Features Your top twenty 1949, '50 & '51 Mercurys

Yeah I know...
Like I said, it just made an impact on me as a kid. Can't really explain it...
Like Mark said "that is just my crappy opinion", same goes for me. I knew it would get that reaction but it would still be high on my list. You should have seen their reactions when I brought it up at the first annual "Kustom Konference"!

 

Sancho, I respect your opinion, Add the green Flame to my list. I spent a lot of time looking at it when I was a kid on my bedroom wall of the poster of Robert Williams. I saw it in Des Moines in 82 KKOA show. Add Misty Bluz that Sancho posted as well as the Yellow and dark brown Merc with the Buick sidechrome that's been posted twice. They were also there along with So Fine. Sometimes, the first ones have a major impact on you. That makes 6, then there`s the OMAN Merc from Nebraska. Unchanged still today with only a few paint touchups, suspension upgrades and a different owner . Built in the late 70`s, It`s one the first chopped Mercs I saw. Black, Black Tunck`n`Roll and very traditional. It`s been to Salina a few times as well. Twochops from Michigan said it was one of his favorites as well. The chop top is perfect for the car and needs to seen.

 

^ "Kustom by crunch"

 

Sancho you are so right with your suggestion about this Merc. When we were kids their were Kustoms and Hot Rods that just got our attention. That feeling never leaves us. The "Green Flame" is the one that will always be in my heart. The Titus Merc is so wrong but so right for the time it was built. It was funny when you suggested it at the Konference, I remember when everyone groaned at first but than understood its importance with the Wichita kustom scene.

Would I drive it as is? Yes I would, but I would have to fight the temptation to lower it..

 

Not really sure how this one isn't on the list yet, but Dave Dirico's Merc is one of the best ever. This one wins over many others by doing less, and doing it better than everyone else.

 

I have quite a few of the same cars Mick has posted so I won't repost pictures but in addition to the two I already posted these would be on my list as well:

Oz's Bad Apple

Ayala Built Glickman Merc

Sam's Merc

The Ayala version of the Welch Car

Paul Braggs in proress

A Drag n Shop Merc that I don't know if it ever got finished

 

It's amazing how Mercury "matters of opinion" vary.
It's all a matter of design, the era and personal taste.

 

Very true. I am probably younger than some, 45, so all the 80's stuff does nothing for me at all. I don't really know the cars and don't care for the style they were built in. I got into customs when D'Agostino and Zocchi builds were in Custom Rodder every issue so for me it is the early stuff and post '90 stuff that really influenced me.

 

Custom Rodder magazine was very influential to a lot of people.

 

It was a great mag. I so looked forward to seeing what the ACME shop and Lucky 7 were working on every issue. I loved the work John and Darryl and Marco's crew were doing.

 

Its kool to watch their success through out the years. They have been blessed with a lot of talent.

 

It got lowered later on. And transformed a few more times after this.

 

Classic and Custom was influential to a lot of people in the 80`s as well. The ages of the people(I`m guessing) in the conversation was about 45-55, with a couple older ones as well. I`m closer to the 45 mark, thank goodness. Very little was published in the early 80`s. We knew who Barris was and liked his stuff up until about 1957, then the builds went out of the traditional box. The Bob Hope golf Car and the Sonny and Cher Mustangs. You truly had to be a diehard to know the works of Valley Customs, Ayala, Winfield amoung the many others. Sancho, I was there when you brought up Titus`s Merc. That`s when I had to leave(HA HA) Maybe I do know you. For some reason this new shinny ultra smooth stuff with cars sitting on the ground hasn`t tripped my trigger much. Sorry. Just my opinion and nothin more. But the Blue Merc from Minnisota pictured above sure looks good.

 

Yep, I told you mentioning that Merc had them running for the hills!

 

Now that I have a moment to sit at my computer rather than just my phone, I can add a few thoughts and a few pics of my own. It was years before I ever saw full pics of Jerry's Merc, but remember seeing a front end shot of it somewhere early on while still in primer and I just loved the way they fit in that Desoto grille. As a matter of fact, I ended up with a parts '54 Desoto many years ago I saved the grille out of and even though the '54 grille seems a bit more popular historically, I was still kinda bummed that it wasn't a '55 so someday I could maybe fit it to a Merc the way Jerry did his.

