That is a good looking car. It has given me an idea for the slanted B pillar on the maverick version. I will be taking a junkyard trip on thursday with my battery operated sawzall and hopefully coming home with a roof. I will post pictures of this project as it progresses from start to finish. Any suggstions along the way would be greatly apprieciated Tony
Just remember, these are unibody cars and the roof is definately a part of the structure. You cant just cut the roof off without some kind of bracing or the body will sag and bind the doors.
Sence it looks like your serious about doing this I guess I can let the cat out of the bag. My next project is going to be a 4 door wagon for my brother. I've done some research for the project. Looking at all the roofs out there (including GM's) I think the fox body LTD might match up the best. It has similar flats where the drip rails are although it does have a different overall radius shouldn't be hard to blend it. If I remember right the measurements are the same near the front of the maverick's roof. So matching the two roofs should be easy because the mavericks roof gets wider at the rear, just match up the donor roof where they are the same size. I was looking at raising the new roof a little like some of the new cars do this way the different radiuses wouldn't matter. The rear side windows lend them selves to be norrowed with out having to make custom trim. It even looked like the rear fold down seat could work in the mav along with some interior trim peices. I have some drawings of my plan and here are the details (can't post because the wife fixed our home computer) 351c motor (alway wanted to build one), t-5 trans, 8.8 rear end, Jag xj6 front suspension, my signature fender cuts, steeda ultralight 17x9 wheels, Mustang shaker or comet scoop, stock grill, custom front valance, Toyota Saquoiya door handles, and use the LTD lift gate. I think a wagon could look great, I also think a rancharo type would look good based off the four door like some of the Autralia falcons
Thomas .Tony, I would love to see your plans but the 280z thing does not sound too good. I have plans for a Ranchero-like Mav. using a 4dr. Maybe we can go junkyard shopping sometime? I am gettig a 84 mVII to use the air ride suspension out of w/4 whl disc. Not sure just yet how that will work out. I built a camino like truck one time out of a 64 Bonneville when I was 18.Maybe I should just graft Mav. front sheet metal onto a 68 Ranchero? As far as a wagon I love the idea,cant rule out any makes of cars for top.LOTS of body work. The real hard part would be to try and keep it all Ford.JMO
All kinds of neat projects in the works. I will unveil my next one after this weekend. Got to do some final measurements first to make sure it will work.
gee, maybe I should let a few details out on mine one of these days?since its already known to some but,.... dennis can go first
I'm no where near doing this car it's in the thinking stage only. I have to finish the current car first.
It will be "even"....as I know what Dennis is doing to his car...so if Chris tells me about his car....I will know both ideas and that would be fair to everybody.
After a week to think about this, [read driving down the road letting my mind wander at 75 mph again], I think you need to start with a 4 door body, the length is a little longer,would make it more balanced, also is flatter in the trunk area, would make tailgate fab easier. As Dennis has already stated, these are unibody cars and depend on the roof structure for support. Before you start cutting anything, you will need to brace the body from side to side and from end to end with welded steel braceing, you will cut this out when car is complete. I would cut out the center pillar between the doors and move it rearward using the longer doors from a 2 door. The original rear door can then be used to fill the gap between the door post and rear wheelwell. Before you cut off the top, make a template out of cardboard first of the original conture from side to side and then transfer this to a sturdy plywood template that you can take with you when you go roof shopping. I understand your desire to try to keep it all FORD but I would try the template on other brands as well, even imports, to try to find as close a fit as possible. You didn't state where you planned to cut the original top, but I would try to cut it in an area where it would be easiest to graft the new top to it, I'm not sure just where that would be without both tops there to look at and compare. As for a tailgate or liftgate, I would try to use whatever was with the donor top, I think either would be fine with proper support. I have seen 4 doors converted to 2 doors, sedans converted to convertibles, phantom El Camino and Ranchero's made from wagons, I'd say the only limits are your own skills with metalworking [ there will be A LOT of this in this project ],and the depth of your pockets [$$$$$$$$$$$]. Good luck and keep us posted [ with pics, of course ! ]
ok dennis,..... weekend is up craig knows, so its only fair now if I do as well you know, so things will be "even"
