Hey, Have the fumes finely cleaned my clock, or is there a clone of the Buddy Alcorn Merc., the second iteration,the two toned one at large? I heard Kurt McCormick has the original/restored one, but I've seen a picture of the Maroon and gold one, in a mag., on a komputer site? Honest, it ain't the scotch talkin'! S****ey Devils C.C.
I own the original headlight rings from the Alcorn Merc...got them from Kirk himself just some cool Kustom history.... John
i bid on the interior garnish moldings he had on ebay. got snipped.i was going to fix them and put them in my car, just because. oh well. kurt also sells barris crest and those music note speaker covers.
Has been said that the Alcorn merc was chopped by the Ayalas,we know it wasnt chopped by Sam and the other night I was doing some homework and read something that leads you to believe that this car MIGHT of been chopped at Valley Customs????????? Rik what do you know about it?
The Alcorn Merc has been customized by the Ayala Brothers. It was in the Barris Kustom Techniques books #2 that George claims Valley Customs chopped it. But in the Dan Post Blue book 1952-53 edition this spread appears. ] The car was unfinished here and had different taillights. Supposedly the car was handed over to the Barris shop like this and there the car was modified a little more (different taillights a**** other things) and finished for Buddy Alcorn. It has long been known as a Barris Custom, but it was in fact the Ayala brothers who performed most of the body work on it. Later the car was sold to **** Jackson who added the light gold/or silver? paint below the trim and scallops on the hood and trunk. This is how the car was found.... And Kurt's restoration back to the first finished version is perfect!!! Dave Darby Photo Carnut.com photo I have not heard of a clone being built of the **** Jackson version... but it could of co**** very well be. All I have seen is one inspired by the Alcorn Merc.. not a clone though.
Great group of pics Rik...... I knew the info about the Ayalas doing most of the work, but there is nothing that really says who did the chop.I think it is the nicest of the fastback chopped mercs that was ever done. I love the early tailights that were on this car,I think George made a mistake when he changed them.
I'm positive the car was chopped by the Ayala's I have no proof of it, but the molded look that was so Ayala's is very evident in this car. It does remind me of the Louis Bettancrourt Mercury which was also chopped by the Ayala's. Perhaps the taillight swap was something Buddy wanted... Or perhaps George just wanted to put his finger on it, and make it a Barris Creation. Who knows.
This Merc was formerly owned by my friend Bob Paterson of Nashville TN. Chopped by Tommy Steadman, bodywork roughed in by Bob, finished/ painted by me. Buddy Alcorn's car WAS the inspiration(not meant to be a clone though) for this 51, and I didn't even know what the Alcorn Merc was until I met Bob. He's in his 70s and has enlightened me about customs, and recently gave me his collection of little books One of the benefits of working on this kind of stuff is the friendships I've made The purple/cream Merc in the background is a TN car as well.....I was supposed to do it, too, but the owner couldn't fit it into my schedule This picture was from James Dean year before last, I do believe.(I was there)
That the top looks like its shaped from ****er... I mean it in a good way. To me the top of the Alcorn Merc and the Bettancourt Merc - although quite different in shape from each other - do look to me like they where shaped from ****er by the same person. Hope that makes sense.
Hands down my favorite kustom of all time, in both paint schemes...she's one gorgeous car...and I know exactly what you mean about how the roof looks molded Rik, I couldn't have described it better...it's so smooth of a transition between the fenders, decklid and roof...absolutely amazing work...
The kool thing about McCormick is he drives them. He drove the alcorn Merc to Glasgow's open house (aka Night Prowlers) and his shop is off of a dirt road. Kurt didn't think twice about driving it down the road. Checkout the dust on the rear fenders. Kool! Right after the open house we went to Daniels to check out his garage and I got to follow the Alcorn Merc on the way. Wish that I had taken some road pictures. The pictures below were from Starbirds..... If you get the chance you got to check the Merc out in person... Stance is purrfect. Happy Trails, Mick
I think the "purists" tend to cringe a little at Kurts restorations, as they don't end up nut and bolts orginals. I appriciate that he restores them so he can DRIVE them using period updates, rather than Street rod style updates to allow him to bring them places for everyone to see. I'd rather see them updated the way he does for reliablity rather than left in a garage or musuem because they can't (or won't) be driven.
Well, I must be a "purist", and I'm cringing..................his regular manner of altering history on historic kustoms through his "restorations" doesn't fly with me! BB/CC paint finishes (street rod paint) for one . The job he commisioned for the Westergard droptop Caddy, featured in " The Rodders Journal" magazine bordered on criminal! ' yanked the original mill and replaced it with a 390, offed the original manual gearbox for a ****ing 700R, may as well of gone with a 350/350.....( insert barffing sounds here), modified the original flow of the " Carson" type top and filled it with shaped urethane foam, and again with the urethane paint! I guess one could form quite a compelling argument that at least it's not still rotting in outside storage! Kustoms with street rod overtones don't improve the breed, they debase it! Meanwhyle, back aboard the Tainted Pork
The more time and years go by this Alcorn merc and the Bugarin merc just keep growing on me. These cars often get overlooked in my opinion and they are just sooo nice.
Of all the heavily cut early Mercs, I still like Jerry Quesnel`s the best, and Frank Sonzogni`s a close second. Any leads on Jerry`s car? I don`t recall it being found..
Few more photos.... My friend Wolf (TinWolf) took these photos when he visited Kurt a few years ago. For some reason the colors turned blue... probably a wrong setting on the new camera.
Holy **** Rik, them pictures are awesome!!!! I take back what I said about the flatspot on Alcorns merc,maybe it was just the lighting in the photo I was looking at.Damn Rik you just keep on feeding more of these pics and I just keep staying up later to see them,Alcorn merc was incredible. I cant get enough!!!!!!!! And oh ya, that car was most definatley chopped by the Ayalas.
Jeff... here is another side view for you... Barris took this one... My only "problem" with the car is the slightly curved feel of the lower side trim.
This car SHOULD of been at sacramento last year!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im still pissed it wasnt,with a historic sled like this still around it is a crime to not have it at that show!!!!!!
OT.Here's a pic of Frank Sonzogni's Merc.I talked to Larry(The Owner)at the Merc Gathering and he said he wanted to redo to the way it used to look.
While all the cars Kurt saves are great icons of (k)custom history.Kurt the man is one of the greatest guys I have had the privilege to know. A real cl*** guy. Al
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