Mercury 1949 - 51 custom & mild custom galerie

The Post-War Mercury's Were Impressive And They Are Still Coveted Today. The Sad Part Is Not Many Are Around, The Sleek Lines Of The Monterey Is A Popular Collectable Classic And Sought After For Custom Cruisers, Such As This Model Here.

Features On This Beautiful Los Angeles California Built Include:

Great Running Chevrolet 350 Stroked To A 383 Engine

Edelbrock Aluminum Intake And Carburetor

Malory Electronic AL6 Ignition System

Smooth Shifting GM 700R4 Overdrive Transmission

GM 10 Bolt Rear End

Sits Atop A GM 118 Inch Chassis,

Solid Rust Free West Coast Body With Super Nice Floors And Rocker Panels

Vintage Air Conditioning And Heat

Power Steering

GM Tilt Column With Billet Banjo Steering Wheel

Many Billet Interior Components Such As Window And Door Cranks

GM Power (Front) Disc Brakes

Custom 6 Way Power Drivers Seat

400 Watt Custom Stereo With Alpine CD w/ AM-FM Radio And I-Pod Control With Remote

6" Rear Shock Towers And Air Shocks With On Board Compressor (Controls In Center Console)

New 2.5" Stainless Steel Exhaust With Ultra Flow Full Flow Mufflers

Paint In Gorgeous Urethane Base Coat Clear Coat Ford/Lincoln /Mercury 'Electric Current Red' With 4 Coats Base, 6 Coats Clear

Classic 60's White Tuck And Roll Naugahyde Interior With Matching Center Console And T-Bird Armrest

Mirrored Stainless Firewall And Door Sills

Body Modifications: Top Chop 4.5" Front & 5.5" Rear, 1950 Rear Window, Channeled 2" At Rear Frame Kick, 1953 DeSoto Grill, Grill Pan And Front Bumper. '81 Lincoln Continental Taillights And Antenna, 1970 Buick Riviera GS Side Trim

Key Fob Remote Door And Trunk Poppers.

Remote Trunk Release

This Custom Cruiser Has Earned Accolades With Taking Best Of Show And Other Awards At Some Prominent Car Shows.

Such Accolades As:

2008 Corning 607 Motorsports Centerway Car Show With Best Of Show And Best In Class And Engine Winner

2010 Joe Bessingers Best Of Show And Best In Class

17th Goodguys Southeastern Nationals, Low Lid Award

19th Goodguys Southeastern Nationals Cool Custom Award

2013 Summerville Dream Machines Best Of Show

j'aime beaucoup la rose pale

1950 mercury coupe with a chopped top, nosed and decked. It has the 255 mercury flathead with a 3 speed od trans. It has a new steel gas tank and new cooker tires. The interior is brand new including the headliner. It has thunderbird buckets. The exhaust is 3 years old with new smithys. It has all new gauges including speedometer.The engine has been rebuilt and has about 4 thousand miles. I gave up on the holly card and installed a chev carb without any more problems. The color is 2008 masda stormy blue mica. It does not have a/c. It has custom skirts . The car has a chev tilt column and also a chev wire harness that was just put in. It has frenched headlightys and frenched 59 cadi taillights.

This is my father's (Bill Crawford) personal ride. Due to unforeseen circumstances he needs to sell it. It is a 1949 Mercury. Chopped, flat black PAINT, Camaro front clip, power steering and brakes, small block chevy, door handles shaved, frenched headlights, like new coker wide white radials, air shocks in rear,57 caddy hubcaps, cd player, nice black and white roll and pleated interior with finished trunk, front disc brakes, gm tilt column, etc.

Lead sleds are the epitome of cool customs in most car fanatics eyes, known for their sleek lines created by hours and hours of skilful metal work, ingenious and precise modifications from lowered and lengthened panel work through to frenched lights and aerials complimented by in your face front and rear bright work. Wild roof chops meant curious onlookers had to make an effort to take in the wild custom tuck n roll interiors with more mods than an aging celebrity.
 
Les Sherry first laid eyes on his custom Mercury at the start of the century. Located in the historical city of Ballarat, it was up for sale after the previous owner no longer wanted to pursue the “dream”.



