The Original Maverick was a "Hand-me-down"

 I hated the original Maverick... but was wrong to do so.  

Growing up in the 80's, the Maverick was a hand-me-down car.  It was as fashionable as a pair of hand-me-down Toughskin bell-bottoms from your older brother.  Cool cars of that era included coupes from the 60's, 80's Japanese imports, Firebirds, or two-door Cutlass Supremes.  Mavericks were the tragically unhip, back of the lot specials, and the kids that drove them would hide out until everyone else left school.  

The Ford Maverick replaced the Falcon in 1970.  It had the Falcon's hand-me-down platform, which dated back to 1960.  Engine choices were also handed down from the Falcon, including the 170/200/250 Thriftpower 6 and the 302 Windsor V8.  But the Maverick sold well and compared favorably to its contemporaries in the compact/import category.  It also wasn't a bad looking car either.  Early examples of the coupe had clean lines with classic long hood/short deck proportions.  I think the car even looks a little bit like a Ferrari 250 Lusso, which may have been intentional on Henry Ford IIs part, since he looked for every opportunity to stick it to il Commendatore. 

Viewed without malice or my 80's teenage New Wave and synth pop/post-modern cynicism, I've realized the original Maverick was a good car for its time.  A cheap, practical appliance that met the 1973 Oil Crisis, and ever changing pollution and safety regulations.  This year Ford is launching a new Maverick, and while the new one is a truck that offers a hybrid drivetrain, it is also a car for it's time.      

Regardless of what form vehicles take in the future, whether they are cars, trucks, or crossovers powered by hydrocarbons, hydrogen, electricity, or nuclear fusion, we will still need cheap cars.  Vehicles that are reliable, practical appliances, ones that eventually become hand-me-downs, even tragically unhip ones, sitting in the back of high school parking lots.

$15,000 Question: The Corvette C3

Built between 1968 and 1982, the third generation of America's sports car suffers from a reputation of being a plaything for middle-aged guys who dress in Hawaiian shirts and have hair like Ern McCracken.  It is the most bombastic of all the Corvettes.  Where the 1963 to 1967 Sting Ray conjures up images of the early Space Age, and the 1984 to 1996 C4 packed some legitimate performance cred, the C3 comes off like a lo-fi disco parody.   Google "Corvette Summer" if you're not sure what I mean.  That movie makes the Smokey and the Bandit sequels look like The Godfather in comparison.

The C3 Corvette was built on top of a modified C2 chassis.  Starting in 1971, it was steadily gelded until it reached its nadir in 1980 with a 305 cubic inch V8 and an 85 MPH speedometer.  At 182 inches in length, and weighing a hefty 3,500 lbs, it cuts the same swath as a midsize car.

Still, there's something about the C3.  It looks good, all curvy and low slung in a way that stood out against the Brutalist styling of that era.  It was also more comfortable, more practical, and better performing than the Ferrari 308 or Lotus Esprit.  Even as late as 1979, the L-82 Corvette's 0-60 times were in the mid 6-second range.  The small block Chevy 350 offered bullet proof reliability and plenty of torque.  It's also easy to find parts, and there are no shortage of performance upgrades.

I've driven several C3s and can attest to all of the vices.  They are crude and ride like every chassis bolt needs to be tightened a full turn.  The car was victimized by cost cutting and primitive emissions controls.  It is very much a car of the Malaise era, Prog-Rock on four wheels.  

However, like Prog-Rock, there is a lot of good things about the C3.  You sit low in the bucket seats, peering down the valley of the hood, between the sharply creased fenders.  The dashboard slants away from you with two large gauges for the tach and speedometer in front of you, and five smaller gauges in the center console.  The exhaust burbles somewhere behind you, a throaty sound that modern cars can't imitate.  If you're lucky enough to row your own gears, the four speed manual is smooth and positive and the engine provides enough torque to lope around town in third or fourth gear without lugging. 

If you're looking for the sprite-ness of a British sports car, or the precision of a Porsche Boxster, you'll be disappointed.  It's more of a grand-tourer than Gran Turismo Omologato, a car you can use to commute or travel long distances.  If the C2 competed with the Jaguar E-Type, the C3 is a Chevrolet XJ-S, only more rough around the edges and better to drive.  

