FORD FAN SPOTLIGHT – We caught up with Ford enthusiast Tom Lehman at July’s Old Fort Mustangers annual show in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after talking with him a while back at a big cruise-in at the Halderman Museum in Tipp City, Ohio. Back then, we’d told Tom how much we liked the Mustang he drove to that event – but he quickly told us he also has a Maverick Grabber that we’d simply have to see to appreciate. Well, when we saw Tom again at his hometown Fort Wayne show and he said he had a “surprise” for us, we were pleased to find out that yes, this time he drove his ‘72 Maverick Grabber there for us to check out in person. Although it was an older restoration, we were quite impressed how nice this rare (a Marti Repot-verified 1-of-1 ordered in this configuration), 1972 Maverick Grabber was to experience up-close. (We especially liked the remote cut-outs for the exhaust in case he wanted his small-block V-8 to offer more roar out on the road!). We asked Tom to send along his Maverick resto story a with a few pics to be featured in our Fan Spotlight, and he quickly obliged with the insightful content below:
“Was great seeing Ford Performance Club Connect at our show, and thanks for asking me to share the story behind my car. Back in the ‘70s the Ford Maverick was known as ‘The Simple Machine,’ but as I’d mentioned to you when you got to see it, I had purchased the car off of eBay back in 1999. The restoration took me 8 years due to a significant amount of rust repair being needed.
When I bought the car, I was told that the owner tried for several years to purchase the car from its original owner. The second owner had planned to restore the car but never got around to it Restoring a Maverick in the early 2000’s is vastly different than trying to do it in 2025. The process was ‘old school.’ You had to search and find OEM parts that were in better shape than what you currently had or restore / repair your own. Today, the fenders, Grabber hood, hood-lip molding and several other unique parts are reproduced.
Knowing that rust repair often fails due to not first removing enough of the rusty metal (which results in the rust returning), I found and purchased the following from California: A replacement 1971-72 Grabber hood, front fenders, doors, trunk lid, and a patch for the footwell behind the driver’s seat. Wanting to confirm the parts and condition were what I purchased, I flew to California, inspected, purchased and then rented a minivan and drove everything back to Indiana.
I found the rear quarters in Ohio. They had been removed using an arc welder from a car that been wrecked in the mid-seventies, destroying the car’s front end. The quarters still had the inner and outer wheel wells attached to them. Starting at the front, the valance, grille, hood, fenders, radiator, engine, transmission, transmission lines, fuel lines, etc., were all removed. The panel with the battery tray, the battery tray itself and panel behind the wiper bottle were replaced. The entire snout including the firewall was then stripped to bare metal and coated with a sealer.
The engine and transmission were removed and rebuilt. When rebuilding the engine, we tried using a newer one-piece seal. What we learned was that the gap was so large we could not get enough compression to seal the rear main. To resolve the issue, the engine came back out and the rear main was machined to accept a one-piece seal.
The windshield and rear glass were removed during the restoration, and this made removing the original cut-up dash easier. The headliner needed to be removed and replaced anyway, and while the dash was out, I repaired the front buckets, the driver’s-side air vent and passenger-side heater assembly, too. Unfortunately, the cowl vent allows dirt, leaves and anything else that fits to get inside. The debris found its way into the buckets and to the bottom of the rear section of the front fenders, causing them to rust.
Both doors were removed, along with the seats, the entire interior, the rear package tray, etc. The rust in the car’s floor pan was then fixed. Luckily, Ford used a rope seal in the 70’s at the engine’s rear main. Once the rope was worn out, they leaked. After 116,000 miles of being saturated with oil, the front half of the floor pan was coated with grease, which actually served to save the majority of the floor from rusting.
We then cut both rear quarters off the car and replaced them with the rear quarters from Ohio and fixed the taillight panel, as well as under the passenger-side taillight where the panel had rusted. With all the rust repaired and the car completely disassembled, the entire car was stripped to bare metal.
Wanting to bring the car back to ‘as close to original’ takes far longer than going the ‘custom route.’ Finding the original NOS knit material for the seats took a while but we found it. Finding companies to re-chrome the dash bezel, door armrest bases, rebuild the dash pad, and build new ‘deluxe door panels’ were among the many challenges that were faced.
For safety, the car was upgraded to power disc brakes which were not available on the 1972 Maverick, but they were on the 1974 and the Granada. I found a donor car, purchased that and made the upgrade. The radiator was re-cored with a copper 3-row center to keep the engine cool. All new brake and gas lines, and new rubber bushings, seals, etc., were installed. Of course, there is a set of long-tube headers with electric cut outs that I wanted to add. But still no A/C and no power steering. For decoration, a ‘Halo bar’ or what’s called a ‘Monte Carlo bar’ was added between the shock towers.
Now that the car is complete, I parade with it and have been to many car shows in the Maverick. The comments I hear the most are. ‘Wow, that’s a Maverick! You don’t see many of them anymore!’ and ‘We had a Maverick when I was a kid!’ It was either light green or light blue, most were said to have four doors, a manual transmission and a 6- cylinder.
I’ve included some details from the Marti Report below:”
1972 Ford Maverick
Ordered 7/20/71
Serialized 8/2/7
Bucked 8/17/71
Scheduled for Build 8/19/71
Built 8/23/71
Released 9/11/71
Sold 9/24/71
62-D Maverick 2-door GrabberZ
5H Ginger metallic
FA Black Knitted Vinyl Bucket Sets
3 2.79 gear ratio
25 Richmond Ordering District
“Thanks for taking an interest in my Maverick!”
Here’s How YOU Can Get In The Spotlight: For more than 20 years now, one of the most popular features on FordPerformance.com and in our weekly Fast News e-newsletter continues to be "Ford Fan Spotlight," where readers can send in their own reasons why they're fans of Ford Motor Company and its vehicles. You know who they are: Ford "superfans;" grassroots Ford racers; unique Ford vehicle owners; loyal Ford enthusiasts; notable Ford club people; special Ford families; and/or any avid supporter of Ford, Ford vehicles, Ford motorsports or Ford Performance who deserves a little bit of special recognition.
All you need to do to get you, your car or candidate considered is to send in a brief description (200-500 words or less) and a few photos (in .jpeg format, preferably around 1 mb in size) with the owner’s full name and hometown, please. Just tell us about the vehicle(s) and why you think Ford Performance should feature it (them) in the "Ford Fan Spotlight" for an upcoming installment of Fast News as well as for posting on FordPerformance.com. Then email it to: ClubHub@Ford.com with your contact info. Your submission allows us the rights to use your words and images (along with any edits) for editorial purposes; we’ll choose one submission in random order to post online. We hope to see YOU and your Ford story in our Fan Spotlight soon!
