Welcomeing a new guy to the GA gang!

Me and my friend Bryan Cook went down to Terry's (Hawkco) at about 4 today. Terry has had a '76 parts car in his back yard since before I known him. Car is a 2 door, 250/C4 with A/C, P/S and P/B. Well, the deal was sealed today and we had the car running by 6 P.M. and took off. I drove the '76 and Bryan followed me in my '72. The car broke down for the first time on I-675 about a half mile from the I-285 merge. The heater core blew out and the car lost all coolant and slightly overheated. We went back to Terry's and filled some jugs up with water. Got back to the car, ran the heater core hoses in a circle to bypass the heater core and filled it with water.

I made it onto I-285 East and began overheating again. I got off at Boulder Crest rd. and while sitting a red light, the lower radiator hose clamp broke and all hell broke loose when the lower radiator hose exploded off the inlet of the water pump and water and steam went everywhere. We pulled off at this little hole in the wall type gas station. Luckily they had a pack of assorted radiator hose clamps for $2.49. Put the lower radiator hose on and decided to pull the thermostat out. Turns out it was stuck about 1/4th inch open. I tossed it and put it back together with no thermostat. Filled the car back up with water, topped off our water jugs and jumped back on I-285. Made it just north of I-20 when the car overheated for the 3rd time.

Got off and found another gas station. Let the car cool down, opened the radiator cap and let all the pressure off. Topped off the water and jumped back on I-285 again. Had no more problems from there on out. Made it the rest of the way around 285 and up I-85 North with no problems. We got a ton of attention with two Mavericks. Of course we heard all the normal "I haven't seen one of those in years!" type of comments/stories. Bryan couldn't believe how many people would just come up and want to talk about the cars. I told him "Better get used to it if you're going to drive a Maverick"

The car runs surprisingly well. The body is pretty rusty, but at least it's something to work with parts wise. We will likely swap everything over to my '76 shell whenever he has a few days off work. Until then, he and his GF will just be using it to putt-putt around town. Bryan is very happy to finally have a Maverick. His mom used to have a green '71 2 door back in the 80's and she is real happy about Bryan getting one. Only problem now is, now that I helped one friend find a Maverick, the other 5 that want one are going to want me to find them one too! Ohh well, the more the better!

We left Terry's around 6:30 or 7 I would guess and I walked in the door at 12:30, so you can tell it was quite an adventure since that trip usually takes me a little less then an hour. I will post pics of the car sometime tomarrow. His girlfriend is supposed to clean it up and I will take pics when she's done. Hopefully Bryan will be registering on here soon.

 

that is a hot.....I mean cool story!
Thanks for sharing.

 

You mean that car sitting in Terry's back yard actually ran? And you drove it all the way home? Wow!

 

i would think in georgia you would see a maverick everyday. cool story, but i hate days like that.

 

It's good to be young....about the third overheat I would have gave it the lame horse treatment...BANG...and left it for dead

 

Sounds like Jamie can make anything run! Great story.

 

Road trips cam be a pain but after time they become a source of entertainment.

 

Not only DOES it run, it runs real damn good! That motor is very healthy, and after we do a tune up and trash can all that emissions crap, I think it will run great. The car runs and drives amazingly well. All the lights and turn signals even work. We have been down there 3 times now working on it a little at a time. First time, it got dark on us. Second time we got the balancer on, radiator in and got the car to start up and die on starting fluid before it started pouring rain. Yesterday it was nice and sunny, we got there at 4 in the afternoon, finished up patching the transmission cooler lines and stuff and got it running.

At first I was getting pretty irked over the car overheating, but after a while we just didn't care anymore and started jokeing around BS'in with the random people at the gas stations that would walk up and wanna talk about the cars.. Looking back now, I actually somewhat enjoyed it...

 

that's one of the reasons whenever i go look at a maverick that's any distance at all i take the flatbed trailer. good luck with it. sounds like he's pretty happy with it.

 

Very cool!! Have any pics of it in Terry's backyard or what it looks like in general?

 

Oh yeah ... I got the balancer off that car ....

 

Thats the reason why I love these cars, or any older car in general! There's just something about driving a car without all the crazy computers, ecu's, and twinkling gadgets! It breaks down and ya don't need anything fancy to get back on the road! Now if the flux capacitor or rearward engine dynamo-thingy-ma-jiggy went out you'd have to get towed to the dealer and spend an obscene amount of money. Sounds like a great run Jamie!

 

I just want everyone to know that I had "father hat" on. Each time Jamie was down there tinkering with the car, I mentioned putting it on my trailer and taking it to his house.

In very typical male teenage fashion, I was declined. Seems that gas money in the F250 would infringe too much on money earmarked for getting a maverick running.

I will say this for Jamie, there is no quit in that boy. Which is bad news for a future wife because it means he's stubborn as hell.

 

'Glad to hear you got it home without a... well, glad to hear you got it home!

 

GA gang becomes on step close to thaking over the world.