My parents have never understood me... I've been a traditional hot rodder since I was a teen... an outlook on life my parents never appreciated... every car or parts collection was a canvas to create... for example; He could understand the 57s because he had one when they were new and other than modifying the motor, suspension, tires & wheels they were mostly stock appearing... but, after forty years of my shanagins and a couple of my builds recieving some recognition and my Dad has come around a little... When I get him to talk about old cars it always comes back to three cars; the foremost being a 47 Ford Club Coupe, 57 that had a hot factory motor, and a 61 he bought new and kept for over forty years... Well I stumbled across a 41 Mercury and talked him into letting me have it built for him...
This has been a rewarding Father & Son project to say the least... Now he is the one talking cars and he is beginning to understand the benefits of modifications...
He would have frowned upon someone de-chroming an old car... now, faced with the options hunting for months for missing pieces with no success... the cost factor of purchasing, straightening, and plating if we ever would run across them... now, filling the hood & center panel seems like a very reasonable solution
Ironically he was quite pleased that the previous owner had updated the motor to a 53 Merc and didn't have any objections to changing the intake manifold and installing a Rochester carb and replacing the generator to 12 volt early Chevy unit
He had the hardest time understanding the advantage of changing out the perfectly good springs with Posey's reversed spring eyed Super Slides... funny, after hearing other folks telling him what a smart decision he made - you would have almost thought it was his idea now
The front had factory sway bars and tube shocks... my buddy recessed the area around the upright bracket for more clearance if it flexed... the factory didn't but it looked like it had the potential to rub/squeak... I screwed up and ordered a rear sway bar/shock kit... it stated it was for 35-40 frames and 37-48 rear ends... it had to be flipped to the back side and longer links made to allow for the frame kick-up
Looks good. Nothing like a family project, especially on a car that you have to look high and low for parts! Doing a '41 Ford convertible... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Facing an other compromise that we don't really care to make... We purchased Drake's repro side trim for 47-48 because I have a door and a rear corner that are really bad... The trim is almost twice the thickness as the 41... Leads on a full set or pieces would be appreciated... I have three weeks in which I can return the repro's...
Dashing... the dash posed a problem too... I could have dealt with and updated gauge cluster... the missing celluloid pieces was half the dash which isn't available except a set someone made out of brass... so since Eric 54's solution was to go to a later Merc dash - I picked up his discarded dash... cut & moved the curved side in... we cut the curve from the other dash & flipped it over... creating a recessed area utilizing factory curves... then used extra glove box lids to fill in the center... kinda smooth but it still has some curves and the best part - my Dad likes it
I like it Thom, it was hard for me to picture when we talked about it, ended up coming out nice..... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Thom, Now that is going to be one neat "father and son" project ! I tried to get my dad to but a '46 Ford Sedan Coupe with a Buick nailhead adapted to the original trans. Price was under $500 if I remember right. Not my old man though. Good thing he is not around to see where I put money these days ! Keep us informed. Looking forward to seeing it cruise down the street ! Dave
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