“When I started with the car it was already painted ppg black with harlequin flames. It was all shiny on the outside but when you lifted the bonnet, it was all greasy and looked like shit. It didn’t have the dash in it and other bits were missing. I virtually bought it in bits and pieces. It had already been chopped but I had to remodify it.” The previous owners bought it in from America with the mods and just mucked around with it. The body had been grafted on to a 1972 Pontiac Le Mans chassis with the Le Mans running gear.



Once back home in Melbourne, Les stripped her down and virtually started from scratch. Retaining the chassis and running gear, he worked it over to bring it up to its show class best. The 400 c.i. big block Pontiac motor was treated to a performance package from Edelbrock consisting of alloy heads and manifold along with other performance goodies giving the thirty year old donk a new lease on life to the tune of 400 hp. Topped off with a 1957 Caddy air cleaner and plenty of bling, this engine bay pays homage to the custom work on the outside. Backed up by a strong Turbo 400 and Dana diff, she’s given Les many trouble free miles, twenty five thousand and counting to be exact! Ride comfort comes courtesy of a self-levelling AccuAir air bag system. Les was one of the first to have bags fitted as they were popular in the States but still in their infancy over here at the time. The chassis and running gear is finished in stunning Glasurit cherry micra.



The list of body mods reads like a George Barris special! As you run your eye over that toothy front end, taking in the De Soto grill with its hand crafted custom wrap around side bars housing the flush mounted indicators to the bumper holding those massive Desoto over riders! The shaved and decked bonnet with custom air vents is accentuated by the frenched headlights utilising F100 headlight rims. Gazing down those full curvaceous panels, you take in the Buick moulds outlining those pearl white scallops. Two sets of Buick moulds pre door had to be grafted together to give the flawless finish required for such a show car. Drawn in by the profile of her top lines, your eyes settle on the roof chop. Four inches out of the front with five out of the rear. It looks like it always was but Les will assure you it was no easy task fixing up the hashed up job done previously! “When they customized it, they didn’t do the chop in the roof properly, we had to re-chop it at the back. The back screen wouldn’t fit. Rob Stevens who painted it worked full time in my factory for twelve months to complete the modifications.” A new rear window was purchased from the States including green tint to stay with the period correct style of the day and was fitted. You’ll also notice the removal of the gutters enhancing that smooth look. Les has replaced the single piece windscreen with a two piece V screen, honouring legendary customiser, George Barris. And what about those mirrors? These unique items are known as passing view mirrors. Les explains “They’re a 1950s accessory and are as rare as rocking horse shit. You can only get them for the left hand side. What they do is that you can see behind you as well as forward when you are parking into a gutter. Looking into one mirror that will reflect into the other mirror. The one on the right had to be handmade and took four weeks to make! It was made out of brass and chrome plated by an old school beater who worked for my painter, Rob Stevens.”



Focusing our attention to that sexy rear, our peepers take in the bulbous rear bumper made up of a 1954 Kaiser bar enhance by 1954 Kaiser over rider cut down to frame the custom number plate to perfection. Again, the George Barris style is honoured with a set of frenched custom rear tail lights. The original modified fuel cap was a garish alloy race cap looking completely out of place but Les has since hidden it away behind a flush mounted panel. Full rear spats at the rear keep her looking low and heavy in true sled style while 1957 Cadillac wheel covers compliment the front.



Stepping inside, you’re hit with the gleaming white leather covering the door trims, head liner, split bench and rear seat. A contrasting maroon carpet laced with white piping breaks up the stark white as does the right hand drive customised tank Fairlane dash, XR Falcon steering column and wheel. The creature comforts extend to power steering and air-conditioning while the ambience is enhanced with tunes from a modern stereo.



“I knew exactly how the car was going to come out like from the start. I knew what colour I wanted and what I was building. The only thing done different which I have to thank my painter for was putting the white scallops in. I was going to paint it all one colour but he said what we should do is put a white pearl scallop in and I reckon it just makes the car. It stands out in two tone and looks awesome. He did a great job on the paint.” I have to agree with Les, that contrasting white sets this low riding Mercury off stunningly.

