Stick-shift drivers under a certain age might be unaware of what could happen in an old manual-transmission car lacking the clutch safety switch that’s been around for a few decades. This ignition interlock prevents the engine from starting unless the driver depresses the clutch pedal. Especially for drivers in the habit of leaving a manual transmission in gear when parked, it’s a vital feature.
In 1976, on a trip from his home in Sparks, Nevada, to visit his grandparents in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Micah Wellman learned this lesson in their 1971 Ford Maverick. He was just 10 years old.
“My grandpa would let me sit on his lap and steer the Maverick in a parking lot,” Micah recalls. “One time, he backed the car out of the garage and turned off the engine, then got out to close the garage door. I was in the car, on the passenger side. I thought I would help him by starting the car.”
Micah turned the key, the engine caught, and the car took off backward, because his grandfather had left the column gearshift in reverse.
“I still remember looking out at my grandfather trying to climb into the driver’s door. The car went down the driveway and into the neighbor’s fence.”
Micah doesn’t recall noticeable damage to the Maverick, but his grandfather had to explain the fence to his neighbor. The incident did not stop the grandparents from gifting Micah the car in 1981 when they bought a new Ford Fairmont and he was less than two years from his driver’s license. That was not the original plan, though.
“The Maverick was destined to go to my brother, Marty, who was 17,” Micah says. “But I put up a fight and claimed it. In hindsight, that might not have been the smartest decision, since my brother then got mom’s 1967 Chevy SS 427. He still has it.”
Micah, of course, had no psychic vision that he’d drive the Maverick some 220,000 miles over 35 years before finally turning it into this resto-mod. The project spanned 2014-2016, with Micah doing much of the work himself, except for the engine rebuild, upholstery, and painting. Aside from most of the body shell, some interior panels, and hardware, little original remains.
“She went from a simple restoration and engine upgrade to a money-draining restomod quickly. Once I got started, I figured that I should go all the way if I was going to do it at all.”
Micah’s grandparents, Paul and Christie Kwaterowsky, emigrated to Canada from Germany after WWII. They initially settled in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, where Paul became the head game warden. In 1971, the Maverick replaced their Volkswagen Beetle.
“I think because there was not a Ford dealership in Yellowknife, he had to go to Fort Smith,” Micah recalls. The drive would have been about 740 kilometers south (460 miles).
Paul chose a red ’71 Maverick that was in stock, an “absolute base model,” Micah says. That meant the 170 cubic-inch inline-six, three-speed manual with column shifter, and little else. The base price would have been $2175 US that year. (About the same in CAD in 1971, and about $17,220 USD today.)
“Grandpa definitely didn’t spend an extra cent on that thing,” Micah says, “not even for the rust prevention, which I’m sure they would have tried to sell him. He should have taken them up on it.”
Ford introduced the 1970 Maverick on April 17, 1969, the Mustang’s fifth anniversary. It was no coincidence. The first Mustang was basically a sporty body over the Falcon economy car’s mechanicals. The Maverick, intended as a smaller, more youthful Falcon replacement, once again repurposed that car’s bones and powertrains.
The Maverick launched as a two-door that Ford called a sedan, not coupe, even though the long hood, semi-fastback profile and short rear deck mimicked the late-Sixties pony car form. Riding on a 103-inch wheelbase vs. the Falcon’s 111, the Maverick was also five inches shorter overall, with two inches chopped from height and width. At about 2,400 pounds shipped, the Maverick was 300 pounds lighter than a base Falcon. The Falcon’s 170 cubic-inch inline-six came standard, with the 200 cubic-inch version optional. A three-speed automatic was optional with both engines. The 170 was also available with a three-speed semi-automatic—the driver shifted the gears but there was no clutch—that Ford cut after the first year.
Ford marketed the Maverick as “The Simple Machine” with a tempting $1,995 base price. Simple meant sparse standard equipment, including 13-inch wheels, heater with three-speed fan, and flip-out quarter windows. Instead of a glovebox, Maverick had an under-dash shelf. The interior was spartan in content but looked dapper with Tartan plaid cloth and vinyl upholstery available in four color patterns.
