Projects 1951 mercury build

Billet wheels AND Whitewalls!!??
IMHO, those wheels belong on a late model bagged pickup. Stick to traditional rolling stock with a hammered Merc. Your project is coming a long nicely-keep it real.

 

Just re-reading John's posts, he's never indicated whether he wants to build a specific era car. Not everyone thinks that way. I didn't think that way honestly until I spent about three solid month's on the HAMB.

I do like billet wheels but the ones pictured look like something I'd see on a car in a Korn video (I like Korn too). So you get -2 points from the trad crowd, and 6 points from the billet and bagged crowd. The Hamb is not the latter so you might not get the feedback you are looking for just an FYI.

I really liked the wheels on the Wasabi Mercu, I think they are 17 or 18" billet wheels I forget who makes them.

I wanted wheels like Cadzilla on my car, but I hear they were one-offs made by Boyd.

Keep going!

 

The horror,the horror, the horror,

 

You will "Kill It With Billet" as said in a world renown poem.

KILL IT WITH BILLET

Every teenage boy dreams of that special day
Of turning the big sixteen and hearing his parents say:

OK, son, you’re now old enough to know
The ways of the winding roads
And the direction you choose to go.
So go ahead, scout the path.
Let your hot rod juices flow.

Stay focused as you test your mettle,
Discovering the beauty of the craft.
Don’t flinch or wince as you work the metal
With the hammer and dolly of builders past.

Starting now, we’ll build your old jalopy
Just as your grandpa “willed it.”
Creative form will follow function
As you cut, weld and fill it.

Keep in mind his traditional roots
As you put your heart and soul into it.
Recall the commandment he would so often say:
Thou shalt not kill it with billet.

Copyrighted 4/13/2010

 

Billit
Made by Nerds for Nerds!

 

Death trap I looked at your web site and you want to bash somebody. The only fuckin thing you show on there that you built is fuckin RAT RODS. get a life and buy a merk. When you do. Then you build it and we will compare cars!!! See u in 10 years

 

You know I listen to all of your comments and it really is sad. I understand that this traditional site but I look at some of these cars on Hamb and they are no more than a primer car with caddy caps. It is time to voice my opinion now. How can you call these cars traditional when it is primer and caps? Oh yea I have done my research and lots of it. I have been doing this for a very long time. I grew up and love the OLD SCHOOL look but it not just about fuckin primer or the flat paint jobs. I see all of these cars where the metal work is done so nice, (Thank you all for sharing that with me.) but most of you quite there is that called traditional? Not in my opinion. I want to build a car that looks just as good at a good guys show and looks just as good at a lead east show, and that is what I will have when I am done. I will not be afraid to show my car with the hood open, doors open, trunk open, or even with it tilled so u can see how clean the bottom of my car is too.
That brings to another bitch.. Why are all these beautiful cars out here but no one shows the underside of the car. There has got to be talent out there to be able to do the underside of a car as well. Yes there is more to a car than some fancy metal work, but god I love some good metal work. I mean this car I am building will be just as nice and just as clean under it as it is inside and out. Thank you for the vent I needed that....
I have asked EXK to build me a set of wheels with the caddy caps so it will look right at a lead east show. I like the caddy caps but I just think that everybody runs them. I know why because the merk just bad ass with the on it, but when building a car it is to do something out of the norm right? That is where I want to go with this build. I have thought about this car build for at least 15 years and when I first imagined the build it was a "traditional " build, but with time I have swayed to the a more reliable modern build. I will keep it Old School but maybe not what y'all call "traditional." I welcome your thoughts the good, bad or the stupid ass coments too. However when it comes down to it is your opinions and your opinions only. Don't get me wrong I value a factual opinion, but I will build this car to what I want and what I like not unless you want to help pay for and if so then any suggestiong are welcome.

 

Say what you want but I doubt few would turn away Rick Dores Billet Wheeled Merc.

You got good taste in chassis John. I put the same Morrison chassis under my Cadillac. We don't show the bottom sides of our cars because we drive the shit out of em.

 

you signed up in 09 and you still don't get it? really......put your billet wheels on your car. just don't expect us to tell you how cool they will look. wrong place bud.

