Thanks for the update Rik and Paul! That car is going to be incredible can't wait to see it in paint.
Hi All, I am glad that you like my car and I am sorry that it has taken so long to give an up-date. My car is going to be painted a dark maroon or a dark olive green below the side mouldings and a yellow gold on the upper body. We are debating whether to prime and block the 41 next? I haven't decided what the color will be for this car. Color decision is subject to a veto by the builder. Once again we are so thankful for Rik in posting our photos. He is a great guy!! Pat
Well... as most have probably noticed the plan to have the 54 Mercury at the Santa Maria show this year did not really happen. The night before the show they lost the brakes, and there was just no way the car could make it to the show. Anyway... Paul send me some progress photos of his amazing 1941 business coupe. HE also told me that all the tin work on his 1950 Mercury and 1954 Mercury is now absolutely finished... So it wont be long before we will be seeing some masterpieces from Paul again.... However since he works alone on these projects it still might take a while. As for the 1941 Ford.... Lots of fine tuning is still needed, but if all goes well it should be ready for paint by the end of the year. Paul is getting the body primed and blocked and then will pull the body off the frame to get to work on that. Attention to detail is everywhere... take a look at the door edges and window frames... all are absolutely perfect. Lower door corners and extension on the bottom of the doors. All metal finished
mikef, i use tig or oxy/acet for all metalfinished seams. i tack with a mig sometimes. reason- welds need to be hammered to metalfinish and mig does not like that. too brittle!! mig works good on plug welds, overlaps, box sections such as posts, generally areas with no access to metalfinish. hope that helps. carry on!!! tinguy paul bragg
Well... finally an update again for one of the greatest custom builders. Paul hit a snag on the 1941 Ford. It turned out the engine was junk and it was really hard to find a rebuildable early small block. But eventually he found one! The new engine is built and will be run on stand soon. Paul has been working hard on the body and a lot of other details on the 1941 Ford. Paul decided to change the rear conners of the quarter windows. He felt the corners were a little to sharp. I remember Paul and me talked about it when Palle Johansen and me visited him in 2010. Paul then drew up the corners he planned to do on a piece of cardboard. And yes it does look better this way. The firewall had 51 holes and some old dents that had to be filled and body worked. Paul added epoxy prime and primer surfacer to the body and then it was blocked and is ready for final prime and wet sand for color. Inner panels and additional reinforcements are in and welded on the interior and the inner quarters were rust coated and undercoated. Paul added Sound deadener pads. The body on the 1941 Ford business Coupe is nearly ready to come off frame and the frame is supposed to be over to powder coat the first of May. Here are some of the photos Paul and Pat just send... Reshaping the rear corner of the quarter windows.
Thanks Rik, for posting. Besides the old Zocchi 1950 Merc, The Bragg convertible was the one that did it for me. I also read that article in, I think, Power Magazine or Colorod was it? Those cars are the main reason I love custom cars and bought my own 1950 Merc. Coming to Norway this april: A sweet custom with clean floating lines. Heres shown on its way into the trailer in Ohio:
Paul also send some new photos of the updated 1954 Mercury he is building for his wife Pat. This one is really getting close. And they plan to have it at the Santa Maria show this year. They also planned to have it there last year, but then all sorts of things got in the way of making that happen. Lets hope they will make it this year. The 1954 Mercury is another stunning car from the mind of Paul. So many wonderful custom touches on this car. And the overall look and feel is just absolutely fantastic.
Thanks for the update pictures of the '41! I have anticipated them. I actually liked the the pointy end to the quarter window, but now when Paul redid it I see the difference it made. He sure got the eye for details. What blows me away is all these tricks that no one will see when the car is finished, like the interior panels. Another thing is that it appears that he added a shape to the body where the '47-'48 stainless moulding ends, between the rear fender and deck lid, to make it fit better I suppose. Fantastic, as usual with Paul's work.
The Jalopy Journal
