History Matranga Mercury at the 1951 Oakland Roadster show

I have four copies of that one
And I keep browsing in it... Fantastic book.

 

This is how it was told to me by Sam's son John: He said that Sam hated to pose with the cars and would have to listen to George bug him to come out of the shop for a photo until he finally gave in, stomped over there, slapped his hand down on the car, waited for the click and then stomped off back to work with a "there, you happy now?"
Same with the famous photo of him next to his own 49 (in the dirty coveralls).
So...I don't think it is pride you see on his face...

 

Yes, Ron, it is great to see you on here & with so much to contribute!

 

This great thread has just raised more questions.........
- Why was there a poster made if this was just another merc that Sam chopped?
- Why did Marcia take these pictures of Sam doing this car ?
- Why did people say these pictures were of Sams car when they were indeed Jerrys.In the Barris technique books there are a couple of pictures from this set that Marcia took and George says that in the book "Here we are chopping Sams car" and thanks to the album that Cleatus brought us we know it wasnt Sams car.
- Why is there a picture of George,Sam& Jerry with a hacksaw before they started the surgery?? Does anyone really think that they would do that with the second mercury they chopped?
- And finally... Why is there no pictures like this of Sams car? If there was I dont think people would of tried to pass these off as Sams merc when they really arent.
- I think Marcia Campbell was one of the most important figures in early customs when it came to a camera and I can NOT imagine her not taking any pictures of Sams merc in progress.


At the end of the day to me it is still the Barris shop who did both of these amazing cars.I just think that Sams was finished first for the show and Jerrys was cut first.

 

I heard John Barris telling that story also at Sacramento but im saying that Jerrys car was special in some way because I dont see pics of Sam next to any other mercs after this,not even the Hirohata.

 

What im thinking is Jerry bought his car 1st and took it to the Barris's. Then Sam like it and thought it too would make a nice custom. So Sam went out and bought one too. Im sure that will get a few people talking.

 

Everything you just said makes a lot of sense to me. I feel that Jerry's mercury was the 1st one chopped now.

 

This great thread has just raised more questions.........
- Why was there a poster made if this was just another merc that Sam chopped?
The poster was made long after Sam passed away... and only because Marcia made so many photos that could be used for a poster

- Why did Marcia take these pictures of Sam doing this car ?
Because she was there at the right time?

- Why did people say these pictures were of Sams car when they were indeed Jerrys.In the Barris technique books there are a couple of pictures from this set that Marcia took and George says that in the book "Here we are chopping Sams car" and thanks to the album that Cleatus brought us we know it wasnt Sams car.
Because George wanted it that way... or did not really see it was Jerry's and thought it was Sam's

- Why is there a picture of George,Sam& Jerry with a hacksaw before they started the surgery?? Does anyone really think that they would do that with the second mercury they chopped?
Most owners of Customs Cars would like to have this moment captured for the future.

- And finally... Why is there no pictures like this of Sams car? If there was I dont think people would of tried to pass these off as Sams merc when they really arent.
Probably because Sam worked on his car in his spare time, possibly when others where having a meal at home, or perhaps even sleeping?

- I think Marcia Campbell was one of the most important figures in early customs when it came to a camera and I can NOT imagine her not taking any pictures of Sams merc in progress.
Fully agree with that one


At the end of the day to me it is still the Barris shop who did both of these amazing cars. I just think that Sams was finished first for the show and Jerrys was cut first.
Hopefully one day we will find some proof for this.. or the way around.

 

I dont think those answers hold much water but that is ok,I feel that those answers are reaching.I understand there will always be arguments but for example....


- I dont think Marcia just happen to be at the right place at the right time.I think Marcia would have made sure she was there to take the pictures of the "First choppings"

- There is no way that George thought that Jerrys merc was Sams.He knows good and well who's car it was in the photos when they were doing those technique books.I am amazed you even wrote that Rik.

- Show me another picture that had Sam and George and the owner with a hacksaw in hand before they started cutting.

 

LOL I'll try then Jeff.

