1977 Ford Maverick - The O.G.

This 1977 Ford Maverick popped up on Marketplace recently and is very similar to my 1974 Mercury Comet I had as my first car from February 1982 through June of 1983. The 1971 to 1977 Mercury was a lightly disguised, badge-engineered version of the O.G. Maverick. Here you thought the Ford Maverick was an adorable little trucklet. Nope. Back in my day, this was a Ford Maverick. Now get off my lawn. 

The similarities to my Comet run more than sheet metal deep. The front passenger side floor is rotted out on this car as well, poster of the ad says the driver's side is rotted out too. Imagine my horror when I realized my floors were melting. I first noticed my carpeting would be soaked when it rained, then a friend put his foot through the floor playing air guitar. "Ah, dude, something's wrong with the floor of your car! Yeah. I'll say. Thanks, pal." 

Thing is that my car was all of eight- or nine-years-old when I discovered it was a rust bucket. This thing is knocking on the door of the big five-oh. Good for you, little guy. Although, have to wonder how long those floorboards have been wasted away. Poster of the ad says, euphemistically, "she's rusty but still trusty." 

These fancy cast rims were available on Mavericks and Comets later in the production run, my Comet didn't have them. This car only has them on the front, but he's got two more that don't have tires mounted on them. Speaking of the front, poster of the ad claims the front brake lines need to be replaced. He'll do them for you if you want, no doubt jacking up the already absurd asking price of $3,500 for the whole kit and kaboodle. Good thing the floorboards are rotted out so you can "Fred Flintstone" it if the car won't stop on your way home. 

When Ford first introduced the Maverick in 1969, it was a two-door door only, a four-door built on a chassis with a longer wheelbase was introduced for 1971. Mercury dolled up a Maverick as their Comet starting in 1971 rolling it out with two- and four-doors, there was no Maverick\Comet station wagon. Useful as the four-door was, all the design charms of the two-door went over the proverbial fence. 

Maverick sales were strong at first, Ford moving nearly 600,000 of them in an elongated 1970 model year. Before Ford introduced the similarly sized Granada in 1975, a car built on the same chassis that had DNA in it going back to 1960, they sold more than 250,000 of them each year. Ford sells maybe half that number of the current compact truck Maverick each year these days.