History Mercury 60s survivor Anyone see this one before?

There is something too this one in my opinion. Not the direction I would go, but whoever added the clip did a nice job blending it into the Merc body. And actually the more I look at the photos, especially the side shot without the side trim, the more I start to like it!!! Someone had the balls to go outside the norm, and sometimes that can be disastrous, but sometimes it works too - welcome to the world of customs!

 

I applaud the builder for not building a copy of what a lot of people consider “cool”. He built his car the way he wanted it, everyone else be damned. And he built a quality car. Maybe it’s not my cup of tea but I’m sure as hell not going to trash it, and I would still drive it.

 

Went to a swap meet and bought 3 magazines. In the issue of Custom Rodder December of 81 was this.

 

Eeeeewwww!

 

I knew I had seen a 50 Merc with 57 Chevy front fenders before

Dawn Smith's Barris built four door no less 50 Mercury!

Clearly the Barris brothers had no taste building a four door with 57 Chevy front fenders.

 

Sam had taste, George, not so much

 

Thank you for posting the pics. I forgot all about that one. Proof this Merc still has potential.

 

Before you start bashing Barris, fact check. Neither George nor Sam had anything to do with the building of Dawn's Merc.
George did photograph though.

Mick

 

I was unaware the Barris brothers did not built that car, a book I have has a mistake because it says it was built by them.

However I was not bashing them at all, I was making a point to the self proclaimed experts who feel the need to pontificate and pass their personal options "I've never seen that done, It was never in a magazine, I don't like it so it's wrong and never happened" off as fact and history.

 

I think different wheels and a heavy drop would do wonders for this car personally. Lose the trim on the passenger side. Maybe a visor.

 

I think the biggest problem with this combination is that both the Merc and tri-five Chevy are so easily identifiable. Just sticking the two together doesn’t create one unique vehicle, it still looks like two different cars. The best kustoms combine parts from different cars in a more subtle way. Bumpers, fenders, trim, lights, etc are chosen because they flow better, or improve the lines of the car, or they just look cool. This combination just seems forced. As if the builder had already decided that they were going to put these two cars together, no matter what.

 

The 57 Chevy front headlight treatment really makes the body of the Merc look to "whale like". Maybe to section out a 3 inch strip would do the trick. It would be interesting to have someone with photo-shop skills perform the feat on paper. As one successful car custom builder told me, "just keep on cutting, welding, replacing, and adding pieces until a successful form has been established". Of course this was a person who built car for others and charged by the hour, he never owned a custom but rather always own new cars.

 

Two whishes,
First, wish you never posted this
Second, whish I could un-see it
Both are ugly miscarriages.