49-51 Mercury fans,what elements from past and present custom Mercs do you guys feel where the perfect modification?What do, in your opinion believe to be the perfect Merc?Lets see photos of the car and custom changes.
are ya building one? if ya are chopping the top leave the drip rails ON & watch how you lay the rear window surround in place,some put to much slope on theirs,{fast back style}
Im strictly an early style custom merc enthusiast There should be no obvious aftermarket parts or easily recognizable transplant components. No flashy gaudy paint or do dads - lake pipes - spots - bucket seats - round gauges - floor shifts - names - murals of Elvis or ?.......................
I'm looking for one to build.One of my dream cars since I was a kid,that and a Hemi car got the Hemi now I'm looking at a Merc.
Ummm.....Build it like you want it!!! Look at what others have done and build on that, while riding the edge of not changing something just for the sake of change.
LOL, yea pretty damn close right there....I would round the door corners and shave the door handles, I also like a 49 the best because of the dash, I always loved the dash in the 49 with the seperate guage area. Definatly a fan of the desoto grille, the cars look nice with buick side chrome, that is kinda a thing of color choice though, if its the right colors it works great but the wroing colors and its looks like shit. So far as the comments about spot lights and lake pipes, myself I like those two items, however you have to keep in ind this is a custom car we are talking about and the whole idea behind a custome is it is built to suit the owner and no one else so with that in mind you really just need to sit down and do like I have done and save thousands of pics of mercs and save little ideas and try to use them on your car. Now for me my perfect merc is a 49 4-door, 49 for the dash, 4-door because I love the suiside rear doors, and done right they look just as good as a coupe I think, now I did not get my chop right on my car, but it was my first chop and I will have to live with that, if you look at the chop on dixie delux, Bo Huff built car it has a fantastic chop on a 4-door merc, then I like the 52-54 merc front wheel wells, with the 11 tooth desoto grill, round hood cornoers nosed decked, shaved of all chrome but the belt line chrome. I like the stock bumpers pulled a bit closer to the car and shaved. I like the headlights frenched with the ford/merc rings from 52-54 so they are about 2" out from the car, this brings the front of the headlight ring out close the nose of the hood, makes the front of the car a little more "in line" I would love to have 49 or 50 lincoln taillights however I just was unable to find a set that I could afford, every set I found was 6 to 800 dollars, I just could not do that so my car has 50 pontiac taillights, I will live with that. I like the stock suspension, they ride and drive great, I like the cars lowered 4" in the front and 5" in the rear, I thin a chop of 5" in the front and 6" in the rear is very nice, on a coupe I like the b pillar slanted. Trunk corners rounded, for gods sake no contental kits on mercs of 49 or 50 please, they kinda work on a 51 but not on the 49 or 50. So anyways there you have it from me, and I have had around 27 mercs I am 43 years old, bought my first merc at 13, learned to drive in it, drove it in high school, all the kids in their IROKS made fun of me for driving the bathtub but I loved it and have loved my mercs since then. My love started when I found a very small black and white pic my dad had saved from an old mag or paper of the solar scene when it was for sale at one time it was a pic from the rear and I loved it, did not really know what it was but knew I would own one some day, had no clue that we had basicly that same car in the driveway as my dad drove a 51 merc coupe at that time, but as time went on I came to know much more about them.
LOL yea, just got through reading the greacian thread, if you want to find a reason to build a ricer read that and all the hatefull opinions about that car and see if you dont have a bad taste in your mought about this hobby....
Lots of schools of thought about what is "right" for a Merc...your own taste will dictate how yours turns out. I have been fortunate enough to assist in a couple of chops with Gene Winfield...he is adamant about removing drip rails on any chopped Merc. For me, I like the drip rails because it helps to break up the tall roof line. If I were looking to follow convention I might set aside my tastes and go with what a legend like Winfield likes...then I wouldn't be happy with my car. As has been said already, you can't please everyone so please the one that matters...yourself.
What do you guys think of the lip on the front wheel openings? I see Ether has them. Thinking of doing mine like that and may need a push.
54 Ford wheel opening flanges are pretty much the standard but I have seen 57 Chevy and others used. I like them but I have yet to convince myself that I like them enough to invest the amount of time and effort needed to install them.
I would really like to find a pair of Plymouth Savoy flairs for my next build but they are harder to find than Ford/Merc flares.
Please NO S-shaped scoops on the side of the hood! ...or louvers either, unless you're absolutely compelled. If you've gotta do lakes pipes, functional, ...& just one plug. Same approach with spots, if you must, at least no dummies. But the biggest no no of all, for God's sake NO modern, streamlined, pod-shaped, body color mirrors!!!! ...that one item has ruined more potentially nice Mercs [& other customs as well] than any other I can think of! ...My pair o coppers.
Click on my build thread to find the Merc parts thread, and other good Merc threads, or search for "Mercury Reproduction Parts"
They are designed for a very inset or deep rim. One of the best looking caps ever made in my opinion, just a hard one to use. About to have to build the car around them just like Cadillac did!!
No matter what you do there will be people who criticize it so don't worry about what everyone else says and do it the way you want. Good luck....
Well, one of my favorites is flamedabone's..it's perfect in every way in my opinion which i know don't mean squat.... Ether, your's is now another one of my fav's as well! VERY well done, and i love the color! Both these car's look super clean and well thought out. Here's a pic of Abone's. Tony
Yes another very nice merc, somone asked about the flared front wheel wells, here is a good example of why to use them, if you notice they match the 51 skirts, I love the way they have the same flair as the bottom of the 51 skirts do, just looks "right". Beautiful car Abone! Jim
One fitment for the 56 Caddy cover, regards, Rhys. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55414
I do like the flared front wheel openings on this one and Ethers,what was used?I also like the looks of the Sam Barris Merc with the fade away caracter line and the hump in the door straightened out.
I think Javier Mejia's is a pretty good example here are some more in this thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=304106&showall=1
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