Mercury 1952 - 54 custom & mild custom

"Earth Angel," Bill Moore's custom 1952 Mercury, basks in the glow of sunset outside Century II on Wednesday, awaiting its time to roll through the big overhead doors and set up for the show. Moore brought his ride from Frontenac in southeast Kansas.

You are viewing 1952 Mercury two door hardtop (no post) that has been customized sixties style, Nosed, louvered hood, frenched antenna & headlights, shaved, poppers, dummy spots, lake pipes etc.. The Chrome is beautiful, bumpers and taillights look brand new (no pits). The body is straight and solid, the floors, frame & trunk are great. All glass is crack free & clear. When pics were taken it just started snowing, this is why you see small white dots. 75000 miles on body. Many new suspension parts. Tilt wheel.


Under the hood is a Chevy 350/350 crate motor with a Turbo 350 transmission. Car has been converted to 12 volt system. Power brakes. The interior: Front seat is custom button tuck. The door panels and rear seat were just recovered in grey tweed (door panels need to be put on), carpet is in nice condition. Wide whites & hubcaps are nice.

If you read your magazines back to front (and if you're flicking through this in the grocery store, go buy it!) you'll already have come across Wayne Poe's first '54 Merc in "Yesterday's Young Guns". He never got over his love for this particular model, and some 53 years later, found a great example in Michigan via a certain Internet auction site. Now, as he told us, "I could do all the things I couldn't afford to do to my first one: '56 Packard taillights, rolled and pleated interior, wire wheels, custom paint, and a finished engine compartment.

"I had been looking for the right '54 Merc for many years, and found this one about two years ago. It had been customized in the '60s and though it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it was a good base to build on. The car didn't reach the reserve but I followed up with the seller and came to a deal. I sent him the money and made arrangements to have it shipped. When it arrived of course it wasn't quite as nice as I had hoped, but it was still a good place to start.

"My plan was always to keep it an old-school custom, as opposed to resto-rodding and updating it with new updated running gear. Although at a quick view you may not notice a vast difference between the car I purchased and the way it is today, I have modified virtually every panel, part, and piece. The car remains the same color as before but has been almost completely repainted. A lot of the custom bodywork had to be redone due to age and other factors. There was some difficultly in matching the unknown color of undetermined age and origin, but you cannot tell where the old paint stops and the new paint starts.

"The entire running gear was redone using period parts; no airbags or subframes, no power steering or windows, no air conditioning. The car was an East Coast tail dragger when I got it and I have converted it to carry a slight 'California rake' using shortened coils and lowering blocks. During the build I removed the continental kit, fake side pipes, and the flamethrower exhausts. The front wheels are now '55 Thunderbird wires. I sent the original non-functioning radio to Tayman Electrical in Sarasota for repair and upgraded to an AM/FM stereo, which runs through a single speaker housing that hides two stereo speakers.

"A big part of bringing the Merc back was finding all the non-reproduced pieces, like steering wheel centers, chrome, and plastic exterior emblems. EBay was a huge help with this effort. The wiring looked just like you'd expect in a car this old, with too many modifications, too much electrical tape, and too many people having messed with it. Jim Benitez at Coastal Auto in San Clemente, California, did wonders with this by re-wiring everything under the dash. I drive this car every week and expect everything to function as it should. Benitez also relocated any non-factory switches so they looked built in and were well located for the driver.

"The crowning piece is the engine and engine compartment. Benitez pulled the motor and hid new wiring behind the inner fenders. The 30-50 holes that the factory and subsequent owners had drilled had to be welded shut and the entire engine compartment was filled and sanded to perfection in preparation for the extreme high-gloss black paint that looks like it was powdercoated.

"I had given up on the original Offenhauser valve covers that looked like they were on their last legs. However, Benitez wanted to save them and spent considerable time restoring and polishing them to like-new. In fact, they came out so good that we used them as the theme for the whole compartment, adding a matching finned and painted valley cover and air cleaner."

Wayne chose Coastal Auto to undertake the work on his Merc as he liked Benitez's ideas and his history of building award-winning cars. A recent Third Place win at a prestigious Concours d'Elegance, not to mention First in the Semi Hardtop Class at this year's GNRS, justifies his choice, Wayne quoting driving across the stage with his wife at that Concours d'Elegance as one of his most memorable experiences with the Merc so far. We're pretty confident in saying that he wouldn't have been doing that in his first Merc!



Rod & Custom Feature Car

Wayne Poe
San Clemente, California
1954 Mercury Monterey


Chassis

Apart from shortened coil springs, and lowering blocks and air shocks in the rear, the chassis and suspension remains stock as the day it rolled off the production line. A power booster now assists the braking though.


Drivetrain

The engine, auto trans, and rearend are all stock '54 Merc, though the motor is dressed with the Offenhauser valve covers that came with the car, albeit restored and now matched with a finned DMC air cleaner and valley cover. A polished brass four-core radiator ensures it stays cool.


