I picked up an all original untouched 1950 merc a few months ago. I've always loved these cars and the timing worked out in my favor. The people I bought it from decided they were going to do some body work and make it look nice again. They realize quickly they were in way over their heads. Every panel has rust. They parked it in a barn and it sat there for over 5 years. My daughter (17) and I got it running and driving in a couple weeks. I believe with a new set of tires and coil springs it should be road worth now. I haven't come across springs that are not lowering springs yet. We changed everything related to the brakes, electric fuel pump, fuel tank and a huge list of other things. I've only driven it around my yard. Winter came and I haven't done much with it since.
The aerostar spring swap does indeed lower the car 2 or 3 inches, but they ride nice and are cheap, and these cars look nice with a bit of lowering. Besides, this is a custom board, no need to keep it stock height. Looks like someone added a Fulton visor at one time and painted over the grille, and maybe the hood is shaved? Or maybe the upper hood ornament is just missing. But either way, a '50 Merc lends itself very well to the custom treatment.
Nice car ! I've had a few smoky garage scenes like that when waking some old wreck up from a long sleep.
Rust wise she's in rough shape. I figure I'll get a set of springs and tires and drive it the way it is. As of now I don't plan on doing any body work. I wasn't aware of Aerostar springs working, thanks. The hood ornament is missing. The previous owner shot some oil in the cylinders before they parked it in the barn. I put some kroil in each cylinder before I spun it over by hand. It has alll new brake shoes, ss lines and master cylinder she's about ready. I'm excited for spring so I can plate it and drive it. I believe it has an OD too! My wife wanted something the 3 of us could jump in and cruise since the willy only fits 2 people at a time. My original plan if the flathead was junk was to pull the 460 out of the willy and drop it in the merc. That plan may still happen if the flathead is too tired.
The Aerostar springs do work quite well. They're on the car now along with new front shocks. I pulled it out of the garage to see how it looks now and the rear definitely needs to go down now too. I'll be dropping it 2-3". I'll be picking up my tires today after work. I went with G78-15s and I can't wait to see how it looks!
Cool project! Here's a pic of my more door. It had 3 inch lowering blocks in the back and 1 1/2 coils cut in the front if I remember right.
There they are! I think I'm going to drop the rear 3". And just my luck I busted one of the levers on my rear skirts!
She now has working lights. I had to rewire the back half of the car and the brake lights don't work, I'll get a new brake light switch tomorrow. I hooked up my oil pressure gauge and to my surprise she's making 42-ish psi. It was smoking out of the exhaust so bad due to the amount of oil built up in the muffler that I decided to cut it off. I took her down the road and back today too. My wife recorded it. Fuel pressure is still a bit wonky because my brand new regular is a pos.
Lead sled??? It's not a lead sled unless it has extensive customised bodywork with lead used as the filler. Hence the old slang expression 'lead sled.' Just FYI. Congrats on getting it mobile again.
Thanks, the willy is a story in itself. Short story I saved it from being s****ped, got a E350, did a body swap and she has a 460/C6/Dana70. The C6 will be pulled in favor of a 6R80. X38... things to come. I'll be reading up on making it 12v.
Very nice, I have one waiting in the weeds 62, bottom part of cab needs a lot of attention Mounts are dust in the wind
Use real auto body lead if you can get it. The 'environmentally friendly' lead doesn't work as nicely. I have no idea what it's made of.
The merc has taken a back seat while I work on my willys. I'm wrapping that up. I have a stock efi 460 that makes around 250hp/400tq that I'm debating dropping into the merc with my C6. My worry is the ch***is, any idea if a factory frame will be ok with that kind of torque? Obviously brakes and the rear end will need to be upgraded along with a few other things. Thoughts on this?
Honestly I love the car the way it is but I know all about swapping out for more horses. To answer the question of whether or not it can take it I was reading a Rod and Custom from 1956?!? I think and a reader sent in the same question of whether the rear end would live to tell about it and they “Stroker McGurk” I believe said that it should stand anything you throw at it. I was going to put an 57 Oldsmobile rear in my 51 but when I saw the article I kept the factory rear with overdrive gears (4:11) and put a built 347 small motor Ford with a 600 shot of nitrous with a pan fill C4 and after wadding a driveshaft and breaking several unjoints later the dang thing was a reliable daily driver. True I had a 4” driveshaft and loop under it after killing the factory one but the rear end lived to tell about it. And it lived through several motors on top of that.
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