What’s this? Another Maverick? Haven’t we covered these to death here at CC? Let us answer your questions, rude though they may be: Huh, Yes, and Kind Of. That last one needs a bit of explaining.
We have turned our spotlight on the Ford Maverick several times, but always in the context of cheap econoboxes or sporty Grabbers. One sub-role of Maverickdom which we have not really looked at is the Luxury Maverick. Yes, the Luxury Maverick – Identified by the letters LDO.
Ford really liked its letters in the 1960s and 70s. We went from a 500 being after everything through the XL, LTD and several flavors of GT. But what the heck was LDO?
If ever there was a car that seemed less suited to a luxury role than the 1970 Ford Maverick, it would be hard to think of one. The 1970 Maverick was a back-to-basics compact that was aimed more at the Volkswagen than at the Nova and Valiant. At least that was what Ford folks said at the time. At an advertised price of $1,995 it was called “The Simple Machine”.
Introduced only as a 2-door on the small end of the compact class, it made the outgoing Falcon feel like a Cutlass Supreme by comparison. It was as if the ghost of Robert McNamara reappeared during the era of Peak Iacocca at Ford. Except for the racy shape which looked great but made the space within the car’s 103 inch wheelbase as inefficient as possible. Oh well, don’t looks sell cars?
A sedan on a 109.9 inch wheelbase joined the lineup in 1971 and was a more direct replacement for the Falcon which had been discontinued a year earlier. Especially once the 302 V8 became available to augment the wide range of sixes (170, 200 and 250 – in order of descending wheeze). With the sedan the Maverick seemed to cover the spectrum a compact was expected to cover in 1971 – cheap, thrifty, small, maybe sporty, and cheap. Did I mention cheap?
There was one place the Maverick had not gone though, and that was in the direction of luxury. Lido (Lee) Iacocca had been displaying an almost supernatural ability to find new niches since taking over as head of the Ford Division at the beginning of the 1960s. In that decade “sport” was what sold cars, and everything in Ford’s lineup got bucket seats, consoles and lots of chrome. Then, with his second act that was the Ford LTD, he tapped into the next wave – luxury for the masses.
Well into the 1972 model run a new kind of Maverick appeared. And, in perfect Maverick-fashion, it was not a separate model but an option package. One, however, that completely changed the character of the car: The Ford Maverick with the Luxury Decor Option. Yes, an unwieldy name, but an intriguing car.
The LDO turned the Maverick into a mini LTD. Inside you got extra thick carpet, super-soft vinyl seats and more sound insulation. Outside you received a vinyl roof, vinyl-filled side mouldings and and color keyed wheel covers. And the LDO was not just about appearance, as it included the handling package and steel belted radial tires.
In the 1973 brochure Ford bragged that the LDO option (is LDO option like a VIN number or a hot water heater?) even got you an extra coat of paint. Really.
Popular Science chose a Maverick LDO for its June, 1973 four-way test of V8 compact sedans. “Don’t think the LDO is like all Mavericks.” PS’s auto editors said. “This $390 option does more for the Maverick than anything else Ford has tried.” The LDO-equipped Mav was a clear step above the others in quietness and luxury, and also led the field in the magazine’s handling and maneuverability tests. The LDO package was noted to be on more than 20% of Mavericks being built – a serious take-rate on an option that was so pricey. How pricey? The tested Maverick (at $3651) was roughly twenty percent more expensive than the decently equipped Hornet and Valiant and came at a premium of well over fifty percent above the car’s $2386 base price.
All was not roses, however – you still didn’t get a glove box. And the interior came in only one color – tan. But if you were prepared for these minor sacrifices all was grand. The Maverick LDO was certainly a better trimmed package than anything comparable from GM Chrysler or AMC. They would, of course hop on the bandwagon shortly with a Valiant Brougham, Dart SE, Nova LN and even a Gucci Sportabout. Just in time for Ford to up the ante with the introduction of the Granada.
That word – Granada – pretty much spelled the end of the Maverick LDO as a viable concept. The LDO would, however, soldier on for awhile with some changes, such as the lack of the tall Mercedes-style headrests for 1975.
By 1976 the Maverick LDO was still available, if in a further de-contented form. It would not reappear for the Maverick’s final year, 1977. But this was as it should have been because the Granada brought credibility to a luxurious small car in the way the Maverick never could have done.
In the fall of 1975 my father traded from Continental Mark IV to a ultra-loaded ’76 Mercury Monarch. He told me that it seemed to be almost un-American to drive a big car after the energy crisis and the terrible recession that followed in its wake. Or maybe he was just trying to save face on a less expensive new car. In either case, the resulting package was a credible small luxury car – a role no Maverick or Comet could have come even close to fulfilling, LDO or no LDO.
With this particular car we dip back into the greasy fried chicken bucket for more pictures by Blurry JPC. My 2011-vintage cell phone camera seems to have not received the memo about “the golden hour” being an optimum time for photography. Or perhaps this is where my father would say “it’s a poor workman who blames his tools.” Anyhoo, your correspondent has spent the years since 2011 assuming that he would soon see another LDO-equipped Maverick. But how wrong that assumption was, and patience has finally worn thin.
