Projects My 1951 Mercury Restoration Part II

Much better

OLD


FIXED


My buddy Jim came through, thank you sir!!! He said that the previous guy mig'd it and burned through, Jim tigged it slow and I owe you a bottle of your favorite poison.

Imma run by Courtesy Metal Polishing tomorrow and hopefully I can hang out while Tino repolishes the that corner front and back.

I also yesterday ordered my vertical rigid channel, the upper channel, and the fuzzies/scraper via Matt. Thanks sir!!!

Father in law is bringing his dusty but trusty rivet gun and rivets so t'giving weekend I'll hopefully get stuff going.

I still need to trial fit the windows, and then figure out where to mount the top tabs. Mine were cut off so I need to remake them. Could I use tin or something, that's something I could do at home rather than go to a buddy's shop again.

 

Wow, much improved. That will look nice installed.

 

I would love to do the same thing to the other side just because it looks so good (and it did make it stronger) but I really don't need to (plus it took him quite a while to get it that nice). I'm trying to convince him to start taking on custom fab work since he's so good at it. I'm thinking of having him fab my floating grille actually if he would consent to the work.

 

Looks like you have a coil spring rear suspension. That baby must ride SOOOOOOOOTH!!!

 

Yeah I have coil springs. Why, how do the cars ride with factory leaf springs?

 

nice!

 

Thanks again to Matt T and Mike B for the Mercury advice, I'd be pretty much having to bring my car somewhere to finish this stuff if it wasn't for your help.

I should probably do a tech thread on putting these windows back together because there are a lot of steps. I'll start one this weekend.

 

Great thread, (sorry I'm late) keep it coming. You are on a winner. Me thinks that the rear is sitting right, but the front needs to be lowered slightly so the wheel arch is 'riding' on the whitewall. keep up the good work.

 

Got the corner polished, Courtesy Metal Polishing opens up at 6AM so I got there at 6:40 and Victor quickly repolished the corner (will add a pic later).

I've next got to make to make this top tab. Since the tops of mine are smooth, I don't think I need that little step when I make it.

rattle, thanks. Yeah I'd like to lower the car more at some point.

 

This car has come a long way from when you started. The wing windows and window trims are looking great

 

I ordered the vertical u-channel that the main glass slides up and down in, but it's not here yet. So I since I was only watching one of my boys I was able to work on the car a bit and make a little progress. Thanks again Mike B for the help!

My other window channel was mainly glued in with a mix of black and clear silicone, had to remove it:



I'll try to make a better bracket but for now:

 

Bottom, #12 screws:





Looks good (I will have to take it all apart to finish it but it's nice to have it ready:

 

Nice car and a nice model to begin with. The '51 Merc's are a stand alone car body to me. Attached are photo's of an old Boyd Coddington '51 Merc that is now in Napa, CA and due to unknown reasons is for sale again.
Normbc9

 

Looks like a car with a lot of potential.

Getting cold and dark to cruise around without door glass in Chicago, so I'm looking forward to banging out these wing windows over thanksgiving with my father in law.

Also, I scraped over my first speed bump, so I won't be lowering my car anymore for the time being. I'd consider dropping the front a bit, but I need to take better pics and measurements first.

It's cloudy out, so my car looks black:

Horner Park:

 

LQQkin' GOOD MISTER!

 

John, how does the vent window trim look in contrast to the full window trim? Do they belong together? In the photo they appear to be great together.

It was a pleasure talking with you on Friday.

 

Hi Bob, enjoyed chatting as well.

I'm running Matt's secret squirrel trim on the doors and the rear quarter windows, I'm not running any stock Mercury trim right now. Eventually I plan to run half of the stock trim for the back glass, just the upper part, but that will wait until I buy a reproduction glass and have Matt/Carson shave down the corners for me.

EDIT - For anyone curious, I got rid of the sags I had in the window trim, as you might guess, they were caused by globs of old rtv or silicone that made the the trim fit weird. My passenger side wing window has nice fitment, and I have enough adjustability in the whole assembly that I think I will be happy with the final result. With regards to the driver's side assembly, it fits a little tight. I'd really like the wing window frame to come in a little bit, so I'm thinking I will slot the frames where the two #12's go in, maybe half a centimeter to get the window frame to sit where I think it should. I'll eyeball both sides before I do this but I think the driver's side base is kicked out a bit wee bit not sure why.

