Used 1976 Ford Maverick for sale in Fort Worth, TX

A Ford Maverick, you say? The Mustang's low-key cousin actually looks pretty killer dressed in yellow and black livery, and this 1976 Maverick represents the end of the line for Ford's mid-sized personal car. To be honest, we rarely see these anymore and for an entry-level hobby car, it represents a whole lot of fun for not a lot of cash.

We really dig the bright yellow and black combination on this Maverick, which gives it a more performance-oriented look with a more modern twist. All the yellow paint is recent and it was finished to a strong drive-quality level that looks great, and the black accents were expertly applied, and since they are decals, could just as easily could be removed if monotone is more your speed. Bodywork is quite straight when you look down the lines, and there isn't any evidence that this Maverick was abused in its day - to the contrary, it's one of the cleaner ones we've ever seen. Because the paint is very fresh, it shines bright with a deep luster you can see in our photos, and the black stripes on the hood and down the profiles break up all that yellow perfectly, while giving the car a very racy vibe. Of course, chrome bumpers were still in fashion in 1976, but otherwise there aren't many shiny bits on this car, which has a forward-looking appearance that works rather well. The neo-fastback roofline has aged well and the car makes the most of its curves with that high-impact paint job.

The interior is definitely comfort-oriented with a little sportiness mixed in, anchored by the tan vinyl bench seat up front. The vinyl seating surfaces are in great condition, the matching dash looks so good it could very well be an OEM replacement, and the door panels at the flanks look fairly fresh too, with period-perfect designs that soften things up inside a bit. The carpets are nice and plush as well, protected by stock 'Maverick' scripted floor mats that are likely original because they must be impossible to source for this year, and the headliner up above is taut and ties everything in together perfectly. Two deep, round pods house the speedometer and fuel gauge, and if you've driven an early '70s Mustang, you'll feel right at home here, and an aftermarket tachometer was strapped to the column to keep an eye on the revs. An aftermarket 3-spoke steering wheel was added to sport things up a bit, and a set of auxiliary units were neatly stashed underneath the dash to augment the factory units. It's also equipped with a modern stereo, a Pioneer AM/FM/CD/AUX unit that fits into the center of the dash, along with a heater and seatbelts, but that's about as far as you get with options on this compact muscle car. The rear seat is in great condition and probably hasn't seen much use and the trunk is reasonably well-sized and shows no signs of body rot, which is critical on a Maverick. You also get a full-sized spare tire with jack assembly, just in case worse comes to worst, and it's all nicely covered with period-correct plaid mats.

In the relatively lightweight Maverick, the 250 cubic inch inline-six found in most of these was actually a decent performer, but it wasn't enough for the owners of this Maverick. So in came a 302 V8 small-block, and now this lightweight Ford has plenty of pop under the hood. It's smooth and virtually indestructible, and if you want economical transportation with plenty of juice, you could do a lot worse than this Maverick, with a Holley 4-barrel carb and Edelbrock aluminum intake helping things out. It looks slick under the hood, with black Edelbrock valve covers, a matching open-element air cleaner, and Ford Blue on the actual block itself, and it all looks very slick against the satin black inner fenders and firewall. The C6 3-speed automatic transmission feeds an 8-inch rear end with friendly gears inside, so the Mav is just loafing along at highway speeds, and the Flowmaster dual exhaust underneath sounds nice and throaty. Flashy 17-inch chrome wheels are a nice addition to this most sporting Mav, and they wear performance black-wall radials to complete the look.

You rarely see Mavericks these days and I'll wager that very few of these special cars still exist in this condition. Who says entry-level hobby cars have to be boring? Call today!