I am going to come right out and say that this may be the most attractive Maverick sedan I have ever seen. First, this is a favorite color of mine. After being a mainstay on American color charts all through the previous decade, these metallic silver-blues all but disappeared for a few years before they came roaring back on a bazillion 1977-79 GM B body cars. The color was a rare oasis in the years when earth-tones took over the world – and was even more rare because this was one of three “Metallic Glow” shades for which Ford charged extra.
The car was equipped with an interior that matched the paint, a color which finally joined tan as an LDO offering in 1974 (along with a real glovebox). Also adding points to this example is the lack of a vinyl roof – something that was theoretically standard, so perhaps it was deleted when ordered? And finally, as much as I like the LDO package in general, I find these Comet wheelcovers to be an improvement over the color-keyed Ford covers that were probably on the car when new.
This car also makes me think that there were few Fords that made the transition as gracefully from 1971 to 1975 as the Maverick sedan. The shape of the car had always been nicely done and this one got less gingerbread hung on it than most other cars in Ford’s lineup.
So was the LDO package a genuine advance in small car thinking in the US? Or was it lipstick on a pig? It was certainly a puzzler. This was one of those concepts that should have been featured in Lincoln-Mercury dealerships. Well, it sort of was as the “Custom Option” on the Comet, but the Custom Option Comet never got anywhere near the promotion of the LDO on the Maverick, which handily outsold it. And it is not inconceivable that the success of the LDO guided management in nudging the Granada into much higher trim levels (and sticker prices) in a way that coaxed many Americans to abandon their bigger cars in the way my father did.
But that name – this was really a pretty decent car that never got a proper name. To Ford’s credit it was not a Maverick Ghia – at least they held Ghia for their better lines – like Mustang II and Granada/Monarch. But LDO? Let’s Drive Opulently? Last Ditch Opportunity? Lotsa Dealer Orders? Intended or not, the LDO name hints at what this car really was: the Maverick Lido. Which could stand for Luxury Intersects Dramatically with the Ordinary.
Further Reading:
Ford Maverick – The Simple(ton) Machine (Paul Niedermeyer)
1970 Ford Maverick – The Car To Send Your Kid Off To College In (Paul Niedermeyer)
1971 Mercury Comet sedan – Not A Baby Lincoln (J P Cavanaugh)
1973 Ford Maverick Grabber – Canned Rebellion (Joseph Dennis)
1977 Ford Maverick – Thrift Store Ford (Capsule, Ed Stembridge)
The Brazilian Maverick GT (Robert Kim)
This car has been repainted and the vinyl roof removed. I have never seen an LDO or Comet Custom without one, and I highly doubt FoMoCo offered that amount of flexibility in the lower end products.
My parents bought one of the early Comet Customs (mid-72) with all the boxes checked, and it did indeed change the cars character.
It actually became a real car. Unencumbered by the weight of the later railroad tie bumpers
and later year emission controls, the 302 gave it decent scoot . Because the option load put it in a higher weight class, (I assume) the tires were upgraded from the advertised DR78-14s
to ER70-14. I was actually astounded to find low profile tires on it. They were B.F. Goodrich, called the Radial RS, and still had good tread at 43000 miles.
It was very weak in 2 areas. The brakes stunk,
4 wheel manual drum, discs werent an option until ’74, and both the linings and master cylinder needed replaced around the 20,000 mile mark. The other area was in the cooling system& HVAC. It ate bypass hoses for one thing. The water valve for the AC & heat seized and left us with no heat in a prairie January, and a stuck thermostat stranded us with an overheat on a trip to Regina. All this within 3 years of new.
That short-year 1972 LDO would be the one to have, too. The car was really attractive without the huge bumpers. The lack of disc brakes would have been the one glaring omission on this package.
I was amazed to read how well the car did in the PS handling tests, but then it may well have been because the Maverick was the only compact with radial tires, which also did wonders for ride.
Good question on that roof. The car looked really original. I mean, who restores a Maverick sedan? I suppose some of the LDO features like moldings and interior might have been available ala carte?
Not ala carte according to the ’75 brochure. But wait. Closer inspection reveals the pre-’75 style seats instead of those illustrated below. Based on that, I now believe this car started life as a base model and had the LDO bits added later. Wouldn’t be rocket science and it would explain a lot.
J.P.
When I had B.F. Goodrich “Life Saver” radials installed on my 1970 Challenger, they absolutely transformed the car in every respect. I remember being astonished by the difference as I drove away from the tire dealer. American manufacturers were inexcusably slow in installing radial tires and disc brakes on their products.
I had the same experience and driving impressions after installing Sears Roebuck/Michelin X radial tires on my ’73 Challenger.
When the Michelins finally wore out; I opted for some macho looking, Raised White Letter Tiger Paw fiberglass belted (non-radial) tires.
