Please notice on the by-line of this article.....Says by Katayonogi....his first name was Dick and he was a Japanese striper from Calif in Dallas doing some striping jobs...speaking about the article on the Merc Pickup
Hats off to you guys, I love reading these stories as soon as the next one is updated. This thread right here is the only one that as soon as I see an update pop up, I drop what I'm doing to see what new story I get to read. Keep'em coming! I do have a question though maybe someone can answer it. Were there ever any KKOA events in North Carolina? I've never really heard of many customs in any time period from the area as I think most of this area was racing of all sorts? If there were any I'd like to know so maybe I could dig up some old ones from NC. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Glad you're enjoying the thread @graveyardsledder. It keeps me busy! I know that there were never any Leadsled Spectaculars in North Carolina, but I can't say for sure if there were any other KKOA events there as there have been many different ones over the years. The KOA might have had a few events down around there since they seemed to center more on the south, but to be honest, even though I was a member for a short time, I really don't have much history on them. E
What Ever Happened To..........number 50. 1953 Mercury Monterey Owner: Glenn Patrick Dayton, Ohio This week's custom is so mild that the average person might not give it a second look, but that is the beauty of this car. Very little has been done to it, but these cars really don't need much. Simple nosing, decking and shaving were done, as well as a few add-ons like lake pipes and dummy spots. The stock headlight assemblies were frenched, and Chrysler taillights were added out back. Aside from the taillight treatment, this car could have easily been built by a teenager in the late 50s at home in his driveway with help from Dad and friends. The taillight work may have been a little above a kid's ability, but who knows, a lot of Dads are pretty handy and an experienced and ambitious team could have pulled it off at home. Glenn was a regular at the Leadsleds thoughout the 80s. He was interviewed at the '85 Spectacular in Springfield, Ohio. It was in that interview that he mentioned he was at the '83 Spectacular in his hot rod. He never made it clear if he was there in '84, but according to the second picture I'm going to post, "the Pharaoh"and "Missy Piggy" are seen standing off to the side in front of Glenn's car. They were both interviewed and can be seen walking around on the '84 video in Des Moines. Glenn also came back in '85, and I was able to find his car in the '86 video in Springfield, Missouri, as well as at Sled Scene East in '86. He was also at the Spectacular in Springfield, Illinois in 1987. After that I didn't find any more video on it. I tried to find some magazine coverage, but I never realized how many light colored '52-'54 Mercurys were magazine cars, and after a lot of searching I came up empty. Luckily I found some great pictures of Glenn's car on Rikster's site courtesy of Scott Pavey and @KustomLincolnLady. This is another very active owner that suddenly seemed to drop off and never return. Strange how much this seems to happen. Hopefully Glenn is still building cars and cruising around--maybe even in the '53. If he's like most of us, once you get bitten by the car bug, you can never shake it and have to keep at it! Until next week, stay cool..........E
Found some info on the Custom Car Chronicle. Rik did a write up on Glenn's Chevy, a beautiful custom: Of note was a comment left by Philip Lee, Glenn's grandson. "I signed up for this website specifically to leave a comment thanking you for writing such an amazing and heartfelt piece on this classic car. I am Glenn Patrick’s grandson and grew up in the years he was building this car and it was cherished in our family for 20 years. It was regretful that the car (along with a Mercury of his) had to be sold but there wasn’t much choice. It is so awesome to see that his creation has touched people and will always be remembered as the great car that it was. I appreciate the time you spent on this write-up and wanted to let you know personally that you brought a lot of joy and good memories to us with it." The article on the CCC: http://www.customcarchronicle.com/personal-stories/cats-48-chevy/
I had to do some climbing in my garage to get a pic down off the wall for this one. Here are a couple pic`s from the show in 87 in Springfield Illinois. And here is a pic of Glen`s Chevy from a show in Lancaster Ohio in 2002. I never made the connection that he owned the white Merc. Thanks again for the history lesson ED. The 48 was forsale in about 201 0. A local guy(Dave Barnes) here in town was thinking about buying his 48. I told him it was a nice car. The car ended up in Arizona and can be seen in the Scottsdale Goodguys coverage. The new owner added pinstripes and different Caddy hubcaps. Then at a later show at Scottsdale it shows like it had been repainted. Could of been the way the lighting was that day. It was also an award winner at that show too. More than once. Will add pic`s later from the magazine if someone else doesn't do it before me.
I couldn`t sleep, so here are the scans from 2009 and 2012. Buick portholes and pinstripes were added. Then a repaint.
^^^^ It looks kind of like what happened to Lee Pratts beautiful '41 Buick. Each new owner ads his own touch, not always good. Sad to say.
