History What Ever Happened to..........?

Another car from my childhood! Mike was from Northern Kentucky. Covington or Newport area and was a friend of my Dad.
Been years since I thought about this car, but I remember he had a much milder ‘49-50 Chevy coupe. It had a radio mounted to the column that looked like a tach. Never seen another one like that.
Back to this car, I remember him driving it for a year or so in primer, but not sure if I have pictures of it then. Also, if my memory serves me right, it had suicide doors.
I will see what else I can come up with.



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Great information @Cincinnati Slim. Neat that you have so many memories of alot of these cars as you were there as a kid. Great childhood! The radio you mentioned sounds interesting. I've never seen anything like that.
You know Jim (@stanlow69), it's very hard to tell if it had a sunroof. Sharp eye! I'm going to have to dig out my videos and watch them again to see if you can see a sunroof or not. Looking closely at the picture it looks like it might be a shadow from a tree or something. It seems like you would see a ring of brighter light shining into the car if it had a glass sunroof or an open space one. If more pictures get posted up maybe we will be able to determine if it had a sunroof or not. I'll watch some more video and see what I can find. E

 

Very cool Mark! A neat addition to any car. Probably fairly hard to come by!
Watched the part of the '93 video of the Townsley Chevy, and you can't tell if it had a sunroof or not. Shadowy video and the lack of light in the interior from a sunroof makes me think it didn't have a sunroof. We need more pictures! E

 

I can’t remember if it had a sunroof or not. I was still a little kid then!
Cincinnati has always been more a Hot Rod town than a custom one, so the few that were around left a lasting impression on me. Most were mild customs, so it was easy for Mike’s to stand out.


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I have one of these in El Tiki

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I hate being the guy who posts these.

http://www.dmefuneral.com/obituary/Michael-A.-Townsley/Bellevue-Kentucky/1813726

Michael Anthony Townsley, 79, of Bellevue, Ky, passed away on Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018. He was a proud retiree of BAE Systems, formerly O’Gara, Hess and Eisenhardt, where he painted armored vehicles and limousines, including President Reagan’s Cadillac Fleetwoods. He was preceded in death by his parents, Earl and Margaret (Madden) Townsley, the love of his life and wife of 36 years, Barbara Ann (Boehne) Townsley, and brother, Edward “Sonny” Townsley. He was a devoted and loving husband, and missed Barbara Ann terribly since her passing in 2014. He was a talented artist, painter, restorer and tinkerer and loved to find treasure and restoration projects at local flea markets. This is a passion he shared with Barbara Ann and together they met many friends who shared their interests and who were influenced by their charming personalities, passion and creativity. Mike was also well known as a custom automotive painter of many show cars, soap box derby cars and anything on or off wheels from the 1960s through the present day. He was very proud of his 1954 Chevy Custom “Barbara Ann” for which he won 93 first place trophies.


These pictures were on his memorial page -

 

Thanks for posting John. Sad news indeed. So ironic that Mr. Townsley passed away just a few months ago. Cool history of what he did for a living, a true artist!
Very nice picture of "Barbara Ann" from his memorial page. Such a beautiful car.
The custom family has lost another member. Vaya con Dios Mr. Townsley.........E

 

Wow. I obviously didn’t know he passed away. I know it had been a few years since I seen him.
I went to my parent’s today and finally retrieved the photo albums. I don’t have any pictures of Barbara Ann like I thought, but I do have some other 80’s customs from Springfield and Hamilton KKOA shows. Now to scan them and organize them.


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I imagine the paint layout was at least partially inspired by Saint Vasques' Chevy.

 

• Put a link to Freddy`s Customs thread here on the HAMB. It has some cars on it that are featured on W. E. H. T. thread. Thanks for posting Saint`s car, I thought of that too but couldn`t find a pic in my collection of magazines.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fredys-kustoms.1134519/

 

What Ever Happened To..........? number 150.