Wheel & Tire

It has '55 Thunderbird wire wheels fitted up front, with steelies behind the fender skirts, all wearing 215/75R15 Coker wide whitewall radials.


Body & Paint

The major body mods and paint—the '56 Packard taillights, custom hood scoop, frenched headlights and antennas, custom bubble skirts—were all handled back in the day by Doug Hamilton in Buffalo, NY, who also nosed, decked, and shaved the car. The rear bumper was shaved and modified to accept an AMG quad exhaust. Jim Benitez (at Coastal Auto) and Marc Greeley tackled the more recent remedial paintwork, perfectly matching the Garnet Red metallic each time.


Interior

The rolled and pleated red and white leather interior that was installed in the '60s by McDonells Interiors had held up very well with just minor freshening required. Try as he might, Wayne hasn't been able to come up with any information on the company apart from their emblem on the dashboard. Benitez relocated some switches on the dash, painted it, and rewired it completely.

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Read more: http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/1306_1954_mercury_monterey

Mark Morton's Mercury Monterey
Photography by Kevin Lee



Car guys come in many diverse packages, with limitless levels of commitment. For some, the pursuit of old cars is merely a passing fancy between fresh activities like scuba diving and coin collecting. But, for a large group of "the afflicted," there's just no alternative to the smell of used gear oil and musty pocket-size custom-car magazines, combined with a pure lust for the shapes of cars produced at least 50 years ago.

Then comes an even smaller collective of the most devout "unwashed," who not only have the thoughts of hot rods and customs flowing through their minds at a screaming 6,500 rpm, but must also drive their cars across the united states as often as possible, and for the longest distances. Mark Morton is one of the latter, and his extreme commitment to vintage automobiles cannot be measured by any chart or graph.

Mark grew up a stones throw away from the "ground zero" of hot rodding and kustomizing (yeah, with a "K"). It was all happening in a tight cluster around Maywood, California, during the 1950s, and Mark was there to see it evolve as sam and george Barris forever changed how we look at automobiles.

Soon after, Ed Roth took the whole movement 10 steps further, especially captivating-and warping-the developing minds of young postwar hot rod kids like Morty. It was during this time period that Morty started his own personal relationship with fixed-up old cars and found a group of like-minded young men in his neighborhood who would become lifelong friends.

One of those friends was a very young Jim "Jake" Jacobs, who would soon be a part of forming the Early times car club and go on to become a technical editor of Rod & Custom before forming the legendary Pete & Jake's with friend and fellow chopped '34 Ford coupe owner Pete Chapouris. As the Early times club grew and raised the bar on the quality of their cars, all the while making it into the pages of all the magazines, Morty was having a blast racking up tons of miles on whatever hot rod to which he happened to be holding the title.

Decades passed and street rodding was a huge part of it for Morty and his co-conspirators, but then came a day when a good portion of them had had enough of trying to cram every late-model amenity into their cars, and they looked back to the simpler times that had inspired them all in the first place. A close-knit group began scrounging the swap meets and back corners of garages looking for those perfect pieces to build "real" hot rods; along with this movement to bring back the spirit of rodding, Morty was instrumental in resurrecting a magazine that captured the early period perfectly. That magazine is known by two words-Hop up.

The golden era of hot rodding was reclaimed through this journalistic portal and brought to the present for a whole new generation of rodders to enjoy and emulate. After bringing his stable of hot rods back to the future, Morty reflected on those other early memories of fantastic modified shapes that slipped out of the Barris driveway and down the streets of Maywood.

There were plenty of memorable cars for Morty to dream about, but what he wanted more than anything was a chopped '49 or '50 Mercury. He chased the trail of a few very nice ones, but along the way he had a visit with Charlie Edwards in Lexington, Kentucky, and took a ride in his '54 Merc convertible. Morty had a whole new goal after a long chat about design, a look through some old magazines, and hands-on looks at a few '54 Mercurys. He made a couple phone calls from Charlie's, and his own '54 Mercury was on the way by the time he got home. The seller was his pal, B.J., in Minneapolis, and his words were, "Morty, it's the best one in the country." And, "He was right," said Morty. "We were gonna screw up a real nice car!"

Morty met Clint Ring in tulsa, Oklahoma, and had seen his cars at about the same time Morty's Merc took up residence in California. He had also been hearing about builder sam Rambo, who was making quite a name for himself cutting tops in the same area. So, when Morty commented to Rusty stevens that he didn't know who to go to with the Merc, Rusty suggested Clint, and the car was shipped straight to Oklahoma without any further discussion.

"For me, it's always been about the Ronnie Dragoo 54 and the peripheral Mercs of that year," Morty said. I grew up across the river from Barris and feel 'kin' to the hot rod/custom stylings of that time. I could feel that car, could hear it, and could see it ... Not much different than being that kid too young to drive but old enough to dream of having something that cool.

"Those Okie guys didn't need any coaching on the Mercs and customs, either," he continued. "I couldn't allude to a magazine picture or Barris fact without them knowing exactly what I was talking about. They are purists. When I was asked my opinion on something or had to make a decision, it was nice seeing (or hearing) their relief when I got it right!"

