Does Walt own the Chevy fastback with 51 Ford rear spears. It was in Indy a few times. Yes he does... funniest part? it has a 302 ford under the hood
Here is a pic of Ron`s Buick in Holland Michigan. Looks like the same spot as KustomLincolnLady. And is this his 4-dr hardtop. This pic was taken at the Lass Pass KKOA show in Des Moines.
Here is a pic of it in Indy next to Paso Johns Stationwagon. I have more pic`s of Walt`s, but they are still on my camera`s chip.
pretty good question. I think the middle pic is Russ's old car. would have to look at the dash to be sure.. he had some awful 80's gm dash in it
I think this is the rear shot of the 56 Merc. You can see red under the front bumper, gray seats and a Minnesota plate.
What Ever Happened To..........? number 102. 1950 Mercury "The Graduate" Owners: Rod and Joan Rice Saline, Michigan I must be slipping. I watch lots of video every week for these posts and usually when I find a car on a video I make a note of it. Well, it seems like this week's car escaped my list. I've been re-watching video since last Friday and I can't find which show this car was at. It seems like it was on one of the videos from the early 90s, but I haven't found it yet. It's one of those "I know I saw it but where?" moments. So, I'll just have to hope all you folks out there that were regulars at KKOA shows way back when will remember which shows this car was at. Since my video search got goofed up, I'll go right to what I found in print. Unfortunately there wasn't much, but I did find a good little write up on it in the 1st KKOA book on page 59. According to that article, the car was originally built by Gary Lessman of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Gary did the chop himself, taking out 4 inches in the front and 5 1/2 inches in the back. The Rice's became interested in the Merc, and asked Mr. Lessman if he wanted to sell. He said he would sell it under one stipulation, that they would never change the turquoise color as long as they owned it as Lessman's daughter picked out the color. The Rices agreed and the deal was made. They dug in and did a number of mods to make it their own. First thing to do was to shave everything, french the antennas, add hood scoops and '59 Cadillac taillights and park lights. They also added '55 Pontiac bumpers and pans front and rear as well as lake pipes. After the body mods were all done, the car was re-sprayed in the same turquoise with the addition of silver and maroon scallops. Since cruise-a-bility is a must, Rod also replaced the tired flat head with a small block Chevy and added A/C for cruising comfort. One of the unusual features on this car is the unique grille. I still haven't figured out what it was in originally, but to me it looks like a giant Pontiac quarter trim star. The grille definitely makes this car easy to identify as this is the only grille like this I've ever seen. One other thing, in the KKOA book, the car had Moon discs. I don't know if the flippers came before or after, but at one time it had the Moons. The car must have been a regular to some of the KKOA shows, because I found a few nice pictures of it on Rikster's site. These are the only pictures I could find, so it seems that this car, like so many we have talked about here has gone into hiding. Hopefully we can find it! See you next Tuesday! E
With all the street rods in the background, I`m guessing it was not a KKOA show. Here is a pic of it with Moon discs and with the rear end up a little. I like the disc`s better. My guess would be this pic was taken in Holland Michigan KKOA show, you can tell by the very dry and yellow colored grass. Didn`t the Rice`s own the chopped Green Chevy that Moriarity owns now.
I loved this Merc, I'll have to look at my pics and see if I can tell what shows it was at Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yes, Rodney Rice of Ann Arbor Michigan was the original owner of the Astorian, I think that Merc may have been at his place but I am not sure as I was pretty star struck by that green chevy and I was pretty tired...I went to the gilmore to pick up the futurian and drove home and unloaded, then turned around and went right back to Michigan to get the Astorian.... Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Anyone recognize this 51 f1 built mid eighties won 1985 world of wheels The whole drive train frame engine is from a 68 tornado Sent from my iPad
So many questions - Why go through the hassle of chopping a truck then leave the door handles, hood trim and all that other stuff? Does anyone else think the gas filler on the truck makes it look like it's got hemorrhoids? Should I put battery acid in a eye drops bottle for just such occasions? Did any one else scroll back up to look at the Rice's 50 Merc again to cleanse your palette? @OG lil E keep up the good work my man.
