Heard a new one today...

Just when I think I've heard all the possible mistaken identities people place on these cars... I stopped to get gas on the way home from work today. Went in to prepay, and the woman working the cash registered said she liked my Beretta. I was immediately taken back by this. I mean, Mustang, Pinto, Camaro, Nova are all understandable to an extent, but a freaking Beretta? :16suspect I just nicely mentioned it's a Maverick, and went on my way.

Also, had the first ever negative response to the car the other day, also while getting gas. Up until now, as far as random strangers go, I've literally never had someone speak negatively about these cars to me. In fact, people generally seem to be overwhelmingly positive about seeing one out and about.

As I was pumping gas, some guy a couple of pumps over goes, "oh man, is that a Maverick?"

me: Yep, '72.

him: wow, I'm surprised you can keep it running.

me: Really, why is that?

him: Come on man, it's a Maverick!

me, taking note of his Toyota Corolla: Well, it's almost 40 years old and still runs 75 miles a day up and down the highway. Where will your car be in 40 years?

 

Got a guy at my girlfriends work that doesn't have a car say my car is beat to ****. Asked him what my car has and he replied, "uh a Hemi? obviously" So I laughed in his face, said, "Do you even know what a car is?" and walked off. I would beat him to **** but I don't want her getting fired.

 

haha. a Beretta...thats too funny. at least she thought your car looked cool.

A couple older guys have told me that back then they wouldn't have believed a Maverick would still be running 40 years later as they seemed to have a lot of problems even back when they were new. I have no clue what they were talking abuout.haha

And yeah I get a lot of stupid sarcastic comments made about my mav, mostly by chevy guys and ricer kids. I dont care tho, arguing with em is part of the fun. haha. But most people do think its really cool. I like how you handled the dude at the gas station, I myself would'nt have been able to hold back and woulda made a comment about how much of a f****t he is driving a Toyota.

 

If one of these cars were unreliable back then, the only blame I could place would be on the owner. Practically bullet proof drive trains, very basic and simple electrical and suspension systems, there just isn't that much to go wrong other then through flat out neglect by the person driving the car.

 

Jamie, I can see this woman now,,, she goes down to the used car lot and tells the salesman, I want a Beretta Maverick! I know they make one as I just saw one an talked to the owner!

 

lol wow a beretta???

thats like saying "hey nice focus" to a person who has a camaro

they have nothing in commen at all ;p

 

The other mechanic where I work is a chevy guy,his name is Deron...He has a pretty nice 69 chevelle with a Dyers 6:71 blown 350 in it...Car is stupid fast...We tease each other (its all good natured though) He drove my Sprint today and was impressed to say the least.
Same guy didnt believe me about the car being mistaken for a nova/vega/mustang etc...Last week a customer walked into the garage and asked "who ownes the cool VEGA"...LOL... Shulda seen the look on Derons face...Priceless.I just shake my head and laugh at the snide comments,they usually come from the unknowing or the blind bias of brand preference. Cant tell you how many people have seen my mavs and commented on how indestructibly reliable they were...

 

Yeah, I dont see how they coulda been unreliable either. One of the guys was talking about how they cut too many corners so they could produce a cheap car and that they rusted out too quickly cuz of the cheap materials they used and how certain parts were "supposedly" made inaccessable cuz they didnt inted for them to be worked on when they went out 10 or so years down the road. I didnt have much of a rebuttle since I didnt know really what he was talking about but I did show him my car, and for being a 40 year old midwestern car it really doesnt have much rust on it at all and he was pretty suprised at that.haha.

 

Yes i have heard they rust very fast. Also a guy i know said he used to work at a ford dealership in the 70s and people would run their mavericks into their garage doors cause when they start their maverick and start warming it up it would slip down a gear into reverse and go right through the door.

 

yeah, old c4's and c6's would do that. people would put there car in park and leave it running and go do something real quick and the transmissions would slip outta gear and into reverse and take off. pretty dangerous stuff. I read somewhere that over 100 deaths are linked to that happening in old 60's and 70's Ford made cars.

 

Ford did a recall and had decals made for dash area, said to make sure you fully pushed selector in park position! Forgot and haven't seen a decal like that for many a moons!

 

C4 and c6 trans will go into reverse sometimes. My dads friend had a 79 f-100 that he restored. He lets his son drive it and left it running and it jumped into reverse and ran threw the fab shop. I like mavs they are my favorite car but they were cheap made and rust pretty easy same with early mustangs

 

I had a lady at a gas staion tell me "Nice 'cuda"
At first I thought she was looking at my pants, but she wasn't, it was my car.
Told her it was a Comet and she apologized haha.

So far the only negative thing I've heard was two older guys walking by going "Nice car, but gutless" ever since I've been wanting to get a 302 in there.

 

Yeah, there is some truth to that. It's not a Maverick thing though, it's a column-shifted C4 thing. When I replaced my C4 I went through it pretty thoroughly and it works fine. I paid special attention to the "parking pawl" and the linkage, and I can leave it running in park with reasonable confidence these days, but that was not always the case.

The transmission it had when I got the car had a specific mix of problems that could combine for deadly results under the right conditions.

First, a bushing in the column shift linkage was disintegrated. This made for a floppy lever, made the indicator questionable, and because of the slack in it, it wouldn't QUITE go all the way into first or park on occasion.

Second, the detents in the transmission, for whatever reason - tired spring, wear, bad luck, whatever - they felt softer than they should have been. You had to rely on the feel of the detents to know what gear it was in, and that was made difficult by the lack of "feel" to it. Worse, because of the loose linkage, the soft detents, and gravity - with the engine running that column shifter had NO problem vibrating itself down into reverse.

And third, even when parked with the engine off it still wasn't safe. The parking pawl was barely there. It was pretty worn out, probably from all the times it was half-engaged and slipped, but when I autopsied the old transmission it was definitely a "well no wonder" kind of moment.

The car rolled on me more than once. Both when parked and when running. Thankfully I was right there and had time to do something about it. It did not take me long to start using that e-brake every single time I shut it down. Many times I'd have the car running, close the hood and get back in, disengage the e-brake only to find I was already in reverse. Bad stuff.

So everybody, if you have a column-shifted C4, especially if it hasn't been taken apart and at least checked out, or if you have a floppy linkage, do not fail to use that parking brake every time, and if the brake doesn't hold well enough to keep you from rolling in gear, fix it today, because it's really not hard at all to imagine these simple, common problems coming together and causing a tragedy.

 

lmao, thank god i was in the car both times LOL!!!!

i like it when i look in the mirror and i see 4 or 5 people bobbing their heads up and down trying to find an i.d. badge lol!