My story begins with the day my mother purchased the Maverick back in 1969. The car was economical and sporty -- which is what any young person would want. Time went on as it always does and I came along January 13, 1976. My parents took me home in the family MAVERICK (or so they tell me) and then time went along some more. The year now was 1983 and my father tried for almost 4 months to find a new CARTER YF1 carburetor, which seemed impossible at the time. They parked the car and purchased a new family car. My father jokingly stated I could have the car, which until then I had not paid much attention to it, from then on looking at MY car was never the same. Time passed some and the year was 1987 when my parents told me that they were considering selling/junking the car. I explained that this car was mine and they had no right to do such a thing without my permission ( kids :-). My father took me seriously and tried for eight months to track down a carter carburetor for the car. One forgotten carburetor on a back shelf had just been found during inventory and was about to be wrote off as a business loss (thrown out). The same day my father called the shop and spoke with the owner which was surprised by the coincidence of the inquire of this carburetor. Now we had a new carburetor, one that did not have a hole in the float bowl. My father started to horde numerous parts like this, when he could find them. Some more time passed again.

The year now was 1989, I was 14 years old, just starting high school and the Maverick was showing some age. My father and I started to work on my car that year, slow but sure. We completely disassembled the maverick down to a the unit body frame and started restoring the car. We rebuilt the entire engine, suspension, brake system and had a new interior installed. By the end of the school year my car was finished and all original. The insurance company appraisal stated that the car was worth a total of 3,900.00. The car had a 3 speed on the tree, an inline six 170 cu in engine, and 13 inch rims with the ford baby moons. My father called ford before we had finished restoring the car and found that my car was actually a 1969 and a half Maverick and was number 4879 made.

The next year I was so happy to drive my car to school and show it off. Unfortunately I was hit by a vehicle just before dawn who did not have his head lights on, this knocked me into another lane which about 9 seconds later a full sized truck swiped across the hole front end. I Remember this day vividly, I broke a front tooth in half which had no pain at the time, I was able to open the door and get out of my car. The only thing that RAN threw my mind was "NO, IT CAN'T BE"... I'll admit that I cried, but who wouldn't after all that work? My insurance company wanted to junk the car and give me cash, but I used the one option I had and purchased the car back. You see the front end was destroyed, luckily though I was hit head on at the control arm which means the front frame ( which unbolts with breaking a few welds ) could be replaced along with a new front clip. ( luckily the engine suffered no damage. ) I took the remaining money, after buying my car back, which was 2100 dollars and proceeded. ( Thank heavens for my father having ALOT of friends in the Automotive field. ) We had the car towed to one of my father's friends auto body shop that had a frame machine and worked out an arrangement for them to replace the frame, the body clip and repaint the car for the total 2100 dollars. During this time, my father and I had to find a donor car for the parts or it would cost to much otherwise. We happened across a Maverick that looked like a little old granny drove to church every Sunday that the motor was blown. We purchased the whole front end - frame, suspension, engine compartment, and body clip. From a different donor car I found a Maverick Grabber spoiler which was complete and not cracked. We delivered the parts and helped after hours when we could and finally about a month later my car was hole again!

I have since rechromed both bumpers, had a custom interior added, placed new aluminum rims with BF GOODRICH 60 series, an eight speaker stereo with (2) two 12 inch subs in the trunk - the stereo system is driven by 2200 watts and two batteries. I had the doors repaired of lower rust ( yes repaired properly with metal! ), and added a $2200 dollar paint job. I have only had one chance to show my car this year but already it has won a first place trophy.