i was thinking the maverick could be the next got to have car.

hello this is just a x-mas wish for the maverick nation. this is just my opinion and my recent exsperiances with the maverick over the last 2 years. i became a maverick forum member a little over a year ago. i have always liked the mavericks since i was a kid. my father had a 1970 maverick and a 1976 maverick stallion when i was a kid growing up. my dad has always been a ford guy and me a chevy guy. dont get me wrong, i like a little bit of everything, but i guess chevys were easy to get and cheaper to build. for over 20 years i have built 1968-72 chevelles. i have built so many of them its insane. but i have always had a place in my heart for the maverick. almost 2 years ago i took some time off from building chevelles and bought my first maverick. i bought a 1970 plain jane 2 door with a built 302 in it. all of the guys at the shop were in shock when they came to the shop and seen the car in there. we build alot of big dollar chevelles and camaros and stuff like that, but we have never had a maverick in the shop. well after all of the comments and jokes i tore the little maverick down and built a super nice pro street maverick it was really nice. i built it after hours in my spare time, in my own section of the shop. long story short when it was finished and the guys seen it they all said they would never joke about a maverick again. they were now true maverick lovers. i started talking to the guys about building a few cars and trying to sell them to get a few in circulation so people could see what they are all about. i have done this in the past with other cars and they caught on real well. you can drive around in my area on a nice saturday and see 20 chevelles in a 5 mile drive. but you could drive around for a year and not see one maverick. so i bought a few cars and built them up. i could find the cars at very fair prices, but when i went to get parts WOW what a shock. i could not find anything in the way of parts. half the places i called for parts didnt even know what a maverick was. finaly found a few contacts here on the maverick forum and i could round up some parts but still very hard. as time has gone by my dream of making the maverick the next {i have to have one of those cars} has slowed down. after paint and restored parts, new parts, NOS parts, labor this and that i find that its way harder to build a maverick compared to other cars. you put the same amount of time and materials and costs as other cars but most peoples perception of a maverick, is well, its a maverick. from time to time i see some people complain or make comments about this guy or that guy is asking way too much for that maverick, or he is nuts asking that kind of money for that maverick, yet 100 hours of labor on a maverick or a corvette or a hemi cuda is just that 100 hours of labor. the paint materials and paint costs are the same depending on qaulity and qauntity. if a guy bought a maverick for 2000.00 and the car was really clean, then he took the car to a reputable paint shop under TODAYS prices, bought all new wetherstripps, new carpet, tires, rims, sent his trim out to get polished, had the drivetrain rebuilt all of the little things. that 2000.00 car now cost him over 10000.00 to build. he decides to sell the car and lists it for 11500.00 to start we all know the game, someone will try to talk him down. yet alot of people will say the seller is nuts, 11500.00 for a maverick, hell, festor and i bought 7 mavericks from winkelmans junk yard last week and we didnt pay 2000.00!!!!! old man winkelman even threw in 5 motors, 6 sets of seats, and 3 pick up truck loads full of parts, whats this seller smokeing. i see it all of the time. a seller has a BRAND NEW real hard to find gas tank for 150.00 alot of people say 150.00 for a gas tank? hell, billy and uncle rooster bought the materials from swansons hardware store and made 4 gas tanks sunday after church, didnt cost them 50.00 that seller must be high. the reason no one makes parts for these cars is because of that perception. why would a manufacture spend the money to make the tooling and make parts that people wont buy. dont get me wrong alot of us would buy them. but most would feel the price is to high. theres nothing wrong with building a car on a budgett. we all want the best deals on parts and cars as possible. we try to do alot of the work ouselves to save money, times are hard. for those who can paint thier own car, build thier own motor, restore thier own parts god bless you. but alot of people cant. these cars in my opinion will never become a popular car and parts will never get made for these cars unless we as buyers and builders change our perception of what things really cost today. 1500.00 qaulity respectable paint jobs are gone, building a nice respectable car for 3000.00 i think it would be very very hard to do, hell i couldnt do it. i would love to go back to finding that clean low miled 1 owner 1970 malibu for 3500.00 but those days are gone. a plain jane low miled all original ugly pea green on green 1970 malibu with a 350 motor and 350 trans with just a hint of mouse piss would cost a person 12000 to 15000 today. if the average finished nice qaulity respectable muscle car or classic car what ever you want to call it costs 20000.00 and up, then i believe that any qaulity maverick in the 4000.00 to 15000.00 dollar range is a great buy. i love these little cars. when i push mine out in the driveway on a nice day everyone and i mean everyone, stops and stares, thumbs up, hell i see them taking pictures with thier phones. young,old,male, famale, when people get to see these cars they love them. so my x-mas wish is that i hope the little maverick some day changes peoples perception of what a great little car can be, i hope parts start getting made for these cars, i really hope that soon i can drive 5 miles in my area and see 10 mavericks. finaly i hope that some day people will see the little maverick and say {hey i have to have one of those cars}!!!!!! thats my x-mas wish. thank you and god bless

