Customs Thanks to all who attended our MERC gathering/Suede Pavilion @ Sacramento

Hey guys, just want to thank everyone who attended the historic Merc gathering and our annual Suede Pavilion show during the 59th annual Sacramento Autorama.

The Suede room is almost running its self but to be truthful the Merc event took the wind out of my wife and I. Without getting in to all of the politics and details, getting everything organized just days before and all the way up in to Saturday early morning was a nightmare. BUT, good news is that by noon Saturday everything finally came in to place,the doors opened up and people seemed very happy to see all of the Mercs.

History was very much in the air - at least inside that building. So many people didn't know the Frank Sonzogni Merc still existed! The Hirohata,Westergard,Barris', Burtolucci,Coachcraft,Ayala Bros. etc,etc. I don't think these cars have ever been together - under one roof.

The panel Discussion was amazing ! Seeing and listening to John Barris (Son of Sam) , Darrel Hollenbeck, Rod Powell, Butch Hurly, Paul Braggs, Gene Winfield, Mercury Charlie, Jim McNeil (owner of the Hirohata) , and many others was very informative and fun.

I want to publicly thank Mark "Morty" Morton of Hop Up magazine for all his help in this prestigious gathering. He helped in the transport of 6 So Cal Mercs that were inside the display ! Morty, i am in debt to you and forever thankful !

I also want to thank my new friend and next door neighbor Rik Hoving for his encouragement and enthusiasm, Robbie Radcliff for his history, Kevan "Sinus" Sledge, Javier "Javs" Mejia, Jose Mejia, Carlos Wright, for the support.

Another special thanks must go to Chip Chipman and his family for their his help in bringing in cars on move in day, and for building that amazing "Barn Find" display. The spectators really enjoyed it.

I want to thank Jav's and Jeff "******" Neppl for the "Bronx Tale" and "Goodfella's" impersonations Saturday night at our Hotel party. It was hilarious and i needed that !

I want to thank Bad Bob for organizing the Merc Drive in and bringing his Merc all the way up to Sacramento with a leaking oil pan. You drove that ****er all the way up there dude. Cool stuff !

And lastly, i want to thank my wife for all her work she put in to this.

I met a lot of Hambers and made more friends.

Award winner info and hundreds of Merc pictures to come very soon !

Thanks,Axle

 

Axle, this whole thing was AWESOME!!!!! I completely missed the large pavilion building of the main show, and don't even care. I flew there just for the Merc building and did not leave disappointed. I literally shot nearly 1000 pictures at the show and spent 6 hours in that building alone on Sat.....after spending 3 hours in it on Friday. Words can not express how cool this was and my gra***ude to you and the others for pulling together such an incredible display, probably never to be repeated. Incredible......THANK YOU!!!!!

 

Axle.
Thank you so much for the invite.It was such an honor to be there with all those great Merc's.I felt like the Ugly Duckling in a pond with a lot of swans.I also want to thank Chip and you for the great display for my Merc.Bob for the bat to hold my hood open and everyone for helping load and unload my Merc.It was a pleaure to meet some H.A.M.B'ers too!.Thanks again.

 

Axle you did an awesome job, as usual, just seeing the pics was inspiring.. thanks man...

 

good job man.

 

I flew up just for the day to see this display of cl***ic Mercs and I was not disappointed! Thank you for all your hard work, it was indeed an historic event.

 

thanks for putting together such a memorable event/gathering of mercs!!!! 3 cheers!!!

 

Nice job Axel, I'm sure we'll never see something like this again. I could not stay away from there, from Wednesday night through Sunday teardown.

 

I am glad we were able to attend. I know having the Widow there meant a lot to Joe Bailon(after all he is in his upper 80's). And such a collection of Historically significant Mercs will probably never be seen again. So thanks to you and your wife for putting it together(and for posting it on the hamb so we knew about it). Thanks

 

The Merc Building ROCKED! It was an amazing thing to see & experience! So much history and nostaglia under 1 roof made everyone smile!! I wish everyone could have brought their Mercs that were invited to do so and the Mercs that were there was fantastic to see!!

Axel...You should be commended for the great effort you put forth getting this together and ...Making it happen!

Can't wait for Rik's pics......I know he's gonna have some amazing shots!!

 

Thanks Axle & the others for all the work it took to put this incredible event together - for a custom junkie like me, it was a dream come true.
Actually... I can't really say is was a dream come true, because never in my wildest would I have dreamed it might happen - but it did - and it was incredible to be there and see so many of the greatest of all time all together under one roof and to talk to so many other custom guys all weekend long - incredible!
Thank you for making it happen - Can we do it again next week?

 

Can't wait for the pic's of what must have been an awesome event. Axle, surely all the blood, sweat and tears was worth it on the day. It's nothing short of historical and may never happen again. Congratulations on pulling it off!

 

Axle thanks for doing up the merc room it was absolutely amazing!
LTR Dave

 

Thank you.Axle & Chip set that scene up.

