So this all started back about a year ago when some friends from California came up to visit. Short story long, we were hung over sitting around my kitchen table soaking in coffee and the will to live, when i foolishly send off a message on a classified ad for a 46 mercury coupe. Well, when you have 3 little devils dancing on your shoulders, i ended up buying it... At first glance it appeared to be a pretty solid car. Just throw in a motor and some wires, maybe do a brake job, and cruise it. Had some interrior, some old sketchy body work, and came with an 8rt flathead that turned over. So going over the project, i decided to piece together a pretty stout little flathead for it. Mercury crank in a 59a block, 80 over, fresh valve job, some mystery cam i bought at an estate sale that just said "full race?", and an offy tripower with 3 chandler-grove carbs. Then i put the car on the hoist to do suspension and brakes. First thing i noticed was the k member had some marks where the torque tube had hit it. Top and bottom. Meaning this car had been driven hard at some point. When i got the rear drums off, the passenger side axle moved in and out roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch, meaning something was wrong. When i got the rearend apart, heres what i found... The car spend alot of time either sideways, or doing burnouts. The carrier was junk and so was one axle. The bearing kit for the car was backordered as well. It ended up taking 2 months for the bearing and seals to finally show up, leaving the car trapped on the lift. Fast foreward, the rearend is reinstalled with fresh guts, all new brakes, all new bushings, and some functional shocks. Enter act 2...
ACT 2. The project car becomes the parts car. Having the car up on the lift for so long, it becomes apparent this was a whack and pack car. The rust was repaired using galvanized tin and pop rivits. The entire trunk was fiberglass. All the body mounts were mud and fiberglass. Im pretty sure it was a background car from a movie or something, seeing as how all the "bodywork" was done, but non of the mechanicals. Surfing through the local classifieds, i end up buying another 46' merc, with intentions of a body swap. Car has almost 0 rust, and was purchased from an estate sale where a man had began restoring it a long long time ago. Complete frame, stripped body, front clip and a title. Fella i bought it from was going to make a vintage modified stock car with it, but couldn't justify cutting up such a cherry body. So i stripped EVERYTHING from the white car, and pulled the body, only to discover a bent frame, right behind the steering box. It was subtle, but definitely tweaked. At some point, the white car had been jumped, and it landed hard. Now, not only do i get to swap bodies, but i get to swap all the suspension from the old frame to the new frame. Whooo! Then, as of a week ago. Everything changed againg.
Mmmmm... Similar story, my $100 '46 Ford Tudor, in 1956: So rusty I could have channeled it jumping up and down on the top... Enter friend Billy, who sold me his PERFECT '46 Ford club coupe, minus engine: $12! Only in Calif., in the '50s...
I was shooting the shit with my buddy eric about the car. Hes also a member on here. So we get talking about it, and i mention how im kinda thinking of putting my 10-1 solid lifter 301 chevy engine in it, and see how many transmissions i can explode behind the mouse motor. Eric, being the poor life choice influencer that he is, mentions "hey, i have the motor mounts and trans adapter for that 394 olds you have" ...... so now we're here... My friends are all telling me to chop the merc, but with the new motor for the car, im thinking of a slightly stock appearing 46 mercury,
I sure wouldn't chop it and fuck up the nice factory lines. Besides, you need to save your energy for the multiple running gear rebuilds you're facing. JMHO
Nice install, Marty... Have to agree with '28phonebooth. My childhood friend gave me a '47 Ford Fordor sedan, and I have a fresh 455 Olds engine, and a choice of transmissions. That 394 sure sits nice...Think I'll do the 455, and leave the body stock...lowered, of course...9" rear. Keep posting, we're all watching!
The Jalopy Journal