I bought some clear silicone to use for when I shorten the factory gaskets.

I have not been able to find the glass setting tape at Autozone so I'm guessing I have to buy it online or at a glass shop. I haven't searched yet but will later.

 

The original trim I was referring to was the vertical chrome piece that meets up with the squirrel trim/

 

Oh. I think they look okay together. I will say have after the car all summer without wing windows I have less room to put my whole arm. I kinda miss that but I like how the stainless is finishing off the look of the car.

 

My father in law and I riveted and bolted the wing window frames along with the vertical channel for the main glass.

Anyone have any pictures of how the wing window washers go?

Also the top window channel in my car was one big piece that bengt around in back and ran down into the door. Is that how it should be and how is it attached. Mine was mainly siliconed in place. And how does it attach at the bottom?

 

Two steps forward, one back.

I'll start with the bad. After we bolted and riveted up the wing windows, I noticed that a hole in the driver's side assembly is visible. You might recall that I had the passenger side redone, well I should have erred on the side of caution and fixed this side too. So I just pulled it (it will come out with the bottom bracket bolted on, if you take your time

Edit. The lesson here is DON'T MIG STAINLESS, otherwise it burns through which is what happened here. (and on the other side). This 'customer' has to redo this spot by bringing it to a buddy who a perfectionist and knows hows to TIG STAINLESS. Rant off:

Hole at the top of the stainless division bar:



On a positive note, I think the Sam Barris grille will look really nice in the car:





If I don't pie-cut the stocker, I'll have to have it sit in a bit, thoughts???

 

looking good, grill should look nice, I like the floating look.

 

Thanks, I think it will look cool.

I might not be able to keep the lines between the bar sections, when I go to have this all welded I would have the opportunity to weld those sections up smooth... Do we care? Also is this stuff all steel? If so I can have it mig welded I'm guessing?

To try to keep the visible "join" I'd have to work around stuff like this, look at the sides of the bars:

 

Loving the grille bar.
Decided on what hubcaps you want yet?

 

I'm undecided on hubcaps. I was going for a "customized before 1955" look which I think I somewhat have done except that I don't have spots, bumper guards and any chrome side trim. I still plan to add bumperguards at least in back though.

Older somebreros like 1950's would look pretty cool I think, maybe more of a statement then 1953's I'm thinking. 1957's are cool but are done quite a bit.

 

Looking really good john. I like that youre keeping this pre-55, that was the most tasteful and beautiful era for customs, by the late 50s, they had to out-do the previous cars, so they became cluttery and over-done.

As for the hubcaps, you really cant go wrong with the late 40s early 50s caddy caps, im my opinion, the 57s have killed the smooth look of many mercurys.

Early 50s (51-53) oldsmobile hubcaps could also look very good.

Are you putting on the stainless around the windshield? It would really complete the car.

p.s.
I love what youre doing with the grille!

 

Encouragement is welcome, glad you like the grille. I have to credit our own Rik Hoving for keeping me on the path.

I'd do the Old's caps if I could find a mint set for less than a mint.

I will add a stainless treatment around the windshield, that will be another small story at some point.

I'll be pulling the back glass out too to add stainless and that's another little mini project.

I will be asking my buddies who weld about doing the grille, and I hope the bud who owes me will bust it out for me. I want to set it up so that the grille can be removed and the bars will be attached to the backside of it. And this bar will bolt in 4 places, two on each side separated by about 6 inches.

By the way all my pics as well as pics sent to me by Mike or Matt are here:
http://s638.photobucket.com/albums/uu101/ProStockJohn/1951 Mercury Project Mercula/

Big thanks again to Matt Townsend and Mike Blundo, I'd just be lost on this car without those cool cats..... Seriously lost.

This grill won't end up very heavy... Not sure how to set it up structure-wise but I'm guessing I'll have to add something that goes from end to end:

 

I like your plans for the grille.... Should look pretty cool.

 

Thx we gotta meet up sometime...

Another pic that shows I'd be hardly shortening this sucker, matter of fact I will have to avoid taking width out....

 

The hole from a shop welding and burning through...