 

......Disagree

I myself like the idea that everyone can't have a ...Maverick...that's what makes mine Special..."everyone and i mean everyone, stops and stares, thumbs up, hell i see them taking pictures with thier phones. young,old,male, famale, when people get to see these cars they love them."
if you think about it, in the '70s everyone had a Maverick.
have you met anyone that doesn't know someone that had one...Aunt, Uncle, Brother, Sister Mom, Dad, Girlfriend and the Kid in school that had the...Boss 302 with posi traction 4 speed...
...they threw them away...
if i wanted what everyone else has,i would get a...chevelle, camaro, mustang or a...fart boxed Honda...
mine is my Hobby car, not something i want to build and sell as you do...

...

 

they are and will forever stay in the place they are right now ,,,,some were in the middle

 

I hang around a bunch of Mustang guys, and I always tell them how spoiled they are, open a catalog and buy whatever they need. They can have that, it's like grown man Lego. Rebuilding a Maverick is a fun challenge, even with my 20+ year collection of parts. I could go out today, and buy myself a 69 Mach 1, or a new Shelby, but that would get boring fast. I'll stick with my Mavericks, no matter what anyone thinks they are worth.
What you need to remember is, a good chunk of people that have Mavericks & Comets, only have one because they found it cheap, if there was a cheaper car, in better condition, they would have that. It's surprising the amount of people that still use these 33+ year old cars as daily transportation. That's where the cheapness comes into it, they bought a cheap car because it was cheap.

 

we was at the swap meet in Ohio a few years back and talking about his same subject
and A wise man said "these cars are cheap to buy and parts and not"
but a mustang the cars are expensive to but and parts are not

 

Interesting Topic.

Well Tim.....nice wishes, but I don't see it ever happening. You summed it up best when you described the "base price" for a green on green 1970 Malibu. The reason the price is so high on the Malibu because of what it CAN be worth when fixed up and cloned to a SS, or even restored to stock. For the same reason, a Maverick can be bought so cheap because of what IT will be worth when cloned to a Grabber.....not much.

There are some nice cars on here. There are also some REALLY nice cars on here. There are also a lot of daily drivers on here, full of bondo, pop rivits, etc. Honestly...in order for Mavericks to really appreciate in value, then their daily driver status would have to come to an end. When was the last time you saw a 1969 Chevelle as a daily driver? When was the last time you saw a father buying their son/daughter a 1968 Cutlass to drive to school in? For some reason....when it comes to a Maverick...at least once a week it seems somebody comes on here saying they bought one for a daily driver...or bought one for their 16 year old to drive. When that ends.....in my opinion, is when you will see values start going up.

 

But, some of those grabbers had boss 302's in them.

 

I dont have a problem with what things cost but more how much i make. I cant give a weeks pay for a headlamp bessel....

