Customs Kustom Mercs / How did you get hooked?

What are your plans for the resto, what version are you restoring it to?

 

The car will be restored to the way I remember it in 78-79 I also like the Silver Flake version but the car didnt have gullwing doors and gl*** roof when it was silver and thats too much to have to change back plus the car really got its fame when it was Candy Red flake

 

that is one cool merc, man.... how hard is it to get in and out of??? lol.... bet the gullwing doors get old real fast..... id like to see a side shot with the doors closed....

 

Here you go! the doors open with hydraulic gear driven mechanism and work great after 30+ years a little wierd getting in & out of because you gotta kinda duck down getting in & out but its a Kustom and was built for the look

 

Do you have an escape plan if the hydraulics don't work?

.

 

Dang... I'm watching Escape from LA and there is a flamed/primered 49/50 Merc early on in the movie!

 

Mr. Bomba,

I'm looking at Rojelio's pics of your car and it shows a chrome frame! Is your frame still chrome? I can't believe that, how do they chrome an entire frame? a big Merc one no less.

 

Nothing that exciting for me. Always loved Mercs , but they're out of my league ($$$) To make a really long story short..... I saw mine burried in a two car garage where it had been sitting a couple years. This picture is pretty much what I saw. The back end. That was it. I had to have it no matter what.
Yes, I'm still driving the wheels off it.

 

This Merc was at the GNRS last year, didn't get a good overall shot, but it was way detailed!!

 

I actually talked to Charlie today about his Merc. He still has it and still drives it every chance he gets. He showed me a faded old pic he had in his wallet of how it looks now. It has the 6 inch chop and its flat black with caddillac hubcaps. I might have a chance to get a few updated pics of it pretty soon. I'm going to go check out a car he has as a potential new project. I'll post them up when I get them.

Sam

 

dang.... Charlies gonna sell some thing!!!! lol....
i think his grandson acually drive the merc more than he does... hes like 11or 12 and drives it around Charlies pasture.....

 

Yea! the frame is still chrome along with everything else under the car only lots of rust now

 

Still a cool car...Can't believe you have the exact car that started it all for you...Great story!

 

Looks like the shock absorbers and the exhausts must be "new". They are the only pieces in the pic that are not chrome, ha ha.

Cool, thanks for posting that pic.

 

so are you gonna rechrome every thing???? i would hate to pay that bill....lol...

 

Thats where chrome sponsors kick in! Great adverti*****t

 

Havent found the right one to build my merc idea yet.

 

That one might be here in Jacksonville, FL. When I get home Ill try to find the pictures I took of it to be sure. I do know there is a bright yellow and red flamed merc lookin awfully similiar at the local cruise spots from time to time. There can't be to many running that paint scheme.

 

It would have been about 1967, I was almost 12 years old, there was one car lot in the town I grew up in, it was the kind of lot where they put the best cars in the front row where people driving by could see them and the towards the the rear of the lot in the back row was a black 49 or 50 merc, the hood was unlatched and I lifted it up. The spark plugs were removed and laying on top of the engine, just then the owner of the lot walked up and said I could have the car for $50.00. I had the money so I went home and asked my dad, and after trying several different tactics the answer was still NO! Never could get them out of my system.

 

Mine is the fourthone down with the flames, still looks the same. The builder shows up on the hamb now and then.

 

Can't keep from looking at this one!!!!


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

From the first day I saw it on the cover of the February 1962 cover of Custom Craft magazine....**** Bailey's '50...........Centurion9

 

Went for a ride in the late "Boppin" Bob Ellison's 50 Merc when I was ten, been hooked ever since...

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

When I was a kid I heard of a local fellow (buddy of a friend's older brother) who had a custom Merc with electric door poppers. The solenoid ****ons were activated by pushing a knee on the centre of the door skin! That was the first time the interest was triggered for me. Then, in the mid sixties I went to an old coal barn in town where a couple of fellows were working on their cars and I fell in love with an in-progress sectioned Monarch.. After that it was any cool Mercury I saw in model kits, shows, movies and magazines.

Fast forward to the local car show in 2010 - and what shows up but the same sectioned car - still in progress, still owned by the same fellow and still wearing the US Royals it had 45 years before!!!

