Needed a four door....got one!

Hey guys, so here's the story: I am a married man with 3 kids. My wife commutes an hour each day to dental hygiene school, so I take the kids to preschool and pick them up after work each day. My daily driver is a 1974 Ford F-100. Not enough room for us all in that truck, and when we came across a LITTLE money my wife tells me that it's time for me to get a car. Looking on Craigslist, I see the bunches of cheap used cars like the Pontiac Grand Ams and big old SUVs and Toyotas and Hondas... just not my style. Then what's this? An ad for a 1974 Ford Maverick! I am a Ford man...aw, it's too old, bound to be a rust bucket....but I go look at it anyway. He has it listed at $1500. When I get there his wife tells me that he will take what he has in it, which is $900. Needless to say, I brought it home! Four doors, Meadowlark Yellow, factory air, no body rust!, 48,000 original miles, new tires, and I only paid $900! Um, that is a good deal, right?
Anyway, drove it over to my mechanic friend to put on new shocks and fix the dashboard lights and gas gauge. When I get it home I have to figure out something to do with the radio situation (AM only, yikes!) but then it will be my daily driver.
Sorry for such a long story!
CommieHook

 

Looks like an awesome deal to me, especially if it fits your needs. Where else are you going to be able to buy a rust free car of any kind that looks decent and is dependable for that kind of price??? Looks great from the pic too! You did good! Best of luck to you and welcome to the Maverick world! :Handshake

 

Welcome

Welcome to the forum, from Northeastern Illinois. Looks like u stole the car. Wish I cud have came upon that deal. Gud luck w/ ur Mav.

 

Great to see another 4 door around, they're quirky little cars for sure. They're great daily drivers compared to the era's usual V8 2-doors and, if you prefer rattles, squeaks, bounce-around suspension, "angry bee" exhaust sounds and plenty of style to modern aero-bubble isolation chambers, it's a great car. The only thing is, and especially since you're hauling kids, the safety issue. But hey, I'm sure you'll be fine and your kids are gonna love riding around in it.

 

Welcome to the board. Looks like a great car. Good luck with it.

 

Welome four door brother!!! You Scored!!! I have 72 Quad Door see the upgrades I just posed under tech articles.. I paid 350 for mine but it was a lot worse from the pic you posted... more pics!!! The original AM radio will pick up the AM frequencies much better than new radios...BTW, the 2 doors make excellent donor cars for parts......
Gesithan.. you need to do some work on your car! The most important safety part on the car is the nut behind the wheel...

 

welcome 4 door dude. looks like its in great shape

and pretty close to a bunch of fellow maverick / comet owners. im outside of memphis

 

from Northeast Pennsylvania

Very nice!

 

Welcome to the site!!!!!

 

Welcome from Ocala,Florida.......

 

Thanks for all of the kind words, guys!
Just heard from my mechanic. He was amazed that the engine was running as well as it was, considering. It had 2 stuck valves and bent pushrods, I think he said. He took care of all of that and he said the little 3.3L is purring now. He also said with it running better you can hear the water pump whining so he is putting a new one on for me. Brakes looked great, but I need a new master cylinder, he's taking care of that as well. (Good thing he's family!) New shocks are on, now just need the dash lights and gas gauge fixed.
Next step when I get it home is to get some audio in there and think about some ways to jazz it up a little. I love cars when they are all stock, but I think this Maverick is a little too stock, my grandma would be at home driving it! Any ideas?
Thanks again,
CommieHook

 

from Michigan, looks like you got a good deal!!

 

Here's Bessie (My 4 year old son named her!) all cleaned up. I have a lot that I want/need to do to her, but she is already my daily driver.
CommieHook

 

It looks great... as far as ideas;
it appears that Bessie has the dreaded SAF sindrome. (Saggy Ass Ford)
Mine did. I had added by a leaf spring shop i extra leaf per side and had them rearched to raise the rear two inches. Put some people in the back and you'll be glad you did. Then have an alignment shop cut one full coil of each front coil to lower the front about two inches. Insist he cut with a saw or grinder, NO TORCH. Then tell him align to 2 degrees caster 1 deg. camber and 1/2 degree toe in.
It will hadle like a sports car. And please... dont put Cragars or sport rims on a four door.. keep the steel, and the classy hub caps.
Just sayin...

 

Hey Captainmac, I am planning on keeping the steel rim, but I thought about changing the caps to something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hubcaps-whe...ies&vxp=mtr&hash=item2315ee9052#ht_500wt_1054
or this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-73-FOR...es&vxp=mtr&hash=item1e6820fcaa#ht_1143wt_1037
What do you guys think?
commieHook