Projects Accidentally Bought a 40 Merc Coupe

Well...it was like Christmas in June and I ended up with a pair of 41 Studebaker taillights thanks to @alchemy. We were able to do some trading and now I just have a ton of work to do before installing them.

 

Those will be icing on the cake . Very nice

 

Back when I was making the repro lights, I felt I’d sell more if there were less originals available. I bought up any I could afford. But now that I don’t do the repros, I could let some originals go to a good project.

 

Thanks again Jeff! I appreciate you letting go of a set and will put them to good use. Still trying to gather up parts when I can for this car and hoping to actually get started on it in the next year or so. If I could just get out of the business of trying to keep teenagers cars going, I might be able to make more progress.

 

Congratulations! Thank you @alchemy
Jeff is a great guy and he will put them to good use. This is what the HAMB is all about.

 

Those are gonna be awesome on there Jeff! Kudos @alchemy!!

 

Here is some more inspiration!

 

Yes, those teenagers have been known to be hard on equipment. Glad that is behind me now. However, my grandson just turned 15, so maybe it will be starting again. ☹️

 

Yep, I have a 19 year old as of a couple weeks ago and two 18 year olds right now. Between cars, mowers, etc., hard to stay ahead of the broken stuff at this point. Hopefully, there will be somewhat of a gap coming until my grandson gets old enough to need a vehicle. He is only 19 months old so far. Time to get started on a pedal car for him soon I suppose.

 

No better time than having the rug rats hanging around! I was fortunate to have 4 sons that both helped me and then started their own projects and now have 2 grandsons and one granddaughter actively involved- don’t get much done but I sure enjoy having them “help”!

 

Thanks to a few HAMBers, I’m continuing to collect more parts. @okiedokie let me know about a nice hood just over in Tulsa that I was able to get over the weekend. And, @1940merc contacted me about a much better left rear fender and @Pinstriper40 is picking it up for me soon since it is in Colorado. This place is great! One piece at a time...

 

Awesome!

 

I had bought a pair of your lights out here in Aus, kept them for the project 35 sedan I had, but sold the sedan & sold the lights on again early this year. They were beautiful lights, wish I had a car to use them on. But it free'd up some $'s for another project.
@guthriesmith looking forward to seeing these lights fitted up!

 

Totally agree with you on chopped '40 Fords. It's so easy to ruin the look of them with chopped top. Also agree that '39-'41 Mercs NEED lots of help to be bitchin'.

 

Getting pretty excited as I should have the Caddy motor loaded up by this time tomorrow. More to come on that deal since I am getting it from another HAMBer that we all know and love here.

 

Awesome news

 

Got everything loaded up and had a good visit with @winduptoy that made me a good deal on the engine. Even went for dinner at Blake’s Lotaburger with Larry and swapped stories for a bit after everything was loaded. Larry drove his 31 Cabriolet with the hopped up banger. He also showed us lots of his other cool stuff while at the house. Great evening with Larry and my oldest son Silas that even got to ride to the restaurant in the Cabriolet. Work tomorrow then we will head back to Oklahoma with my new treasure. I am thankful that Larry sold me what I think is the absolute perfect engine for this Merc.

All tucked away and tied in for the ride to Oklahoma.


Following Larry down his driveway headed to dinner.


Silas paying good attention to his ride. Actually, Larry was just shutting the gate, but makes for good story.


Route 66

 

That Caddy mill will be perfect in your 40!

 

Very kool . The pieces are coming together.

 

I didn't know Larry had other motors besides healthy, long hauling bangers.

 

Me either Dave. Found out about the 331 on my last trip out to NM.

 

Didn’t stop but got a pic.

 

Yes...more bangers for sale....some hopped up ones..some caddy's too...a couple of 390's and a healthy 500

Always good to see you and Silas...enjoyed breaking bread with you as well...going to like watching all this come together....! Shotgun!

LOL
yes that makes sense it is a true HAMB town in some respects but lots of T Timers too....
I had breakfast with my buddys, the Lewis's last Saturday...I'll have to snap some pics the next time...Dale trucks all 48 states in a '55 Kenworth no breaker points, though it came equipped with a Hall-Scott gas model originally...if you left it idle while gassing it up....you'd never get it full...
I'm gonna' have to get some tee shirts and bumper stickers made now

 

Picture of the KW please.

 

Wellllllll, this is an interesting development! An early Cad OHV has gotta be the perfect mill for that car. Super cool!

 

And on RT-66

 

Got the Caddy home and unloaded. More motivation to get started.

 

Anyone heard of this machine shop in Indiana? This is etched in the bellhousing.

 

Did a little searching and found a thread here where I figured the information was.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/mcbar-machine-shop-catalog-1959.776269/

Also, seems I may have overpaid. I could have bought one brand new for $54 if I would have just picked one up in 1959.