I have been gathering parts and working on my '55 Merc wagon for a longtime now. It is getting closer! It is now a 2 door (was a moredoor) with PROPER width 2-door doors and the floors and rockers are all done. Last week Clint (CLM here on the HAMB) and I took the Merc over to Ron Lisle's shop in Golden, IL. Ron (Godspeedbear here), as you may or may not know is the owner/builder of that relally cool Bellytanker that was at the Hundred Car Pileup this year. Say "Hi!" to the folks, Ron! Ron is going to take a little off the top for me. Here are some pictures of the car at Ron's: We are thinking that the chop will be 3-4 Inches total. More pictures will be coming as the work progresses. I never realized just how TALL the car was till I got this view: The complete chop journal will appear here: http://glennsplace.com/choping_top.htm Later! Glenn
Hell yeah Glenn! Looking good. Im glad to see you're getting going. That things is gonna have a look all its own with a chop. Keep us posted.
Any in-progress pics of the 2 door conversion? Did you use the door jamb from the donor car or from the wagon? Definitely would like to hear more about this. There's a '55 Merc 2 door post in a local junkyard here with nice doors/quarters on it, never saw one before that one, thought they were all hardtops. Can't be easy to find those pieces.
Squawblow... I used the rear doors form the wagon as the body lines are slightly different. The 2 door conversion was fairly easy. You just move the door posts back 6.5" (the difference in the length of the doors) and cut the rear door down to fit the hole. The build thread is here: http://glennsplace.com/door_swap.htm I will be adding more pictures here later. There is still more to do, but not until the top is done. Final edging on the doors will have to wait as well as setting the lean-in angle, as that may change as the top comes down.
I'm going to be suppling Glenn with the pics of the build and he will post them here.. I told him that I'll document everything. Right now I still in the planning stages, working everything out in my head so that there are no mistakes.. Can't beat a good plan at this stage. If everything goes the way I plan, it should be done sometime in early Jan (the top chop)
reminds me of a chop I saw on Monster Garage where all the greats lowered the lid on a old Ford Wagon. after the chop, Starbird decided to lower the crown by taking out a few inches all the way around the roof above the drip rail. Sumpin to consider
Gonna be cool to watch! Just wondering...with the 2 door conversion, did you just weld the rear door skin to the complete stock quarter panel, or did you remove the door striker post and butt weld the quarter skin to the door skin? I'm wondering if directly welding the separated outer door skin to the full quarter/post unit would result in waves etc as the sheet metal expands and contracts in the sun or shade. I'm sure its been done already by others...but how did it then work out over time? (I'm toying with the idea of a 2 door conversion myself...)
Hacker, The rear door skin is just tacked in place at the moment. I cut away most of the door but left some of the frame to maintain the form. Once the top is in place I will remove the door frame completely and then weld it in place. I did a lap joint at the front to join to the B-Pillar.and I will probably do the same across the bottom and in the rear for strength. I used a hand tool to form the lap because my bead roller is out on loan.
You might consider using a stock hardtop windshield. should give you a couple inches without the worry of replacement glass later
Nice project. I'm glad to see someone else's shop looks like mine! Crap piled everywhere, floor littered with pieces, parts, air lines, extension cords and the interior of the car is piled full as well. A total disaster! Looks like a place where work gets done! Brian
Not meaning to hijack, but I did my old '56 Caddy the same way. I cut the inner structure out, and just welded (OK, what I really did was braze it , it was 25 years ago and I knew how to braze. It was "old school"! ) the rear door skin to the post. I also brazed the inner door frame, what was left, to the hinge post and striker post, then used the cut out inner door pieces to finish it up and brace it. It didn't warp badly at all, I think it worked out well doing it that way. We had the car 10 years, no problems, and the seams never "photographed" thru the paint nor bubbled up. Brian
The madman has started his work : (I can't watch....................) More pictures here: http://glennsplace.com/ron_liles.htm
Love your Trunk Speedster, Brian. Or your Prowler, whatever you call it! And I'm loving this thread dabirdguy !
Trunk Speedster !??! Prowler ??! Dude , Really ? Looking foward to seeing the roof sectioned on this chop , these wagons look soo tall from the rear .... Thanks for sharing
Luck was against us on this one, Noname... I bought 3 '55 Merc windshields from a Great guy on the West coast... Only 2 survived the trip. The one that broke was the only stock hardtop one in the bunch. Glenn
Its about time you are getting somewhere on the merc and if you took it down to the height of a convertible or crown vic windshield and put a flat roof from a 57 or 58 wagon it will look alot lower.
It is looking good Glenn.......... Let me know when you get it home I would love to come up and see it....... HR33
Quite a project, I love it. A Omaha dealer had a 55 Merc tu-door wagon a few years ago, only made in Canada, it was sweet. Good luck bro. ~sololobo~
I did not know that Mercury made ANY 2-door wagons in '55. Thanks for the info...I'll go do a search.
Ya we're going top flattin out the roof a bit.. take some of the "rise" out of the front curve and build a new transition. It will smooth out the top quite a bit... it'll look great... when things are tacked back together, we'll get some shots of it out side the shop.
Good luck with the chop. It should look good with the lid down. I seen this thing back in Cincy on a home made rottisory without bracing, floors gone and buckling in two. It will be a miricle if you get the body parts to line back up with each other.
The Jalopy Journal