 

The value of a car in my opinion is the value to its owner. Some of us see this value with an enthusiast eye, remainder of a time long gone.
Would we like to see our Mavs and Comets go up in to the sky in value? I do not know about you but I would be thrilled if some crazy day I got up from bed to stare at my Mav sitting in the driveway knowing that it is worth in the market as much as other high ticket collectables such as the so reveered Camaro or Mustang,Cuda etc., etc.
Then on the other hand, If this was the case, I would'nt be able to afford one.
Parts availability sucks but that itself has a sweet side for the average mavericker like me. Or I must be nuts but when I finally get a part I was looking for a long time, not only did I get it (this being in itself a feeling of acomplishment at least until the next search of another part), but most of the time I also met other people like me and a few of those times I gained a little bit of knowledge.
You see, I respect what you do and I envy you for been able to turn a case basket in to a show car but I can not afford to do that myself.
It is not that we like mediocre but there are all kinds of Maverick, Comet enthusiasts and that is what makes it nice. Drivers, showers, racers, profiters,dreamers and I fit in the last category.

 

I would hate to see these little cars become must haves, it's nice being the only one in town with mavericks. i love being asked what it is or would i sell it or that they once drove one.
i understand the daily driver argument. i got all 3 of my cars cheap and as you can see by my signature i drive one daily. i don't however drive it due to it's cheapness, i just like the attention and feel these old cars have. i could have taken dad's 02 dodge ram or our 98' grand cherokee but i opted for an older car.
there was a 1970 2 door down by my grandparents back when i was 14, i told dad i wanted one of those and thats how i came to buying up mavericks, i didn't know they were *cheap* i just knew it was cool looking and you dont see hardly any. dad had a comet mixed with his truck collection years ago so he likes them as well.
i never saw mavericks/comets as the only old daily driver. i help my friend eric in town on his 69' camaro and dads 68' camaro, they both drive theirs daily and in the winter (when mine are parked). they have the same take i do, they are *CARS* they weren't built to sit in storage but built to drive,
yes im sure they weren't built to be driven 30 years down the road but when virtually everything is rebuilt they are like new and can handle the task.
i also agree with dave boyer, those restoring chevy's and mustangs have it easy. they need a big checkbook and can buy whatever they want for their cars, we have to have a little imagination and skill for ours.

 

And 40 Camaro's, 50 Mustangs.....that's most anywhere.

100 hours is one hundered hours, agreed but where the difference lies is the return on investment. With those other cars you stood a chance (when the market was high) of coming out ahead, with a Maverick you don't. That's what makes these cars a labor of love and why they (thank goodness) will not be main-stream any time soon. I like the fact that in the year I have had mine I have only seen a handful of them i town.

Everyday!!!! A ratty old example drives by work daily. I love it! Drive that old iron.

 

If I didn't drive a company truck every day, my 69 mustang would be my daily driver,might switch it up and drive the ranchero now and then. Its a matter of perception, a buddy of mine said long ago "they (insert manufacturer here) made one or two fast (mustang, charger, camaro, chevelle)s, so now 30years later that's all anyone remembers. So all the six powered cars may as well be a (boss, rt, ss) as far as the average person knows".

 

i have to agree with the statement, anyone who sees my car (mainly younger guys) assumes I'm in a 10 second big block v8 and wants to see under the hood. I hate to disappoint them

 

Confused 72, I have been in the restoration business for 20 years all fords nothing else from top of the line 100 point concourse to daily drivers I have built. I own 7 classic fords a shelby ,cobra torino, fairlane gt, and yes a maverick and a comet so what you wrote is 100% dead on in its description they way I see it is the owner base for Mavericks and Comets seems to be the issue there are way to many that simply can't afford or refuse to pay for the top quality parts and labor for the cars. I only got into Mavericks 3 years ago and I will put my NOS and rare maverick parts collection at the top with anyone's on this board I scour ebay and all other venues for nos parts and buy any that I can find. Because once there gone that's it but I have the means to do so and some on here do but not the majority. I have seen every single other ford product become the car to have starting with the mustang to the fairlane then the falcon an on and on there is no reason it will stop when the pool of cars is gone or to expensive the next pool become that car so I truely believe in time maverick will get there hell look how far they have come in the last 5 years or so. Look at this forum it's one of the biggest and most used on the net I could go on and on to make my point but I won't but I agree with you 100% so here's to yours and mine wish.

 

good point...if we the people that like these cars want, who will?

why is it that car collectors with 100 Fords in their collection, have no Mavericks...