 

Yea I understand opinions are like assholes everybody has one, but it just pissed me off that poeple are so scared of Billet espesially when the build RAT RODS. lol
Yes I may be new to here but I have been doing this since I was old enough to pass wrenches to my dad and I am 42 years old now. So I have been around the block a few times. I do appricate opinions but not stupid ass comments. I really value the older guys views and believe you me I think about this car 24/7. I want to say thanks for all the good opinions and good advise but to all the wise guys that have rat rods and want to call them traditional just because it is old school.. well you know what to do

 

you don't have to build an era specific merc, there are just some things that look right and somethings that don't. i like big rims on certain cars, and i like white walls, like resqd37zep's pic that he posted of rick dores merc, it looks great in my book. he has a very nice set of billet rims that if you aren't really paying attention to, you would think it was a cap. in my opinion there is nothing wrong with your rims i just dont think they go with a chopped merc.. they just dont fit the car. its like putting some 16" spokes form a 34 ford on a merc. just doesn't fit. as far as showing the undercarriage, customs are supposed to be sexy, its all about the "flow" of the lines when they are being shown. you show it with the hood up, one side on jack stands with the wheels off and the doors open to show off the detail, and you cant get the vision of the whole car...take this merc for example, 99% would say this merc is just pitiful, even if its well built, its just not right to most. what it all comes down too is, it is your car build it the way that makes you happy..

 

well I will go out on a limb and say I am not going to build a 4x4 merk like that one. lol that is way out of taste but it ain't mine either.

 

whats wrong with Chrome reverse with the bullet caps? they are solid wheels!

this has to be a joke! right? those wheels are @#$%in scary man! should be a law against it...If your rollin with those you should upgrade them to a 22" and use the dash and interior out of a 2004 Grand Prix.they have digital gauges right?

As for clean undersides... If you want a trailer queen your gonna drag to all the indoor shows and flip on its side with smoke and mirrors then spend the time AND MONEY underneath the car! If your going to drive it to all the shows then powder coat the frame and drive the shit out of it...every once in a while hit a puddle and clean your pretty mufflers!

 

Ok so you want to BASH SOMEBODY! Maybe you should go back to school and learn to spell. If you want to write the short version of mercury. Its spelled MERC! if your using a k instead of a C, because of KUSTOM. Well you need to go back to KUSTOM school and see that they would never use such shitty parts( billet wheels) on a car. So don't bash on anyone cause of there site and what they have on it if don't understand how to build a custom. There are a lot of useful info in this site to help folks build a car. Everyone has there own opinion on how to build one. If building a car with those billet wheels is your style, well im shire there is a street rod forum out there for you.

Telling some one to get a life and buy ( lets spell it correctly) a mercury. Well maybe a mercury is the kind of car that person likes maybe he or she is into hot rods. " Then you build it and we will compare cars!!! " Shit your not even building your own car. Your paying someone else to build it for you. So don't get all high and mighty cause you own a fucking mercury and someone else is building it for you. So calm your ass down. When your car is done. drive around and be happy.

Most folks on here just don't want to see you ruin your car with a set of wheels. Like i said wheel and tire combo is a make or break thing.

 

WOW nice start on your MERC. When I got mine 4 dr. from Colo. it was already chop, but they put 7 in. of bondo in the roof with 22 gage metal with rust in it and a 2/4 to hold the roof up, now it is chopped again and almost ready. Good Luck, and come home safe.

 

Thank you and yea this one had a book with it that showed all the work before hand, and I was like yea that looks good. So when we started to blast it, it was like the soda would not even cut it off. After we went to some heavier grit the roof and the front end had over 3in of mud in places and looked like it was tacked welded in with an ac/dc machine. I would post some but I am really embarassed to even look at them more less show other people. Thanks for the compliment just wish I was home to work on it.

 

john51mer, I'm kinda in the same boat when it comes to wheels.

I'll be honest I've thought about running Cal Smoothies a few times:




I also really like this Merc, saw it at SEMA a few years back, I don't know what wheels they are:



What I will do for my wheel covers? Not sure yet. I don't want to run '57 Caddy, I don't want flippers, etc., I'm really up in the air. I'm hoping it comes to me at some point. It's like picking carpet for my living room, my wife and I are going to do the drapes next and then see how we feel. I'm doing my grille next. Don't be too sensitive.

I'll be 44 in two months you kid.

