Drove my 71 Nova till 93. Bud had a 6 cyl duster, not bad but a bud had a meverick and he was at the bottom of the totem pole.
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There would have been no savings using drum brakes in the front as they cost the same as disk brakes. The parking brake on the rears makes disk brakes more expensive.
FWIWā¦ I used to be an engineer at a division that made brakes and that was what I learned.
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I agree, I was trying to be generous that the Maverick was, like the Nova and Mopars, a āsimple everymanās carā. My Duster took me through high school, college, grad school, and first year of of work, including multiple cross country trips, sometimes towing a UHaul. All with a 198 CID slant six. Not something Iād want to try with a Maverick. You can still get performance parts for the 225 slant six, next to nothing for the 170/200/250 Ford.
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Because of the dumb integrated intake manifold and cylinder head. Makes it a real headache to mount a bigger or more carbs. The slant 6 parts are pretty much bolt-on.
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hmmm ā¦ Maybe the Maverick has the same suspension as my āfeels like Iām horsebackā truck ā¦ lol ā¦ I sort of liked the appearance of the Maverick at the time, but rarely see them now. I have no disagreement with Mr Rickās opinion the Maverick is a legendary car, as the meaning of ālegendaryā is open to personal interpretation; but if the Maverick is legendary, then Iād say the Fiesta of that same era is legendary too. Iāve always liked the Ford Fiesta appearance. Newer Fiestas, ok as economy cars, but as for their appearance , not so much.
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I agree with this statement. In reality all vehicles are legendary, when you factor in the work that gkes onto designing and building a car they are all jewels. Even the ābadā ones like the Maverick lol.
I actually always thought the Fiestas were good looking cars, they were rare on the ground around here so i never seen many in thd flesh.
They were good cars from what I understand, i knew a guy that had one but it was long gone by the time i knew him.
As far as Legendary cars go, remember Tom had his beloved Colt Vista, im sure a horrible car in some peopleās minds but obviously it had endearing qualities to Tom and even if we think a car is worthless, there is someone thatbthinks pretty swell.
FWIW I always liked the look of the Colt Vista.
I donāt wonder about such things 
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Well I do, you see the Maverick has become a hot little number, they are going for 15 to 20k now. Even a 75 straight 6 Maverick is commanding 10g. Here is a picture of the dash, i love the style and we can see the well designed and prominent ashtray placed right where it should be. You cant look at that dashboard and tell me thats a cheap car.
Asking price isnāt sales price. Go to ācompleted listingsā on Ebay, youāll see that thereās a grand total of 9 Mavericks, three between $11,000 and $13,000, the rest under $10,000. Dusters, on the other hand, have 62 listed, half for over $20,000.
Novas? 319 completed listings, about half over $27,000.
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Just curious, what are Ford pickups of that era going for ?
Thereās no more Ford Mavericks these days, but I think thereās a new Ford Maverick pickup. $20 to $30 K new.
150 F100 from '65-'80, half over $13,000 or so.
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Ah yes the Nova goes for more because its like 2 cars for the price of one, between the front subframe bushings and the rear leaf springs walking, its a dog tracking mess. The car pulls in two different directions like the front and rear are separate vehicles. A friend had one, it was a late 70s, maybe a 78 or 79 and what a junker, yeah it was 15 years old at the time but it was horrible! They were junk when new, so if we are going to beat up on Vegas and Mavericks we better go after the Nova as well.
How a vehicle like the Nova get so much praise and other equal or greater vehicles get dumped on is beyond me. Then GM pulled a rabbit out of its hat and turned the junky Nova into the most expensive Cadillac, the Seville.
Amazing.
Years ago, as a teenager I replaced the rear leaf springs on a friends Pontiac Ventura on a Saturday afternoon, not a huge job. If you like cars, you need a little ambition to repair them.
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Back in the 60s and 70s I chose anything with a slant six or 318 and torqueflight transmission over anthing else in their class and would do so again. And yes I still see a lot of them on the road.
They seemed like real cars with room for a big guy, when compared to a Nova, Maverick or wretched Vega or belt shredding oil leaking cramped Corvair.
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Leaf springs shouldnāt go bad. I mean how much simpler can it get? If i remember correctly on the Nova the centering pin would break and allow the rear axle to shift. Then the bushings on the subframe would get slop and yiu coulf end up with quite the comical dog tracking ir crab walking nova.
Rick is right about that detail. The first time that I witnessed a crab-walking Nova, I was shocked, but after a couple of years I learned that most of them did this as they aged.
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Wow I thought I had the only Colt Vista. Many years ago I drove one to work and back. Loved it. Gas mileage would make some Hybrids blush.
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Let me guessā¦AMC Pacer.
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Well, the Pacer was legendary (!) because it was the only small car wide enough to be able to make a GIANT sub sandwich in the back seat. Becauseā¦ you knowā¦ a LOT of car buyers would be interested in that particular detail.
Anyway, here is a blast from the past with that Pacer TV commercial:
