Anyone on here taken out the hump on the doors on a 51 Merc? Any "in progress" piccies appreciated. Can you do the fadeaway from the front of the door continuing the full length of the rear quarter panel without raising the profile of the front wings Do you cut the metal out and weld or weld onto it? Thanks Neil
The "Boris" 1949 Mercury: The rear quarters have a lot of work in them, pics in this folder: http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_...cars/49-50_mercury_custo/1949-merc-fade-away/
I'm impressed I've marked out my first thoughts. I'm thinking of finishing the fadeaway at the back of the rear window and match its profile then continue at the normal quater panel height but that 51 Merc link has got me thinking. What do you think.follow the blue tape
If you are going to do fadeaways they need to go right to the back in one straight line. Doesn't make any sense to basically just put a smaller dogleg in further down the car IMO.
I take your point and had that conversation with myself today.Tomorrow I am taking the tape to the back of the fender skirt, the next day right to the back and will settle on one. I might just do one side and drive it around like that and see if anyone notices. The Hirohata Merc stops short of the fender skirts but not a lot of point copying that. I never noticed the hump when building it (27 years ago) and wish I had.
Yes but on the Hirohata it curves down to match the curve of the scoop in the fender so the line of the front fender is continued right down to the bottom of the rocker. It doesn't just drop off at some random point along the side of the car.
My intention was not to have a random point it stopped at but to finish at the back of the rear side window and to match the window profile for the distance down to the quarter panel. I have tried it today and lined it up with the bottom point of the rear screen but that does look random. I have now continued it right to the back of the car and i'm not getting on with the angle of the slope and the new height of the rear quarter panel. It may just be the colour of the tape that is distracting me so will try another Thanks Neil
Are you dead set on getting rid of this unique Merc feature? Is there a way I can talk you into keeping it? lol...
I agree with keeping this unique feature. Just had this conversation with a well known car guy a few days ago. Its what makes it a Merc.
I won't do it for the sake of it. I still like the fadeaway to the rear of the side window but may live the fantasy in my head. I haven't done anything other than clean this car since 1994 and fancy getting to know it again.
I actually liked your first idea, but I am with the "why mess with it" crowd. The full fadeaways to me make the whole car look fat and the slop of the line looks more random to me than the dogleg. I have never seen one with the rear quarter line raised to make it a straight, rather than sloping, line but that might be sharp? (Perhaps someone can photoshop it on the "Photoshop Thread to end all Photoshop Threads" thread?)
I'm part of the DON"T DO IT crowd, why take away the character lines that made you like the car, moulded door handles, hood and deck lids just smooth things out, but when you do bad ass grills and ugly multi head lights just mess up perfection....
I didn't mean to hijack your thread. If it's something you've always wanted to do with your Merc, then go for it. If you're on the fence about it, I say keep the fadeway as is (or dogleg as I've heard it called before). I personally think removing it makes the car look more 'generic' and less interesting.
There's a lot of "conflicting lines" in the side of that Merc posted by JeffSled.. Plus, the rear quarter panel fender appears taller than the front fender. And then, there's the mismatched trim. The profile of the car does not flow smoothly, as it should in a custom.
Only if you make a car look BETTER. Making a change just for the sake of making a change is never a good idea.
At the end of the day , it's your car and you are entitled to make any changes you wish . I just think there are certain characteristics of particular cars that make the car in the first place ......like why cut the fins off a Caddy , or why take the signature split Pontiac grille and make it one ? Yeah , it's customizing ...but ! T
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