Not good at links but look at traditional customs forum for "Does the hamb really need another shoebox build" He's got a shoebox ....looking very cool Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
You've got the right idea with the Olds roof. Any of the other treatments people mentioned have been done time and time again. Since ‘49-51 Mercs are probably the most customized cars of all time, why do what has been done so many times before? Yes, chopped Mercs look nice, Carson tops are cool, and we all would love to have a convertible, but when you line up your Merc up with 10 others that look all look essentially all the same, THAT’S what everyone will notice. The cars in the 1st post by ‘Mo all look good. If it was me I’d do something like that, and do something different in the grill & side trim treatments as well. I have a friend who goes to the James Dean Run in Indiana every year. He told me that his chopped Merc is one of the only ones in the entire show that doesn’t have a DeSoto grill & some kind of Buick sweepspear sidetrim! That’s not very “custom.” It’s more like going to a street rod show and seeing row upon row of red ’32 Ford highboy/lowboy roadsters with blackwall tires, some type of mag wheels, etc. Some of my favorite Merc customs are chopped & have DeSoto grills &/or Buick sidetrim. So it’s not like I totally hate cars like that. I’m just saying that right now you have a chance to do something different and you already have the roof! Do something unique instead of just having another stereotypical custom. Barris, Bailon, Winfield, the Ayala Brothers, and all of the legends didn’t just keep building the same cars over and over. They tried to put a different spin on things each time, for the most part. That’s just my 2 cents. Good luck with whatever direction you choose to go with your project!
If i were you I'd go with the hard top. I think up there is B.C. you're gonna get more driveability out of it that way. Plus, I think that olds top would look killer. It's gonna be one of those things where people stand around it trying to figure out what the top came off of.
And we have a winner,,, ME! I listened to you guys and my feeling was to go with a convertible,,, and that might still happen because I know where there is another merc sans roof, however with this project I wanted to do the one with the most cool factor and the majority of you went with the hardtop. I started last friday and spent today on it and here are some pics, I still have a lot of welding to do but this is it.
Here is a pic of the passenger side with the uncut 56 Olds stainless drip rail, and the second pic is the drivers side with the drip rail trimmed long.
[QUOTE="desotot, post: 10472165, member: 48241" [/QUOTE] Man! That looks great! I just had to pull up this as a comparison shot, to examine the new crown. To my eye, it goes a long way toward transforming the look of the whole car, yet is subtle enough that most will miss it, as it looks like it belongs there. Very nice! Perhaps extending the windshield a bit into the top, ala the Matranga Merc, would further accentuate the effect? (As was the case with the Dan Landon Chevy). Just a thought. Another possibility would be the use of a 1952 Ford windshield, as seen on Leroy Goulart's shoebox Ford... ...or similar 1953 merc windshield, as used on the "Solar Scene" (also by Winfield).
Those are great pics Mo, especially the Hiohata merc. I will be going with flat glass and using a center post. I got most of the welding done on the roof today, yesterday I made the engine mounts and rear crossmember, then I stripped the frame and put it on the trailer so I can drop it of at the sandblasters. Unfotunately it looks like I will have to make a set of headers as the engine is to wide to accept any cast iron exhaust manifolds.
Hey! I tend to get a little crazy busy this time of the year , working on getting other peoples stuff on the road, as well as spending time at the lake and my youngest kid getting married this summer as well as my other kids taking advantage of my time and working on the houseboat etc etc. However, I did get the frame and sandblasted and it should be painted and assembled this week.I also had the body blasted and chased down pinholes in the welds and some other pinholes as well. I will give more updates in a few days.
Well, one reason to post pics here is that with all you guys watching I feel more obligated to keep the project happening rather than watching movies or some other nonconstructive form of time wasting. However I had an extremly busy summer plus the last of my herd got married so I am now trying to make some more headway with this merc when I am not hunting or working on a customers car.Anyway my chassis should be a roller in another week :]
Also, I am using a stock steering box and steering wheel but I will modify an automatic 60s ford pickup steering column to fit the merc shaft and steering wheel.
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