The first Maverick likewise offered few factory options, including air conditioning, tinted glass, day/night rear-view mirror, and an AM radio. The Accent Group added 14-inch wheels with full wheel covers, plus carpeting and chrome window frames and drip rail moldings. In the spirit of the time, Ford offered lots of colors, five with cute names including Anti-Establish Mint, Hulla Blue, Original Cinnamon, Freudian Gilt, and Thanks Vermillion. The 250-cubic-inch six soon joined the option roster.
A later arrival, the Maverick Grabber was Ford’s “sport economy” car with a 200-cubic-inch engine and a dress-up package that mimicked the period’s muscle cars. The $350 upgrade added body graphics, a subtle decklid spoiler, trendy racing mirrors, 14-inch wheels with trim rings, a three-spoke “wood-tone” steering wheel, and black vinyl interior trim. About 36,000 buyers grabbed one for 1970.
The Maverick struck gold, Ford building 579,000 over the 1970 model’s extended first model year. That was about 20,000 more than the ’65 Mustang attained in its similarly extended first production year.
For 1971, the Maverick put more zip on the menu with an optional 302-cubic-inch Windsor V-8, rated at 210 hp (140 net hp for 1972). The updated Grabber mimicked the Mustang Mach 1 with new “road lamps” in the grille and a “dual-dome” hood with fake air scoops. The hood was dropped after 1972. A V-8 Grabber was no muscle car, but it was quicker than the 450-pound heavier base Mach 1, which shared the same 302 in 1971.
The ’71 Maverick line added a four-door, riding on a seven-inch longer wheelbase, and Mercury revived the Comet badge for a Maverick clone with a different grille and taillights, plus upgraded standard features. The Maverick, too, would gain more comfort options in subsequent years.
Canadian winters had been tough on Micah’s Maverick, which already had rust developing in the fenders and rear quarters when Micah received it. Once he got his driver’s license in 1982, the Maverick saw some wild times.
“I did everything that a dumb teenager does in his first car,” he remembers. “I bent the rear axle taking a corner too fast. I got a few tickets and bumped into a couple of things.”
Micah also learned to make his own repairs. He brought the Maverick to his high school auto shop class, where he replaced the manual transmission with a junkyard automatic and installed a tape deck and pop-up sunroof. The ambitious teen had another project car in auto shop at the same time, a very tired 1963 Jaguar Mk. X sedan that he’d bought from its original owner for $200. He later restored the Jag, which in 2008 won its class in the Palo Alto Concours d’ Elegance, along with the Meguiar’s Trophy for Best Exterior Finish.
Life would get harder for the Maverick, though.
“Someone ran into the back while I was cruising downtown Reno, and I had an encounter with a pole that should have been the end of the Maverick,” Micah says. “She was a sad sight sitting in my mom’s backyard for two years while I served in the Navy on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.”
Returning home to attend college locally, he revived the Maverick as a daily driver, replacing the hood, radiator, core support, and crossmember.
“She was not pretty, but she was back on the road again. As I got more money, I made her more presentable. I cut out the rusted quarters and replaced the fenders. The first time I attempted to do some collision and rust repair, I learned never to weld while wearing nylon coveralls. Thankfully, my tighty-whities saved me from permanent injury!”
Micah also replaced the original 170 with a 250-cubic-inch six and Weber carburetor. He sprung for a cheapie paintjob, had the seats re-upholstered, and installed aftermarket wheels. The Nevada summers finally prompted him to install air conditioning.
“By 1992 she looked pretty good,” Micah says. “In 1995, I was working in the San Francisco Bay area and had a car from my employer. I wasn’t commuting in the Maverick, but it was still my sole personal car.”
He had the Maverick repainted again in 1998 and made it a Grabber clone. With that came a fun story for him and his grandfather.
“Grandpa happened to visit me in Reno. Together, we located a rare Grabber dual-scoop hood at a junkyard located between two legal houses of ill repute. Grandpa got a good laugh at this.”
The refreshed Maverick made the cover of the Auto Krafter’s parts catalog, which surprised and pleased his grandparents.
“In 2000, they visited me in Hollister, California and got one last ride in their old Maverick. They died in 2000 and 2001. I have their Fairmont, too.”
The Maverick remained Micah’s daily driver until 2017, when he bought his first and only new vehicle, a Ford F-150. He kept the Maverick for sentimental reasons.
