I used to see this Merc advertising a hydraulics company in Hot Rod books and thought it was David Lee Roth"s merc but saw his on an old Van Halen video the other day and looks a lot like it but don't think it's the same car.
Same car. Dick Dean swapped the frame in a short time for David Lee Roth so the could take it on a roadtrip. It was featured in a magazine when the previous owner had it. There were also pic`s of Dick swapping frames in another magazine as well. I always loved the Raul`s adds in Classic and Custom magazine.
Thanks for verifying that. I read about a so called road trip in David Lee Roth's book. He writes about betting someone he can drive it to somewhere in a certain amount of time . In typical Roth fashion he loads the car into a truck and I believe he flies close to the destination, meeting with the truck with the car, rubbing dirt on his face he climbs into the car so it looks like he drove it all the way there. At least that's what I remember of the story.
I believe the car is now in the Museum in Chicago. The same one that the Golden Sahara will end up when it gets restored. I have always liked that Merc from first seeing it in the Raul`s adds. It is pronounced Raw-ew-ll`s. Correct me if I`m wrong.
I may have posted this before. This was taken in the summer of 81. The 51 on the left was put together for the first leadsled in 81. We put mufflers on the morning of departure. The 50 on the right went to the first merc/deuce reunion in 79. The flames weren't dry yet when it hit the interstate. Both cars were built by Bob Davis of Ground Hog Kustoms, Dayton Ohio.
Such an impeccably finished car, and all I can see is those horrible mirrors. They're even clunkier than the usual "smoothie" ones that often unfortunately find their way onto customs. Really beautifully done otherwise though.
The Jalopy Journal
