Blue My Mind, 1972 Ford Maverick
 

Hello everyone,

I have been a member on the board here for several years and from time to time I chime in. But I decided I would start my own build thread finally. I have learned so much from you all and thought I would share my stuff. My car is pretty far along at this point, so I will start from the beginning and post up as the build progressed.

In this post I will show the humble beginnings of the project and the rendering I had done so that I could see what was dancing in my head.

I hope you all enjoy…….

So here is where I found the car. It was originally an Alabama car from new until 1988 when it made its way to Connecticut. In 1990 a friend bought it and put it in this garage. He pulled the motor and trans and took the nose off. It sat like that until 2009 win he got divorced. She ended up with this their rental home and garage and he had to empty it out. With my truck and trailer and his it took a few trips but we did it.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps21c4d4ab.jpg
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...psde06e5f5.jpg

Here it is outside in the daylight for the first time in 19 years!
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...pse5316af4.jpg
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Here is the rendering of my plan…..

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...7/UnrulyV2.jpg

These were taken once I got it home and I quickly assembled the nose to see what I had to wrk with….

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps9e63d533.jpg

This is an all original factory paint car. Never hit or any damage. Some minor rust in the rear quarters but not bad.


http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps84ade1b8.jpg

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I promptly cut out the shock towers and installed anew crossmember to runs a Mustang II style front end.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...psed3377b3.jpg


A friend lent me his rotisserie so I could clean up the floors and paint it all….

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...psf30a08a2.jpg


The floors were so solid I never had to weld anything up. Shocking for a Maverick!~


http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...pse6453794.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps9abc8653.jpg

If it comes anywhere close to the rendering it will be awesome,good luck.

Nice job, floors look great!!

With the addition of the M II front end this old crossmember was no longer needed. Without the front strut arms I decided to get rid of it. Big and ugly, it needed to go. But, I thought some good support was ultimately needed so I tabbed up this crossmember instead.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps4bda2d56.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...psca266f70.jpg


The front end I bought came from Rod & Custom Motorsports. They make M II front ends pretty much exclusively for late 60's and early 70's Fords. The one I ordered was all set up for my Maverick. It came with patch panels to fill in the shock towers, but I really didn't like the way they were looking. So I cut out the entire front end and tabbed up new fender wells.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps270d03df.jpg
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Before final welding I rehung the nose to make sure everything was where it should be still….

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps51b94079.jpg

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I was then able to final weld, do body work and prime the front fender wells and firewall.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps78dea722.jpg

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Moving on the radiator support now, I had some fitting to do as the notch for the battery box wasn't needed anymore. Also, plenty of extra holes to fill. I took the time to install the radiator and see plenty of extra space around it so I also filled that in for a better fit and flow of air.


Look at all that space around the radiator…..

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps4b73a5cf.jpg

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The green tape shows where I had to fill in….

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps95fac16e.jpg



Patching it up….

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps0c067818.jpg

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After body work and primer it looks pretty good. These shots are also showing the fit of the radiator and the overflow can….


http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps27241e38.jpg

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I wanted a tilt column, so I bought a universal Ididit tilt. With a little fab work I was able to make it bolt into the stock firewall mounts as seen here…

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps8ad51052.jpg

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I cut some strap and welded a piece around the column to use as a mount at the top. It took a little customizing to make it work with the factory mounts, but all in all I think it came out good.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...psb3c2eb83.jpg

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To top it off will be this billet steering column with the wood grain Hydrographics. This was made for me at Julaino's Hot Rods. Bob and I worked together on this. I had known Bob for years, he and my father went back to grade school together. Sad thing Bob passing a few years ago, glad I got one of his steering wheels before he passed on though.
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...7/DSC02544.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...7/DSC02545.jpg

looks great!

No No No No! Posting old pictures on a new forum does not qualify as a "progress update". LOL. Lets see where its at now. Cant wait for this thing to be done.

I know Chris, but these guys haven't seen where I started. I can't post up as it is today, what would be the fun in that?!