Customs Barris built Bugarin 51 Merc chopped merc

Everytime someone talks about the Barris built Bugarin Merc there
is someone that says------I hate it or it's a piece of ****.
The rear end and the basic kustom work are very good,
but the front is where it really needs a lot of help.
I cleaned the some,but it still needs HELP.
TwoChops
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I guess its an improvement.Id add the piece of trim on the 1/4 panel.

 

00mack--I agree with you about the trim on the 1/4 panel.
The top and rear show much better styling than the front.
Front bumper looks too cluttered.
TwoChops
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I think the car looks great all the little things that make it a period piece traditional. This car is a rolling progression that was built for someone who wanted it and I am sure loved the hell out of it. I would not change anything mabe freshen it up and drive it keep its history not make it look like the rest. My 2 cents

 

I was hoping someone would say that...didn't feel like having my balls busted today.

 

The front of that Merc looks like ****! Lights,grill,bumper,hood...can't find anything I like about it! Everything from the windshield back looks great,LOL!!!! Looks like an East Coast front end to me...

 

Try and make the grill bar bigger it looks too small for the largeness of the front end
its also looks like its sunk way back in under the hood

I cant photo shop but I used paint. I moved the hood bottom up also.

 

This is a later version of Miss San Pedro,I think the early version of this sled was much better.

 

Now thats a kick in the pants...

The front end is a tad on the busy side. But somebody, somewhere, thought it was a great idea.

 

I dont think it was that terrible, either did Sam Barris,it was changing and trying to keep up with the trends of customs at the time.

 

the whole car is a over done west coast car of that time frame

 

I agree, the early version with the 53 buick headlights.

 

Keep it as is.........it needs nothing.

 

TwoChops, you own that Merc?? Im confused!!

Ian

 

Bad Bob, you have such a way with words........you have to work on that being timid, and shy in public!

 

Hey,

Sure, in retrospect it's easy ta fling **** at someone else's idea of cool in 1955, but the DeSoto grille wasn't the default mode it's become today!
"me-too" Mercs are boring and predictable!

S****ey Devils C.C.
" Spending A Nation Into Generational Debt Is Not An Act Of Comp***ion"!

 

Dont forget at the time of this picture,mercs and the early sleds were not the kings of the road anymore.There was newer bodystyles out and the face of your typical kustom changed by this time.I dont think people realize that this pic was not taken in those early days of Sams car or Louie Bettencourt,Buddy Alcorn and all the rest.

 

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No this one

 

^^^^Hmmmmmmmm.....Clean & smoooth!

 

Atlantic Blvd, Lynwood,Ca is pretty westcoast B.B. .

 

Beautiful!! Cl***y !!

Ian

 

Hey,

Isn't that the Kaiser Bellflower hospital in the background, which would but this photo after 1960-1? perhaps as late as '62-'63?
By that date, most show kustoms had started to look"very interesting", no matter which coast they were built on!

S****ey Devils C.C.
" Spending A Nation Into Generational Debt Is Not An Act Of Comp***ion" !

 

My whole point exactly!!!!!!!

 

Twochops i think you have made a vast improvement to the merc by cleaning up the front end which was cluttered,less is more.

 

Haha, nice! Some defense of the East Coast from a couple of left coast guys!

The first version was definitely better, but lets be honest, its not as bad as whats been done to some Mercs over the years.

 

49-51 Mercs have been done to death...

It's to the point that in order to find something new on a car that has been modified with taste you have to be a nit-picking ***hole... Not that there's anything wrong with that...

It's like 32 Roadsters... Either they look like **** or they're so similar to the other ones that looked good, nobody could tell them apart at 100 yards...

I really don't have a problem with that snobbery as long as you own up to it and admit it... I'm a big time snob and nit-picker...

But if you just look at the original merc as a traditional custom, it's actually pretty cool. I doubt I'd ever think to build one that way... But if it came up for sale and I had the money, I'd be flossin it...

 

East Coast,West Coast...Calm down Tupac.









Haha,just ribbin ya Bob

 

looked way better before the quad headlights and scallops. still not diggin' the bumper.

 

I have to agree, I like the early version with the Buick headlights. But the bumper just looks too bulky for the rest of the car. It seems to draw way too much attention to it's self instead of complimenting the rest of the car.

 

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Cleaned up the bumper a little