Customs Who's that 22 yr old daily driving that chopped 51 Merc?

hi chirs you get better and better and a true pal

 

cool stuff, nice work so far

 

Great story here! Can't wait to see the finished project.

 

Ok guys, been extremely busy, but just wanted to post a pic (taken from my iphone sorry) to let ya know whats been going on, and to publicly thank Rikster! Its my friends car ultimately, and while he trusts my judgement I didnt want to step on toes. I HATED the back of the roof and long and short, in life....sometimes you are the bird and sometimes you are the statue. What I mean is, we ended up cutting and recutting this roof 3 times to get the profile I would marry. I absolutely love it now, we ended up cutting the rear window loose and tipping it up, paneled the back with a 49 Merc roof that was relieved of its duty to become a full time topless car.

Here is the new profile. I would bring this home to meet mom now.

 

Looks Good! Now I want a merc someday.

 

Much better!

 

Here's some mo pics and some shots of his schweet metalwork.

We added some cut down '54 Merc headlight lenses. Headlight doors? Rings? I never know what to call them, but you know what Im talking about. I donated a hood that was pretty straight on the underside/mounting bolts but rocked on the front. I had a better hood for the car I was working on then so this was gifted. He made a patch for it using my '49 in the garage as a template and welded it in. Lastly, the money piece, the Holy Grail, the '49 (now technically a '50 I guess) grill shell. I have a 49 coupe I bought and am building for a friend, and I told him it had enough of the money meat on it to probably splice and make a convincing shell. The parts in the middle were missing so I brought out my slip roll-lol (various diameter driveshafts, you would be surprised how much you can do carefully bending over them) and the skin tops of the now homeless four door doors were cut and bent to the contour using a pizza box template taken off one of the nicer shells. All in all you really cant tell the difference.

Not shown is the drivetrain which we put in a few weeks back, a 302/aod I got from a friend who had a derelict 86 Town Car (maybe 85?) in his back yard on four flats that I winched up for free to power this pig. So far I think he is into the Merc about $800, the biggest expense was gas to get to NC and back, had I waited till I got my diesel truck it would be half that haha! We were trying to keep this under like $3500 in the point of being in primer and running, now it looks like we should be able to keep it under $1500. Enjoy!

 

Cool build, that's awesome to have < $4,000 in a chopped running Merc.

 

Lookin great man!

 

Very good.... Profile looks really great now.
Job well done!

 

great idea about the driveshaft slip roll, never would have thought of that. you guys are doing a great job and keep it up, the roof looks really good now!

 

Looks much better ! My favorite type of build using what others might throw away. Riksters critical eye was a great help getting the proportions bang on for the quarter windows on my 47 Ford chop.

 

Thanks guys! And thanks again Rikster, I knew I didnt like it but I didnt want to get beat up, I knew he wanted this done and on the road. It beats (no offense Ryan) the piss out of his 63 Impala daily driver that is falling apart at the seams haha. Bob, I was going to tell you about that idea, works well if you are patient, but I was struggling with trying to upload pics before I couldnt type back atcha.

 

BadAss!!!

 

Rikster definitely has an eye for customs..

Nice job on the redo..

 

......damn.

 

great job guys keep it up. this is what life is all about. friends bonding while doing what they love!!!!!!

 

Man what I wouldnt do for a little of that KOOL-AID on the front fender!!!!! Its great to be knee deep in a build and still be under budget!!!!! Keep us posted, looks good!

 

This is a great post, the car is shaping up real cool. Nice work Ryan.
and you my friend have a way with words but I do have an issue with you because now I'm hungry for Wawa & there are none to be found in this neck of the woods.
Pete

 

Thank you so much for all the support and kind words everyone! Rikster, as per usual, your eye is spot on! Hopefully all the welding and grinding is done by next weekend, and just maybe we'll get to see this thing in one color!!! It's gonna be a busy couple of weeks...

 

good god man.. how the F did i never see this???? i am absolutely green with envy, but now more optomistic about having another one some day.. you guys are killing this thing! it looks soo good.. keep on it, and keep me in the loop homey..

 

I 2nd that thought, great job helping the young.

Michael

 

looks awsome roof line looks spot on, love the rear window placement, and how it flows into that roof line...do you guys get your rust repair merit badges after this??? chris the rear 1/4 window radius looks a bit large at the back with the chop, TOO ME... hows doo yous guys' feeel about it?? that was my jersey accent

 

Lol Matt, you talkin' ta me? Haha, excellent accent! I remember when we were chattin on the phone you were surprised at my lack of accent, get a few beers in me and it comes out with a vengence! Unlike talking to Glassguy, whose wicked fakkin Bastan accent has no on or off switch. I do like the bigger side of the rear radiuses though, I think with slanted pillars you can squeak out some extra length in the quarter windows because you have some real acute angles going on at the top roof side, and it matches, but with a nice long quarter to begin with, and some wide curves going on already, I like mirroring it a little back there.

Funny enough though, we just found out one of the kids Ryan graduated with is now dating Snooki from the Jersey Shore TV show, so we expect he will grace the TV in the upcoming season.

Back to the Merc, after we do our GTL, hes knocked out about all the welding, almost time to grind, strip and slather on some liquid body panel! It really looks cool looking at it in the yard, so I figured Id snap a few pics and pose a question with them.

Today we tried drilling, splitting and heating some 54 Merc lenses ala Ether. Didnt go so hot, (no pun) so we are looking for some tail light ideas. I mentioned maybe some low frenched vertical 51 Ford lee lenses, what do you guys think?

Here the ol battle ax is in its current state though.

 

chirs you are getting better and better uncle john would be very proud of you

 

Looking good!

 

Any updates?

 

Anything on this one?


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