I can appreciate your point about the '80's Merc not striking a chord K13, but I have to admit, I'm one of those 80's guys and Classic and Custom and "resurgence" 80's style customs just have a soft spot for me, velour pillow seats and all. LOL That said, while I doubt I could really get my fave Mercs down to a solid list of 20 (this whole discussion started getting serious when I bet Mick he couldn't get the list to less than 50 LOL), like most everyone else, I just like too many of them, would forget too many and it would just be too fluid to cast it in stone. But, I can add a few more in here that would likely make it to my top 20-ish give or take. Most of these aren't necessarily for how great in the grand scheme of design, etc, but more for sentimental effects on my foundational love of customs above all other forms of automotive art. LOL


Lorenzo Merc: Very first custom exposure I had was when my best friend got the Grease Machines book when we were in jr high. I was hooked from the start and never looked back. He's a muscle car guy to this day, but I latched on to customs and that was that. His dad was younger than mine and he bought a '69 Chevelle SS396 brand new off the lot. My dad's first car was a '51 Merc and I had his AMT '49 Merc model he built way back when on my dresser while Mick had his dad's '69 Chevelle model, so I guess our dies were cast. Anyhoo, naturally Grease Machines was on my Christmas list and Santa delivered. Still have it and have devoured each and every page for 40 years now. There was this one pic one pic of the Lorenzo Merc in the introduction and I always wished it had shown up as one of the feature cars. I never saw any other pics of it until the advent of the internet, but I always loved this one pic and thought it was sooooo cool!


Cool 50: Not long after Grease Machines, the first car mag I bought off the stand myself was an issue of the old Custom Rodder with Cool '50 (and a custom panel/'65 El Camino). Drool....was stoked to get to see it in person in Sacramento several years ago at the Merc display.


Steve Gonzales Merc: I got the issue of Custom Rodder off the stand, but I got both "Custom Merc" issues of Street Rodder at the swap meet....the first one with Charlie Lopez's Merc and the second one with Steve's Merc on the cover. (@pgan's editorials on mild customs as daily drivers in Street Rodder, Hot Rod and when he single handedly brought back R&C are of course foundational to this sickness I have....and yes, Pat if you ever see this, I do drive a custom everyday and have done so since my first car 35 years ago). Steve's car bring built by, at the time, a young (teen) guy at home kept my fire lit that maybe soon I could get a car and build my own custom. What a thrill to get to see it an talk with Steve at the GNRS Customs Then and Now display.


Ralph Hansen Merc: Here's one I bet you haven't seen before. Pretty sure the first custom Merc I ever saw in person....small parking lot show Green Bay, WI 1983. Took my cousin who was starting to like cars and ran across this. Don't know what ever happened to it, I did see it a few more times after this, but haven't seen or heard about it in forever. Hopefully it's still around, in some form or fashion. Later learned that Ralph and Jeff Johnson (the HAMRD school bus yellow, purple flamed, '58 Chevy headlight Merc you of course have seen) were friends and built their Mercs together.


Low Life: Still 1983. Soon after seeing Ralph's Merc in Green Bay, dad and I headed down to the Mid Century Mercury Club show in Kenosha, WI. It's a wonder either of us survived that show....the moment we walked onto the lot, one of the custom Mercs fired up and burbled through the pipes and dad and I both nearly died. Him from old, happy memories and me from finally hearing one run. I still remember this day fondly. Low Life was one of the many Mercs there (along with the Crouthers Merc) and has always stuck in my mind. Car still exists in the same form and is owned by a HAMB'er, although I forget who. While at the show, a 49 or 50 drove through the lot, maroon, grey/silver scallops, kinda rough, for sale...$600 if memory serves. Dad would't bite, said it was too rough, was too much money. I still dream about that one, too, but didn't take any pics of it (film was expensive for my 110 camera on my meager salary loading kids on the bus at the elementary school and there were too many "nice" ones to take pics of to take any of a "rough" one LOL) and have never seen any of it.


Midnight Sensation: some where in here, Midnight Sensation came out. Just a pretty car, plain off (as one of my kids used to say).


Jack's Hirohata Clone: Hangin' Dice Nats 1987. I had no idea it was a clone. I walked into the show ground, saw it and thought I was looking at the real thing, here in Arkansas. Of course, I did learn it was a clone over the course of the weekend, but still, here it was. The real one had not been seen in decades, it's existence was just rumor to most folks and yet, here it was. Say what you want about clones, tributes, whatever you want to call them, but Jack and Doug gave us all something no one thought would ever be seen again. Thank you Jack!!!


Dad's Merc: The one that started it all. The date on the pic says 1959, but it was really taken in '57. I'd only ever heard stories, but a few years ago, came across this pic and noticed the Merc in the background (dad is on the right in the white). Only picture of it we have ever found. '51 Merc, 4dr, '53 Chevy grille, mild dechroming, primer spots, stock flat head. Day he got it, he was supposed to pick it up and meet his folks at the "cottage" (camper, obviously), but got in a wreck and mangled the front end, so he didn't make it up. Promptly gathered the parts to fix it and figured as long as he was messing around, may as well customize it some. '53 Chevy grille and I think it may have ended up with '52 Buick tail lights as well. He didn't have it super long, and got the itch to go faster, so moved on to an Olds with and OHV 8. Terrible car he said, and what he should have done all along was put an Olds motor in the Merc instead and "really had something." My Merc came with a SBC which is still in it, but I can tell you there is a vintage Olds motor sitting here in a corner waiting for the day to land under the hood, so I can really have something.

