Being that Dick Dean is the master of long quarter window straight post chops on mercs as well as every other way of cutting them,I was wondering who had old shots of Dick Dean chopped Mercs and where the cars are today.
I think that the car is superb. some would say cookie cutter but the roof heights are perfect,(not too high in the back)Everything looks right.This car is the real deal.
The HAMB will never be the same... It's a "shame" only one Hamber replied to this thread before.I like the Dean chops too.I once heard Dick Dean sells cutting templates for a Merc chop.Here are two Mercs of which I think both were sliced by Dick Dean... They both have THE look.Check out this link for more info and pics : http://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/special/ddean/ddmerc/
This '51 Merc Convertible was also built by Dick Dean.You could see the car regularly in Paso the last years.Yes,the car has no top,so it's actually off topic... Here's a pic of a Carson style top Dick Dean did for another Merc.I think the lines are very pleasing and the top just looks like a Carson top should look... And just to see Dick Dean also did other cars than Mercs,here's a Carson topped late 40's Ford.Never have been a fan of ribbed bumpers and lake pipes though...
How about the old Lee Koerner50 that Barry Mazza brought to Jersey and made into a semi Bettancourt clone,This car was in the Aug 77 Street Rodder in black prime and was later on the famous poster called Jimmy Dean Mercs and the Last of the Flatheads when it was ice blue with yellow flames. vThan there is the famous yellow and brown merc that George Beluczac owned in the 80sas well as a shit load of others.
Here's a lousy pic of the semi Bettancourt clone when Klump owned it. He sold it to a guy in New jersey. I'll see if I can borrow some better pics to scan tomorrow. Billy
I've always thought dick dean was the master of getting the rear window to sit just right. I've seen a few radical chops with rear windows that just did not flow right...
I'm trying to figure out whether I like the Impala roof scoop or not. The Merc has so many smooth flowing lines, and the hard edges of the scoop take my eye away from the perfect flow of the chop. Plus it dates that car to at least '58.
Dick Dean was a master. Could be the best when it comes to chopping Merc. Although Winfield is no rookie. Just depends on the style you care for. Deans style is ageless and perfect!
I've said it before but I'll say it again. Thank you guys for bringing the custom stuff to the top. I don't have all of the reference material (or memory) that some of you have but I sure do appreciate the efforts that the guys who do put out in order to bring us some of the finest customs in the world. THANK YOU! Chris
GODDAMMIT i wish i had a scanner i found a few , even though i like a forward post better, dean knows his shit!!
00MACK !!! Thanks for getting these Kustom posts up. It's just too few of them. FrenZ and Rikster, I think you'll agree, ha ha... Keep 'em cumming !!!
There's a lot of info on the net about Dick Dean, http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/thehistoryof/4842/ is just one site. I find it interesting that Dick learned metalwork from Bill Hines...they both appeared on the Monster Garage episode with Gene Winfield. Dick still has a shop here in SoCal up in Hemet. He does all the cars for the Hard Rock cafes so you would have to get in line with some pretty deep pocketed clients to get your car worked on at his shop. I haven't heard about any "templates" that Dick has marketed...anybody got more info?
Better late than never. Here some better pics of the Bettancourt clone when it was in the care of Harry Klump. Klump repaired a few cracks that had formed over the years but it basically remained unchanged from when Barry Mazza finished it. Including the tires. Also another Dick Dean chop. Doug Hruska drove this 50 coupe from NY to Deans shop for the chop & carson top. There are pics of the car at Deans shop in the Tex Smith book, "How to build Shoebox Fords & Mercs" in the Carson top section. It's the one with flames. Harry Klump acquired the Merc from Doug & performed further custom modifications & the mile deep black laquer job shown in the photos below. Thanks to Klump for letting me borrow these photos. The current owner of the car ruined it, IMHO, by adding a black top, heavy striping, kameleon flames & other gee-gaws. Billy
Im not to big on the scoop but I love the fact that car has the drip rails...I still to this day prefer the drip rails left on chopped mercs and fords, it just makes the back quarter glass look too small without the drip rails to me. I wish I had a scanner...I used to take pics of chopped mercs all the time when I was thinking of chopping mine. Now I like them unchopped as much as chopped...people argue with me all the time on how much mine is chopped and it does not looked chopped to me at all. One of the best non Dean chops I ever saw came out of Oklahoma, guy did it himself on a pewter colored car that I saw at one of the last original Hanging Dice shows...did not like the color all that much but what a chop. Perfect! He said he copied Dean's style and he hit it...I almost let this gut do my car. I have never seen the car or that guy since...
Here is one that Dick Dean chopped for a guy in Lake Havasu City. It's not a straight post chop but has the right lines and the 51 rear window fit better than any other 51 chops I have seen. The car was so nice that the owner sold it because he was afraid to drive it anywhere. What a waste.....
His straight post early chops were killer because most of them were brought straight down at the b pillars leaving almost stock length 1/4 windows and his heights were always perfect.Never too high in the back. The only thing that I didnt dig was that he was an dvocate of frame swaps which made cars look like they had a Kenworth frame.
I found another Dick Dean chopped Merc I think.Don't know a thing about the car though.Looonnnng quarter windows...
From Street Rodder mag August 1977; page 36. Club at that time called the Mercs of So-Cal. Two of the three at the bottom of the page were done by Dean; the '50 with the '49 front end and one of the '51s. '50 with the '49 front end belonged to the club co-founder Lee Koerner and the '51 was owned by John Viall and is the car with the '54 Merc tailights in the lower left hand corner. Both appear to be straight-post chops. Sorry 'bout the clarity of the scan but I bought this mag new and after 28 years, of drooling on it, it's getting a little dog eared.
what about the red one that david lee roth ownes. iknow he put that on a modrn drive train, did dick dean also built the car?
not to take anything awaway from dick dean, but since i have all you hard core merc dudes if any one has more pics of this balion merc please post it on this thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148913
Yes and it was owned by Harold Saul in so cal.The car also gained alot of publicity when it was used in the Rauls hydraulics ads in Classic and Custom.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- YES----Dean put it on a Olds frame, here's are some photos that I took as it was being done. TwoChops
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