The Wolk Merc – The Bunny At The Bar

I don’t have to tell you about the ubiquity of the slab-sided Merc. If you are reading this, you are a car guy, you’ve been to a few car shows, and you’ve seen enough Mercuries to fill more than a handful of solar systems. And it’s this sort of colloquial familiarity with the car that breeds a certain amount of contempt for the breed. I mean, they aren’t ’57 Chevrolets or anything, but they aren’t lagging too far behind.

Even so, at one point in your life you have pondered owning a ’49 to ’51 Merc. You can deny it and mention something about belly buttons and ’32 roadsters, but deep down inside… well, you know it’s true. We all know it’s true.

See, the thing about Mercs (especially chopped variations) is that no matter how common place they may become, they still retain that one character that made so many fall in love with them in the first place – sex appeal. Bear with me here…

It’s August of 1964 and you’ve found yourself in a smoking jacket walking the halls of the Playboy mansion in Chicago. Incredible looking women litter just about every square foot of the joint. As you walk from the main lounge, through the kitchen, and into the dining room, you lose track of the number of gorgeous blondes, brunettes, and red heads that you bump into. In fact, you’ve seen so many broads at this point that looking doesn’t bring the temptation that it once did.

And then, you roam across the room and to the bar. Sitting in the corner is yet another Playboy Bunny, wearing the same damn bunny suit, and there under the same pretenses as all the other girls you just passed. But there’s something different about this girl that you just can’t put your finger on. Maybe her hair is a little different or maybe she carries herself with a little more subtlety or… It’s just not one thing. It’s the package. And for whatever reason, she does it for you.

OK. Now, you are me. And you are walking around the 2016 Lone Star Round Up. At every corner, you turn into another chopped Merc. Most of them are gorgeous. Most of them would do in a pinch. But there are so damned many of them, that you just kind of lose interest in the idea of stopping to check them out closer. You keep walking and you head towards the crackle fest, but you don’t make it. You are stopped in your tracks by a chopped 1950 Mercury.

See, David Wolk’s Merc represents, to me, the Bunny at the bar. At this year’s Round Up, she was a beacon of lust in a sea of familiarity. One that I kept going back to over and over. And I can’t really tell you exactly why that is. The proportions are perfect. The stance is a nice and simple early 1950’s dance done by way of lowering blocks and dropped spindles. The seams are missing. The corners have some shape to them. The front fenders appear to be extended just a hair. The hood peak is accentuated and extended. The grille is right. The ’52 Packard bumper override guards are smart. The ’49 Hudson taillights with custom made brass bezels are actually brilliant. The fender skirts fit. The paint color is appropriate. The…

Good god man. I hate writing car features.

See, that entire list of stuff above (and every list in just about every car feature ever written) is absolutely meaningless. It’s all been done and most car guys could pick every single one of those modifications out if given the time and the inclination. There’s simply no point to it all other than to say, “Hey man, a bunch of shit has been done to this car to make it look this way.”

At the end of the day, there’s is nothing at all ground breaking about this Mercury. It’s wearing the same bunny suit as all the other bunnies out there. But, it’s special. It’s special for an obvious reason in that the craftsmanship in its build is second to none. But it’s also special (to me) because of something I can’t really put my finger on. It’s a complete package put together with subtlety, brains, and taste. It’s elegant and quiet. It’s just… A perfect 1950 Mercury.

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Special thanks to: David & Paulette Wolk for letting Tom Davison shoot this car for me. David & James Wolk for letting me stare at the Bunny at the bar, Ogden Chrome in Ogden, Utah for the perfect plating, and Edwards Brothers Upholstery in Merriam, Kansas for the stitches.

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