Geesh, that's 8 right there....yup, no way I could ever really nail down 20.

 

How in the world did it take til post #36 before the Godfather of chopped Mercs, the Sam Barris Merc, got posted?

 

I know I could never narrow it down....

I keep going back through and looking at all these Mercs and have a question. Did the Green Flame have rear air shocks? Are they up in that photo Mickey posted or did it always sit like that?

 

The lowered version looks good. But it`s not the same as when the back end was jacked up. I vote to return it to it`s original version. It will always be remembered as the Titus Merc and needs to stay that way. Sorry Moriarity. P.S. It`s not the Green Flame Merc for the newbies. That ones purple. And yes, I like the lowered rearend version on the poster better.

 

Stanlow, there are photos of at least two versions after that lowered one. It looks less and less like the original.
The wheelwell openings were changed and it got smoothed out.....
Another version:

And I believe this is the latest version I could find photos of:

 

Sorry I don't like the Sam Barris Merc. I appreciate the history behind it and the guys that restored it did a great job. It didn't make my list of top twenty. I know a lot of kool Mercs didn't make it on my list. The number one qualification, what would I want to drive. Kustom history didn't count for much.

 

I don't remember it sitting that way but I was only 15 at the time. I've seen pictures of it sitting a lot better than the picture.

 

Just out of curiosity what don't you like about it? You posted a number of cars that are built in a similar vein, and I would even guess strongly influenced by it in your top 20. What about it excludes it compared to those cars?

It's probably my number two behind the Bettancourt car and not really due to it's history. I love full fadeaways on Mercs and the rest is simple and understated like I think these cars should be. It's probably why I really don't like the 80's builds as I think things like flames, pinstriping, bubble skirts etc have no place on custom Merc's.

 

[QUOTE="K13, post: 11759797, member: 15356 It's probably why I really don't like the 80's builds as I think things like flames, pinstriping, bubble skirts etc have no place on custom Merc's.[/QUOTE]
And speaking of not liking bubble skirts. Add The Merc from Michigan with bubble skirts. It`s purpleish , with white scallopes, I`ve seen pics of it from the 60`s. It`s one of Centurians(?) favorite customs as well. That makes number 8. As far as Kustom history goes. It was a jumbled up mess. I had seen many many pics of customs and show cars in magazines and in real life. I had heard of all the builders names and the custom shops. There was no timeline when the early cars were built until Rickster came along. He put it in perspective. Then it all made clear how the cars evolved. What builders were doing what and when it took place. By then we already had our favorites. And yes, The Sam Barris Merc is probably the most historically significant. But this thread is about our favorites. And my list isn`t done yet.

 

I agree with a lot of what you just said.
I asked the question what is your top 20 Mercs? My list is what i believe at the time I did it. My list isn't right or wrong and I have changed my top five in different order many times so I know it's not easy. If I saw Sam's Merc in person I may change my mind but it's just not for me.

I can see why you have it near the top of your list. I made my list of Mercurys that I want to drive not the most influential. If I made my list on most influential, I would agree 100%.




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This is a bit like picking the Prettiest Girl. Once you finally decide, another pretty Girl with different Lip Stick color can change your mind and convince your best friend She now is. Funny how that works.
The Wizzard

 

My 2 favorites, in no particular order

 

I wasn't questioning your choices just curious what it was about Sam's car you don't like. My comments about 80's cars were simply an explanation as to why I don't like them not a condemnation of anyone that does. You said you "didn't like Sams car" so I was curious what doesn't do it for you about that car? If everyones list was the same it would be pretty boring and a pretty short thread.

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This kind of discussion is what I was looking for. Its always kool to discuss kustom theory with creative people. Custom Rodder magazine (90s) had an article from Harry Bradley that discussed style flaws with a Barris Mercury. I didn't agree with every thing but it was interesting to read and study. It was a very kool article and it would help developed a kool foundation concerning kustom styling. If I can find it I will post the article.

Concerning Sam's Merc, I'm not a fan of the fade away fenders. I know that I have a couple on my list but they seem to have a better flow with the new body line. Sam's Merc the fade away fenders look like they run too high and looks bulky compared to the ones on my list. Also don't care for the tail lights. They are mounted to high on the fender. Don't care for the grill, to plain.... My view could change if I would have seen the Merc in person.

 

One of my faves, too.

You are a sick man! LOL