The first time I slid around thru often driven curvy roads in the (frequent in New Orleans) rain storms; I regretted not buying the Michelins again!
Don’t feel bad, Mark. I remember a man I worked with bought a new Mark III, which came with Michelin Radials. He immediately got rid of them and got a set of Vogues. Now that was class!
Ford had radials catalogued as an option as early as 1968. However, they were not listed the next year, so that plan may have fallen through. They were offered on Lincolns and T-Birds
as early as 1970, then the aforementioned LDO in 1972. They were an option on all FoMoCo products in 1973, and GM by 1974. People around at the time may remember the “GM Spec” tire ballyhooed in their brochures.
According to one of Lee’s books, HF II was vehemently opposed to radials because their strong association to Michelin. The topic came up one day and the Deuce let it be known that (well known slur against French people) tires would never be on his cars. Apparently, he changed his tune at some point because the first radials on the aformentioned T-Birds and Lincolns were Michelins. BF Goodrich was the first US tire maker to start making them. I remember Goodyear coming out with a “Polysteel” tire in 1973 that was still bias-belted,
and thinking, come on guys!
I believe that the first American car with standard radial tires was the 1970 or 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III. Which I thought was odd, in view of Henry Ford II’s alleged dislike of radials.
I wonder how much Detroit’s slowness in keeping up with automotive advances stemmed from the undoubtedly huge investment in plant and equipment producing the old stuff, and an unwillingness to scrap machinery that wasn’t worn out yet or tooling that wasn’t amortised. For the volumes of cars being churned out in the sixties, that must have been a quite a considerable factor.
Having been raised on a diet of Car and Driver, I always tended to think “Stupid Detroit!” for not keeping up with Europe or Japan, but now I can see that economic pressures could help stymie automotive development in the sixties. Not excusable, but understandable.
And an attitude like HFII’s certainly wouldn’t help. The dangers of having family descendants running a company whose products they have no feel for….
Not so stupid. Ford was the most aggressive OEM (not counting very premium-priced Euro imports like M-B).in offering and standardizing radial tires.
There was another reason Detroit was slow to adopt radial tires. They rode stiffer than bias-ply tires, which then meant suspensions had to be retuned to accommodate them. Of course, Pontiac and Holden then used that as a selling point with their “Radial Tuned Suspension.”
Interestingly enough, Goodyear continued to use bias-ply construction on their racing tires well into the 1980’s. It wasn’t until 1987 that Al Unser Sr. won Indy on Goodyear radials, and drivers at the time were complaining about changes in handling qualities.
Michelin, on the other hand, had been equipping Ferrari road cars for years but then provided the Formula 1 team with a radial tire, which helped Jody Scheckter win the World Championship in 1980.
Might it be fair to say this Maverick is one of the few cars that could successfully run the gamut from bare-bones body mover to semi-luxury as seen with the LDO? At one point my grandmother had a very base ’71 Maverick while a guy a mile or two down the road had a white Maverick LDO identical to the one seen in the first LDO ad. Neither looked feigned, strained, or insane. Of course other cars attempted the same spectrum of availability, but the Maverick certainly presented more raw talent in covering these bases.
The wonders of the world never fail to amaze.
JP, perhaps the sunspots on your pictures aren’t due to the greasy chicken bucket camera so much as the Metallic Glow paint?
The Metallic Glow paint – that’s it!
The PS road test was interesting, the editors were scratching their heads at the way Chrysler was still treating the Valiant like a cheap car. You could tell they wished the Valiant had been the one with the LDO treatment.
A funny aside about that test was that the Nova was equipped with a 350 and did horribly in the acceleration tests – a genuine pig that performed no better than the smaller V8s in the others but sucked down way more gas doing it.
GM and (especially) Ford were much better at the compact musclecar game than Chrysler. No one ever cross-shopped a Nova or Maverick against a Camaro or Mustang. But over at Chrysler, they did too good a job with the much more sporty Duster. A lot of E-body Barracuda/Challenger and B-body Mopar sales were lost against an A-body coupe, and it badly hurt Chrysler’s bottom line.
And GM’s lackluster Nova V8 performance wasn’t always that way, either. In the pre-Camaro days, a Corvette-engine 327 1966 Nova SS was one of the hotter street machines. You could even get a big-block 396 (or COPO 427) in later Novas (for a price).
In fact, one of the sadder compact musclecar stories was the last ‘real’ GTO, the 1974 Ventura version. A nice package with its shaker hood scoop, the looks just didn’t match the performance. The Duster 360 was still a whole lot more machine for a lot less money.
Ford played it best with the hottest engine ever offered in a Maverick being a lo-po 302-2v. It was adequate but was never going to win any drag races. You want performance from Ford? Cough up the extra cash and buy a Cleveland V8 Mustang.
I always thought the ’74 GTO was unfairly maligned. The 350 in it was still rated at 200 HP net, respectable for the size of engine at that time, nowhere near the 360 A-Body’s 245, I’ll admit that.
