Projects The Mexicali Merc, another 40 Custom in the works

Damn Sledge, you've got me all shook up and obsessed with this Merc. It's turning out awesome.

 

That's a great photo!

 

As I told you mate, you were pretty bloody easy to teach! the word natural comes to mind.You were damn good at drinkin beer to.

 

Awesome! I should have you help me out on chopping my 41 The windshield surround is easy...the top and stainless not so much

 

Kev....

your a manimal!!!

Merc looks great!!!

Pete-

 

looking good!

 

Subscribed...Nice work man....

 

Yeahhh...the dog...and the car too

 

Thanks Pete! Hopefully we can knock a few back again someday!

 

Beautiful work Kevan!

 

So I got the the drip rails all done today and started the metal finishing process. This is where the real workout comes in because its nothing but hammer/dolly, hammer/slapper, and lots of file work! My arms are like rubber now and im going to sleep good tonight! But the results are worth the extra work. Reno wants it to be in bare metal for a while so it needs to look nice!

Got the passenger side driprail all welded and cleaned up. Still gotta finish welding the front windshield.


Started the metal finishing on the drivers side. Now It shouldn't need hardly any filler when done. This is turning out better than I planned. Im stoked!

 

thumbs up! looks great.

 

So beautiful. Great work.

 

What a great project. Thanks for the story and posts.

These Mercs are like the girl in high school that you never would have looked twice at but then she goes to college she figures out how to put some makeup on with some tight pants and it's a whole different story...

 

hahaha, yeah your right! Thats funny!

 

Thanks Ray!

 

Best analogy EVER!

 

Man this just keeps getting better,beautiful workmanship Kevan !!!

 

thats some dam fine work!!!!!

 

man i want to reach your level of craftmenship so bad, you and Paul Bragg are my heros,i have a small shop in a small town here in cetral cal and you guys and your post are my teachers,thanks so much for this thread

 

Kevan, It goes to prove my point that our hobby is a noble one, As for me this hobby has saved my ass twice, in the recesion of the late eighties and early nineties, I lost my job and started restoring cars for my friends , it got me through some tough times and though I never got rich doing it, it always put food on the table for me and my family, once again , I lost my job in this recesion, so I am back restoring cars full time, the money is not great but there is a lot of satisfacion and you can stand back and feel you acomplished something , I never forgot some words my friend Buck told me " if you can do something with your hands , you will never go hungry" .
My friend, fuck selling Tiki furniture! I think you have found your true niche in life, you have some serious talent and hopefuly you will continue to build cars for a living, Auzzie Pete called me last week, and I can't wait to tell him to check out this thread and see the work you have acomplished, I am shure he will be very prowd of you and extremly happy .
It's funny how life takes it's turns and twists and being the good guy you are, the big man upstairs will always look out for you and your family.
So foward on my friend, and keep up the good work,
On a liteter note, for those of you who have never been to Mexicali, it is not a place for pussies, me and my friend Stephan just got back from there on a trip from hell to the sonora desert, Mexicali sits on the salton sea and is sits aboat 600 ft. below sea level and is one of the most inhospitible places on the planet, in the summer, tempetures range from 120 to 125 degrees in the day and in the night , it's in the low 100's, in the afternoons you get hit by sand storms , the only thing that keeps the town alive is the colorado river , so it is a agricultural town and the capital of Baja California, any way we were hauling a 31 phaeton by there and they were talking aboat flash floods, so we left the top on the phaeton, would'ent you know a tornado hit and blew the top right off the phaeton.
The next day we araived to sonora, the tempeture was 127 degrees, we had to import the car and drive it through the mexican customs yard, would'ent you know it was so hot the starter sized and the float on the carburator got stuck so we lost all our fuel, the mexican custom agents would'ent let us tow the car through the differ'ent check points, so we had to push the car for aboat a mile and a half, poor Stephan was red as a beet and looked like a refugee from Rommel's Africa Corps, anyway I almost passed out but we got the job done .

 

Wow, I appreciate the complement rustryder, but I've got nothin on Paul Bragg. He's one of my heros too! That merc is looking good!

 

Thanks Miguel! Man your story's are the best! We need to start a thread just for Miguel story's! Yeah, I think the furniture thing is behind me for now. What started off as part time work has turned into a full time job! As much as this work beats the crap out of you, at the end of the day it's much more satisfying. Hows your 46 ford (that Pete chopped) coming along? Thats going to be a great looking car

 

looks great Kevan!

 

That looks really good,great job!

 

To say I'm impressed would be an understatement

 

Call it exercise Kevan.....blood pumping is very healthy and man it looks great.

 

Beautiful work.