How about this senario first byer bought the car a 1950 model in 1949 when the ***le was issued it was tiled as a 1948 as a typing error & know one paid attention to the ***le. Or again ***le changed owners later & the person issuing the new ***le hit an 8 instead of 9 just a thought. So now you can claim you have the only original 1948/49/50 factory Merc one very rare proto type. I see big dollars at B/j auction for this one off Merc proto type.
the post that wont die. Like I say, It's a registration thing (unless someone took the time to pull late model parts and put it on a late 48 issued car in an attempt to update it. What ever it is, it's coming to roost next week. will post pix of vin tags and better pictures. We now return to regular programing....
Hi ! Like many said -50 for sure , check the firewall , my bet it wount say the same as the ***le . -49 mercury taillights as far as I know are the same as -50 Mercury taillights , anyone know of any diffrences ? Cut the back gl*** because they are popping out , haha ! I dont think so , rear windows are hardend gl*** and fly into a million pieces if you just are thinking of cutting it , three piece rear windows came from the factory that way and ofcause anything could have happend during the way but Ive seen too many -49 Mercs with single piece rear window for all to be swapped , is there any original -49 Merc pictures out there that show single rear window ?? More intresting for you topchop guys out there Ive seen many single piece rear gl***es in different shape , close to flat=very little shape is the best gl***es but there is some that has alot of shape = not good for topchop flow . The 3 piece -49 seems always have alot less shape = good for flow . I have even seen one single piece that was uneven shape on left and right side clearly made on a monday so check them out very carfully even if they make new ones these days . All -49 had the pull out type handles and -50-51 had the push****on handles even if they were designed differently , also all -49-51 Mercs have the inlet to the carb from the rear but -49 or possibly early -49 had the center aircleaner , ive only seen pictures of them , the more common aircleaner are the one sitting to p***enger side style . -49 Merc have wide belts and one is running over both waterpumps , -50-51 have thinner standard belts with one belt on each waterpump ! -49 have the heater unit under the dash , -50-51 have it in the engine compartment . Everything on this car says 1950 except as earlier mentioned -51 steeringwheel and what it looks like the front bumper . Best wishes on the new found Merc , always a joy to own and will spark intrest every where its driven , an icon of cars ! Wolf
It's snuggled up warm and dry in my shop. The last owner was demanding it was a 48 but when i posted this i couldnt get to the firewall to get the vin. The taillights had 48 on them and the owner thought it was a 48. I was thinking possibly an early 49. End results as noted.. yes its a canadian built 50 Merc and I'm excited to own it.
That's a nice car, great start. I posted on another one of your threads about the 4 door thang. Its most likely a paperwork screw up that happened way back in teh day. My friend daily drives a '63 Chevy that has always been a four door, but for some reason the new paperwork (when made) stated it was a 2 door. Yours was most likely registered and ***led at 4:31 pm on a Friday night. That's my guess. A few years ago in high school (12 years haha, damn.) I ran into a guy going down Rt 22 in NJ. I was driving my blue 77k mile original '65 Mustang fastback, saw a white fastback pull out of a drivethru. Pull over, talk to the guy, and he demands it's a '64. Now, there was no such animal as a '64 Fastback, and even pointed out the '64 specific items (Gen light, etc) that his car had none of. This guy just didn't wanna hear it tho, and I couldn't care less. Let him be. But my point is this stuff happens.
I stopped wondering that was going on after the old girl got home. The old fellow how I bought it from gave me the papers and said that they matched the vin tag. He also said the taillights said 1948 ( dont mean squat, but there ya go ). He hadn't owned any other 1948's and he had last had it insured in 1985 and the plates were in the trunk. So, this left me head scratching. As it is, Ford was real good about making changes in the U.S. to body styles and drive trains and then using left overs in Canada where they could. Kinda like the poor cousins hand me downs. That's why we had the flathead in cars in 1954 ( I know because I pulled one from a skyliner for my next project). I also owned a 47 Ford that had 46 ford trim from the factory. So sometimes it was the case at Ford to dump their left overs from the U.S. on Canadians. The interesting issue of rear 3 piece windows in 49's became an interesting part of this investigation to. 1949 and some 1950 Mercury's in Canada had problems with the rear window popping out of the rubber in the corners. It would even happen sitting on the dealers lot. To resolve this, Ford sent out techs who would cut the rear window in three and insert the chome separation bars. So here in Canada we have Mercs with full and 3 piece rear windows in model years 1949 and 1950. How cool is that. Love how that ands to the confusion. When I took the pictures I originally posted I couldnt get to the VIN, I only had the papers in hand and the gentlemans word on what he had. I knew it wasnt a 48, but there was the off chance it was an early 1949 model. Standing looking at the thing at the time, my thinking was, "who's to say that someone didnt upgrade their 49 to look like a 50? Maybe they bought a roll over.. maybe they likes the 50 styling better.. who the freak knows. So I threw it out here to the HAMB. As soon as I got it home back in jan/ feb, I had a walk around it. Opened the trunk expecting to see the garage floor.. it was clean and solid and a bright set of liscence plates. I opened the hood expecting to see carb off and distributor hanging... all intact. He said it was running when parked, but they all say that, but with a little work on the distributor.. it fired up in a bang and cloud of carbon after soaking in a little deisel. With papers in hand I looked at the VIN tag for the first time. The VIN is that of a 1950 Merc. The papers he had - that matched the plates was for a 1948 Mercury. Case closed The car is in fact a 1950. But questions remain.... why did the paperwork match the plates... why was the owner so sure these were the papers for that car why were the plates in the trunk... the plot thickens.... My conclusions... the papers match the plates and were for this mans car the car does not match the papers because the person who sold it to him as a used car gave him the wrong papers in the first place and for many years the gentleman owned and drove his 50 Merc he rightfully felt was a 48. He had removed the plate from the car and placed them in the trunk which is correct for vehicles not insured, the plates need to be removed from a car by law in B.C. ( but no one really cares about such a weenie law). Now as long as the vin search doesnt reveal the car as being stolen 30 years ago before the gentleman bought it, life will continue on and the built will go forward. So ends another chapter of "what the hell is this anyway".
if you check the first numbers on the vin plate they will tell you the the first letters tell you where it was built that easy
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