Finally sold my Harley about month ago and picked up this 61 Merc a few weeks back. Car was originally from South Dakota so its fairly clean. The P.O. redid the interior. Not totally sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Just going drive it for now and do some minor stuff. I will probably rebuild the Y block over the winter and would like to swith it to a 4 speed or do a T5 conversion. Here are some pics when I picked it up.
bREWcITYbIRD... These are cool cars, and pretty rare. Not too many made to begin with. Front clip, doors, and, roof are basically Ford units, as are parts of the interior (seats, steering wheel, column, etc.). Lots of ways to put together a great cruiser for not a lot of money. You're on the right road with the engine, wheels, tires. Just make it ALL mechanically sound, make the interior comfy for cruisin', and hit the road ! Body mods, paint, etc., can wait while you have fun drivin' it !!
Yeah thats on the list of things to do! A friend of mine bugs me about that everytime he see's the car.........
i like it!! ive been drivin my 62 galaxie for a d d for about a year and a half. need some body work done and paint but hate to take it off the road that long. i love drivin it.i got other hamb cars i could drive but i prefer my ol girl to them. dont know why but i do. ive been lookin for a 61 ford or merc to build but what i do find is way out of my price range.
BrewCityBird....lookin good on your project. Is that a 600 or 800, my guess is an 800. My son has a 61 Meteor 600, the only one I've ever seen. Apparently not too many Merc made there way to the deep south back then. Anyway, it still has a long way to go. I wish his had come with a 292, but it had a 352 boat anchor. We've installed a Ride Tech Air Bar rear suspension and added 77 T-bird spindles, discs and Shockwaves on the front. He'll run a 302 with an automatic. Right now he wants to flake the roof and leave the rest patina (this is the original paint). Somedays I think we need to trade it away for a 57-60 pickup. One that is already running and go from there. He is a little overwhelmed now and I dont want him to lose interest in the hobby.
loosewheel: Your son's merc is cool, too. Tell him it's way better than owning one of those rinky-dink "cars" that the kids drive these days.
It is a pretty thing. I just realized the BOX TOP looks much better on a MERC than a FORD of the period (IMO).
Loosewheels its a Monterey actually. Your sons car it cool looking, I thought about more of the custom look but decided on the somewhat raked hot rod look. The later 302 combo is a temping one. I have a buddy with a 57 Ford wagon with a 5.0 and an AOD, we drove the car all day a couple of Sunday's ago down to a swap meet then to go check out some other parts and only went through a 1/4 tank of gas.
Thats a fine Merc you got there Definitely has potential, looks cool already. They do look great sitting in the weeds, and I'd stick with that Y-block for sure! They sound AWESOME with straight pipes!!! My '62...
X2. Just cut the front coils and call it a day. I took out 2 full turns Still rides really nice too, just gotta watch where you go. I also put 2" blocks in the rear.
Hey I thought I told you to straighten out that bumper!!!You need a recent pic,it looks way better now that you have the *** up a little bit.Time to build a hot little Y blocker for it.
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