NITROFC posted a few photos of an interesting 1939 Mercury three window coupe being built at Ida-Automotive, in his Ida Automotive Open House thread a few days ago. SO I went on a search and found some great in progress photos at the Ida website. Only think I hope is that the car will get a better stance than what is used during the progress. This car screams to have a nice slight tail-dragging, and a few inches above the ground stance. Photos by Rob Ida http://www.robidaconcepts.com 1940 Grille was added New side window shape New rear fenders Photos by NITROFC
Oooh! That thing is slick Rik! I have a feeling that'll be the final stance though, but since it's on bags maybe the owner will adjust it so it sits nose high! Very nice craftsmanship! Beautiful car!
It seems to me that there are now more Matranga clones and tribute cars than there are stock '39-40 Mercs. Not a bad thing; just sayin'. Rik, I think the top on that Ida Merc is a nice change of pace -- kind of a 3W interpretation of the Merc top.
Wow - love the work in progress in the IDA Merc . . . nice to see something a bit different. I'm not sure I'm liking the length/size of the rear fenders they're building from scratch . . . look too big to me. Obviously it is very early in the build - so we'll just have to wait and see. The neat thing about 40 Mercs is that the stock body is screaming for a change - the question is, what will the change be?
That IDA Merc is sweet! I really dig the 3 window job there doin, ya dont see that too often on a Merc. It doesn't even look like the roof is out of proportion with the body by being too short like some turned 3-window cars do. I think the rear fender concept is getting a bit too out there for my tastes but I'd like to see it wrapped in sheet metal before I completely write it off. Cool!
A few update photos from the Ida Merc.... Great stuf, and the rear fender looks much better now it is skinned... and reshaped from its older wire frame. And I really like the lay-out for the stainless/chrome moldings that will go on the rear fenders... Now only if they would give this car a STANCE... instead of making it look like its broken and slowly dying on the floor. This laying frame stance is just so PASSE. They have been there, done that and it just never worked on a custom... !!! ... on to the photos!
Hey Rik,glad to hear you say what you think about laying lame,o sorry I mean laying frame.That is a bad car and yes it does need a stance.
Don't know how I missed this thread ...here's the 40 I built about 10 years ago. It was sold to a guy in Japan who had Gene Winfield do the paint and rechrome the shiny stuff.
Brewsir... your old Merc deserves some better pics in this thread... RussBeckwith photos How it all started... Laid forward trunk Something a lot of people dont do if they turn a four door sedan into a convertible of some kind... rework the windshield post... These are perfect. sorry for the poor photos. When the car was sold and reworked by Winfields Primer fade
I've been slowly making some progress on mine. Fixed a big dent in my front fender... and resprayed it in lacquer so it would match the rest of the car, but it turned out so good that I think I'm going to end up painting the whole thing. And I finally started lowering it... Pancaked the crossmember 5 inches, (just tacked in, need clean up the welds, etc...) and made up some 4 inch shackles. I still have to c notch the rear, make a sway bar and some cool shock mounts... but it's coming along. I scored some cool old 16" aftermarket fake sombreros for it too, which I'm pretty excited about. You guys have got BALLS. Building up the nerve to start cutting on this thing was probably the hardest part. Before: Getting better...
Mr.Cola, that thing is awesome!!!! You're like a quiet storm my friend. You always come out of nowhere with some of the coolest shit!