1971 50th Anniv

[Mac]

Hard to believe that the '71 Mustang will be 50 years old in a couple of months, but its true!  Attached is a short 50th anniv article from Mustang Times (MCA monthly magazine) FYI.

Mac

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I see the picture of the pretty rare front valance guards on the front. I have a set but need the brackets that go to chassis. Also the yellow Boss 351 with the altered numbers. I found a guy that had an original set of Ford filmstrips that had that picture on them. He would not sell them and would not let me take and get copied.
Makes me feel even older. I ordered a new Maverick Grabber in 71.

 

[ArtBBQ]

Mine will be 50 on December 10. 

 

[Stanglover]

And mine on Feb 22nd. Pity it will be mid winter here, so no celebratory drive on its Big 5-0

 

[Mac]

David,

Do you remember what you paid for your Maverick back then?  

I know what you mean about feeling old, I bought my '71 Mach in the spring of '72.  It was a demo with 5,000 miles on it for $2,995.  Still have it, now with about 40,000 miles on it.

I did see a tee shirt a while back that seems to fit nicely regarding feeling a bit old.  It stated, Inside this body is an 18 year old kid screaming, "What the hell happened".  

Mac

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I think the sticker was over $3,000 but do not remember what I paid for it. Financed for one year. See you do that now. My dad bought a 70 maverick that was under $2,000 with AC. Not much else on it. When I worked in the race shop I did a free valve job for him ran forever way over 200,000 miles.

 

[Spike Morelli]

I had this photo in the files.....obviously a home photo taken of this girl, just how girls looked when I graduated High School, but look behind her. There's a Maverick , maybe a Maverick Grabber?

 

[rvrtrash]

The 70 Maverick Grabbers' had side stripes like that, and a hood with no scoops. There was nothing that said "Grabber" until '71, but the VIN was different and they had a small spoiler as part of the trunk lid. I had one in the Grabber Blue color like that one probably is, and still miss that car. I was stopped in a turn lane and a guy doing 60 rear ended me.

 

[Mac]

Spike,

Always nice to see pictures taken from that era.  You are absolutely 100% the car in the back ground is a Maverick.  The fender emblem of the Maverick with the tell tale steers horns is visible.

Thanks for posting.

Mac

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Here is partial pic of the 71 Maverick grabber I have. Ran out of room in the barn so it has sat outside all of it's life. Vinyl top long gone and I am sure floors are gone due to leaks in cowl. It was undercoated. You can see the 5 lug wheels that was a $10.00 HD suspension option on the 6 cylinder which was biggest you could get in 71.
I drove that one across the U.S. when there was no daytime speed limits in Montana and I believe Nevada. I know I was in Death Valley flying down the dirt road at the south end of the park. There was a sign as you started down that section that it was not patrolled on a regular basis. The car would do about 95 wide open, lol. I had it wide open dust flying and I hit one of the dry river beds. I did not know they did not put a bridge over the stream bed just took the road down to the stream bed. The car came out the other side and left the ground thought I had lost if but got slowed back down. Seems like it came out in Barstow Calif. ??
If they made a similar car today I would buy it. Simple, dependable and anyone could work on it. I pulled the axle housing out to go in a 1950 Ford Business Coupe. It was 8" I guess part of the HD suspension. They fit the 50 models you have to pull the rear spring together about 1/4" per side to get in.
I never did receive the title for the car ever. So I guess I could not sell it. We took it to Disney World several times drove the heck out of it.
Had a guy come by and hit the mail box I was in the driveway and yelled at him and he took off. I had to run in house and get keys and I took off after him he was in a VW beetle. I knew the road and exactly how fast I could take every turn. I came hauling ass around a curve and there they were stopped in the road traffic in front of them had stopped. No way would the car stop before I got there so I decided to spin it out. I kicked it and jerked the wheel to the right. It spun and was sliding sideways with will stop you faster, lol. The left front wheel went into the grass on the right side of the road and there was an old culvert and it caught it and flipped the car up on the drivers side and slid to a stop. I have my seat belt and shoulder harness on. I unbuckled and climbed out the window on the other side. Ran down to where the cars were stopped and jerked his door open and drug him out and was going to kick his ass. He was begging me not to so I just threw him back in his car and told him he better never go around hitting mail boxes again. Went back to my car and a friend that drove fuel truck had stopped that I knew. We hooked a chain to it pulled it back down on 4 wheels and I started it up and went back home. It barely bent the rocker panel. BTW I have two NOS Ford sets of black carpet for it. Local company here made the carpet for Ford and I got from their surplus sale. Has pad and heel pad on drivers side. Don't know where they are boxed up but I have them.