Customs 1955 Mercury Montclair mild custom build

Yes, the Cuff was supposed to be bottomed out in the hole, pipe was loose. Fixed!

 

some updates; fixed the leaky gas tank. had a leaky 2bbl carb, so rather than rebuild decided to upgrade.

Before:


After (not the most recent picture, there has been some buttoning up/moved parts/hoses):

 

After the manifold/carb install its a turnkey start!

On to the next problem, can anyone tell me what this is? I was trying to mount my ignition to this dash, this was dangling from the back. All that moving around broke it off. i opened it up, its springloaded, think i found all the bits.



Showed it to my pops he thought it was probably unneccesary, but went to start my car last night and it did not fire up. there have been no other changes so maybe this is related?

 

That's an inline fuse holder, and looks to be one that was added later.

 

GIS'd it and looks like your right, but i didnt see a fuse. So either it launched across the garage or there wasnt a fuse in there in the first place....

Also, all the other ones are a sort of passthrough like this..



where as mine stops at the holder.

Anyone who is more electrically inclined than i, is this a necessary component to my ignition? could this really be causing my starting issue?

 

I hate to say this, but finding 'stuff' like this in a harness too often means that somebody has been at the harness. It's particularly alarming when it appears the person had limited skills and/or knowledge (the taped-over splice is not good...). As to whether or not that's 'important', the only way to tell is to start tracing circuits. I'd also carefully examine your harness for more 'signs' like this; find very many more and it may be time for a partial or total re-wire...

Ford didn't fuse the ignition/start circuits in those days so it shouldn't be for that, but you never know what some POs will do.

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah I'm not particularly surprised, considering many of the other poorly done home rigged surprises I've found along the way. Ill probably try to put it back together and connect it and hope the car starts up. Try to worry about rewiring everything a little later, i wanna drive!

 

my cousin/friend had a 55 Montclaire, yellow and black, 312/four barrel/MercOMatic, good pipes, just a neat car, they were subject to rust out in 1962, at least in Iowa. Some good memories. Reference the flipped shackles, in the early 60's there was a period of time that the jacked up rear end was popular, remember this is Iowa and both he and another friend that had a 55 Merc Monterey and they both flipped the shackles. I have a soft spot for those Mercs and yours looks pretty nice.

 

Great looking car. I would tend to not go whole hog on the custom route as the design is pretty special as is. Plus too much re-working is too much $$$$ for a man with a young child (and thankfully the ability to make more due to the successful hanger re-positioning). Just a simple lowering with the front springs as you've done and blocks out back would do it for me. Repainted in a stock combo and you're done. But to each his own. Kids are expensive...

 

When your painting it....take mirror off the fenders..they belong on the doors.

 

They would probably look better but I remember as a kid a few cars around my neighbourhood had them mounted like that so the driver could easily look at them without moving their head just there eyes. Even the optional side mirror with spotlight would be mounted there.

 

I cant stand those mirrors. Don't like the rectangles, and where they are mounted. Not only does it look bad but its damn near impossible to get them adjusted right. Thats one of the top things on my list to do for cosmetics

 

I do like the styling, going mild custom for sure. Roof doesnt need a chop, looks low enough to me as it is. Just removing some excess badges, maybe shave the handles. As far as paint though none of the stock ones are getting me excited. Right now i'm leaning more toward something like this...Black with some fancy roof work. ditch the striping.

 

Long time no post, 3 young kids + work makes a Hans a dull boy. Removed the ugly, square, way too far out in front mirrors. Think i know why they mounted them way up there, pulled off the passenger side one and it was hiding a 1in diameter hole, must have been a antenna there. Oh well add it to the sheet metal work that's inevitable anyways.

Probably going to go mirrorless, checked the state laws and i dont need them, think it looks pretty good without. I can always change my mind.

 

now looking for a little assistance,
help! im looking for replacement springs for the hood hinges on my '55. The only place i can find them are on MACs and they are 'temporarily unavailable' i called and they said they are 'looking' for a new supplier, so no faith they will become available in the near future, if ever. Anyone have any idea where i can find a set? or other make/model/year that use the same springs?

https://www.ecklers.com/ford/hood-hinge-spring-ford-only-49-27024-1.html#close

 

Most recent photo ive got out on the road, squint and you wont see the mirror. I really want to find some '56 side trim for the rear quarters, ive seen that swapped out and it looks sooo much better. The only difference is that its flipped with the long strip of the trim at the top

 

Yep. that's the way it should look.

 

Looks like a trip to emergency........

 

i survived, shackle moved freely didn't have to put any effort to pry it, because I had the car jacked up at the frame.

 

Dumb question of the day: any advice on installing lee lenses? I got some delivered recently, cant wait for them to look like this photo i found ;

Problem is when i removed the the tail light, i found that the below image, original bezels, everything i highlighted in yellow isnt 'removable' and obviously i cant slide the lense in from behind with that metal in the way.


Saw a guy instagram with lees on his and asked if he had to cut the bezel, and got a 'no' as a response. but cant get ahold of him to ask any more questions.

So, any ideas?

Other than a friend suggesting i glue them over top (will probably look like crap) or cutting them?

 

Maybe you could put that post (with photos) over on "The Definitive 'MILD CUSTOM' Photo Thread..." and the "Kustom blues? I need to see some kustoms" thread. You might find some insights there.