“I get attached to things and hate to see them go,” he says. “If I can keep them alive, I do. I like taking something that others would consider junk in our disposable society and making it like new. This is a skill and a mindset that I think many people used to have but now has nearly disappeared.”
That attitude took root early in his life. In high school, Micah and his brother received Seiko Astronaut wristwatches from their grandparents.
“Mine went everywhere with me, from the flight deck of the Theodore Roosevelt to Scuba diving in Guam,” he recalls. “When it died, I tracked down the parts from all over the world and sent it to Seiko to have it rebuilt. My brother had thrown his away.”
Micah also owns and regularly drives a 1947 Jeep CJ2A, and he restored a 1983 Honda CR125R motocross racer. He got more attached to the Maverick as he put his own stamp on it over the years, and the bond he felt with his grandparents’ memory compelled him to extend the Maverick’s life once again.
“In 2013, the Maverick was really showing her age,” Micah says, which was quite an understatement for a then-40-year-old car.
“The chassis had about 250,000 miles. The 250 engine had 140,000 miles, and the junkyard transmission probably had double that. The sunroof leaked. The drum brakes were just scary in modern traffic. The steering was loose. Rust was starting to appear again. The bench seat was uncomfortable. Someone had run a shopping cart into the passenger door. She was just tired. After so many years of service to me, it was time to repay her.”
Micah planned to make the Maverick look and drive like a true muscle car with modern handling and braking and better interior comfort.
“Because I’d done the Jag before, I knew what I was getting into,” he says.
A list of changed components, from the entire powertrain and front suspension down to the NOS gas filler cap, fills five single-spaced pages. The list of remaining original parts fills just half a page and includes the unibody with doors and trunk lid, but minus the roof, fenders, rear quarters, hood, valances, and taillight panel. The interior still has the door cards, hardware, and rear-view mirror it was born with. Micah found many NOS parts at Green Sales in Cincinnati, Ohio and on eBay, including a set of tinted glass.
The car was disassembled, soda and sand blasted, and put on a rotisserie for the body work. Micah replaced most of the roof to eliminate the aftermarket sunroof. He had the Maverick painted in Matrix Viper Red with House of Kolor clearcoat. One neat touch: sequential rear turn signals from Cougars Unlimited.
The 5.0-liter V-8 came from a 1989 Mustang Special Service Package car, the famous highway patrol interceptor. A full rebuild added an Eagle 347-cubic-inch stroker kit, Edelbrock EFI setup, full MSD ignition, Moats QuarterHorse programmable chip for the Mustang’s computer, plus headers and custom exhaust. The car currently puts about 375 hp to the wheels, and Micah expects a revised tune to unleash more.
Installing the fuel injection and electronics into a car that was never built for them was a challenge. Finding no good place to put the Mustang’s computer, Micah welded a box in the space between the fender and the door ahead of the right A-pillar. Access is difficult, however.
The engine is teamed with a Ford AOD transmission that features a high-stall-speed converter and is operated by a 1970s Maverick floor shifter. The Maverick’s original driveshaft spins an Auburn Pro Series limited-slip diff with a 3.55:1 axle ratio.
The car now sports a full TCI coil-over front suspension with the “Shelby drop” and adjustable shocks. The rear uses four-leaf springs, frame connectors, Traction Master bars, NOS Koni shocks, and an Addco adjustable anti-roll bar. An unassisted Wilwood four-wheel disc brake system replaced the scary old drums, and Micah added a modern power steering conversion.
The interior retains a factory look, but with upgraded materials, including custom leather upholstery over re-foamed 1972 Comet front seats. The rear shelf, headliner, A/C vents, steering column shrouds, and rear window defogger are NOS parts. Beneath and behind just about everything, Micah installed Dynamat and other insulation. Modern additions include a Nardi wheel, a Stewart-Warner mini gauge panel, and a stereo with Infinity speakers.
Micah loves driving and showing his muscled-up Maverick, now on its fourth life. Fresh off the resto-modding in 2016, the car grabbed a Runner-Up ribbon at Reno’s Hot August Nights.
“I think Grandma and Grandpa would be happy that she is still around and would approve of what I have done to their little old car,” he says.
We’re sure they would, too.
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Are you the original owner of a classic car, or do you know someone who is? Send us a photo and a bit of background to tips@hagerty.com with ORIGINAL OWNER in the subject line—you might get featured in our next installment!