History What Ever Happened to..........?

The convertible sitting next to Gerb`s 55 at a KKOA event(Michigan). You can tell by the dead grass. I figured it had to be a Mundy car.

 

Well sure enough, I missed that....and it's my own picture. Haha. I didn't take another picture of the convertible that next year when I took the pics of the fastback. Film was expensive for a college kid and I tried to not "waste" new pictures on cars I had already taken.....unless it was the Hirohata clone or Hub's '60 Buick. Haha

 

Here`s the painted version of the 2-dr hardtop Buick that Dr Dave posted. Taken in about 93 in Lincoln Nebraska at the Americruize.

 

Dad took a pic of both of these cars.

 

Here is a pic of the car at the same show that I took. And a close-up(@Sancho) of the passenger side headlight. And one of the driver`s side headlight. A close-up of the hubcap. Then a side profile of the Chrysler. You have to remember this was the late 80`s. Street rods had heatbeat lines down the side with graphics and billet everything. Not to mention pastel paint jobs.

 

I try not to judge not knowing the circumstances, but how does a car like that get left sitting outside? At least a good car cover would help protect it some. Hopefully this is only a temporary home.

 

It doesn't look too far gone.
I'm wondering what's going on here around the lower edge of the windshield?


Here's what it looked like when it was redone in black.

 

The top two pictures of it when it was red in the 80`s for those of you not following this thread. The black Chevy below is a different car.

 

Pretty severe chop IMO, but other than that its awfully nice. What's the rear window out of?

 

1950 Mercury.

 

'Nuther one...

 

What Ever Happened To..........? number 159.

1958 Chevy "Peppermint Twist"
Owners: Warren and Carolyn Brookover
Parkersburg, West Virginia

This week's custom is like a lot of the others we've covered lately in the fact that it seems like they weren't around for very long. I research these cars as best as I can, but there is only so much old video to watch and old magazines to search through. Even though I have a large collection of magazines, sometimes information on certain cars just isn't out there. Or, I remember seeing a car somewhere but after searching for what seems like an eternity, nothing is found. And on and on it goes..........
The Brookover's mild '58 Chevy was on the 1991 Leadsled Spectacular video shot in Hamilton, Ohio. As strange as it sounds, there were only a few shots of the car cruising by. This is unusual because on most of my videos, whether it's a Rowdie video, Action Video, @PasoJohn video or @John B video, the guy behind the camera takes a good long look at most every car being recorded. For some reason, this car just got a few quick seconds of video time and it faded away into kustom history.
Since the Brookovers were from West Virginia, I thought that I would find more footage of their car on the few Sled Scene East videos I have, but nope, nothing.
IF Warren and Carolyn were at any other shows, I find it hard to believe that some photographer, video guy or magazine editor didn't shoot more video or snap some pics of this great car and put it on tape or in a magazine. It was a real eye catcher with the clean white paint and the striking red scallops. It looked like it rolled out of a little Rod and Custom or Car Craft from the summer of '59.
The Brookovers did send a picture of their car with a brief description of it and a little history to the KKOA. The car made the cut and it was chosen to be in the first KKOA book that was printed in 1993. It was proudly shown on page 56.



I apologize for the bad scan. Books with information close to the spine can be hard to scan. This is the only printed information and photo I could find. The car really looked great on video and I just thought it needed to be included on our thread as it's just too kool to be left out. I hope that one of our custom faithful has more information or great color shots to share.
I'd be willing to bet that Jim (@stanlow69) or @Sancho might be able to come up with something. @PasoJohn--got any pics? Hey @Moriarity, you remember this one? C'mon everybody, there has to be more on it out there somewhere!
Sorry this week's entry is so short, but you know how it goes. Doing this thread is like fishing. Some days you can drop your line in the water and every time you reel in you pull out a whopper. Other days you can sit for hours and get nothing but a sunburn. You just have to enjoy the day of fishing and the great outdoors and hope for better luck next time. Heck, that's what I do! I just keep searching for the hidden gold nuggets of custom information!
I hope all of you are well! We'll see you next Tuesday! E

 

Ed, I took this at the Lancaster show in Ohio when Charlie ventured from Colorado. 2002? Good lookin Chevy. Notice the forsale sign.

 

Same back window, but that's a different car than the black one. Clearly, of course, the black one was inspired by Lanny's purple one.

I'm going to guess that maybe rather than cutting it they sunk the windshield and that's just acquired doodah in the crevice?

 

Same here, I need to rewatch the video from that year i guess.

 

Nice picture Jim! Good to see the Chevy in color!
Yep, it was 2002 that Charlie went to Lancaster alone. The whole gang was supposed to go, but Mitch ended up having to work. Another kid that used to hang around with us that had just graduated from high school had a major problem with his Valiant and couldn't go. I was having issues with the hydraulics on my Buick and I couldn't get it figured out in time to go. Charlie had a good trip except when he had a wheel bearing problem on his '57 Ranchero. He had to stop in a rough part of Chicago (I think) to fix it. When he got back to town and told us the story, he had us all in stitches. He was such a character!
I have a few videos from the '02 Spectacular that I haven't watched in a while. I'll dig 'em out and go through them today and see if the '58 is on there. E

 

Ok everyone, update time! I dug out the videos I have from the '02 Spectacular.
I have a copy from @John B and my buddy Charlie. On John's video, there are a few shots of the Chevy in the background of other shots. On Charlie's video he shot some footage of the Chevy, but it wasn't close enough to make out details like the interior and striping. The Chevy does look great on tape though.
Funny how Charlie gets mentioned around here every now and then, and it usually seems like it's around this time of year. On March 23rd it will be 11 years since he passed away. I think of him all the time. He is missed..........E

 

What Ever Happened To..........? number 160.

