The Last Model Year

The 1977 model year closed out the Maverick nameplate. Classic Industries counts 40,086 two-door sedans and 58,420 four-door sedans built for the year, and no source consulted names a Stallion or any other performance-package count for 1977, so whatever share of that total carried special paint, trim, or handling equipment is not recorded here. The four-door outsold the two-door by roughly 1.46 to 1 in the count that survives, the four-door accounting for roughly 59 percent of the combined 98,506 sedans and the two-door the remaining 41 percent, though the source gives no breakdown by engine, region, or trim level within either body style.¹

Factory prices for 1977 ran $3,322 for the six-cylinder two-door sedan and $3,483 for the V-8 version, a $161 spread between engines on that body style. The four-door sedan carried $3,395 for the six and $3,556 for the V-8, a $161 spread that matches the two-door's engine premium exactly, and each four-door price sits $73 above its corresponding two-door price at the same engine. Measured as a percentage rather than a dollar figure, the V-8 premium works out to about 4.8 percent over the six-cylinder two-door and about 4.7 percent over the six-cylinder four-door, so the flat $161 is the number that repeats across the catalogue rows. No source consulted states how Ford arrived at these prices, and the brochure described below prints no prices of its own.²

Ford's sales brochure for the 1977 Maverick, whose back cover prints the form number 448 and the date 8/76, shows two bodies: a 2-door sedan with room for four and a 4-door sedan with room for five. One caption calls a car a Sporty Maverick 2-Door Sedan with the Exterior Decor Group. The standard engine is a 200 CID one-venturi six with DuraSpark ignition, printed as not available in California, backed by a fully synchronized 3-speed manual transmission with a column shift. The optional engines are a 250 CID six, also unavailable with California or high-altitude emission equipment, and a 302 CID 2V V-8, called a 302 CID VV in California. The brochure prints no horsepower or torque ratings, so none appear in this record.

The brochure's option pages are checklists rather than a price list. Audio choices run from an AM radio with pushbutton tuning through AM/FM monaural and stereo sets to an AM/FM stereo with an 8-track tape player and ten station presets. Appearance items include the Exterior Decor Group, the Interior Decor Group, the Deluxe Bumper Group, the Protection Group, Tu-Tone paint, a vinyl roof in six colors, styled steel wheels with trim rings, lacy spoke aluminum wheels and wire wheel covers. Comfort items include SelectAire air conditioning, a rear window defogger, a Convenience Group and a Light Group. Performance items include power steering, a heavy-duty suspension, SelectShift automatic transmission and power front disc brakes, which the brochure says are required with the 302 V-8 even though it also lists front disc brakes among the standard features. No option carries a code or a price in the brochure.

Trim is the best-documented part of the brochure. The standard interior is a bench seat in Random Stripe cloth and vinyl, shown in Light Green under code BG and offered in Black, Blue, Red and Tan, with color-keyed cut-pile carpet. Optional trims shown with printed codes are Medium Blue Alpine cloth and vinyl reclining bucket seats (QB), Red Corinthian vinyl bucket seats (SD), a Black tooled vinyl bench (HA) and a Tan Barletta cloth and vinyl bench (UU); the other colors of each are listed by name without codes. Paint is thinner: codes are printed only for six colors the brochure happens to picture or name, Bright Red (2R), Dark Yellow Green Metallic (4V), Orange (8G), Bright Saddle Metallic (8K), Tan (8H) and Bright Blue Glow (3V). The back cover says colors and trims are coded and gives a single example, so this record does not claim a complete 1977 paint palette.

Measurements come from the same brochure. The 2-door has a 103.0 inch wheelbase, a 187.0 inch length and a printed curb weight of 2,909 lb; the 4-door has a 109.9 inch wheelbase, a 193.9 inch length and 3,011 lb; both list 19.2 gallons of fuel, a 70.5 inch width and 56.5 inch tread. The Ford Maverick Page prints 2,922 lb and 3,027 lb for the same two bodies, and this record carries both pairs as conflicts without choosing between them. On the package question, Classic Industries mentions the discontinuation of the Grabber after 1975, and Wikipedia says the Grabber was dropped in 1976 when a Stallion package was introduced and that the 1977 car stayed unchanged apart from a police package that sold under 400. The brochure never names a Stallion, so this record makes no Grabber or Stallion claim for 1977.^3,1,4