You guys know I buy and sell a lot of hot rod parts, and like everyone I try to locate the good stuff. Well I had a call last night from a 77 year old gent who has had a 41 Mercury 4-door deluxe sedan in his garage for 37 years. He has sold his house and is moving and the car cannot go. It is solid but banged up on almost every corner with dents, some serious. He said he bought the car originally in Ohio from a lady who must not have been used to driving such a large car. It has no dog house on it now, but he has it all including extra fenders, a couple that are NOS. The dash and seats are nice and it has an original clock and radio. All of the gl*** is still in the car. The car is low mileage but the engine that is in it is stuck, but two more are included. There are some other extra parts also. In my mind the car is only good for parts, at least I would never fix it! I am not sure why, but I never want to see any of these old cars get lost to a s****per. There are some good parts on the car...hydraulic brakes, good rear end, dash?, hood, grill, front and back seats. But a lot of them are big and ugly and hard to store without a lot of profit to go with. Plus the parts all have to be removed of course. So to be honest, I am in a dilema on whether to even make an offer on the car. I think it can be bought for around $700, but right now even thats not that much of an enticement. So why am I posting? I would like to hear from Mercury owners about the value of parts. Since I have never had one, I dont know and thats not BS. I dont need or want junk around, but I dont want to miss an opportunity if this indeed is one. It was dark when I looked at the car with a flashlight. I plan to go back tomorrow and check it out again. I can get pictures then. Any sincere advice is appreciated!!!
If you don't want to mess with it why don't you just p*** the information along. I'm sure there is a dozen or two guys here on the hamb would love an entry level car.
If you've got a place to store it, pull the trigger. I think you could easily triple your money maybe more in parts. But there is a high PITA factor with parting out and advertising parts.
It's a cool old car! Grab it cheap and sell it reasonable to the next guy. Make a little, keep the NOS stuff to pay for your troubles. Old steel is old steel and they're not all gonna be nifties. That's nifty enough for someone though.
I'll take the dash of your hands......I know there is someone else on here looking for the gauges and plastic parts from the dash, I only want the metal....would probably take he steering wheel too. I rekon you could sell a lt of it really quickly. Does it ave it's hubcaps?.....
Hell if I was living over your way Id definatly take it, im quite a fan of those cars, in my mind it doesn't have to be a coupe to be cool.
Jeeze, some people. I'd nab it, bring it in, see if I can't free up the motor and maybe get it going, put a nose on it, doll it up and flip it. You won't get rich but if you can ask $2000 and take $1500 and just have some time and your buy-in on it, you're going places. And keep the extra parts or sell them separate. I mean it's a solid, low-milage car in an area where cars are rot-prone, that alone is half the battle. Some people want a 4-door like grandpa or uncle Joe used to have - some people even restore them. Sometimes they want a car they can take the kids with. You have to look at this stuff with your blinders off. Once it's parted out, you've destroyed the car permanently.
**** if it were me I'd grab it for sure, get it goin, give it a decent tail down stance and load it up with your mates. it'd make an awesome booze cruiser. that valley custom one is beautiful.
3 engines and NOS fenders, you've made your $700 back easy, hang the old sheetmetal on it and sell the car for $700 without the engine. I used to part out musclecars, some of the most interesting and profitable projects were taken in trade from left overs
I live in Indiana, I have been looking for a forties car for awhile. If I were you I'd jump on it. If its solid its worth it.
****...I don't much care for the Mercs in these years and really don't like four doors, but I love that!
The Jalopy Journal
