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I'll still have one of these.

My mother had one in yellow when I was growing up, and my uncle had one just like this one.

For me it's the very best looking car ever made, being the '66 Galaxie 7 Litre a close second place.

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I love it! While Mavericks have been dissed badly for decades as a 1970s economy car, the truth is that the chassis is pure 69-70 Mustang! They were just a slightly shorter wheelbase. The body styling looks GREAT to me.

 

I have a project to build an SCCA A/Sedan race car phantom based on a Johan ProStock kit. Ford never registered the Maverick with SCCA for the same reasons the later Falcons were not and why the Chevy Nova after '65 was not. Corporate Brass didn't want competition for their pet babies, the Mustang and the Camaro. But with a shorter wheelbase in a slightly lighter chassis and the same 302 V8 and suspension, a Maverick would have been the ticket for twisty courses like Laguna Seca and Lime Rock. The aero is probably at least as good as the Mustang.

 

As I'm not real keen on the Johan rendering of the chassis for the Maverick and Comet, I'm modifying an AMT 67 Mustang chassis to fit. I've professionally restored Vintage Trans Am race Mustangs in 1:1 scale, and was a Tech Inspector for SCCA when they were being raced new, I know how to build a race car out of a Mustang Chassis.

 

Regarding this car tho...The plates are Brazilian...eg - not USA. In USA, 1974 versions were required to have the massive ugly "5mph" bumpers. This car has the early 1973 and earlier smaller and vastly prettier bumpers. So it is either a US 1973 or earlier, or a non-US delivery car, or it has been modified to retrofit the early bumpers. It's OK - I like it far more this way. As Mavericks were built and sold in Brazil from 73-79, I presume this one is a 1974 model year Brazilian Delivery car, and thus the early style bumpers.

 

The American Insurance industry caused laws to be written to require bumpers to withstand an impact of 5mph with no damage from 1974 on, because a great many collisions occur at that speed or less and were costing insurance companies a lot of money. So bumpers became huge and ugly and cost many times as much to repair as before. The whole deal back-fired in the insurance companies' faces...and bank accounts. And the requirements were quietly backed down later on in the 1980s.

Edited by DustyMojave
found a typo
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This is a great-looking 1:1 car! I'm in the middle of a project converting a 1/25 Johan Maverick into a "factory-phantom", 1970 Maverick Boss-302. Using the same AMT/Ertl '67 Mustang chassis underneath it, with the Boss-302 engine from the AMT/Ertl '69 Cougar Eliminator kit. I'll be adjusting Boss-302 Mustang stripe decals to fit the Maverick body. I have a 1:1 article where a guy did this conversion in 1:1, it looked like a awesome car, so I had to build my own.

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This takes me back. My Late brother beat the snot out of a red 73 Grabber rust bucket for several years. 302 ,3 speed ,( we installed headers) , it had the taller rear spoiler on the trunk lid and it had the cool hood with the fake scoops.

If I could find a clean one I would try and buy it . Great looking cars.

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I love it! While Mavericks have been dissed badly for decades as a 1970s economy car, the truth is that the chassis is pure 69-79 Mustang! They were just a slightly shorter wheelbase. The body styling looks GREAT to me.

I have a project to build an SCCA A/Sedan race car phantom based on a Johan ProStock kit. Ford never registered the Maverick with SCCA for the same reasons the later Falcons were not and why the Chevy Nova after '65 was not. Corporate Brass didn't want competition for their pet babies, the Mustang and the Camaro. But with a shorter wheelbase in a slightly lighter chassis and the same 302 V8 and suspension, a Maverick would have been the ticket for twisty courses like Laguna Seca and Lime Rock. The aero is probably at least as good as the Mustang.

As I'm not real keen on the Johan rendering of the chassis for the Maverick and Comet, I'm modifying an AMT 67 Mustang chassis to fit. I've professionally restored Vintage Trans Am race Mustangs in 1:1 scale, and was a Tech Inspector for SCCA when they were being raced new, I know how to build a race car out of a Mustang Chassis.

Regarding this car tho...The plates are Brazilian...eg - not USA. In USA, 1974 versions were required to have the massive ugly "5mph" bumpers. This car has the early 1973 and earlier smaller and vastly prettier bumpers. So it is either a US 1973 or earlier, or a non-US delivery car, or it has been modified to retrofit the early bumpers. It's OK - I like it far more this way. As Mavericks were built and sold in Brazil from 73-79, I presume this one is a 1974 model year Brazilian Delivery car, and thus the early style bumpers.

The American Insurance industry caused laws to be written to require bumpers to withstand an impact of 5mph with no damage from 1974 on, because a great many collisions occur at that speed or less and were costing insurance companies a lot of money. So bumpers became huge and ugly and cost many times as much to repair as before. The whole deal back-fired in the insurance companies' faces...and bank accounts. And the requirements were quietly backed down later on in the 1980s.

This is a Brazilian Maverick.

A 1974 Maverick GT all original with just a repaint. Take a look on the dash, and you 'll see the actual glove compartment and the KPH speedo:

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This is a picture of my mother's '74 Maverick GT.
The little guy in red is me back in 1985, the baby is my brother that today is a medical doctor, and my grand mother is holding him:
Oldies by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr
The gang again:
Oldies by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr
Edited by Lovefordgalaxie
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