You could still get an LT1 Z-28 at 245 net too, but those were outliers. The Pontiac 350 has always had the somewhat deserved reputation as a dog. Pontiac guys don’t touch them
nowadays, they stick with the 400-455, which is what Pontiac
did NOT put in the GTO for the reasons you point out above.
FWIW, a little known factoid, the GTO actually had a functional
shaker, the TA did not since 73. It was sealed to please the EPA.
Not for emissions, but for noise. I guess the 350 could squeak under the limit at WOT.
I’ve never driven one or seen a 74 GTO run, so I don’t really know. Saw plenty of 360 Duster & Dart Sports around . Definitely not too shabby for smoggers.
The 74 GTO was a great concept but predictable showroom death. For all its merits, it was obviously a 6 year old Chevy body, and it didn’t even have all of the Firebird’s performance options. It really hurt that there had been a couple million 68–73 Novas with that distinctive styling that said ‘Nova’ from a block away. Hard to imagine anyone actually walking into a Pontiac dealer and picking this over a Firebird.
The answer to the lackluster sales of the 1974 Ventura GTO is pretty simple: it wasn’t 1964. The Ventura version was actually very close to the original 1964 GTO in all facets but, by 1974, it was a completely different market. In 1964, the Tempest GTO had the market all to itself. Not so in 1974.
On top of that, the musclecar market was on a steep decline by 1974. Fuel economy, regulations, and insurance surcharges had taken a big bite. Brougham was the name of the game by the mid-seventies.
Although it was never a widespread practice, the commonality of the Pontiac 350/400/455 engines made swapping between them a relatively easy process. So, if someone really wanted a competitive Ventura, it wouldn’t have been too difficult to slip in a mildly warmed 400 (or even 455). I knew a guy who did exactly that, putting a 400 into a 1972 Ventura.
As to that open hood scoop, I wonder if the 1974 GTO could even be sold in California. I think that state’s noise regulations was the reason open hood scoops had been pretty much eliminated by then.
The 1964 equivalent of the Ventura GTO was the Falcon Sprint, which was squashed by the Mustang in the same showroom: a dowdy compact competing against sex on wheels. In the Pontiac showroom, it would have been exactly like the 326 LeMans, not the 389 GTO.
The 1970 E bodies got the share of the market that Chrysler expected. But the market shrank a lot, to a million pony cars instead of the expected 1.5 mil in 1970 and kept shrinking. Chrysler sold about 400,000 Dusters and E bodies in 1970 instead of 200,000 E bodies and Valiant 2 door sedans.
They did okay.
There was no 1970 Valiant 2-door sedan. There was only the Duster coupe and Dart Swinger hardtop.
The E-body would have gotten a larger share of the ponycar market if not for the Duster. There was definitely a lot of inter-model cannibalization at Chrysler when the swoopy (but cheap) Duster coupe hit the market. That had a significant impact on Chrysler’s bottom line.
You can’t blame Chrysler’s marketing too much, though. There wasn’t any cannibalization between the dowdy, Valiant 2-door sedan and A-body Barracuda in the past, and GM seemed to do okay between the Nova musclecar variants and Camaro.
But I suspect the latter was more a function of pricing. A musclecar Nova wasn’t all that much cheaper than a Camaro. There was a ‘big’ price difference between a similarly-equipped Duster and Barracuda. Chrysler tried to fix this in later year Duster 340/360 models by jacking the price up a bit, but the damage had been done.
Yes, there wasn’t a 1970 Valiant 2 door sedan. There was a 69 sedan and it sold about 50K. It wouldn’t have sold more in 70.
Chrysler’s product planner says they expected to sell 200K E bodies of 1.5 mil pony cars. Instead, they sold 135K of 1.0 mil. They knew at their first consumer previews in the fall of 69 that the Barracuda would be a disappointment, regardless of their other products. The market went the other way. Most of the people who bought Dusters wouldn’t buy a Barracuda, and certainly didn’t buy the 69 Valiant sedan.
If Chrysler had sold 200K e bodies and 50K Valiant 2 door sedans in 1970, that would be many, many fewer than the nearly 400K Dusters and E bodies that were actually sold. That’s how math works. The Duster took a few sales from Barracuda prospects, but the actual buying public had few Barracuda prospects.
JP, one point of clarification, all Mavericks received a glove box for the 1973 model year.
Excellent, well written article JPC. And a great find. I agree, one of the best looking 4 door Mavericks I’ve seen. This color gives a greater quality appearance than most Maverick shades. Earth-tones were big on the Maverick/Comet, but the traditional silver blue, or silver would have provided them more elegance.
I suspect with the LDO, Ford was perhaps looking to compete directly with the wave of small luxury European cars like the Peugeot 504 and the Audi 100LS that were getting very popular in parts of the US and Canada. And in the process, they were getting a leg-up in the to come domestic luxury compact race. But the small Europeans may have been the primary early target. For those young buyers they attracted, the Ford brand (rather than Mercury) would have more European-inspired credentials. Helped by the popularity of the Ford Capri. My guess. Radial tires would have drawn those attracted to the European brands. I suspect Ford was tackling the existing European popularity.
