I plan on running a tilt in my merc, I'm not into having the damn wheel in my face, but all the aftermarket ones suck as far as looks in my book. My original merc had a tilt that looked clean, and with some searching I found out it came out of a 60's Ford or mercury. They are not bulky like the others but have the same all over look of a stock column but being a tilt / auto column. There is no extra lever for the tilt also, the turn signal lever accuates the tilt...
Didn't mean to sound too huffy, but when you don't live in California the center of customs it's hard to find people who know what they are doing. Heck I wasted a bunch of money having a local guy butcher some wing windows, now have a set done with Matt and I'll have 3,000 in wing windows from doing two sets. Most of the Merc guys I meet who have these cars with non-traditional looks really have no idea what traditional is, and they are heavily influenced by the other local cars and their local builders. So when I've been in the South I see lot of those Southern style customs that have modern looking leather, newer gauges, bright paint colors and lots of billet because that's been big for 20 years. So there's a bunch of Mercs that have that billet rod look because that's been a dominant scene. Look at the celebrity cars that get built, even like in the last 12 months, many of those are post-billet but still are modern looking builds that kinda float between traditional and pro-touring. kulture pinstriping + skulls + titties + modernish wheels + air bags + a BBC with brushed aluminum valve covers. All over the place. We in this small but growing minority that want that specific look, whether it's a mid 50's vibe, early 60's vibe etc. Back in '08 when I came across the HAMB, my Mercury frame of reference was AG, Cobra, the Hirohata from the 'we found it' article back in the late 90's, and the one in the Stray Cats video. I actually bought moon discs for my car that I never ran. Learned a lot from you guys, it's been mostly awesome but sometimes a drag, cuz of dealing with hacks who do shitty work. But guys like Matt really help out with us middle coast guys who have nobody around us who knows customs (and Mercs).
I remember back then...."hey Bob,what about.....? hahaha!!! Glad I could help you out too. You just have to do your homework and do things once. I know you have no control the quality of the work,when someone does something for you,and that sucks. That's why I haven't done my interior yet. Everytime I think I know what I want,I see something I like better. Your Merc didn't just get a facelift...more like a complete makeover. I love it!!! The tweed goes MUCH better with the dark blue too! hahaha...
Amen, John, and here's another factor: there are several genuine "been building kustoms since the 1950s" guys in my area and THEY all build their cars with tilt columns, drink holders, consoles, etc. Why? Because they didn't just freeze in time like a museum display, they are living breathing human beings who kept their love of chopped Mercs and dropped Caddies but also decided at some point that they liked the deluxey features of their '70s and '80s luxury cars and put them in their kustoms. A lot of super-trad young guys will walk right by some of the cars built by a couple of the old-timers around here and they don't realize what they are missing. In fact, it happened at the HAMB drags a couple years ago: there was an old dude with a '55 Chevy with a wavy candy paint job and some big billet wheels on it. Everyone was pretending they didn't see the guy. Literally walking past him trying really hard to make him feel unwelcome. My bud talked to him and it turned out he'd owned the car forever and drag raced it all through the '60s and '70s. He was the real deal but he was shunned because his car had the "wrong" wheels on it. That's just sad.
I think that's all I have. You know,the thread is tilted "Custom Interiors" not Traditional Interiors....I'll look and see if I have any more. I don't like that green Merc interior either. Typical looking Rick Dore style...
Well that is true about the name of this thread....it doesn't say Traditional interiors.Except I was under the impression this was a traditional board.It don't matter anyways, keep posting to show the variety of Merc interiors.It's all traditional now,we don't need the water any deeper.
thanks guys. the color is off some from the camera buts its all thanks to dave martinez except for a few parts from me.
The Jalopy Journal
