In this photo of the car in front of Barris' shop, it looks like it had been in a fender bender. Do you know what happened to cause this damage?
i am glad the tag thingie is being cleared up .. so it was not a H.A.M.B.alliance tag then?.. wow! the dent shot and towing the boat pic ... hmmm. were these from a mag or a book, personnal collection ... heck..there are way more facts/pics about this car than most family have do***ents about thier celebrity/political star members. love this kinda research keep up the good work paperdog
I had read how it got wrecked, in The Rodder's Journal I think, but don't remember what the cir***stances were. I may be waaaaay off base, but a couple of brains cells are speaking up saying they think Dirty Doug owned it for a bit and it happened when he had it.....and I think he was the one that pulled the boat with it. I'd still be curious to know why the tag say's The Hawaiian, though.
restored Merc, with original (restored) Von Dutch pinstriping (photo by Megan Boyd) [/QUOTE] "restored"? Am I to understand the original pin striping was re-done in the restoration of the dash? I hope this is just a misunderstanding on my part. tell me the dash was just cleaned up real good....
Hey Rick- In the second version of the mercillac, was anything changed besides the paint? any new body mods? anyone ever clone the second version? have you ever seen a color shot of it that way? i kinda dig those colors... sorry for all the questions, i love Kustom history!!
In the second version of the mercillac, was anything changed besides the paint? any new body mods? anyone ever clone the second version? have you ever seen a color shot of it that way? i kinda dig those colors... sorry for all the questions, i love Kustom history!![/quote] ------------------------------------------------------------------ Not the Hirohata Merc but the color it was painted. Paul Bragg told me he used these two shades of green,because they were as close to color that the Hirohata second paint job was. TwoChops
Seeing that photo with the side damage makes me sick to my stomache. Can't wait to see it at the GNRS next weekend.
Yes the dash was cleaned and repaired where needed. And yes the pinstriping is still the original Von Dutch work. Sorry for the confusion.
These are indeed lime gold and dark green, but I believe this was the third paint sceme on the car. before this lime gold the car was painted a different (lime) gold with green. From that version I do not have any color photos, nor have I ever seen them. This is my favorite photo in its second paint sceme. Perfect angle... (TRJ photo)
This striping was named "This is the City" (oops, I guess I should have kept reading the post, Rikster beat me to it)
Hey, "this is the city"- wasn't that a line from Dragnet, the television series intro, Jack Web's line: "this is the city Los Angeles California? s****ey devils c.c.
I have seen the original restored car and it does read Hawaiin, I also rememeber seeing pic's of the Valley Custom Polynesian Old's reading Polynesian in the same loaction on the door. Only Jim McNeil can answer the question, or Dirty Doug, Bill Hines, etc..................
I would tend to agree. They really pulled it off with this car. Not over the top. Simple, clean, and tasteful. It's one of those cars that "looks right" and to the casual observer, you don't know why. To me, the key to a Custom. Hell, I have a '51 Merc, and every time I see that Merc I find something else done on it I hadn't noticed before...and I even have models and pictures of it! Simply beautiful. Only one thing- I never did like the taillights...seemed 'awkward'. Kinda funny (as in strange funny)- Mr. Hirohata referred to his car as "The Mercillac", presumably because it was Caddy powered. My car has been dubbed "The Lincury" because of what I'm doing... maybe one day I'll be famous too
I wish I had known about Riksters site long ago. I searched for quite some time back when I did this painting. Absolutly my favorite custom. It is always great to learn new information on the car. Thanks Rikster for having your site. Hope you don't mind the painting on here. BR
I read one article about the car when it was first "rediscovered", and they were talking about the build quality. Some stuff, like the metal work on the roof and headlights was absolute top notch, but stuff like the grille was held in place by welding rods and popcorn welds. They said there was probably a lot of different hands on the car during the build. I understand the rear of the frame was a bit messy in construction too, and the years and miles had beaten the whole ch***is up. I wish I could remember what magazine that was in, it was a good article.
that article was in Rod & Custom, in a 1989 issue, i can't remember the month off hand, i have it, i'll dig it out tomorrow to see what month it was...it was a real good article....
