need to change the rearend.
... for what you want...6K would be a stretch. do a little reading on here and get more ideas of the maintains and gas milage of the 6s in these cars.
You came here because you wanted advice from "the experts".....so just remember....you asked. Driving what you do, and especially in Ohio (winters)...a Maverick would be a bad choice for your needs. In MY opinion, a muscle car should be a "toy"...not a daily driver....especially a 40 year old "toy". I don't think you will ever see about 19 mpg in real world driving wit a Maverick. Keep the 2001 Chrysler. Enjoy it's reliability. Then, when you can afford and enjoy a "toy"...get a Maverick, Mustang, Chevelle or whatever your heart desires.
If you do your due diligence 6k can get you a decent car but you will have to look and might have to have it shipped in to you. I agree with what Craig said, this would not be my first choice for a daily driver unless you have been through the cars mechanicals as in full rebuild. If you are really good with carbs and antique fuel systems using on for a DD would be an option. These cars roamed the road when 100k on a car was good reason to not consider buying it. Oils have come a long way since then and even more important the engine management systems have too which is why cars go so much longer than the ones from the 70's.
I apreciate the advice rmiller, but im not looking to necessarily restore it to its former glory. I want to put modern parts in it like fuel injection instead of a carb and maybe a different engine or tranny. But that may be more expensive than i want so idk about the engine/tranny. But what do you think? If someone modernize it a little would you make it a DD?
Do YOU know how to do any of this? Do you have the knowledge and the tools? Do you have another car to drive why this is all going down? Do you have a garage?
I have the skill and knowledge and anything i may lack i will learn. Not i dont have a proper garage. But the car garage i have should suffice for 90 percent of everything i need to do. And yes lol i have my current car gotta get to and from work.
