I know not all of the cars we ***ociate with customs were tail draggers back in the day. You know the cars I mean, 49-51 Mercs and Fords, 49-54 Chevys and such. I don't mean the g***ers really but the cars that real guys were cruising the streets in. Lets see some of those cars that tilted the other direction. Lets see some of those pics!!!
I'm not saying there weren't lowriders in the 50s and early 60s but the Mercs I remember were raked or just the opposite. I'm sure someone with a better memory can tell us when the Mercs went low. Ernest
NOPE! At least not in my hometown (Pittsfield, MA) circa 1961: Bob Moore's '56 chevy - lowered, nosed, decked, shaved, Packard Taillights, etc. + dual quad 283 (301?), stick shift. Bob would race 'ya for sure... Lots of guys' cars were customized a little and souped up, too - they were all hot rods. vic
Theres a guy out here on the island who was featured in Full Throttle magazine maybe a month back with a 1100 HP 49 or 50 Merc. **** was totally ***S.
Check out the new Rod&Custom with the "leadsled g***ers" drawings. Just damn awesome (not the typical nose up style stuff you'd usually ***ociate with the word g***er). Mootz
Here is one that knocked everyones socks off at the Stray Kat 500. Rick McGreggor's Merc has a lot of at***ude. He was at Salina with Skirts and Caddy Caps and it was amagzing the change. The last one is Karl Skelnik's from Skiatook . Hopefully this is what your looking for. Happy Trails, Mick
Here's one that was at Starbird's Merc Deuce Reunion. This isn't a good pic of the rake, but it sure had one.
Thats what I'm talkin' about. I remember seeing pics in some old magazines of a Merc with kidney-bean Halibrands. There was another of a 51 Fleetline with Fiesta caps and a definate forward rake.
Somebody PLEASE find that!!!! My 52 Fleetline will be hunkered down in the front. And ElR, you remember the Sedan I had was hardly as low as everyone puts them, and had that nose-down stance.
This merc is pretty mean...whitewalls and sombreros would bring it back to the kustom side, but as is it's more hot rod. The second merc, pre-chop looks pretty good. The shoebox is a LOT like the above mentioned artist's renderings. Couldn't find and chevys.
Kustoms should be *** down...the way God intended. The nose down stance was a muscle car thing, and quite frankly I'm tired of going to car shows and seeing 57 Chevs with 350 crate motors and cragars.
Our chopped 49 Merc is *** down with skirts. But runs a 460 C-6, it can keep up with most traffic.............OLDBEET
One of the nicest around my area is a 40 Merc coupe that has been chopped and smoothed. A real tail dragger, and drop dead gorgeous. Runs a flat head mill, and is currently has been fitted with air bags. Super sweet custom.
I think this 51 Merc is a great example of this.. I took these pics two day's ago with my cell phone ( sorry for the poor quality) when i went to a friend's place. Another friend DROVE out to see him from Indiana with this Merc.. Very subtle car..But run's a punched tri power 371 Olds with a Tremec 5 speed trans, and 373 rear end...and is obviously driven. This car is way cool!!! Mixes both world's nicely in my opinion. Tony
Did mine similar to the style you guys are talking about. Looking forward to driving the hell out of it....
I disagree on the nose down thing being a "muscle car" thing...most every car built for "fast" is gonna have some forward rake. The exceptions being early straight axle G***ers, and a few altered (which typically sat tall and flat) Wheel base cars. heck...on that note, ALOT of G***ers actually managed to stuff enough rubber and spring under the car for some sort of rake. The idea behind it (I agree kustoms should taildrag, or sit absolutely flat)is that nose down somehow makes ya faster...or at the very least, makes you look faster. I have always equated "how it happened" to a heavy motor where a lighter one was before...makes sense to me, anyway. and I don't mind the crate 350's...so long as they aren't outfitted with modern fuel injection and goofy plastic covers that say "corvette" on them. especially when you can have valve covers that have corvette stamped in them and a decent looking carb that makes the same power for 1/2 the price.
Ditto. I don't think a car "looks fast" nose down, they look like they are slamming on the brakes. When a drag car launches it's nose is up.
No matter what car, the true art is lowering it all the way around with a little forward rake. The skill comes in building a driveable 3-4in. off the ground front-end with it as low as possible in the back (no bags). I love bags, but there is more skill involved without. My humble opinion. We have used the same measuring device (a pack of Camels) in the front whether it was a '34 or a '47.
I like '57 Oldsmobiles with Cragars myself. But ya, *** down, this aint no 2 Live Crew song... On the real, Joe's '57 is a sweet custom that sits on the ground. Not to mention it turns roughly a 14 second qtr with a nice 383 mopar under the hood. My '51 Ford that I'm building should be good for around 350 horse and geared to turn probably around the same. Thats the way it should be. You can't look cool goin fast, but you can't outrun the cops either.
Very cool. I have this '50 'box kickin' around, and I've been thinking of doing something similar. Olds 324 power and rear with ET magnesiums, my Edelbrock 4 deuce set-up and possibly some 18" spindle mounts up front. Sorta like as if Bakersfield g***er race ran into the Oakland Roadster show in 1960.
Yes, this is where I was headed with this. Think along the lines of B***' shoebox. A guy around here with a 39 Buick coupe that I think would be an awesome taildragger custom said that just wasn't how they did it back in his day. His day was southern California in the later half of the 50's.
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