I could be wrong, but I think this car was the second Merc Coupe Sam chopped. Jerry Quesnel's '49 Merc:
Frank must have been the youngest Barris employee judging by that last picture. Just kidding, that's his son. I know, I'm not funny.
I just noticed that the headliner in the last pic of Sonzogni's car has a diamond in it. I wanted to do that on my shoebox, too. Anyway, here's the very cl***y Dave Bugarin '51 Merc:
Dave Bugarin was inspired to build his Merc after seeing Bob Hirohata's car at a show. He commisioned the Barris Brothers to build his car to slightly resemble, but not copy the Hirohata Merc. I read once that Harry Bentley Bradley criticized the design and flow of Bugarin's car. Well, Harry, shut up. Not everything you ever drew looked that good. The Bugarin Merc is gorgeous. Where is it now? Next up is the Manny Holden Merc. This is my contribution to this post. Anybody know the whereabouts of this rig?
Hey laidoutford, You're partly right about the critisism of the Bugarrin Merc. I have the issue somewhere. I think it was Custom Rodder that he did some drawings of it. Mainly pointed out that the "finish" wasn't as clean as the Hirohata Merc. Something about the side trim I remember and the fit of the doors or something. I will try looking for the issue later. It wasn't a real old one or anything, maybe 4 or 5 years ago.
Oh, and after looking at that picture again, I remember he said something about the front fenders. The way they have that lump on the top of them.
I hope I'm not straying from the topic too much, but here is a 47 Ford convert that was a barris car. My dad owned it around 1965-66, when it was out of style. He lived in north jersey at the time. When he got it, it had an incomplete caddy engine, so he replaced it with a 301 sbc with fuelie cam and dual quads he pulled from his 56 chevy convert. The ford still had the 3 speed and columbia rear. The rear crossmember was modified to get it so low in the back, and it had skirts in it's day, dad took them off because they were so out of style. It was midnite blue metalic, and had a caddy grille and caddy headlites leaded in, and all the fenders and seams were leaded in. The chopped lift off carson top was made by "Hauser's Carson Padded Tops" in LA. My dad still has the metal tag from the top. Does anyone know what ever happened to this beauty???
There are sevaral rumors, none of which proven that Mandy Holders Merc was for sale in Queens N.Y in the late 60s.I know it was supposed to have disappeared before that.Ive heard this from 2 people who didnt know one another,each a bigger ********ter than the other!
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