[/QUOTE]Looking at the original engine bay, it appears as though the quality of the detail in the engine compartment was lacking. Was that the case when the car was on the show circuit also? The few really old customs that I have been around were all mechanically pretty crude also. Judging by the TRJ artilce, looks like the car was over restored? I have a friend that helps to maintain cars from the Petersen collection and most of the cars that come through his shop appear to be better than they could have ever been originally. I am not knocking the practice, I would do the same thing with a car of that historical signifigance. I am just trying to get a feel for the fit and finish of a top notch 50's Kustom.[/QUOTE] sorry,but i believe that engine WAS just installed before the cross country trip,and isnt it one of the big things of a KUSTOM to not really worry about what's under the hood cuz yer not plannin on opening it anyway?they stuck a pretty engine in there,yeah,but i dont think they'd worry too much about making the engine bay anything other than black..why?BECAUSE THEY JUST STUCK IT IN THERE AND RAN IT. no time to prep it and paint it and then try to shoe-horn that ****er in there without redoing the insides!bob covered it with tape while he was driving it to prevent chips,you think he'd stick a new engine in a car with a nicely detailed engine bay?!i just installed hood springs in my car after it was painted and let me tell you I WISH I'D DONE THAT FIRST, let alone if i was swapping out for a completely different make of engine!i figure he just painted it black or left it stock,had the engine dressed up enough so if he HAD to pop the hood he could be proud (which he definately WOULD) and drove the thing across country hoping not to have to show the new engine bay off too much.i know I'D be totally embar***ed if i had to pop my hood right now (moroso valve covers and such) but i'm more worried that my car runs and the rest of it looks nice right now than the engine that i can cover up and to say that the engine was LACKING is kinda insulting to me cuz i know most customizers would be happy to have such a pretty engine,let alone a nice new shiny beauty to stick it in! when i tossed my 327 in the chevy and drove off for Indy the paint on it had barely dried and i was mostly worried if i'd make it there in one piece,since i was still running the old plugs from my blown motor,not what the hell the engine compartment looked like!!! sorry for the rant! creepy
Also, standards have changed. We've all been exposed to 20 years of over-the-top, insanely detailed, no-limit-on-spending cars that have been built primarily for bragging rights & magazine exposure....and now we tend to not be impressed with anything less. Most of these cars don't see the road, or don't until after several years of the show circuit, anyway. The same is true to an extent with regular production automobiles. The fit & finish standards on bodies, panel gaps, paint, & so forth far exceed (for the most part) what Detroit did forty years ago, or even twenty. In the '60s the final inspection guys were just happy if all the doors fully closed...
QUOTE] sorry,but i believe that engine WAS just installed before the cross country trip,and isnt it one of the big things of a KUSTOM to not really worry about what's under the hood cuz yer not plannin on opening it anyway?they stuck a pretty engine in there,yeah,but i dont think they'd worry too much about making the engine bay anything other than black..why?BECAUSE THEY JUST STUCK IT IN THERE AND RAN IT. no time to prep it and paint it and then try to shoe-horn that ****er in there without redoing the insides!bob covered it with tape while he was driving it to prevent chips,you think he'd stick a new engine in a car with a nicely detailed engine bay?!i just installed hood springs in my car after it was painted and let me tell you I WISH I'D DONE THAT FIRST, let alone if i was swapping out for a completely different make of engine!i figure he just painted it black or left it stock,had the engine dressed up enough so if he HAD to pop the hood he could be proud (which he definately WOULD) and drove the thing across country hoping not to have to show the new engine bay off too much.i know I'D be totally embar***ed if i had to pop my hood right now (moroso valve covers and such) but i'm more worried that my car runs and the rest of it looks nice right now than the engine that i can cover up and to say that the engine was LACKING is kinda insulting to me cuz i know most customizers would be happy to have such a pretty engine,let alone a nice new shiny beauty to stick it in! when i tossed my 327 in the chevy and drove off for Indy the paint on it had barely dried and i was mostly worried if i'd make it there in one piece,since i was still running the old plugs from my blown motor,not what the hell the engine compartment looked like!!! sorry for the rant! creepy[/QUOTE] Im not knocking it, I've driving a primered 33 for 8 Years now. I was just trying to get an idea of what Bob and others thought was important.
Articles have stated that the car was, admittedly, over-restored, but some of it was to just make it work and fit better. For instance, the cove Jim made in the inner fender to clear the generator. Also, when Jim cleaned the undercoating off the firewall, I think I recall he found original seafoam green on the firewall under the coating....indicating that it was originally finished nicer than when the caddy motor was installed. So far as the other colors, one of the Rodder's Journal articles said Jim's wife, Sue, carefully sanded one of the doors to show all eight colors that had been painted on it and Stan Betz matched each one. They mixed each color and sprayed them sample panels so that examples of each color would always exist. Incredible planning in my book!
Fascinating,isn't it.All these little things that happen and no-one knows why. I thought that Hirohata was of island descent anyway and maybe Roland Leong went for a ride in it one day and said why don't you name it "The Hawaiin" just to be different.Does the present owner have any idea why it's there?Questions,questions,always questions. Will it be at Paso? Keep on roddin'.
I knew I left a letter out of Hawaiian. I'm getting ready for Paso and hopping from one thing to another. Hope to see some neat cars there and a few of you guys. Regards.
That Hawiian **** on the door is ****in retarded and should never have been used in the resto.It was to cover the rear view mirror holes.
I never understood this either... WHY? The car is restored back to its original version (well second version since the bumper guards are sectioned and where not the first time it was called a finished custom) and the Hawaiian crest did not appear on it then... so why is the crest on it now? Did Jim put it on there in the first place and does it perhaps have a special memory for him?
Probably the most beautiful custom of its time, although there are some Mercs around now that would give it a run for the money. Wonder if it would have been the same story if it was in two shades of blue, rather than green? Did it get more attention because of the unusual colour choice?
The Jalopy Journal