Even though the project started with one of the nicest restored '54 Mercury Montereys he could find, once the project got underway, Morty said, "It was a lot more work than any of the team signed on for because it kept getting nicer and nicer." Discussions like, "Well, since we're going to paint the dash, it will sure embarrass the seats. Let's do the interior, too," were often being made back and forth.

The biggest chunk of work was divided between sam Rambo, who chopped the lid, and tim goodbar, who handled the balance of filling, frenching, and shaving. For sam's effort, Morty's only request was that he make the chopped rear glass "look right," and by anyone's standards, he far over-achieved that goal when he remove 3 inches from the roof height and then cut down all the stainless steel pieces and stitched them back together seamlessly. Then, the project was handed off to tim goodbar in tulsa, who got busy frenching the headlights and hood scoop, shaving the door handles and excess badges, and removing the rear backup lights. With everything slicked off, it was Jason smith's turn to spray the paint. "Jason originally lobbied against the pearl paint," Morty said, "but we dug in and we took him up on the compromise, which was to leave the top Wimbledon White-no pearl. In the end, all involved absolutely concur with the paint selection."

Modifications were kept to a relative minimum under the properly smoothed and painted skin, only enhancing the looks and improving the driveability (mostly the stopping power) of the Mercury. One-stop shopping at Jamco picked up all the necessary chassis pieces, like disc brakes, 2-inch dropped spindles, a sway bar, and dropped coils for the front, along with a set of gas shocks for all four corners. During the final phase, Morty said the icing on the cake was definitely the interior. "Dan Kirkpatrick does big classic cars, Pebble Beach stuff, and the like," he said. "after hearing our general design idea, his layout and execution were perfect, and he was the most skilled talent we've ever employed for that craft." With the rest of the interior just the way it left the factory, except for fresh paint, Dan kept it simple and within the time period of Morty's original vision by stitching up some rolled 'n' pleated off-white vinyl to cover the seats and door panels.


The circle has been completed for Mark Morton, that little kid a long time ago who always wished he could have one of those "kustom jobs" that cruised through his childhood. And, we can all benefit from his many contributions preserving a huge chunk of automotive history.

     Rod & Custom Feature Car
Mark & Evonne Morton
San Juan Capistrano, California
1954 Mercury Monterey



Chassis
One of the most important elements involved in a perfect custom is the stance, and Morty knew exactly what he wanted, achieving it with a selection of pieces from Jamco. the nose was pulled down the proper amount with a pair of dropped spindles and cut coils, and while he was working with the front suspension, Morty upgraded with disc brakes, gas shocks, and a sway bar. a pair of new leaf springs and notched framerails bring the back bumper down to the perfect tail-dragging height.


Drivetrain
since this was a recently restored car and the original Y-block ran perfectly, Morty dressed it up with a pair of t-bird valve covers and left the rest alone, although he said it's still possible that a healthy 312ci mill might find its way into the engine bay someday. the stock three-speed manual transmission backs the dual-pipe- equipped 256ci Mercury motivation.

Wheels & Tires
Despite his affi nity to rack up tons of highway miles, Morty just can't do radials on his rides, so a set of 7.10x15 Firestone Deluxe Champion wide whites was mounted on a set of stock Mercury steelies dressed in a set of '53 Cadillac hubcaps.

Body & Paint
a great roster of talent came together to make Morty's vision a reality, and it all started with sam Rambo removing 3 inches of roof height from the Monterey hardtop. tim goodbar handled the balance of the custom tricks, which include frenched headlights and a hood scoop, shaved door handles and badges, and the removal of the rear backup lights. With all the body mods in order, Jason smith of the Hot Rod garage in sand springs, Oklahoma, laid on the multiple coats of custom-mixed Yellow Pearl on the body, accented by a Pure White (straight, no pearl) top. all the brightwork took a fresh trip through the plate and polish process by Jon Wright at Custom Chrome in grafton, Ohio.

Interior
there's no lengthy story on the interior other than Dan Kirkpatrick of Chouteau, Oklahoma, stitching up a period-perfect set of rolls 'n' pleats in a tasteful off-white vinyl. as Morty said, "Just bitchin' stichin' by Dan," and everything else on the inside is the way it left the factory in 1954.



Read more: http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/0808rc_1954_mercury_monterey/

This custom built Mercury Monterey is in excellent condition. Everything has been refurbished on the car including paint, interior, engine, exhaust and suspension. It was featured on the cover of hot rod magazine and also on hot rod television.

1954 MERCURY MONTEREY SELLING NO RESERVE!

TWO DOOR HARDTOP - VERY RARE

FACTORY MATCHING NUMBERS DRIVETRAIN

REBUILT 256 CID V8

AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - FACTORY MERCO-MATIC

CUSTOM FEATURES - STUNNING GRILL

POWER TRUNK - SONY CD SYSTEM