Dad wanted a '49-'51 Mercury since high school ( thanks in part to James Dean ). In 1974 he had his chance to own one ( or three ) Dad owned a 1934 Chevy Sedan Master that a friend of his wanted BADLY. Badly enough to trade 3 1950 Mercs for it. 2 Coupes & 1 Convertible. With this many Mercs, the plan was to build me one, him one, and Mom a convertible. By 1976 the first one was on the road. An old gray one Dad sold to me for $300.00. Man, I thought I was king of the road, cruising around in a 1950 Merc. Dad & I had our differences over the car though, he was a fenderskirt fan...I wasn't ( although I would have, had the car been lowered ...to me, the skirts looked like they were on a John Deere tractor ) I drove the car until one night the wiring caught fire while cruising around. Since the car had to be parked until it was rewired, Dad decided the car needed a paint job ( this would be a great graduation gift to me also). In to the paint shop it went. The car emerged 'some time' later with the deepest black lacquer you'd ever seen. With the Merc's new paint job....it made its debut at the 1980 Dallas AutoRama......and brought home a disappointing second place. With getting the car show fever out of our system.....the car would now be driven...& driven....& DRIVEN!! The car went into immediate service, it was Dad's official work vehicle for pinstriping....& when it returned home, I was out in it burning up the streets......the miles racked up quickly. It appeared at car shows, high school functions,was driven to work, to run errands, grocery stores, vacations.....etc. The miles were piling up. By 1985, the 327 Chevy it had under its hood was tired ( after being overhauled once already). Dad ran across a deal on a totaled '81 Corvette that had a low mileage engine & transmission, so the swap was done. Back on the road....racking up more miles. The once beautiful black lacquer lost its luster & it was time again for a face lift. The car was still driven until funds could be gathered to give the ol' girl a new paint job. 1989 came....plans to redo the car were in the works. A high school friend of mine (Greg Smelley) had perfected his metal working skills & had some paint & body shop experience. Greg approached Dad with the idea of chopping the Merc. Dad was VERY reluctant...seeing as our Merc would be the first one Greg ever chopped, not to mention only the third car Greg ever chopped. Greg said "James, I'll make you a deal, let me chop your car.....if I ruin it...I'll FIND you another Mercury"..how could Dad refuse? He always wanted a chopped Merc. [/ATTACH] 1989...top chopped..the car went back to the paint shop for another black paint job. This time...it turned out cooler than the first. The car re-entered the car show scene. ....to be continued....Part II coming soon
My favorite Merc, EVER! p.s. You should really try to keep the trophys. They will mean a lot to the next caretakers of the family......
Thank you all for taking time to read Part I......Part II is now posted.....hope you all find it equally enjoyable. J.C.
Part II here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=692174&highlight=milestone+merc Awesome Jim! Thanks for posting these!
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