I'm just surprised anyone reads anything I have written close enough to know I goofed up. LOL "Oh that Dave guy wrote something? Eh, I can skip this thread." LOL Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Ya know Doc...I'm not a huge Mercury fan...or a Ford fan in general...but when someone posts a thread titled "un-dork-ifying of a Merc"...I gotta open it to see just what the hell they're doing...and I gotta tell you, you're doing a great job putting the Merc back to a 'trad' look (and heaven knows there are lots of "strange ideas" for Mercs out there and not all of them 'trad'), regardless of the fact there's spelling and grammar errors in the thread... One of my pet peeves is misspellings...in anything...I've even sent e-mails to strange websites letting them know that they are not helping themselves by their destruction of the English word...all it ever gets me is "you're a spelling Nazi." Maybe so, but I'm of the opinion that no one that graduated high school (or college) in the last 30 or so years can spell worth a damn... OK, I'm down off my shoebox (and no I'm not standing on top of a Ford...!!!)...keep 'un-dork-ifying' your Merc...and I'll keep reading... R-
LOL. I'm actually with you Roger. Knowing the HAMB is about cars, I pretty much over look grammar and spelling in other's posts, but really try to keep mine straight....weird word choices aside. My biggest problem isn't actually my spelling, but my poor typing and rushing to get a post done between patients instead of taking the time to proof what I just plunked out there. I appreciate the kind words just the same. I'll try to make ya proud.
Haha, why would you be? Your always gone when I drive threw. Oh well I'll probably be more focused on getting the next 13 hours of the drive knocked out when I pass threw anyways. Maybe in the summer we'll meet up.
I look forward to it Tim! Surely one of these day I'll be here when you come by. LOL Have a safe trip and a blessed Christmas!! Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Been following the thread drdave dig how yer' bringing this car back around. Now watch out for these people... ......... .
Hi DrDave.Looking good.I`ve seen a couple that were probably worse than yours.One that a friend bought about 30yrs ago he picked up on a trailer because his family wanted to go along.The seller said it was a driver.Horse puckey.Got it home,and the front clip was just tack welded on. Never mind what the wiring looked like under the dash.Yours looked factory compared to his.Love very much what you have done with yours.May you and yours enjoy many happy times and miles with your Merc. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
DrDave....What did you use for your steering column bracket that attaches to the dash? Is that an aftermarket bracket or something original? I need to find something similar since I'm going back to the original 2inch steering column for my 50 merc.
I still have the factory bracketry and column supports behind the dash, but the actual piece holding the column up to the dash is simply a hardware store u-bolt with a piece of clear tubing over it (I also had the u-bolt chromed). The factory rubber coated u-bolt wasn't threaded far enough up to pull the new column up tight, so I went with the hardware store piece.
After I posted, I went back some more through your thread and found a picture with the u-bolt fresh back from chrome plater josh. I'm not familiar with what the factory column and support brackets behind the dash look like so I'm not sure I have them. I suppose I can just bolt the u-bolt to the dash surround in the area where the column sits. There appears to be two slot holes I can take advantage of.
Wow, an entire chromed dash? Kool!! Yes, those two slotted holes are where the u-bolt goes. There is bracket that also attaches behind the dash at those two holes and goes up to those two studs you see in that flange just below the windshield. It also has a hole in the middle of it for the speedometer cable. I'll see if I can find a picture of one to post so you know what you are looking for.
Here you go. This thread is from Dr Detroit's thread on his Merc (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=641282). The bracket is hanging on the bottom right of the pic to the left of the factory column u-bolt. He actually has two hanging there and you only need one, but you can see what it is. This bracket sits on top of the slotted column holes in the dash and the u-bolt goes through both the dash and the bracket. Hope that helps!
Unfortunately, those brackets didn't come with the car and were probably taken out somewhere along the car's life span. Looks like I'll need to get inventive. The entire dash is chromed. I had it rechromed this summer and anxious to get it back in. It's a good thing I like chrome. I had the insert rechromed as well. It still has a lot of imperfections because of the waterfall design and inability for the plater to get in those small areas. I was thinking of painting it black between the ridges to hide some of the imperfections and put some constrast in there because of all the chrome. How did you paint between the ridges on your dash insert?
I had thought I read if you cover the chrome parts you want chrome with wax, you could paint the valleys and the paint would wipe off the high parts....I was wrong. LOL Painted the whole thing the same green as the car and then many hours with a razor blade removing the paint from the areas I waxed. I knew it would take a lot of coats to cover the chrome, so I primed it first. Still took several coats, thus not being able to wipe off the high spots while it was wet. Masking probably woulda been a better idea.