1950 Mercury "Cobra To"
Owner: Foxie "Mr. Buff" Elder
Mount Joy, Pennsylvania

Foxie Elder must have seen the Sylvester Stallone movie "Cobra" at one time and decided to build a car that was very similar to the one Sly drove in the movie. Hence the name "Cobra To" on his personalized Pennsylvania license plates. The Merc in the movie was chopped, Foxie's was not. Both cars were a dark gray, but all similarities pretty much end there.
Mr. Elder went the extra mile by adding nice chrome hubcaps versus the Moon discs, some nicely done scallops and an engine compartment that would knock your socks off. The engine compartment had a healthy dose of chrome and finned goodies, as well as some special lighting to show it all off at cruise nights and car shows after the sun went down. It was so nice that at the 1993 Sled Scene East it won the award for best engine compartment! The only reason I know about the super engine compartment is because of video. It is definitely a treat for the eyes!
Since Foxie was from Pennsylvania, his Merc was a regular at Sled Scene East. I saw the car on the 1992 and 1993 videos. Foxie also made it to the Spectacular in Holland, Michigan in 1992, and to Springfield, Ohio in 1993. Lots of travelling in the summers of '92 and '93.
I looked though many books and magazines, and Foxie's car is another that seemed to miss the camera's eye. Maybe because the car was so subtle having a stock roof and all, but upon closer inspection a custom fan would quickly figure out that this was not your average mild custom Merc. No mentions of it anywhere except for the first KKOA book printed in 1993. There was a nice write up on page 53, but unfortunately the picture is in black and white.



Mr. Elder's Merc is another car that had a hard to find trail of information and hopefully it hasn't slipped into obscurity. I'd be willing to bet an ice cold Pepsi-Cola that one of you custom faithful out there that attended Sled Scene East a time or two will have some nice photos of Foxie's Merc to share with us. It would surely be our gain to lay our eyes on more about this mild custom masterpiece. Kudos to Mr. Elder for showing that a Merc doesn't have to be chopped to be kool, and that hard work pays off!
I hope everyone had a nice holiday season and you're not having too hard of a time getting back into the swing of things. The nice thing about the holidays being behind us is that summertime is that much closer! Soon we'll be cruising again!
Until next week, take care! E

 

I found this and I found the other thing that I refuse to post.

The ad says it was built by Foxie and it is a 50. Could it be the same car?

http://topclassiccarsforsale.com/mercury/425617-1950-mercury-world-famous.html

 

A good friend of mine sent me a sad link. We lost Foxie a number of years back. Another custom friend gone.
Rest in peace Mr. Elder..........E

https://lancasteronline.com/obituaries/foxie-elder/article_808af67d-c226-5890-bc27-4620394924a6.html

 

This Mercury isn't "Cobra 50", but I think it's the convertible mentioned in a thread from 2010 (thanks @John B).

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/photo-album-kustoms.108801/page-36#post-5036945

I took a photo from the for sale listing and then posted the picture from the 2010 thread. Looks like the same car to me..........E

 

Foxie Elder built a convertible called "Black Magic" in the fifties. It was featured in an east coast magazine (Rodding and Re-styling, maybe?). He later built the coupe in question. Before Foxy died, he sold the car to Jerry Laboranti, known on the HAMB as @HomemadeHardtop57.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/media/albums/1950-mercury-custom-the-foxy-merc.10070/

 

Here is a photo from @HomemadeHardtop57's album. It was posted in 2009:

 

Ed,The video I sent you of the Spectacular from 87 has this 54 Chevy,I remember standing on the 2nd floor of the motel and shooting the Video down on the roof and trunk of the car with the Motel lights on, you could really see the Metalflake paint. The next day I recorded it as well.and you should see it later on in the tape.

 

Wow, something how you just posted this John! I watched the '87 Spectacular video this evening and I was going to post an update on Mr. Townsley's '54.
The night video you shot of it is the best I've seen of the car. At night under the street lights it glowed like Dorothy's ruby slippers in "The Wizard of Oz".
We were debating if the car had a sunroof or not. Your video of the roof of the car confirms that it had a sunroof. In the night video it's hard to tell if the sunroof was metal or a glass style. The sunroof itself is black, but due to the darkness you can't tell if it's smoked glass or a closed metal roof section that was painted black. So, we now know it had a sunroof, but the details still have to be researched.
Thanks again for the videos John! I haven't watched them all yet, but what I've seen so far is super! E

 

Dad went and looked at black magic in the late 70s i believe, he still has some pics of it then tucked away somewhere. This is the car that appeared on Kounts Kustoms awhile back

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I remember that episode. He made a big deal about that car. But how did he know about it.

 

@PasoJohn told me it was for sale a little while back. Great buy for some lucky cat!



John also told me that Truman was very ill. How is he doing? E

 

Wow! It has held up really well!

 

I thought the same thing, Sancho! Get a pair of fender skirts (if they didn't come with the car), paint them to match, gas 'er up and go cruisin'! E

 

Glad to hear the skirts survived. Sounds like it won't be long before it hits the streets again! E

 

Wow! That looks great!!! Funny, it was built before I got my Pontiac 35 years ago....and you should see my Pontiac....not! LOL