Ford Maveriks

Duke wrote:

Jumper K. Balls wrote: An early Maverick is a nice looking car. The second version was a pretty standard malaise era travesty Gross!

Yeah, the first generation 2-doors are quite pretty for what they are, actually. The 4-doors, particularly the later ones like the pic above, are right down there with the later Matador on the hideous scale.

True--- but I have a friend who is building a 1975 Matador Station Wagon----with an eye at running Optima's Search for the Ultimate Street Car. He's added front disk brakes, poly bushings, rebuilt the 401, etc. It's massive, ridiculous and spectacularly atrocious!

I too am a fan of the early mavericks. Even though ive never owned one i have a few maverick body parts sitting around. A good grille and tail lights i think. If anybody needs them let me know. You can have them for shipping cost.

My dad had a '76 4-door for years, and commuted back and forth between middle Oregon and San Francisco every few weeks for years in it... It stands out to me as the most evil-handling car our family ever had, eclipsing the '68 Dart by way of being less predictable and more wobbly, even though the Dart had the steering feel of the Monaco GP arcade game and the body roll of a kayak.

Joe Gearin wrote:

Duke wrote:

Jumper K. Balls wrote: An early Maverick is a nice looking car. The second version was a pretty standard malaise era travesty Gross!

Yeah, the first generation 2-doors are quite pretty for what they are, actually. The 4-doors, particularly the later ones like the pic above, are right down there with the later Matador on the hideous scale.

True--- but I have a friend who is building a 1975 Matador Station Wagon----with an eye at running Optima's Search for the Ultimate Street Car. He's added front disk brakes, poly bushings, rebuilt the 401, etc. It's massive, ridiculous and spectacularly atrocious!

The Matador wagon and sedan never left the older body style, which was fine:

Bueno enough.

The '75-up Matador coupe was a big bucket of typical mid'70s yuck:

No bueno at all.

Designers must have thrown such a party when the DOT finally let rectangular headlights be legal.

I personally always liked the looks of the early Maverik. It's a good bridge between curves of the 60s and squares of the 80s

Joe Gearin wrote: I think the early (small bumper) Mavericks can be made into pretty cool cars. I'd sure skip the misshapen 4-doors though!

There was at least one cool four door Maverick, but it was the earlier body style:

Streetwiseguy wrote: Your eyeballs be broken, dude. They are just a 73 Mustang wrapped in weebly sheet metal. Kinda like an LTD2 is just a Fox chassis.

The LTD II is a 77-79 Mercury Cougar with the headlights stacked instead of side-by-side.

The LTD of which you speak is just an LTD. Yes, it was a Fox Chassis, but it was not an LTD II. Don't worry. Guys mess that up all the time.

Back in the late '70s I had a 1970 Maverick (thanks mom!). It handled like a noodle, the brakes sucked, and it was ugly green metallic over green vinyl.

It had the straight 6. It wasn't particularly good at accelerating, decelerating, cornering, or looking good. Other than that, it was great!

It's not about what it is, or was. It's about what it can be. And it can be badass. (For a Ford)

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: It's not about what it is, or was. It's about what it can be. And it can be badass. (For a Ford)

True. My old maverick refit with a V8, manual trans, sexy wheels, and painted a good color would have been pretty entertaining.

bludroptop wrote: In my opinion, one of the best looking cars of that era. Would love to build one for CAM.

Holy smokes... I never thought of that.... Fantastic idea..

Duke wrote: The Matador wagon and sedan never left the older body style, which was fine: *Bueno* enough. The '75-up Matador coupe was a big bucket of typical mid'70s yuck: *No bueno* at all.

I know I'll be the oddball on this one, but I MUCH prefer the later Matadors. Earlier ones look like they were trying too hard to be Dusters.

Oddly, I'm hotlinking a hotlink I hotlinked on New Year's Day 2014. Still bares repeating that this Desmond drawing still haunts me from a late 90's Car Craft.

TheRX7Project wrote: I know I'll be the oddball on this one, but I MUCH prefer the later Matadors. Earlier ones look like they were trying too hard to be Dusters.

I'm with you. I am not a fan of the coffin nose Matador, but I like the coupe. They're kind of like a stretched Monza.

TheRX7Project wrote:

Duke wrote: The '75-up Matador coupe was a big bucket of typical mid'70s yuck: *No bueno* at all.

I know I'll be the oddball on this one, but I MUCH prefer the later Matadors. Earlier ones look like they were trying too hard to be Dusters.