 

Pro Stock I have tossed around the same wheels in my mind. The green merk (wasbi) has colorado custom made SEGUNDO wheels.
They are very expensive like 1000 or more a wheel. That car just sold at Barret Jackson for 300,000 last month (thanks EXK for sharing that). I have a whole file full of wheels and caps if you want me to email them to you. I have been building this car in my head for a very long time, but when I think I am set on something. I always end up changing something. Like my engine now I am looking to sell it and buy a ford 4.6 and twin turbo it so who knows. I just can not draw myself away from the old school stuff, but I don't want to mix both old and new up too much if you understand what I am saying. I am to the point right now of building this for the goodguy scene and build one of my others for the the lead east scene, but either way till then this will have to do for both.

 

I don't want to make you crazy but I know where a stalled out fiberglass tube chassis merc project is sleeping away, pm if you want info.

When I got my Mercury in 2008 I had wanted one since the early 90's... dream car y'know.

I think in the beginning I was thinking I'd buy a fixer upper, drive it tons, and then someday work on it. But once I got my car, I wanted it to turn heads not because it was old and ratty, but because it would like "elegant gangster" as I always say.

Only you know what you want, what you can spend, and how long you can wait before driving it. Some guys build a car for years, and then sell it at the end because they took a long time, money, and got burnt out.

I know I got to my limit of having a project car that I couldn't drive. I'm excited to drive my car when summer hits even though my interior will not be done until the following winter. Someday it will get an LSx engine conversion because I know a lot about them and I can make 500 crank with a stock sounding idle and then I can off this SBC boat anchor engine.

 

I will go back to an article Jerry Weasner wrote for Street Rodder back in the 90's which he said " You can't explain bad taste to someone who has it."

 

The spelling and grammar in your blurb is shocking.
Spelling school maybe?

 

wish i had the money to buy all that billet and have someone bolt it on and i could just dream about what the guy is doing to my car.......thats what its all about....sounds like one of my damn customers........

 

BICKFORD, Thank you, couldn't have said it better myself. P.S. I've owned a '49 and '51 Mercury. Neither one had billet wheels!

 

thought I would share some pictures of the car when I bought and the stages of the blast (remember nasty lookin), and y'all know what has happened since then. I am really embarrased to post these but at least it is going to be fixed. Just can not believe that people can sleep at night knowing they fuck people like this..

 

I have been following this thread because I wanted to see pix and read about the progress of a Merc project. Isn't that what this forum is all about?

All I read is idle banter about the billet wheels and not the build. It is HIS Merc. He has the right to build it HIS way. Can we get back to enjoying his build progress and forget about the BILLET WHEELS?

 

It's his Merc alright, but this forum is still supposed to be about TRADITIONAL stuff, right? That's why I come here anyway, but maybe I got it all wrong.

 

I am here because of traditional builds.

 

Alright bro's I have a few ideas that I am stuck on. I have a set of Packard taillight to put in the merk and I am also wanting to put a 54 merk bumper on the back of it too. I have the traditional destoto grille and I am planning on taking two 51 bumpers and making one without the license plate flat spot. My brian freeze is I know the packard light are the old school way on these cars, but is it already too many out there? I like the tech article about the lights in the risers ( that was real cool), but just looking for something that flows with the car.
I have seen the packard light put on these cars but they seem to put them where they are swooped down at the end instead of flowing in the same lines as the merk. Ideas are always welcomed and smart ass coments aren't. Thank you. Just got the tank in I will post in a minute give you time to digest this first.

 

Is this not a forum where we can discuss said build? And are not the wheels part of said build? If the OP didn't want to discuss the build and its different aspects, why would he bother posting it on this forum?

Who told him he couldn't put Billet wheels on his car? You post something on a forum, and you're asking for opinions. Don't get pissed when you get one you don't agree with.

I guess you don't know how things work around here.

 

ok guys lets get back to the build of the car I sure the wheels are going to come up again in this thread when we get closer to putting and wheel on this car, and hell who knows we all might get fooled lol. I got the tank in last week from Rcks Hot Rods and I think they did a great job. I was going to go with a fuel cell but did not like the way it looked in the frame. I had Hector build the tack from stainless steel and had it polished as well. Now I like his tanks because he stands behind them and will tweek it if needed. When the tank arrived it cam with a flush style cap, but we want it to have a stand pipe so it can be filled through the trunk. No worries he said finish mocking it up the way we want it and he would ship it back and fix it (TO EASY THANK YOU Hector). Now when it is installed we are going to position it so it has the fill hole close to the leading edge of the trnk opening, so as not to spill fuel in the trunk area. I like the cobra style caps but I found a guy that builds some bad ass caps and probably will buy one from him. I have atached a few picture of the ones I like as well. Let me know if you like them or if you have a few different caps to share.