It debut at the 2006 Victorian Hot Rod show picking up 2^nd in top show car and went on to pick up 1^st place at the Maguires show. But as you read earlier, this is no show pony! As Les points out “I’m here for a short time, not a long time. People say to me you’d be too frightened to drive it. Well if I’m too frightened to drive it, I may as we’ll buy a poster of it, hang it up on the wall and leave it there. They’re meant to be driven, not to just sit there looking at them.” You’d hardly know it as he’s somehow managed to avoid every stone chip on his travels! Believe it or not, it’s about to be pulled down for a freshen up and respray!



This is not Les’ only toy as you can see another of his projects under way in the background. This 32 Hemi powered roadster will have all the good gear in it while at home is another five window 32 rod. All these rides share time with Les’ long-standing and accommodating wife of 38 years! She must be a saint and Les loves her for that and would like to thank her for not devoicing him during the build!



http://capricephotographyautomotiveart.org/2014/07/01/7004/

elle m'aurait bien plus sans cette espèce de flamming improbable

1951 Mercury Coupe - Mercury Rising

Did custom cars exist before '49-51 Mercs rolled down the assembly line? Of course they did. Has the custom car world been the same since their arrival? Definitely not!

Chopped Mercs are the very definition of custom cars to some connoisseurs, and names like Barris, Hirohata, and Ayala set the standard for cool. With such great originals to imitate, it's a little surprising that so many Mercs built these days seem to come up short. Maybe they're just trying too hard. After all, it was clean, simple lines that made these cars so appealing in the first place. It's easy for custom attempts to go too far--too much chop, unnecessarily elaborate paint, or a few too many bolt-ons cluttering things up.


Ron Box avoided such traps while building his slick '51 coupe, and went to great lengths to achieve his desired look. "The main goal," said the Denfield, Ontario, Canada-resident, "was to keep the lines clean and retain the Mercury look." After purchasing a rough unfinished project, Ron actually bought another Merc for its roof in order to re-chop the top to the proportions he wanted--about 4 inches in front and 5 inches in back. One-piece door glass, a '49 backlite, and a flush-mounted windshield with Audi moldings helped complete the cut.Lowering the lid was far from the only bodywork Ron performed. Starting up front, he frenched the headlights using '53 Merc rings, shaved the hood and dolphin-nosed its leading edge, narrowed and tucked the bumper (removing the license dip in the process), and extended the grille with two extra teeth and grille extensions made from bumper ends. Working his way back, Ron also rounded the lower rear door corners, shaved all emblems and handles, and filled the quarter-panel seams. Taillights from a '50 Lincoln capped off the back, while a '55 Pontiac overrider bar finished off the shaved, narrowed, and tucked rear bumper.

While Ron used classic-style mods to define the Merc's Viper Red body, he took advantage of more modern elements elsewhere. A Nova front subframe and a '77 Malibu rear suspension helped update the chassis, with hydraulics all around lifting it when necessary (we photographed it at ride height). Power came in the form of a '77 Chevy 350, rebuilt by BHP Automotive with Edelbrock induction parts and Hooker headers. A 700-R4 overdrive automatic gave the low-lid Merc longer legs, making it easier to keep those Diamondback Classic wide whites and '57 Cad caps rolling down the highway.


Butter-colored faux leather gave the interior some nice contrast, and was stitched by Classic Auto over Pontiac Grand Am bucket seats. Ron built a custom steel console to house the stereo and other controls, and updated the dash with Dakota Digital instruments and a '67 Cad tilt column topped with a Grant wheel. Air-Tique climate controls finished things off.

Thanks to the free time afforded by retirement, Ron was able to whip his Merc together in a scant 18 months. Since then, it has seen plenty of road miles, including trips to Ohio and North Carolina--not to mention at least one 100-mph blast around the high banks at Michigan International Speedway. Hmm, maybe chopped tops have aerodynamic benefits after all!

Read more: http://www.customrodder.com/features/0505cr_1951_mercury_coupe/

Photos Eric Lhomme