The wheelcovers (below) were popular on the Granada, and I associate them most with the Granada, but I very rarely saw them on the Maverick. I think they would have been among the best choices for making the cheaper compact look more elegant. I liked the spoked Rally wheel option best, offered on some of the last Mavericks.
Credit to Ford mimicking European brands with the luxury-looking seats and high backs. The carpeting inside the parcel shelf looks comical… almost trying too hard. Especially given the rest of the dash looks kinda cheap. The mid-body chrome and vinyl rub strip doesn’t say European to me. But it was a popular look on many 70s Fords and Chryslers. The Dodge Aspen offered very similar trim on the Aspen Custom package.
Enjoyed this. Thank you JP!
When you had AC that shelf was useless. The evaporator intruded on all but a couple of inches of depth.
FWIW 3 cars later, my parents did end up with an Audi 5000, finally the real thing.
Despite that car’s many finer points, the Comet was still more reliable.
I recall some of your stories about the LDO and the 5000. If I recall correctly, the 5000 was much trouble? As was the LeBaron Coupe… initially. But the Chrysler eventually became reliable.
Yep, the LeBaron was a stinker until all the rotten original parts were changed. At least it was relatively cheap to do so, unlike the Audi when it was off warranty. In the early 80s in Canada, they had something called the Audi Card. “Full Coverge” for 3 years. Translation, dealer only does the minimum to fix what broke, and do no preventative maintenance whatsoever. As a example, one of the oil cooler lines (cloth braided, WTF!)
blew out. It was months away from warranty expiration and they refused to replace the other, even though it was clearly on the way out. When that one went, I was in the middle of rural Alberta and nobody would touch it until someone recommended a father-son outfit that worked on oil patch trucks. The father (old guy then) fabbed up a set.
Out of all the old parents cars I wish I had back, the 460 Elite that replaced the Comet is my pick. At least it could lay a mean patch!
Given your dad seemed to like domestic luxury, I’m surprised he took a chance on the Audi.
He listened to my brother instead of me on that one. I told him either pony up for the 5-series or a cheaper MB or don’t play. I knew that Audi’s were unreliable in the past (the 100LS hadn’t receded so far back in history at the time) , but wishful thinking prevailed. “yes they were bad in the past, but by gum, I think they have it licked now!”.
I liked this shade of blue enough in the ’70s that I asked my dad if he’d help me repaint my bike that color. You could buy a close enough approximation in rattle cans then, so we sanded my Schwinn smooth and went for it.
LiDO?
Must admit those bucket seats with adjustable backs would have been nice. I owned a plain ’74 Maverick in the mid 80s. Solid and reliable but the bench seat was horribly uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable bench seats were so associated with the Maverick, that the initial LDO seats look completely out of place in this ad.
If you read the fine print in the upper edge of the dashboard photo, it reads “All 1973 cars must meet Federal Emissions Standards before sale.”
Ford had an emissions scandal for model year 1973. IIRC, technicians had replaced sparkplugs during the emission testing cycle to assure compliance. Once disclosed, all emission testing had to be repeated delaying the release of the 1973 fleet which was a banner year for big three car sales. OUCH!!
I doubt Ford did much (if any?) wind tunnel testing with the Maverick. As the upright 2 to 3 inch lip at the leading edge of the hood must have ‘bulldozed’ air flow. Proven by all the dead bugs and stone chipped paint, and rust pits you’d see here on many Mavs.
While were on the subject, here my Maverick MM bucket-but still budget list build. First, find mint Grandma’s
car as illustrated below. Make sure it’s an AC car. Next, swap in LDO interior as depicted in this post’s classic ads & brochures.
Stick in 5.0 HO and T5 from wrecked Fox Mustang . Maybe spend more
and make it a 347 with GT40 heads.
Now picture the stock steelies widened but still with the dog dishes.
Underneath is a complete 1965 Shelby Mustang-ized suspension.
Bigger front discs, Versailles disc brake rear end.
No rack & pinion. Hey, you don’t chop up a classic, baby!
Dual exhaust, a QUIET one up to the axle, then into a single big-mouth tail pipe in the stock location. Yes, it would cost some horses, I make it up in stealth.
The only hard part is finding the above donor with 3000 original miles in dry heated storage for the last 42 years!
Close friends had a Maverick in red, with a white vinyl roof as I recall. Only now do I realize it must have been a Lido model. I didn’t know why, for the life of me, why someone would dress up a Maverick so much, when it was really simply good economical transportation. Theirs was a stark contrast with our next door neighbour’s Mav, who had a stripped down one in green, with three on the tree, and dog dishes.
Taking a ride in the friend’s red one, I was left with the distinct impression to this day, that the car was underpowered. I believed at the time that it had the 250 cu.in. engine in it, and maybe the A/C was running, but man it seemed to have a hard time getting out of its own way. Anyway, they got more than a few years out of it, so life goes on.