 

We walked in the door upstairs & stopped dead.....I literally stood there for a good 5 mins just staring, hardly able to believe my eyes.

It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity....

Thanks just doesn't seem enough of a word Alex.

Now, go get some sleep!!

 

Axel, good job.. I loved where my booth and cars were parked. I talked to lots of people all day every day.. We will be back again.. This gave me some motivation to get the wife's 50 olds ready to go...Jason.

 

Jason....

you got mail....

 

Axle,
Great to meet you on Friday. You and your wife are to be commended for your efforts bringing the Merc gathering (and the suede palace) together. My wife and I flew out from Boston just to see the all of the Mercs under one roof and we were flat out amazed. Sensory overload as you walked into that room! We were especially psyched to see that black and white, sectioned and chopped 56 Merc. That car was built by a friend of ours (Kelsey Martin) decades ago. I told Kelsey about it today and he was all fired up. Thanks again.

 

Axle, HUGE thanks from Mexico too for the GREAT effort to put all this togheter ...also extended to ALL the guys involved of course.
It was a blast to see (only in pics unfortunately) the great bunch of historical Mercs,unique i will say....
The Merc room was outstanding,especially from above..reminded me those all vintage car show pics...

And luckily we had our great Rikster takin a good bunsh of detailed pics there,so we'll covered for the history...

have a nice rest hero,you'll deserve it ...Sled

 

Had a great time Axle! Regardless of all the DRAMA,it was still worth the drive,just to see all those Mercurys in the same place! I'll never forget it. You guys did a great job. Meeting and talking to Jim(Hirohata) was the best part of my trip. He made me feel like one of the gang,instead of an outsider.
Looking forward to Riksters pic's! Should be amazing...

I want to thank slddnmatt for ******ing me home. You're a great friend! Enjoyed hanging with you and Stef...

 

I hope your "******" didn't drive BEHIND you with your leaking oil!!!!

 

Axle
Quite the impressive gathering and congratulations on pulling it off.
Iv seen most of them before but not in one place.
That room for me rates right up there with the Oakland museum show and the 50<SUP>th</SUP> Oakland roadster show.
Thank you
Greg

 

No,HA HA! I followed him...I wasn't leaking that bad,just dripping.

 

10 quarts is one hell of a "drip."

 

Axle, great to meet you again. We had an awesome time at the show, and seeing all the Mercurys together under one roof was amazing. I thought I was in heaven a few years ago when I saw the Sam Barris and Hirohata mercs together at the NHRA museum, but this display was simply amazing.

Hope to see you guys up this way soon like we talked about...

 

Axle,Well it came and went, now what do I have to look forward to??? You and Celeste did a great job on planning this show.I was truly honored to be a part and have my merc included in this gathering.My Dad and Gary had a blast as well,we really had that suede room rockin when we got started didn't we,then the hotel party was a blast!!!!!! We have to do that again,It was good to meet Sinus,Robbie,Jav's and everyone else.All of those Kustoms in one room was insane,there was some serious history floating around in that building.During the panel discussion I was honored that you asked me if I wanted to set the record straight about Sam Barris' merc NOT being the first chopped 49.I wanted to but I didn't want to start a war and I felt it might be a little disrecpectful to John Barris.He was not aware of my education of kustoms and my good friendship with Jerry Quesnel.He probably would of said who the hell is this punk trying to prove me wrong.I think Sam would of been honored to admit that Jerry's was first, after all Sam is the one who set the top. This story about Jerry's merc is ready to bust at the seams I can feel it.So im glad you liked all the impressions of the movies,wait till next time we party,I will have freshened up on my lines so it's going to be even funnier.Truely theeee greatest merc gathering EVER!!!!!!!!

 

Jeff, you crack me up man. Thanks guys, I'm well rested so my personal pictures are coming up today. Axle

 

Getting to see all those historical cars in the Merc building in person was truely amazing!

 

WHY CAN'T I BE AT EVERY EVENT AXLE hosts? Way to go Alex. I love the early Mercs. OK, I was a mid-50s Chevy guy but the early Mercs always drew me in...like a moth to a flame. Flamed Mercs...double dangerous. Which reminds me, the '60s chicks loved the dangerous ducktailed dudes who drove the early Mercs.

Never a bad boy, I went with the G***ER-style rides. Front end up in the air, straight axles and bad-*** at***ude. Worked for me with the Jan & Dean and Beach Boy chicks, but not with the Merc Maids.

Check out the attached Merc of G***ER Legend Johnny Rocca. He's bringing it to my 8th annual G***ER Reunion (June 5-7) at Thompson Raceway Park (Thompson, OH). Wings on rides aren't my thing but this winged Merc is way hot and way cool at the same time.

WAY TO GO AXLE! You're the man.

Ernest

 

Getting to be up close with these cars on set-up day ---words can't describe it...
....at the risk of sounding like a hippy, that room just had an amazing vibe to it!
Job well done Axle and company.



Marcy