No need to scroll back. You have to realize the Ford pickup was your typical build. Big steering column. Add on air-conditioning. Frame swap or a front stub. Velour interior and late model tail-lights. For most back then-power windows.
Been a while since I've had one of those moments where I was taking a drink of water while reading a post and I almost sprayed it all over my computer. Pretty funny Bill! E The truck is all over the place, but it could be saved. Aside from the weirdo drivetrain, a lot of the ugliness would be fairly easy to change. Different taillights and hubcaps, re-do the gas filler somehow, and stance would do plenty to help it out. Problem is, buying a truck like this would cost a good bit of money, then to change out the odd things would make it hard for most people to do cost wise. Thanks John. Will do! E
Just before the WEHT 102 Stanlow69 posted the rear of a red 56 Mercury and the owner was Jim Elwood also a member of the Street Customs car club
What Ever Happened To..........? number 103. 1949 Mercury "The Shadow" Owner: Ken Meyer Wichita, Kansas This week's custom is one that will probably only be remembered by the lucky few that were at the Leadsled Spectacular in the early years, or the Wichita area locals. Ken Myer put together this chopped '49 four door in the early 80s. It went through a few different versions before it seemed to disappear. In my research, I found that Ken had his car at the first or second Leadsled, but since the few pictures I found of it weren't dated, I can't say for sure which years--maybe he was at both. The Merc was chopped and then put into gray paint with scallops. It had an unusual choice of hubcaps that look to be mid-60s Pontiac with a spinner and color matched slots. I believe the following picture was taken at the second Leadsled Spectacular in Des Moines by our own @PasoJohn. I found another photo of the Ken's Mercury in Custom Cars by Hot Rod volume 1 number 5 from 1983 in the article titled "Those Mercs" on page 49. It looks like the picture was taken at the same show that John took his picture at. The car looks to have the same style hubcaps and paint job at that time. The more I think about it, I'm almost positive this was at the second Leadsled. The next picture I found was in the July '83 issue of Classic & Custom on page 36. This was taken at a Wichita indoor car show in January of '83. In this picture the car looks to be a darker color. Really hard to tell in a black and white photo. The car would eventually end up black. For those of you that have seen the Rowdie Productions video (@49toad) of the 1984 Leadsled Spectacular, you will remember what I'm talking about. On that video, Rowdie filmed a few different car folks getting their sleds ready to hit the road. Ken's Merc was shot pulling out of his garage and going down a narrow driveway. He stopped the car and the trunk slowly opened all by itself. (I did a little research on this. I figured it was an electric trunk opener that was operated by a GM power window motor and was raised and lowered by a switch. Lee Pratt did a great little write-up on how to do this in the July 1983 Classic & Custom on page 36.) A young teenage kid (Ken's son?) was waiting in the driveway with their luggage, and they loaded it all up and then got in the car. The trunk lid slowly closed and it looked like they were ready to go. A few minutes later, Jerry Titus cruised up in front of Ken's house in his finned Mopar, honked the horn and said "Let's go!" Ken started his sled and slowly crept out of the driveway. As he hit the street, his club plaque clanged on the dip in the curb leaving the driveway and then he started to hustle up the street to catch Jerry. I don't know what Ken was running for mufflers, but it sounded great! At that time, the car was painted black with wild scallops on the hood, sides and trunk, all done in the similar fade style as they were when the car was gray. It had "The Shadow" lettered on the quarter panels, and had Kansas plates that read "4 DOOR". Ken had also changed the hubcaps to '57 Caddys. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pictures of the car in the black version as seen on the video. The Merc was only shown on the beginning of the video and then at the show towards the end of the video. Ken was interviewed and he gave a short rundown on the car. After that I never saw the car on any other videos or in print. Is this sled still in Oz? Is it a two door now? What happened to it? I hope we can find out! Until next time, stay cool! E
From one of Darryl Starbird's "Rod & Custom show annual" magazines: Apparently at that time it was called "Grey Lady".
The Jalopy Journal