Regarding the first ad, specifically the red interior, I guess it’s a very early picture. The steering column doesn’t show the starting switch (I understand that the first Mavericks produced during 1969 had the sitch on the dashboard like other Fords, and the location just changed for ’70) Am I right?
As for the brown Comet in other ad, I remember a diplomat who had served in Washington DC bringing over a car just like that and me and my brother passing by near the house and stopping to ask the guy about the car. He was extremely courteous, I was amazed at seeing my first car with US plates (in Uruguay foreign plates were typically from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay carrying tourists to Punta del Este, then the only known vacation resort by foreigners). I distinctly remember that the Comet Custom didn’t have power brakes (this was ’75), which our ’68 bare bones Nova had, and lots of other things that we did not, like armrests for the rear doors, plaid upholstery (or at least, nice upholstery), bench bumpers (believe it or not, I liked them at the time, and still do today, because thay were a sign that the car was built in or intended for the country where my Dad always wanted to live in), automatic and power steering. I also remember it was a 6 cylinder, though not the size.
At the time I could pinpoint almost every “Corps Diplomatique” car in Uruguay, as they were bought directly through factory channels and usually special ordered, so no two were exactly the same. You want a 6 cylinder Caprice with all the frills? Sure, sir. We’ll keep you posted about when it is ready, when it is loaded to the ship, and when can you pick it up at the dealer’s… at US price, and at 3 years old you can sell it for about twice that.
Yes, the first Mavericks did not have a column-mounted ignition swich, and they also still had a horn button trim ring. These two features are how it’s easy to tell the earliest Mavericks.
In fact, this was the reason the old, outgoing Falcon got a bit of an extended run, as well as the weird, half-year Fairlane Falcon 2-door sedan. When they were in the planning stages, Ford was concerned that the Maverick wouldn’t be able to meet all of the new regulation changes, so they used the old Falcon and Fairlane versions to fill in any gaps, just in case.
I was 10 when my parents bought a 74 Maverick. My uncle worked for Ford at the time and I clearly remember driving around the Mahwah, NJ Ford plant looking at all the new cars parked in the lot. I don’t remember why we went – but we did.
Anyway, my father bought a base Maverick 4 door – white exterior, blue interior. It was to be my mother’s car as she was getting back to work as a teacher, and needed a car.
It probably had the 250 – 6 in it – and it was junk.
As a kid it was my job to open the garage door – my mother would back the car out- and I would then close the door.
I remember vividly – she would start the car over and over – only to have it stall when she put it in reverse – and me standing aside – cheering when it would start, only to feel let down when it stalled again.
Finally, once it decided to run, we would make our way down the to the first stop sign (several miles away) and it would promptly stall again.
Plus, it had the “safety” ignition interlock system – which meant you had to have the seatbelts buckled or the car wouldn’t start. I guess that worked ok – but I know a lot of people just buckled the seatbelts permanently and just sat on top of them.
Finally, about 4 years later when my father had had enough he took it in to trade it in on a new Fairmont and the sales guys asked if the car had been underwater – that’s how badly it had rusted.
Really – an awful car.
My experience was the exact opposite. I was disappointed when Dad brought home a new 1970 Maverick Grabber instead of a Mustang (I was 14 and was looking forward to using the new family wheels). When I got my driver’s Lise se, I tried to prematurely kill the Maverick in stupid hope that Dad would replace it with a ‘Stang. I could not kill it.
Dad was a smart man. He told me that winter was coming and that if the Maverick doesn’t start, I’d be on my own. So, I spent a little time in October on the car… clean the carb, make sure the radiator had a good antifreeze mix, and wax the paint. Dad was proud to observe that the Maverick started every winter morning despite being parked outside and facing the weather and despite an unusually bitter cold winter.
By today’s standards, the car was crude. By early 1970s standards, it was dependably simple (I.e., very easy to maintain). And in 2-door form, it was more stylish than an of its competitors.
While this was never my type of car, the concept made sense at a time of rising prices for gas and cars themselves. Luxury that Americans wanted in an economical package was an excellent idea, not for the performance enthusiast, but middle America. All this talk of horspower, handling and brakes totally misses the point of this car.
This is also classic Detroit marketing that really got going in the 1950’s. Have a low price leader and offer upmarket trim and options at much more profitable margins.
Dad had a ’74 Comet with a jet black standard vinyl interior and top.
A/C was fine, but the handling was atrocious. Felt like you were driving on ice compared to my ’69 Beetle with skinny tires which felt more sure footed. Also, it had a shimmy whenever he touched the brakes. The 302 V8 had punch once you got past the initial hesitation. Fuel economy was in the 15-18 MPG range. He eventually traded it in for a Nissan Maxima due to a valve knock attributed to my older brother’s acceleration runs.
Years later, I came across the car in a grocery parking lot. What gave it away was the engine knock!!😉😉😉
You can make a small, cheap car practical OR sporty-looking OR luxurious. You don’t even get to pick 2 out of 3.
The Maverick (especially the 2-door) went for “sporty-looking”. Which means it wasn’t practical, and couldn’t be made luxurious.