Mustang Chronicles: Gathering Parts

My simple job to replace a thermostat on my 1965 Mustang turned into this: 

(Ford 200 I6 engine block with new gasket before cylinder head install)

I broke a bolt off in the original cylinder head housing and had to drill it out.  My amateurish attempts to rethread the hole with an old tap and die set proved fruitless, leaving me stuck somewhere between my propensity to optimistically dive headlong into a project, and the limits of my skills.  So it seemed like a good idea to double down on optimism and take the opportunity to do some engine upgrades.   

The biggest shortcoming of the early six-cylinder Mustangs is the design of the intake manifold, which is cast as part of the cylinder head.  Ford decided they could save real money that way, but it results in an engine that breathes like a hamster with emphysema.  In 1968 Ford enlarged and improved the intake manifold and added larger valves in 1977.  The intake manifold looks a bit like a log, so pre-1968 heads are known as "small logs" and the 1968 and newer ones are "large logs".  Production of the engine spanned from 1960 to 1983 and it was used in just about all of Fords smaller/economy vehicles. 

(Remanufactured "large log" cylinder head from a 1973 Maverick)

The Ford 144/170/200 inline 6 will never be in the same league as the Toyota 2JZ or BMW N54 for performance tuning.  In various guises it makes between 90-120 gross horsepower.  But it's a stout engine, and it's possible to increase power output by 30-50% fairly easily and cheaply.  

In my case, it was cheaper to buy a large log cylinder head than have my old one rebuilt.  From there, I decided to also upgrade the carburetor and distributor with the goal of making 20-30 more horsepower.  Here are the details for my build:

• Remanufactured 69-79 Ford 3.3L 200ci L6 w/ 1 3/4" Carb Throat C9/D3/D5/D7 Cylinder Head from Allied Motor Parts. This head came from a 1973 Ford Maverick, but has the larger intake valves.  All Allied does is cylinder heads and they ship nationwide.    

• New Carter YFA 1 barrel carburetor from Mike's Carburetor Parts.  Mike's specializes in carburetors and has a lot of great technical and troubleshooting articles.  They do quality work and are made in the USA.  There are lots of options for carburetor upgrades on the Ford inline sixes, including two barrels using an adapter or modified cylinder head.  This article on Classic Inlines provides a wealth of options and information.  I chose the Carter YFA for the following reasons:

• I wanted something that would work with a "stock" engine, provide good low end torque and drivability on the street, and be reliable and easy to maintain.    

• I am not ready to modify the intake for a two barrel, or do a performance build on my engine.  I also didn't think a two barrel adaptor would provide better performance than the Carter 1 barrel, and I'd lose some of the drivability. 

• The Carter YFA was the standard carburetor for 1969 and 1970 inline 6 engines and a good match for the larger log head.  It was also standard on Ford's 240 and 300 cubic inch truck engines until Ford switched to fuel injection in the 1980s.     

• New Performance HEI Distributor - Besides the large log head, the biggest performance upgrade is to replace the Load-o-Matic distributor with a Duraspark or DUI distributor.  This HEI distributor got good reviews and was 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of either the Duraspark or DUI.  NOTE: You will need to replace the Load-o-Matic distributor if you swap out the Autolite 1100 carburetor because the LoM does not have a mechanical advance.  This article on Load-o-Matics from Classic Inlines will tell you everything you ever wanted to know.  .     

• New ARP Cylinder Head Studs from Vintage Inlines - these are overkill, and are 10 times stronger than the stock head bolts.  But after breaking bolts on several other parts of the engine, I felt the cost was good insurance, especially if I decide to tear down the engine again someday. 

I also bought the Ford Inline Six Performance Handbook.  This book is required reading if you want to rebuild and modify Ford inline six engines.  There is also a wealth of great information and knowledgeable people on the FordSix community website, who also maintain the links to the Classic Inlines tech info pages.  Finally, if you plan to work on one of these engines, please patronize Vintage Inlines, who are the go-to source for all things Ford inline 6.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to write about installing the cylinder head, setting up the carburetor and distributor, and any other tasks needed to get my Mustang back on the road.