WOW! ...it looked so much better back in the day unchopped and with out the fender coves...... gotta love them TALL firestones tuckin....
the first pic is the original bailon version, the second pic is when mr.merc owned it and he and bailon restored it, chopped it and added the side coves. the purple pic is what it looks like now. now, you'll notice in the purple pic the car is unchopped. in the pic with the white side cove it is chopped. but people swear it's the original "blue mirage".
<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" width="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">WHY RUIN A PERFICTLY GOOD Merc. Rags </TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
This is made of a clone of the car. The real car has been chopped in a later version (also done by Bailon), So this ugly version can not be made of the real one. The real one is below. The people who where/are selling the car do claim it is an old Bailong custom.. but its NOT!
Anthony, what are your saying? Is the uglyfied car the same one as the original Bailon built "Blue Mirage"... and is the chopped car a clone?
Three photos,all the same car---the first one I copyed out of Bailon's photo album-the hand writting is Joe's. TwoChops --------------------------------------------------- Left click to enlarge
The purple abortion is on E-bay now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1950...oryZ6882QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
unchopping seems so strange. I could see someone keeping the front clip and putting it on a unchopped body (maybe because of rust or accident). seems like it would be hard to unchop a car back to full factory specs
I hope somebody buys it and returns it to its former glory. WTF do people think when they do that to a car?
That car sat a few miles from my house when I was 12 years old. (1972) had keystone classics on it and was for sale....800 bucks
Im pretty sure Joe Bailon didnt do the chop job on the merc, Sterling ashby was the owner and a good friend of mine Karl Zechbauer did the chop on the car when Sterling owned it, Karl hated to chop it but Sterling insisted, i think Karl has pictures of it when he was chopping it in roseville mn. titus
look at the ebay add pictures, the last purple ugly version is chopped, so no the car didnt get unchopped it just got ruined, sad. jeff
Thats correct, Sterling brought the car to the 1982 kkoa leadsled show in Des Moines freshly chopped by Karl. May or may not have been the right thing to do at the time but it pales in comparison to the "horrific" restoration the car has recieved this time, what a TRAGEDY
When I saw it at Merc Duece it was about as slick as can B.Therewas a story featuring it around the mid '70's in Street Rodder,with the stock roof as in the original build.I believe itwas at Springfield O.Definitely one of the star cars.Well, as it's said,life's full of surprises. Erwin.
I talked with Joe about 6 years ago when I gave him photos of the Merc. Pics I took in the mid-late 50s, with the unfinished car sittin outside his closed shop (Sunday). At that time he told me he had just finished restoring that car. He said someone in the East was giving the Merc to his 16 Y O daughter. It was in primer when I first saw it, looked best Blue..OLDBEET
Sorry I can't fight it no more!! We need to put a stop this! The Merc has some kustom history. Yes it was ugly then but still in a sick way it was kool. My out rage is why make the Merc uglier?? My guess it was a bet. Bunch of guys sitting around drinking beer starring at the Merc and one of the guys said "Go ahead re-do it. You kan't make it any uglier then it already is." Hopefully this is what happened. I can speak out of experience because I owned an Ugly Merc and its on it way of being fixed. Converting an ugly Merc can be done. For the guys that don't know what they are doing..... Please ask. Don't be afraid of the HAMB we are your friend. Ask before ya kut, paint or just plain on screw'n it up!!! Happy Trails, Mick
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