Now Cody, what on earth are you doing digging up my lame thread about my gritty heap when you should be working on that fantastic piece of art of your own? Thank you for the kind words, I sure do appreciate them.
LOL Well I appreciate that, but you have to admit, in terms of levels of skill and awesomeness, Cody is playing in the majors and I am playing a pick up game of t-ball with the 3 year olds. LOL I did have to laugh at myself over the last weekend. I was cleaning up the car for the Stray Kat this weekend and was amused at the contrast between my check list this year and my check list last year at the same time before the show. This year: vacuum out crumbs from breakfast on the way to work, fill gas tank, put in lawn chairs. Last year: wire car, reinstall interior, install and bleed brakes, install steering column.... Quite the contrast. I can't believe it's been a year already since I finished this phase of the redo....time flies.
i had some down time when my wife was having surgery the other day , and i just stumbled apon your tread , its not a lame , i enjoy seeing your progress ,
Just went through this entire thread again. It was great seeing the Merc at Dewey this weekend and congrates on the award.......Harry
Well Cody, I guess I can give you a pass since it was surgery and all. Man, I am sorry to hear about your wife. I hope she is recovering well!!! Thanks for the kind words Harry! What's great weekend inspite of the weather. Never in a million years did I expect or see that award coming. Pretty big treat to win the Merc Pick. Really got my fuse lit to finish this other project I have going at the moment so I can jump back in on the Merc and start the next phase. Probably wont be for another year tho, so I'll just keep rackin' up the miles in the mean time. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
I enjoyed seeing the Merc at the Stray Kat 500. These things are always a work in progress, especially if you are driving them. Congrats on the award. Sorry we didn't stick around to see you win.
Thanks Bret! I'm glad we had a chance to enjoy some time with you and your dad. I hope you guys will put the SK on your list of must do's next year, too. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Well, I've been driving the wheels of the Merc the last couple of years, including a road trip to the Custom Car Revival this last June, but the time has come for another round of undorkifying. Another thing about the car that has bothered me is the flow of the back of the chop. The roof flows nicely back but then the rear window makes a big, bulbous hump on the way down to the trunk. Years back when Mercury Charlie's Nadine was in Rodder's Journal, I remember reading Charlie when through countless rear windows searching for the flattest one to flow with his chop. Apparently, the '51 rear windows were formed in such a way that there is variation to how much curvature there is from the top of the window to the bottom. Just so happens, a while back Arkiehotrods bought a bunch of 49-51 Merc parts to resell. In the group of parts were a few '51 rear windows. My intention was to go through his stack and pick me out the flattest window and swap it into my car….one of these days. Well, Arkie moved out of town and we stored some of his stuff, including the stack of windows, at my place during the transition. A couple of weeks ago, I was headed up his way, so I went ahead and brought his stuff to him, but that put a time line on finally making the time to pick out a rear window. But, as long as I was taking windows to him, no sense in actually swapping glass later and then having an extra rear window here that I won't use, so I says to myself, "self, let's go ahead and pop out our rear window and then it can go to Duncan with the rest of his stack so he can sell it rather than it sit here forever doing nothing." 20 minutes later, glass is out, but I didn't actually have time that day to put the new glass in, so it has sat….sorta….I did drive it to work today with no glass since it was a nice day. LOL Not only has the hump of the glass bothered me, but the lack of stainless around the windows has been something on my list to correct as well. Aaaaannnndddd…..my headliner is stained around the edges from what appears to be the spray adhesive on the back side turning brown and staining through the front side. So now, I am faced with the car guy's dilemma…just put the new back glass in, maybe put the stainless around it that belongs there and call this job done for now…….oooorrrrrrr……let the snowball roll down hill a bit. Since the back glass is already out anyhow, and the headliner glues onto the pinch weld, and I would like to put stainless around the windshield that could stand to be replaced, do I go ahead and pull the headliner, use it for a pattern to "quick" sew up a new one, replacing the windshield and putting stainless around it as well. It's a hard call since I have several other cars apart in various stages of work and I hate to have the Merc off the road, but it's hard for me to hold onto a snowball…..
Do it, I have read your thread over the years. I now know that you are a man of many talents, and what the heck it's only a "snowball" how big could it get! That's a fine looking Merc' and you have done wonders with it. All the best on your efforts, KK
The Jalopy Journal
