V.I.S.I.T. – Mad Maverick

It was on a recent trip to Mr. Sam Walton’s local general store and grocers that I spotted this little gem, coincidentally the same parking lot I spotted it’s older brother. If I’m not mistaken, this Maverick is painted in Ford’s ‘Last Stand Custard’ (they had some great color names in the early 70s, including ‘Thanks Vermillion’, ‘Freudian Gilt’, ‘Original Cinnamon’, and ‘Anti-Establish Mint’ to name a few). Powered by Ford’s infamous ‘Thriftpower” inline six cylinder, this Maverick was originally built to both replace Ford’s aging Falcon and to combat a serious influx of import cars from Japan and Germany’s Beetle. I’m not sure why, but I’ve never really thought of the Mav as a compact car, but I guess it was. The Mustang’s little brother is a nifty little critter, and I’ve always sort of wanted one, even in slightly ungainly sedan form. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; I love living in the desert. After a couple dozen years living in the ‘midwest’, I never thought I would see a clean one of these. They all seemed to rot away along with all the Vegas and Gremlins. This car, however, aside from some faded paint, had survived quite well, and was apparently running well enough that it could make it to the store and back (well, to be fair, I don’t know for a fact that it made the return trip…). It’s interesting to think what could still be on the road in 40-some years. Will a Ford Focus purchased today still be making the grocery run for someone in 2054? I’ve got an upcoming edition of Hooniverse Dream Car Build Garage that is centered around the Maverick, but I’ll have to save that for another day. Chances are, you won’t be able to predict what I want to do with one of these in my dream build, but you are certainly welcome to try in the comments section. It’s a little off the wall, as usual, but probably entirely possible to complete. Certainly more attainable than this week’s version. It’s been a while since Ford has made a new car with a cool emblem like this one. Sure, the Mustang exists, and it still has the running horse, but it’s been at least since the Pinto that they’ve had a good chrome mascot, right?  I mean, what would a Fiesta have? A little chrome sombrero? The Taurus could have a really cool Brahman bull emblem on the front fenders, but they refrained and chose a more sedate nothing emblem instead. This cattle head emblem is really cool, and the stylized lettering is right up my alley. All photos ©2014 Hooniverse/Bradley C. Brownell, All Rights Reserved.