Great fill in information, Sancho. I never knew that Glenn was the owner of the Mercury and the "CATS 48" Chevy, also known as "The Villain". I've seen the '48 in a number of my videos, so now all the pieces are coming together. I read Rikster's article and it made it sound like Glenn was having a lot of health problems and had to sell the sleds. Is Glenn still with us? E Thanks for the pictures, Jim. Amazing how just a few small changes can affect the look of a car. Unfortunately the changes really took away from the car. The good thing is that none of it would be hard to un-do. After I read about Glenn owning the Chevy, I had to dig into my video tapes for some footage of it. It took me a while, but I found the tape. Way back in 1997 there used to be a network called TNN. Originally it was The Nashville Network, but then morphed into TNN, then it changed a few more times before it was pretty much a different network. Anyway, back then, the show "My Classic Car" aired on TNN on Saturday afternoons. My Dad was a regular watcher of TNN, and we managed to catch MCC quite a bit. Most of the time the featured cars or shows didn't interest me, but every now and then there was a good one. I remember one Saturday we were watching the show and they mentioned that the next week they were covering a custom show in Indiana. I made a note of it and got a video tape ready. The next Saturday, there we were in front of the TV with the video tape in the VCR ready to record the show. Shows like this really don't show much because of time constraints, commercials, and so on, but I recorded it anyway. Turns out, it was a fairly small mention of the show, but what they showed was worth recording. It was the second annual KOA Double Date in Richmond, Indiana. In that episode, the host, Dennis Gage did an interview with the Jetter Brothers (@40StudeDude) and took some great video of the "Hint of Mint". At the end of the show when Dennis Gage was signing off, Glenn cruised up behind Dennis in the '48 and stopped. The host finished his closing statement and then turned and jumped into the car and they cruised off. Pictures of this car are great, but there is something to be said of seeing it moving in videos that pictures just can't duplicate. Sorry to hear Glenn HAD to sell the cars. Life can be rough..........E
@ARNIE "The first one I did was a 51. chopped 6" stock frame, 427 vette with tri power. 8 3/4 rear end. 58 chevy frenched tail lites. frenched 52 ford h.l. burgundy with Ugly green flames."
Sorry, I don`t remember seeing this one. The top pic, you can see Blain Kauffmans green chopped 56 Merc in the background.
Here's a coincidence. Just last night I pulled out the September 1991 issue of American Rodder, looking for an article on a '26 Model T from Florida. Included was a photo spread on a 1951 Mercury, owned and built by Danny Frank of Port St. Lucie, FL. Look like an earlier incarnation of the above cars, one of which has a Florida plate. Some photos from the article. Nice rear shot on the last one.
That looks close but too many things are different in the other car like chop the antenna placement and all the other body work Sent from my iPad
Notice antenna place is on the front right quarter and on pink its in the right door Sent from my iPad
Going back to my KKOA days, I seem to recall "Just Peachy" was owned by Ron and Sandy (forgot last name). I believe Ron has passed away.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this dash plaque. Still not sure if anyone is getting my PM's I write the message and hit enter and it doesn't seem like anything happens. This gift shows what a big heart car guys have. BTW I have spent way too many hours already cruising thru the HAMB land (and will spend more). This particular thread (WEHT) was a Godsend to me
What Ever Happened To..........? number 51. 1950 Merc "Purple Reign" Owner: Bill Nicholson Monroeville, Pennsylvania This week's "What Ever Happened To" is one of the more elusive cars that I've researched for this thread. Bill Nicholson found this Merc sitting in a driveway, and after two months of trying to contact the owner a deal was made. It took an additional two years to complete the car in the unusual but very nice lavender with burgundy flames. Bill was an east coast guy that never seemed to venture west much at all. In my research, I wasn't able to find his car at any Leadsled Spectacular from '83-'87. I did manage to find it on two videos that I have of Sled Scene East in 1986 and '87. Those were the only video sightings I found. On the '87 Sled Scene video Bill was interviewed and he gave a great run down on the car. He mentioned that the car had 28 different body modifications including a Dodge grille. The Dodge grille was a unique modification, but there was one other '50 Merc around the scene at that time with the same grille in it. This was Ray Hetrick's '50 Merc known as "Purple Passion" or "The Scorpion". Ray's Merc was featured in Custom Cars by Hot Rod Volume 1 number 5 from 1983 on page 74. In that article, the car was called "Purple Passion". The only reason I'm bringing up Ray's Mercury is to show how similar the front ends were on these two cars. Ray's car was more famous however, and pictures of Bill's Merc have turned out to be almost impossible to find. I've searched through magazines and books all week long, and the only information I could find on Bill's car were in the first KKOA book published in 1992 on page 135. I'll post that article, and hopefully it's big enough for you to read a little of the history that Bill sent in with his photo of the car. In the article, it mentions that the car was sold in 1988. I did find another photo of a Merc with a Dodge car grille in it, but I can't sat for sure if it was Bill's car, Ray's car, or another Merc with the Dodge grille altogether. There is only a front 3/4 view and it looks similar in the picture, but it has scoops in the hood that neither Bill or Ray had on their car. I think that Bill might still be into customs as he mentioned in his interview that he and his family members had owned 52 Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys up to that time (1987). I also found another mention of Bill in the same KKOA book. On page 74, the '50 Ford business coupe of Joe and Jan Nardini of Canton, Michigan is featured. It mentions they bought the car in 1990 from Bill Nicholson, who was a KKOA Colonel at the time. Bill affectionately called the little Ford his "Blue Duck". So, it must've been true about Bill being a dyed in the wool Ford man. After that, the trail of Bill and his Fords went cold. I'm hoping that we can dig up some more information on Bill and his Merc. Until next Tuesday, keep cruisin'..........! E
I am pretty sure that car belonged to Doug Thompson when it was purple. I never understood those side pipes....
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