2010 Draggins 50th anniversary car show:


-Dave

 

RPW.............
You Win "The Long Distance " Award !

____________________________________________________________________
My Love goes back to Car Craft, Roddin & Restyling, A book on "Customs" in late fifties............an, of course Jimmy Dean's ride.

 

got hooked
1955,
outdoor car show, Milwaukee, Wis., saw a black, chopped, 50 Merc, heavily chromed Cad motor, Cad-LaSalle trans. Beautiful creme and dark red tuck and roll. Super straight body with many coats of black lacquer. Saw the Merc on the streets of Milwaukee and other car shows, continually.

1958
Milwaukee, Wis., for $200.00 bought a chopped 50 Merc convert, heavy metallic gold paint, cracking all over. The Carson top had been painted with white house paint, perfect white headliner with black piping. Seats were recoverrd, flat black/white vinyl door panels. Flat motor using more oil than gas. During the winter, stripped the paint, solid body, no rust, painted hot rod grey primer. Spring of 1959, rebuilt the flat motor. Had a local furniture upholsterer recover the top with new padding and white leather, I delivered his customers reupholstered furniture in trade for the top repair. Merc got traded for a custom 1955 Ford convert in 1959. In 1965, I heard that the Merc had fallen on hard times, went looking for it and found it behind a farmers barn about 30 miles outside of Milwaukee. Owner had been street racing, motor failed, he parked it behind his dad's barn and used the Merc for 30/30 target practice. There were more bullet holes than sheet metal. Tears rolled down the face that day.

1960
bought the beautiful black chopped 50 Merc, that I saw at the 1955 car show. $900.00, it was a steal. It was my only daily driver thru fall, winter and spring. Bought a stock 50 Merc for the next winter. Following spring sold both Mercs, built a 55 Chev for street racing.

2007
for a many years I had been hearing stories that the black, chopped 50 still existed. Finally, tracked the car to central Wisconsin. Called the owner and looked at the Merc. The roof is caved in, floors and rockers rusted away, frame is rusted in half, dash has been trashed, stock front sheet metal, seized 348 Chev motor, original custom interior in poor condition. Same story, the owner is going to work on it. There are 40 other "in need of restoration cars" in the same building.

Pictures help the story.

Curt R

 

I bet it is. I found this at one point in time.

http://www.cruisenewsonline.com/RiverRanchRodRun2005/50Mercury.html

I looked them up on Facebook and looked up the car club mentioned, but no dice. I would love to see any other pics of the car you night have. I never plan to duplicate it, but I might take some nuances from it when I do my frame-off restoration. I would love to know the engine/****** combo. I remember the interior was black, but not the style. I remember it was an auto car, but don't remember the shifter. I would love to have a pic of it that shows the rear. I'd appreciate anything you could dig up.

This car made a lifelong impression on me. I even found fabric that a company must have used a pic of the car as part of the design. I had it made into curtains in my office.

 

Here you go 1950Merc. Looks like the same car to me. I'll see about getting you some contact info for the guy when the car is out again if you'd like. Sorry they're not so great phone pics. It looks great being it's still the same build from when you knew it nearly 20 years ago.

 

Thanks for the pics. You made my day with the pic of the rear. I had forgotten the taillights were frenched until I saw it. It is definitely the merc that started it all for me. My wife doesn't get my obsession, but is very tolerant. I've calmed down now, but I have numerous old ads, pictures and prints of mercs, not to mention 150+ diecast of 49-51 mercs. If you bump into him again, let him know I would like to contact him if it OK with him. It's probably sneaking up on 20 years since I saw the car. It's awesome to know its being maintained and is still cruising. Thanks again.

 

Well heres my story ,, when I was 10 yrs old a guy gave me a 50 merc coupe this was around 1976 it had been setting for years in a hog lot but was still in great shape,, so my dad and a friend get a old tow truck and after a few minutes we were headed down the rode and just as we get to the rode I lived on my dad decides to give my car to my uncle !!!WTF is just what I thought at the time !!!
So I have always had a love for the Merc's !!! I showed him 35 yrs later and I'm on my second Merc and neither my dad or uncle ever finished one !!!! LOL !!