This great thread has just raised more questions.........
- Why was there a poster made if this was just another merc that Sam chopped?
The poster was clearly made after Sam's death so it may have been the only pictures Marcia had of Sam chopping a Merc. You have to think that it was at least 17 years later a lot of things could have happened to pictures in 17 years.
- Why did Marcia take these pictures of Sam doing this car ?
Why were any pictures taken of Sam working on any car? She was there the day they started so she decided to keep coming back to see them work on it as she had some neat starting pictures? Maybe Sam had already started his so there were not pictures of the first cuts so they wanted to recreate it with Jerry's. Who really knows.
- Why did people say these pictures were of Sams car when they were indeed Jerrys.In the Barris technique books there are a couple of pictures from this set that Marcia took and George says that in the book "Here we are chopping Sams car" and thanks to the album that Cleatus brought us we know it wasnt Sams car.
This is a good question. It my have just been George being mixed up. Again could be as I mentioned above they missed Sam doing his because he did it after hours and they needed some pictures.
- Why is there a picture of George,Sam& Jerry with a hacksaw before they started the surgery?? Does anyone really think that they would do that with the second mercury they chopped?
To me this is the most compelling arguement for Jerry's being the first. It does seem like a strange thing to do to just another chop. Although a young guy who has just bought a brand new car and taken it to get choped would be pretty excited regardless of whether it was the first or not so a picture like this is conceivable even if not the first.
- And finally... Why is there no pictures like this of Sams car? If there was I dont think people would of tried to pass these off as Sams merc when they really arent.
The biggest reason I would site for this in general and the fact that there seem to be very few picture of in progress shots of any of Sam's personal cars is that he was working on them after hours when no one was around to take pictures.
- I think Marcia Campbell was one of the most important figures in early customs when it came to a camera and I can NOT imagine her not taking any pictures of Sams merc in progress.
But this arguement seems weird to me as well as Sam's car was having a bunch of added work done to it that would have been firsts for a Merc and none of it was recorded. There were alot of pictures taken of cars being customized that were not the first of their kind so the arguement that Sam's wasn't first so it was ignored doesn't really hold water for me.


At the end of the day to me it is still the Barris shop who did both of these amazing cars.I just think that Sams was finished first for the show and Jerrys was cut first.

Well we know Sam's was finished first for sure but that could also suggest that it was started first thus giving them time to get all of it done before the show. Or it is also very possible that Jerry's was the first. For me there is no conclusive evidence of either being cut first. Definitley some good arguements that it is Jerry's but still some doubt in my mind.

 

I feel that Sams car was done in such a rush that there was no time that the car was cruising around as a mild custom like Jerrys was.We can see from the pictures that Jerrys merc was already a mild custom when they were chopping it.So to say that George was mixed up when he looked at the pictures for his books is totally false.There are NO pictures of Sams car cruising around as a mild custom,it was a serious rush situation and I think it is funny to pass Jerrys car off as being Sams merc.

 

Keep in-mind that when these things happened - none of them knew it was a historic moment to be captured accurately for posterity. They were just young guys messing around with their cars. They had no thoughts that anyone would still be interested in 2011.
Sam didn't appreciate the whole gig with taking photos of everything and when doing his own car, not only was he working on it at night on his own time - with no cameras around - but he was also not the kind of guy who would want it all documented.
That being said, I think it is very possible that Jerry's car was first to be cut (hence the photo with George and the hacksaw)and Sam's car first to be finished.
Wasn't the story that Jerry first cut the posts with a hacksaw in his parents driveway (and his dad thought the car had been vandalized)?
I think he may have done that just to poke some fun at his friend Sam who was also getting ready to chop his own 49 - as if to say - ha, ha, mine was cut first!

 

You are probably right on that. Maybe it was because they didn't have any pictures of Sam's being chopped so 45 years later when he was doing the books he decided that he would do it. It took more than 10 years for anyone else to figure it out so it obviously wasn't that far fetched. Or, lets be honest, it could just be George being George

 

Good points Curtis.

 

Another thing is how George has not always told the truth on the cars he has touch. In the case of Dan Landon's chevy. In all the books i have George states that they chopped his chevy. When it was Ayala Customs that chopped it. I've always had a feeling that george would do this after they might of done more work on a car. This giving him the credit of a bad ass custom.

Also if Sam mercury was the 1st to be chopped i would think it would have had a write up in THE BIG BOOK OF BARRIS. There are other write up on other cars. like Dan's chevy, Sams buick, the four foot custom, and so on. Why nothing on Sam's mercury like the others. There are only pictures saying it Sams mercury , but they are really Jerry's.There is also that famous shot of Sam standing next to his mercury. those are the only really write ups in this book on his mercury.

If Sams mercury was the 1st one chopped then i feel there would of been more photos of it. George had a camera and so did others. there were people at the shop all the time and at all hours of the day. So to say sam worked on it off hours and nobody took photos of the 1st mercury getting chopped is hard to believe. George would of love to say he was the 1st to chop a mercury. so they did but it looks like it to be Jerry's mercury.

