History Seeking info on a 1950 Bill Hines Mercury.

I have a 50 Mercury that was supposed to have been chopped by Bill Hines. I am really looking for any insight to help verify that. Right now the car is being redone and is in primer. Any help would be appreciated.


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Good luck I would go over to Rikster's web site https://www.customcarchronicle.com/ he will be able to help you

 

What straycat said and please don't use those horrible Hagan headlights on it. They are an abomination.

 

I know Bill Hines' nephew. I forwarded him a link. Give it a day or so, and we'll see. My guess is Bill worked on a shit-ton of cars, and it may not be possible to know for sure, unless there are photos somewhere.

 

I could be wrong but I believe this mercury was featured in either Car Kulture Deluxe or Ol Skool Rodz magazine.


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That sure doesn't look like any '59 Merc that I've ever seen...

 

Please Don't use them.

 

Yeah.....me neither! (spell check is a wonderful thing.huh?!)
6sally6

 

Real smart ass. Apparently you have too much time on your hands.


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It was in a euro mag I have the photo copy of it.


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Thanks I would appreciate that. I have other pics of the car, this one (bottom pic)was when they were doing the second monster garage with the old school customizers. I was told by previous owner.


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What would you use. ? Those chrome rings came in the box of parts.


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Let me also add to those who are saying it's not too late to abort those horrible Hagan headlights. They clearly were not a part of the original build based on the older pics that were posted here, and they really spoil the rest of the car. If you care about the Bill Hines connection I assume you care about the history of the car and traditional custom cars in general, and those headlights are worse than a slapped-on set of 20" dub wheels, since at least the wheels can be easily unbolted.

 

Looks like when the car was first built custom, the headlights were tunneled in about an inch and a half without the use of any trim rings, and the tunnel was painted with the same flat black primer as the rest of the body. That seems like a good solution. I've also heard that the 52-54 Ford and Mercury inner stainless headlight bezels can be made to work with the old Hagan headlight cans. It's a little different from what was on there when those pics were taken, but it's definitely a period-possible setup.

 

I had a set of them Hagon headlights ...it was a kit I got cheap.
I thought I could do something with them...
This is what I came up with..
Parts I used was the cans from the hagon kit, 57 Ford headlight ring welded to the can, front side, 57 Hillman headlight bucket welded to the backside of the can and used the hillman headlight mounting ring and and spring plate, 54 merc inner headlight ring that fits down into the can.
When finished the headlight is removable and adjustable from the front.
You can do the same thing using the inner spring plate and retaining ring from the hagon set up but its cheap crap with plastic parts plus you end up with that big flat ugly hole.
I wanted a tunneled light so thats why I did it the way I did.
I have a set of pictures that show the individual parts and how it went together if interested

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This is the bucket apart, the outer edge of the merc stainless inner ring had to be filed slightly to drop down in the can, also a single hole could be drilled in the top of the ring so that it could be secured with a screw.
The only parts from the hagon light kit I used was the two cans.
If you didn't want the tunneled look ,you could just leave the hagon light thats already in the car and use the merc ring in place of that ugly one that is used by hagon but you still have the cheap mounting crap and the big flat looking hole with the headlight in it.
Just my thoughts and opinion. It your car
It's just to bad that someone did away with what the car had and put them ....other ones in there place.

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My Merc came with Hagans on them, too. When I was redoing some stuff a few years ago, I came across a thread of someone replacing the Hagan ring and headlight "holder" with '54 Ford inner rings and Chevy truck buckets. Saved me from cutting out the Hagan cans, which is in my plan eventually, but wasn't something I was ready to do at the time. Here's the link to the page on my rebuild thread where I did it:

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-un-dork-ifying-of-a-merc.678319/page-14

The headlights part is about halfway down the page....post 403

 

I spoke with Bill Hines' nephew Teddy Z. Ted does not remember the car. That does not mean Bill did not work on it. The magazine article indicates Bill did the work. So you got that.

 

Thanks for the information. that was a long thread. I did not realize that these Hagen style head lights were so hated.? But when you see them side by side having a full headlight in the bucket looks stronger. I’m wondering why they were changed to the Hagen style ( before I got the car ). Anyhow thanks for taking the time.


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Thanks for checking I appreciate the time and energy. I was wondering if the other guy on the far right (or left in the pic) was known to work with or at Bill Hines shop. The guy in the middle was the previous owner and then Bill Hines of course. Thanks again.


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I'll ask next week, but I think Bill worked alone.

 

Brad Masterson worked with Hines for a while, so did grandson Mitch, you might check with them. Unfortunately it's going to be an uphill battle to prove "provenance" as Hines did a ton of cars and I don't see anything about yours that makes it clearly identifiable. Best of luck and enjoy the ride.

 

Cigar ashes......

 

The original buckets probably got misplaced and those types of kits are easy to find and relatively inexpensive from a couple of manufacturers. Nice to see Dr Dave had some fixes.

 

Makin my neck hurt

 

Sorry for the bad link...I had thought I posted it to get you right to the correct post, not the beginning of the thread. Hopefully you found the right part just the same. Lol

 

I spoke with Ted, unfortunately does not recognize the guys in the pic with Bill. So end of that road.

 

Has this car been determined to be the exact same one in the magazine article?

 

Yes. Same car. The owner is a friend of mine for a few years now. He owned the car for 25-30 years. So I know the previous owner. Also the license plate numbers are the same throughout all of the pictures.


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I appreciate your time. Thank you.


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