Barry & Merel Say Hi!

[barry0164]

** Now Proud owner of a merc! see post below **

Hi everyone.

I am glad I found this community serarchin' the internet for my dream car.
My name is Barry and I live in the Netherlands, Europe, with my wife Merel.

We have always found classic USA american cars beautiful and told each other "once we should have one of our own!" (Especially after our Holiday in the USA in 2006, we love your country!)

Well recently I said ok, I will sell my Subaru (Own a fast STI funcar) and then we will start looking for our dreamcar: a chopped '49-'51 Mercury...

So this is where we are today: The Scooby is sold and the search for a nice Merc has started!
Since there are virtually none of these cars in our home country, It soon became obvious we should get one ourselves abroad.
But where do you start?
Browsing the net I bumped into this community and so far I am happy I did.
It seems there are alot of enthousiasts here and the forum contains a huge source of information.

Maybe this is not the place for asking but still:
Should anyone have or know a nice Merc for sale (in good technical condition, and affordable) please let us know. We are not looking for restauration object, but some minor work is no problem. (Such a car is always a constant "work in progress, is it not? ;) )
Also Should anyone have tips about shipping a car safely abroad , that too is highly appreciated!

I will try to find the information as much as possible by myself via this forum, I don't mean to appear as a "too lazy to search so just will ask ask ask" kinda person. :o

I hope to learn a lot from you guys and would like to thank you for any comments or tips upfront! :)

Cheers from Holland!

Barry & Merel

[Cajun Kenny]

hey and welcome yall , good luck in your search..

[barry0164]

Hi again!
Since we bought a project mercury this year it was time to update our introduction :)

After searching the net for an affordable Merc, we happen to find one in the Netherlands, freshly imported from the usa!
This is the Merc (picture taken in the vendors' shop)
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/1b.jpg

http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/2b.jpg

It is a chopped '51 mercury coupé, which was previously a 4-door.
It stands on what I think is a Chevy malibu frame and holds a Chevy 350 engine.

We bought the car and had to wait and make some modifications to the car to get it road legal here.
Before we started work on the car, we first enjoyed cruising it for a while of course :D.
We took some pictures doing so:
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/02.jpg


http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/08.jpg
For temporary decoration I cut a nice sticker of my favorite brand of juice and put it on the trunk.
Further a skull knob and of course the fuzzy dice were added inside!
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/01.jpg

http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/05.jpg

At this time the merc is parked in the garage. We partly stripped it to redo the car's looks. we want to
Renew the bumpers (Someone welded them to the body)
Renew the interior and under dash wiring
Repaint the car
etc.

Some pictures of the work on progress:

Removed the ceiling fabric...reveiling a rusty roof..
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/001.jpg

In the upper corners above the windshield 2 birdnests are reveiled..
(Probably native USA birds:p)
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/002.jpg

Cutting off the front bumper:
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/003.jpg

ehh this is me...:rolleyes:
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/004.jpg

And a self shot picture of my love ...:D
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/005.jpg

De-rusting and painting the roof...
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/006.jpg

That looks alot better!
http://www.boor.nl/barry0164/merc/007.jpg

Yesterday I started sanding the car preparing it for a new paintjob.
But first I need to solve the issue with the hood:
Opening and closing the hood it touches and scratches the fenders and some other surrounding parts, thereby chipping the paint. The hinges look to be genuine. At this time I don't know how to overcome this issue :confused: so any suggestions are very welcome!

This is just about where we are with the merc.
Progress is slow due to our time consuming jobs, but we will get there!

Thanks for reading!

Barry & Merel

PS:
I don't know where the car was rebuilt and chopped in the USA, Perhaps someone recognises or knows our car? That would be awesome.

[Pro Stock John]

I am redoing my '51 Merc right now and have had the same concern. Look at some of the comments in this thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=292646&highlight=merc

[barry0164]

Thanks for the link John! I subscribed to it immediately.

I was assuming I was the only one having this problem.

I am also prepping the car for a new paint job, but need to solve the hinges issue like you do. Would be a shame to scrach your fresh paint job whenever you open the hood...:eek:

So if I understand correctly reading the post, we should rebuild the hinges with tight fitting bushes so all slop is eliminated? Mine still have some brass bushes which are pretty sloppy as well..

I Will look into that shortly and will post my experience.

What Color do you have in mind for your merc?

I still am thinking about plain black, but there are some nice colored merc's out there...:cool:

[Pro Stock John]

I'm talking to 51Gringo about redoing my hinges, will see where that goes.

I'm thinking black, but occasionally I think about red.