Saved from the clutches of doom - 1963 Mercury Monterey Custom Breezeway

So -

I need another project like I need a hole in my head, but this one dropped from the sky.

Some days you have a defining moment that shapes the rest of the day and yesterday I had a BIG moment like that. Not life changing - not exactly.

I couldn't sleep - so I said "Screw it" and got up at 4. To kill time before work I surfed CL and as I do sometimes searched for cars via misspelled words. And I found it - a 1963 Mercury "Monteray Coustom."

Hrm.

Add looked decent - car looked clean - price was $2,400. So I sent a text off at 6am before I went inside for work. Text was along the lines of "Interested in your car, planning on coming up tomorrow, can you give me details." Just interested in scoping it out and passing the info off to a friend just in case.

Two hours later I checked my phone to a crap-load of responses along the lines of "I need a down payment for a motorcycle ASAP - name your price!!!"

So I called the guy. He's not into classics and bought it. He said "it stopped going forward the other day I just want to get rid of it!" He named a price range WELL bellow asking price. So I agreed to stop by around noon - checked in with the boss and headed out.

Found the car around noon, owner is not present but he was supposed to alert his roomie that I would be there. Roomie showed up. Here's the deal:

Owner knows nothing about cars. Roomie volunteered to be mechanic but only knows modern stuff. Car was owned by an older guy and his grand-daughter who accidentally removed the belt line trim somehow and caused minor damage.

So he starts it up - and it runs fine. Initially I was thinking about snagging it for the motor and the 3speed auto for the Edsel. So I thanked roomie and left.

Condition? Pretty straight. Breezeway window works. Runs VERY smooth. Won't move in drive at all. Driver ran it out of fluid and probably burned the clutches. Roomie said "I told him things like fluid levels were important - and they weren't until it stopped moving the other day." Everything was pretty much there and you could tell at ONE point it was loved (no rust - rubber nice on windows - etc - oil change stickers going WAY back on the jamb - front seat was newly upholstered but FILTHY from current owner). Oh - and full of about 200lbs of crap from the owner.

Owner calls up frantic wanting to know what I thought. I told him I was interested, he said again to name my price. I gave a price I thought would get me punched if he were standing in front of me but in his range. He agreed and said that was MORE than generous. Since I figured it was well under engine + scrap value we were both happy.

After MUCH drama of getting two other cars moved, and dragging the car out with a wrecker it made the three mile trip to my mom's so I can decide what to do with it.

Its evident the tranny will need a rebuild. The engine had air cleaner had the valve covers replaced at some point. Has an aftermarket carb.

Initial thoughts - rebuild tranny - seal up PS system and other leaks. Clean it up and locate belt line trim. Repair drivers side window (currently broken with plexiglass glued to it to keep the rain out). Maybe a paint job - interior - fix some minor issues - and have fun.

It was evident that soon it would have gone to the crusher.

Here's the pics.

 

Nice score!

 

Nice score, I'm a sucker for the semi-unloved early sixes iron. I picked up my 62 Monterey the exact same way. Hope you follow through with your plans of fixing it up and enjoying rather then parting/scrapping as their getting hard to come by in decent shape.

 

This is why I said "initialy" - this car is too cool and too complete to part out. If it had rust - or a mashed nose / rear / side - maybe....

 

Good for you. Looks solid enough to put a little money, time and effort into. You'll have yourself a cool old driver.

 

Engine running

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7qV7gCJLPo

 

Well, the Mojo worked once this week with an oil-less 383 Chrysler.

Pour some ATF in the sucker and see if the transmission.....transmitts!

If you nailed it for less than a G........Oh Baby!!!!

 

Man...that 390 is pretty clean. Sounds like she runs good too. Alright!

 

Thanks!

I have seen these before for sale - but once seeing it in person and the lines - and the breezeway!!!....wow...what a car!

 

BTW this car is HUGE - I have never seen a longer trunk!

 

juice up that trannie and lets see what we got...

 

Thanks for the comments guys!

In reality getting this car was an absolute nightmare! I left out all of the "fun" I had to go through on Tuesday. I'll share that story in another thread at another time. Some folks started fighting - I thought the cops were going to get called.....

I think I got there just in time to "Save" this car - aside from the fact he was going to crush it to get his money for his bike.

I have some challenges ahead of me for sure.

The PO was very clueless. For instance instead of fixing broken things on the car, the PO would buy something to replace it, and spend MORE money than was required to have it installed. In the end he spent more in cludging things together than if he had just fixed them right in the first place.

For instance.

Spedometer needle broke. Instead of having the Spedometer fixed (say $100 locally at a speometer shop) he bought an after market one with a hose clamp on the steering colum - and installed it - running the cable near the pedals.



When the charge and temp guages stopped working he bought a after market guage cluster and installed it under the dash. Looks like the wire just fell off the original guage.

