I took my old Maverick into Diablo Motors this morning to sell on consignment. I was looking at a Dodge Durango there last week, but decided I really want a pickup truck and not an SUV. The Durango sold yesterday; so it is gone anyway.

At first I was planning to trade or consign my 2013 Focus in exchange for a fairly recent Ford Ranger pickup with moderate miles, but I decided to keep the Focus, which is only 2 years old and less than 2500 miles (I don't drive much), and look for a 2009 to 2013 Ranger. They don't make them anymore and I want a Ranger, not an F-150 or a Dodge.

I used to have a 1996 Ranger, but I traded it in for my 2009 Focus. I should have kept the Ranger. It was a neat vehicle. The 2009 Focus was totaled in my accident in 2013 when a kid (he was 18; so he was legally considered an adult) T-boned my Focus while I was driving through the intersection of Bollinger Canyon and Alcosta with the green light.

After my Focus sacrificed its life for mine, I bought a new Focus with the insurance money. It's a prettier color (candy blue) and a hatch back, but I don't like driving it as much as my old pickup. OK I'm spoiled, but I'm old and earned it.

So I want to get another old pickup, but not too old. I don't want to get rid of the Focus, so I decided it is time to get rid of the Maverick. It looks so nice now that I'm afraid to drive it. I don't want to take any chances of it being totaled like my old Focus was.

Most Mavericks were cheap cars and make very good used cars now. My Maverick has all of the upgrades a Maverick could have in 1973, which makes it rather rare. It has the Grabber paint job, which I had repainted last year. It has a V8 Engine, automatic transmission with floor shift, vinyl bucket seats, tinted windows, and air conditioning. I replaced the AM radio with an AM/FM from a 1977 Thunderbird on EBay.



While the car is not a 100 point restoration, it is a very nice Maverick. I had it appraised last year for $16,200 for insurance purposes. It isn't worth that much, but it is worth somewhere between $12,000 and $14,000. So that will give anyone interested an idea of how much to offer.

The engine was running perfectly last week but was idling rough and stalling at stop lights when I drove it up to Diablo Motors this morning. Diablo Motors has a full service department to check it out and fix anything that needs fixing.

They seem like decent guys for used car salesmen. They just celebrated their 21st anniversary yesterday. I'm not sure when the Maverick will be officially available for sale. I'll post a link to the listing here when it is online on the Diablo Motors' website.