 

Lets not forget George HATES Jerry.He has never givin him any credit for nothing,when Jerry was at the shop he was good friends with Sam not George and he has told me tons of the storys of how him and Sam went here and did this and that.He told me Sam was the only other person who drove his merc because he trusted nobody else.Jerry and George had a physical fight in the lynwood shop and that was the end of the little friendship they had.Jerry said he couldnt handle George any more so he had to do it.I will tell how that went another time.

As far as the poster being made years later.........ok yes i know that but why is it of Jerrys merc and not Sams merc???????? And the word FIRST shouldnt even be mentioned on it if it wasnt.Like Bickford said there were people at the shop day & night working on cars.Are you guys saying that Sams was top secretly built in the middle of the night so nobody wouldnt take pictures??? I know the arguments will keep coming in but there is just alot of facts about Jerrys merc being sliced.

Also lets not forget Jerry told me " Jeff if Sam were here he would tell you who's was cut first,it wasnt a big deal to him,Sam didnt care." See Jerry through all these years has not came forward to try to get famous like some people we know,he just goes about his business and is not trying to cash in on it.That shows what type of a man he is in my book.

 

It was Sam's car and if he didn't like photos, he could say get the hell out of here with that thing. Sam's Merc came and went very quickly (finished for the show and immediately sold to the obscurity of the midwest). So less opportunity to promote it and soon out of their mind and on to the next project.

 

Keep in mind it says "First Photos of..."
Not "Photos of the First"
There is a difference

And, yes George may have made the effort to use photos of Jerry's car to subversively suggest it was Sam's car and that it was first one to be chopped. That is just George

My own feeling is that Jerry may have gotten started first, but Sam's was the first one completed.

So far, no hard evidence either way.

 

This is the original label Marcia Campbell taped to the photo album containing the photos of Sam and jerry chopping Jerry's 1949 Mercury. It does not say "first"

 

I the many books of the Barris shop there are several mistakes on other cars as well. One of them is Bill DeCarr's 1941 Mercury in the Jack Stewart 1941 Ford section in one of the technique books. So this could very well be the case. Or like Cleatus says... he knew it was Jerry's car but figured nobody would see, thinking the other photos in the series would never see the light of day.

We have seen the complete book, and then it all makes sense. But it very well could be that there are duplicate prints in the Barris files, but not of the complete set.

After all it does not really matter that much who's car was chopped first.
If we ever find some photos that shows us which car was done first, then it would be great. But if not... we have some fantastic material that we can look at, and study... lets not make it a competition.

 

Possebly taken before Sam joined... but this one shows some very enthusiastic guys, Bill DeCarr, George....

 

That is actually a farily significant difference. You would think if she went there specifically to take pictures of the first Merc being chopped and it was a big enough deal that it was the first she would have made sure people knew it was the first.


Edit: I see that was not the wording on the book (thanks Rik)Who had the poster made do we know?

Maybe the Ayalas had already chopped Wally's by this time and it was known and Jerry's was the first at the Barris shop. there are a number of different scenarios that could have played out.

 

I think this is the real point Rik but it is fun to conjecture. I hope no one takes it too seriously or personally as it is all very interesting and informative regardless of what the outcome is.

 

My mistake - now I'm the one jumping to conclusions...

It is not that I don't believe Jerry's could have been the first one, it is just that when trying to decifer history, we should be very careful not to jump to a conclusion that could distort history.

 

Cleatus.........I am well aware of the wording on the poster.I know it doesnt say "The first chopped" If it was the second or third or whatever number the person who made this should NOT have had the word FIRST anywhere on the poster.


- Rik I see your pic you posted but it dont mean nothing,Jerrys pic was before the chop and it had the saw in the photo,which tells us that it was an important car that was about to get cut,no matter how you want to slice it.

 

Not to mention that poster was made for Sams memory after he passed away,shouldnt it be pic of his own car?? Well i think that we have brought out the truth and if we didnt then that poster would of always been thought of Sam working on his own car,just like the photo album was thought to be his car.


Like I have always said...........Either way it was a Barris Kustom.

 

If they were the "FIRST" pictures taken of a Merc chop then there is every reason to say they were the first pictures taken of a Merc chop regardless of whether or not it was the first chopped.

No offense but I think you may be reading a bit much into pictures. They were young guys mugging for a camera. I doubt very highly they were worried about how important the job might be in the history of these cars. Jerry was a young guy with a new car about to cut it up I would have been psoing for pictures with it as well even if it was the 10th one cut.

That does not mean his was not the first, very well could have been, but there are a lot of explanations for pictures.

 

Anyway back on track.............. So did I read that Gil Ayala's stunning merc won best custom here at this show?