1950 Mercury Four Door
Owner: Sam ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ?, New York

This week's Mercury is one that I've been researching almost since the beginning. I've exhausted all my resources and haven't found much, so I thought I'd post it here and see what you custom faithful can come up with.
This clean mild custom Mercury first showed up on the 1985 Leadsled Spectacular video shot in Springfield, Ohio. The car was already a nice mild custom with some unusual custom mods as well as a few accessories that made it a lot easier to identify, that and the fact it was an unloved four door. You have to admit, that even for being four doors, the '49-'51 Mercs still exude coolness with the factory rear suicide doors, right?
The car had shaved door handles and stock style skirts. A shaved and peaked hood with side scoops added in and a DeSoto grille. Someone put in a lot of extra work with the addition of '57 Chevy headlight assemblies. An unusual choice that really set this Merc apart from so many. The owner also added '55 Chevy parking light assemblies.
Out back it had a shaved trunk with the license plate frenched in and '58 Chevy Bel Air tail lights with blue dots. The car also had a set of vintage white mudflaps with chrome trim and reflectors. The type that were right out of JC Whitney or Western Auto. A very unusual choice, but to me they worked. Maybe that's the Latino bomb lover in me (lol)! Another unusual accessory was the drag plaque on the rear of the car. Instead of having a car club name on it, the plaque simply read "JULIE". Was this the owner's wife or girlfriend? Was the car called Julie? We may never know.
There were a number of good shots of the car on the '85 video, and at a glance it looked like many of the other burgundy or red toned Mercs at the show, except that it was a four door. Something else that really stood out were the bright yellow New York license plates. They read "SAMSMERC". That is where I guessed at the owner's name in this week's title. Could be wrong, but we'll see what information comes out. I have no last name information at all. As far as what town in New York this neat sled came from, again, I have nothing.
According to my video research, this Mercury did make it to many KKOA shows over the years. It was at Sled Scene East (in Pennsylvania) in 1986 and much later in 1992. It was also at the Leadsled Spectacular in Holland, Michigan in 1988 and 1990.
By the time I last saw the car on video at Sled Scene East in 1992, it had changed some with the addition of Buick side trim with black paint below it. Cruiser skirts replaced the stock style skirts and the mudflaps were gone. The car was still the nice burgundy color above the Buick trim and looked great! I couldn't find any pictures of this version, just shots on video. After '92, no more video sightings.
I guess this car was uninteresting to the magazine people covering events years ago. Maybe it was too mild, or maybe it was unappealing since it was a four door, I can't really say. At any rate, I found no pictures or write ups on it in any magazine. Thankfully it was in the first KKOA book (1993) in the lead in part of the book on page 8. There was no information about the car or owner, just the Merc sitting in front of the world famous "KKOA Leadsled Spectacular" sign. You will note it was the "early version" with the stock Mercury side trim and stock style skirts. If you look close you can see the mudflaps. Sorry guys, I only found the one black and white picture.



And that is where the information trail stopped. This Mercury may still be around, but after the early 90s it seemed to fade away. I'm hoping that you early Leadsled Spectacular attendees and the east coast custom faithful will have more on this car. You would think it would have hit other events along the east coast over the years like Lead East as well as others. I hope more turns up..........
Wow, finally! Tomorrow is the first day of Spring! I'm so ready for the nice weather, as I'm sure most of you are too. I hope everyone is safe out there from all the wild snow storms and terrible flooding in the Midwest. Hang in there, we're almost though it!
'Til next time, take it easy! E

 

Funny, I noticed this Merc today while gazing at my pic`s in my garage today. 4-dr maroon Merc with Buick sidetrim in the backgound of another car from the show in Michigan. It has to be it. I`ll look for other pic`s later.

 

I've got good, color, 35 mm pics of Sam and Julie's Merc somewhere in my albums. They were such nice people! Lived in upstate NY, and attended many, many East Coast events.

 

Is that the Dawn Smith Mercury?

https://kustomrama.com/wiki/File:Dawn-smith-1950-mercury-2.jpg

 

Wow Bill, I've never seen the Dawn Smith Mercury before! Lots of similarities to Sam's Merc. Could be the same car. Maybe more information will come around. E

 

Thanks for the information chopolds! At least we now know that the "JULIE" plaque on the Merc was for Sam's wife. Inching along but more facts are coming to light. E

 

@OG lil E I believe it's in the Grease Machines book.....

 

From the Grease Machines book.

 

My dad took this picture from the earlier KKOA Michigan show in 1988. . Good lookin Merc.