I agree that it's the harsh "V" of that grill that makes it seem well, "off". The teeth maybe cliche, but they follow the contour of the surround much better than the '55 Ford grill in the first version. Friday!?!? **think happy thoughts**
A day early for you guys that are impatient. I guess it is Friday. Maybe @Sancho or some one else can post both pic`s together.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 99. 1951 Merc Owner: Truman Nelson St. Cloud, Minnesota As custom lovers, I think the thing that draws many of us to them is the uniqueness of each and every one. That being said, many of them have the same things done to them, they are just executed in different ways. Things like chopped tops, frenched headlights and tail lights, custom bumpers and so on are on most customs in many combinations in one way or another. The thing I have learned while doing this thread is that in the early days of the "Custom Resurrection" from the late 70s through the mid 90s or so, is there were a number of colors on customs that were very popular. We've talked about yellow, certain shades of green and the always popular with the street rod crowd, red. Ah red. Porsche India Red, Guards Red or whatever the popular red tone choice it is these days has always made me wonder what the appeal of bright red was (and still is) to a lot of people. Red is expensive no matter how you look at it. Since it is expensive anyway, how about throwing some House of Kolor Candy Red over silver or gold base instead--now you have my attention! Sorry, I'm getting off track here. Back in those "Custom Resurrection" days it seemed like there were red sleds all over the place. Chopped shoeboxes and Mercurys at every show by the handfuls. This has made tracking these cars down a difficult chore. This is where certain body mods and unique features have helped me sort these great cars out. This week's W.E.H.T. is one of the chopped red Mercurys that I have sorted through all these many months. Truman Nelson attended the 1984 Leadsled Spectacular in Des Moines. His car was seen cruising around the fairgrounds having a great time like so many other red chopped Mercs. The saving grace is that on the video Truman was interviewed by one of Rowdie's gals and he gave a nice rundown on the car. He mentioned that '84 was the third time he was at the show, so he was there three out of the first four years. His car was very subtle in the fact it was red with no striping. It was chopped just the right amount, with the addition of a '50 Merc back window. The car had what look to be Oldsmobile style headlights, a nice and clean simple grille choice of a '49 or '50 grille with the center removed, and a Chrysler front bumper from the early 50s. The taillights I'm not certain of what they were, but they were tiny little slots that really worked well with the whole look of the car. As far as research goes, I only saw the car on the '84 video, nothing after that. In searching for printed information, the car was pictured in the article called "Those Mercs" in Custom Cars by Hot Rod volume 1 number 5 from 1983. There were so many red Mercs featured in magazines that I had a really hard time finding this car as a feature. I seem to remember seeing it in a magazine somewhere, but my searching came up empty. I did find some great pictures of it on @Rikster's site taken by some of our great HAMB members that were lucky enough to be at these events. The credits for this week's pictures go to @Peter Pan of Chicago, @KustomLincolnLady and @PasoJohn. So there you have it, Truman Nelson's awesome red '51. Has it disappeared? Does Mr. Nelson still have the car and it's "sleeping" in a garage somewhere in Minnesota? Was the car sold and it's disguised under a new coat of paint and some body changes? I'm sure you all will let us know. Until next week, stay warm! E
I have pics of a red Merc from the Mid Century Merc club show in '90 with tiny little tail lights that I thought might be it. Thankfully not, cuz that one was a pro street Merc...whew!
I parked next to Truman at the 84 Des Moines KKOA show. I remember him saying that you can tell when a Merc is chopped just right. "Just enough room to get your arm out of the door window when you are cruising." Truman had big arms... I am not surprised that he still has the car. If I remember correctly it has a 429 ford engine in it
429, C6, Torino rear end. Truman posted in December 2016 that it's in his garage. I think he still has it.
No, not that I know of. I would have posted the link if that were the case. That came from his FB page.
That Chrysler bumper on the front really looks good with the end bumps. Better than a stock Merc any day, IMO. Thanks for the update @PasoJohn
Me nor my dad do not have pic`s of the car. I do have one from the late Dave Barnes. Taken in 84 in Des Moines with an instamatic. It amazes me that this car never got pinstriped. Especially in the 80`s. This car was photographed a lot. Will post pic`s from different publications daily unless someone else does it. I`m glad it still survives and is unchanged.
Here is my pic of Truman’s Merc from the Des Moines 1984 Kkoa show. You can see the back of my old 55 in the foreground Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I wish I could get Rob on the H.A.M.B. he remembers all these like you guys. Me I just know What I like and I could see the same car at different shows and I'll tell Rob , man I love that car and he will just laugh and say you said that last time when we were at such and such show. Lol. I just say back to him well I see more cars than you do because most of them are new to me haha Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I haven't read every page but growing up in Kirkwood Missouri there was a 49 or 50 ford owned by a guy named Jerry Fitzinger. It had a Carson top and had flames. This around 1980. I don't have pictures but he was a hot rod/custom guy. Maybe someone remembers him.
Not to hijack the thread, but did anyone else happen to catch this one being auctioned off? Here's a link to the online auction: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1...mail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-01-20
I went and looked at the post on Bring A Trailer. There's pictures where Barris signed it to Cat. I signed up there just to break it to them that the car they thought had escaped California, was actually built in Ohio.
I saw that too John, good for you. I had to chuckle. And one comment mentioned getting rid of the ports. Which were added after it got to California Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I've always regretted not buying Cat's car when it was up for sale. What they did to it is a crime. Mick
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