Lipstick on a pig.
At my (repeated) suggestions, a good friend of mine traded her bare bones 1970 Maverick in on a 1975 LDO V8 Maverick.
The difference between the two cars was a revelation!
The 1970 model reminded me vividly of my Grandpa’s 1960 Falcon. The plaid bench seat was as colorful as it was uncomfortable. As long a you were not in a hurry the 200 six engine was…just barely….adequate.
The LDO model, with the V8 engine, factory A/C, power steering and those buttery soft brown bucket seats was a pleasure to drive! Hard to believe that these two cars were from the same basic body shell.
With their 170CI engines, those first, spartan $1995 Mavericks get ripped on mercilessly.
But in the context of being compared to the performance and comfort of a VW Beetle, which is what those first Mavericks were intended to go up against (before the Pinto arrived), I don’t think those first Mavericks were all that bad. I mean, in a drag race, I’m pretty sure a 170 Maverick would still handily take a Beetle, maybe even if the Maverick had one of those rare, manual-shift C4 automatics.
But, as hard as it might be believed, the Pinto was an improvement over the Maverick in that market.
In 70, these were acceleration times to 60 in Mavericks from period road tests. 170/manual: 15.4. 200/manual: 12.3. 200/auto: 14.5. 250/auto: 10.5
My best friend in high school came from a Mercury family, so his high school car was a ’74 Comet, not looking too different from the ’73 in the brochure picture above.
Sticking with Mercury, upon graduating and getting his first real job, he ordered a ’79 Monarch loaded up with lots of options.
Both of these cars were powered by the Malaise Era 250 straight 6. The latter car was still a very nice car on a road trip up to a ski resort. His Monarch was light blue metallic with a dark blue vinyl (looking like leather) interior and dark blue accents on the exterior.
He kept on going with Mercury, eventually getting an Aero-Cougar, perhaps with the Essex V6, but I guess he got tired of the slow engines. The last time I saw him, he was rolling in a Marauder (the Panther version).
The 1970’s at its worst.
Keith Teter, head of the Art Center College of Design ID Dept. back in early 70s, would be happy to read your glowing accolades of the Maverick appearance, if he was still with us. His last job at Ford was to head the Maverick design team.
Being a (former) GM fan back then, my opinion of the Maverick’s styling would be and remains rather different! One of my sister-in-laws bought a early Maverick, traded for a base Challenger asap!
However, this version certainly “fits” into the Lido mold now doesn’t it?!! DFO
I remember liking these LDO’s at the time. The tan interior and color-coordinated hubcaps seemed a bit Mercedes- or Audi-like, compared to the tufted burgundy and fake wirewheel covers seen on other broughamy cars. Unfortunately my one driving experience behind the wheel of a friend’s mom’s non-LDO 2 door Maverick, with a sagging bench seat and 3 on the tree, wasn’t Mercedes- or Audi-like at all. In hindsight, the Maverick styling was quite nice, both 2 and 4 door, but (like the Pinto a few years later) the use of a 2 door fastback to replace the more space-efficient Falcon and Cortina really didn’t make sense.
I bought one of the very first 1972 Maverick LDOs in the summer of 1972. I arrived at Jerry Watson Ford in Fort Wayne, IN to buy a used 1971 Mustang I had looked at a couple of days before. Three new LDOs had just arrived and been removed from the transporter. IIRC in addition to my two-door in Medium Yellow Gold, they had two white two-doors, one with the 250 and the other with the 302. I got a decent deal trading in a 1969 VW bug and drove the Maverick home.
The LDO was a very comfortable car, quiet with deep pile carpeting and significant amounts of sound insulation, A/C, 302, and the Firestone radials provided decent handling. The bucket seats were very supportive and the soft vinyl was luxurious and wore well. I put the required initial 1,000 miles on the car, had the first service done, and drove it to California to go to graduate school. It performed well, especially the A/C during that long, hot drive, and I enjoyed the car. Long term reliability is another story…
My mother had one of the early Mavericks built in 1969 with the ignition on the dash and the 200 six. The two cars were as different as night and day but the LDO cost significantly more.
The window sticker:
I grew up in a Mennonite community. A local business owner drove one of the gold ones. Perfect compromise with the values of the community while subtly showing some status and pleasing the comfort-oriented wife. He was a smart man and sensitive to other people’s needs and attitudes.
There were folks who came to church from the nearby city who had foreign cars, but they had corporate jobs and not their own business. The Mav also allowed him to buy local while showing some prosperity, a good message to send as a small business owner*.
At the time I thought it was kinda uncool and inauthentic. Still do, but now I understand how an otherwise sane and business-headed person would end up with one.
And thanks to this article I now know what they are, never bothered to look it up at the time, just thought it was a subtly gaudy Maverick. Another childhood mystery sol-ved.
*Was at a produce auction in an Amish area, goods still sold from the beds of buggies. One man, who mostly stood and watched, had a particularly well-cut plain suit, and… gold glasses of the correct nerdy horn-rim.
Seeing this LDO 4-door reminds me of some neighbors from when I was growing up, who owned a white one similar to the 1972 model shown above. They were a mismatched couple, who also had a base model 1974 AMC Matador two-door, in school bus yellow, complete with undersized tires and dog dish hub caps. Rumor had it that he was a mean-spirited cheapskate and she was the daughter of a well-to-do corporate executive and something of a princess. As is often the case, the cars underscored the personality differences and the marriage ended in a divorce. He left, along with the Matador, while Maverick remained with she and the kids in that house. Like most early 1970s Fords, the Maverick rusted through very quickly and was replaced by a Mercury Monarch Ghia and shortly thereafter, she remarried, this time to a much nicer, well-to-do fellow who brought a fully loaded Buick Electra 225 to the marriage. Automotive harmony restored, they continued to live in that house until retiring to Florida 25-30 years later.
The chrome trim on the B-pillar reminds me of the B-pillar window that would show up on the 1975 LTD coupe.
My first car was a ’74 Maverick LDO 2 door. The vinyl top had lone burnt off prior to my ownership, and the side trim and color matching hubcaps went away when it got repainted. But I loved the comfortable bucket seats and the think carpet was a welcomed touch. I rather miss that car.
Yes the profitability of the LDO option, combined with the big sales surge in 1974, thanks to the 1st energy crisis is why there was no true stripper Granada. That was supposed to replace the Maverick, but instead they decided to solder on the Maverick and up the content and price on the Granada and shift the marketing accordingly. Someone who was looking for a cheap car could still get the Mav, w/o watering down the Granada which was sold to the person who may have been driving an upper trim midsize or large car, but was also looking for improved fuel economy.
Only one person I knew had an LDO Maverick. One of the girls in my neighborhood got one on her 16th birthday. It was that dark green with the gold molding and (IIRC) a tan interior with green fabric inserts on the doors. Occasionally, we would ride to school together, but it was pretty infrequently. I do remember the car being quieter and more nicely equipped than my parent’s Mercury Montego; with the 302 it was a pretty zippy car on the lower end. If you wound up that motor, it ran out of steam pretty quickly.
It was interesting reading that Popular Science from 1973; at least on the automotive side, there was a lot of excitement and buzz over the Wankel engines. It seems like we’re having a similar situation with electric vehicles today. I hope that EVs do better than Wankels did.
Of course it means Lido. He could Brougham up anything!
Loved the tie-in with the acronym! When I had first heard of the “LDO”, it made no sense to me the way that “SS” (Chevrolet), “SE” (Dodge), GT (any make) or even “Ghia” did. (Why wasn’t this the “Maverick Ghia”? Did Ford’s purchase of Ghia happen after the ’73 Maverick LDO’s introduction?)
As for the ’70s upscale compact thing goes, I think the Chrysler A-Bodies (Plymouth Valiant Brougham / Dodge Dart SE) wore their nicer duds more convincingly than any other compact (AMC Hornet Gucci, Chevy Nova LN), which I owe to their more formal, upright lines.
Wait a minute–didn’t all of these leave the factory with one fender in primer and a hubcap missing? Because most of the time, that’s the overall condition I have memory of regarding these cars. This has to be the nicest Maverick known in existence. The fact that it’s a 4-door makes it all the more remarkable!
I never noticed how much the 4 door Maverick resembles a MK III Cortina, especially the front and rear 3/4 view. I also see a bit of Mad Max era Ford Falcon. Then again I was always more interested in the rare V8 fastbacks than the bread and butter 6 cylinder sedans.
Just like contemporary GM cars, Ford applied similar styling cues worldwide. No coincidence the MkIII Cortina, Mad Max Falcon, Maverick and second-gen Mustang came out about the same time and shared a family resemblance. Add the Gran Torino to that list.
Unfortunately, in the States at least, the 5-mph bumpers absolutely ruined the swoopy styling. 1972 was the best year as they all looked the way they were intended.
We bought a ’74 Maverick LDO new in September of ’74. It was intended to be a second car for mom to get groceries in and for me to drive to university. It looked good, Polar White with brown vinyl trim outside and the tan interior. Even had deep-pile carpet, not quite shag carpet but close.
Trouble was, it was still a Maverick, so you had things like the doors on the inside being textured painted metal with just a center upholstered piece, clear plastic lock button grommets which broke easily, and built-in rattles galore. Our had the 250 6-cyl which was gutless and wheezy. The Firestone 500 radials made it surprisingly nimble though and ours didn’t have tread separation, maybe because the car was so unstable over 55 mph that they could never get too hot. The brakes (manual drums) were terrible, and the suspension was awful, way too stiff in the rear and mushy and loose-feeling up front. But the body was the worst thing about it. It leaked everywhere and in the northeast, that meant that salt got where it shouldn’t over the winter and so it began rusting out almost immediately. The first body/paint repairs were done 2 years in and by year 4 it was becoming a rust bucket.The pic is from about 1975.