When the radio would "Fade in and out" due to a broken aentena he installed a new stereo under the dash and mounted the speakers on the floor.

When the lock jammed on the trunk - he punched it out.

When the driver's side window was broken at bar one night - he glued plexiglass on the outside to keep the rain out.



So due to all of this innovation none of the lights or stock guages work except the fuel guage. No brake lights - no headlights - no turn signals nothing. Breezeway works!

I'll have some fun putting the wiring back to stock for sure! At least he didn't REMOVE things and the window repair kept the window chrome in tact and the rain out!

I'm kinda glad he blew the transmission out. If it had kept running he told me how he was going to rip off all the chome junk and "shave" it with bondo since the passenger side beltline trim was toast.

*shudder*

And how he was going to drill a hole in the hood ornament and mount a chrome skull and lower it by removing the shocks and paint the whole car with krylon primer.

*extra shudder*

I'm all for mods - in good taste - and done right but - wow!

Oh - and then there was my favorite --- the drivers side tire went flat and the PO had also managed to flatten the spare. So PO went and bought a used tire. Couldn't get anything near a stock size and went with some monster truck tire on the original 14 inch rim.

He drove home as it rubbed merrily away and rubbed a nice hole in it too. Sidewall + fender rubbing = ruined tire.

Mr. Roomie realized his own mechanical skills were not up to the challenge and was tired of the PO not listening to advice - like checking fluids - getting the right size tire for a little more money.

In the end PO was about to call the scrap yard so he could get his money for his bike when I texted him. If I hadn't been suffering from insomnia the car would be gone and crushed by now.

 

That old girl is 19.5 feet long, and so are the fins!
I have a '64 Marauder, love big Mercs.

 

The PO is gonna be out on the streets on a motor cycle? Scary!

 

Dragging her home tomorrow. A co-worker is a whiz on Transmissions - we're going to pull it on Saturday and he'll show me the inner workings while we rebuild. Hopefully back in the car in a few weeks.

Interesting question for you all:

I looked up the VIN plate information as I happened to snap a pic of it (see attached).

Here is what I can tell.

Year: 3 (63)
Plant: Z (St. Louis)
Model: 63 (2dr HT Custom)
Engine: Y (390 2v (has 4 v in it))
Sequence: 50611XX

Body: 65B (2Dr HT Custom)
Color: M (Sultana White)
Trim: 94 (?????)
Date: 63K (October 1963)
DSO: Blank
Axel: 5 (3.5:1)
Trans:4 (Auto Multi-Drive)


So the question comes on the interior trim. I cannot find a record of a Merc with a 94 trim code. Anyone? The only trim code I found was for a 63 Galaxy which is Vachette Vinyl and Crush Vinyl Lt. Beige D/L and Pearl Beige - which may be right. Its a nice color for sure...pics tomorrow.

Thoughts?

 

Pic

 

Cool! I loved my '64. Nice snag, pity about the trans. I have a set of proper Merc valve covers for that car too.

 

I would change the title of the thread to Saved from the Village Idiots.

 

Have fun with yoour Merc, I've owned a few myself in the past, and they served me well.

---John

 

Oh Boy....those are cool cars. My Dad bought a new '63 and liked it so much he bought a '65 a couple of years later. That breezeway window is a great option. The '65 had a 352 in it and a 'bolt action' 3 speed. My Dad taught me how to drive with the '65...good memories there.

 

So today a buddy and I went up and picked up the merc and brought it back down from Tucson. Here's some pics - some of the damage on the passenger side as well.

Stopped off to degrease the engine and Buddy swears the trannie is a C-6 - may be right - may be wrong. Also we noticed a LOT of work had been done to the car. Rebuilt front end, new gas tank (last 20 years), new shocks, tie rods, control valve, slave cylinder (old lines tho). I also noticed it has a Edelbrock Intake and carb. Also all stock wires were encased in wiring housing (more later on that). I did confirm wipers work. So does the heater blower. Might not be too bad.

Engine does have a miss - but it seems to come and go but is only on one cylinder. Could be a plug or wire.

Here's some pics - LONG day today. Red wheel is from the Edsel as a donor for this trip. We pushed the car onto the trailer (mom's driveway has a steep slant) and drove it off in reverse. We also confirmed - tranny is shot - no forward at ALL!

 

Profile - again - red wheel from Edsel - and the poor "small" Uhaul trailer....shoulda had a red flag!

 

You are NOT far from the truth!

As I said I had a feeling the car was loved at one time. Closer inspection on the trailer proved me right! There was a LOT of stuff done to ensure the car was in good shape. But...wow - what this PO did.

I wrote up a narriative on how this car came into my possession and I wish I could say it was a work of fiction. There was everything. Outright yelling and screaming - suspicion - laughter - possible betrayal - and a strong odor of pot. I'll post it at some point.

Today the plan is get the nose in the air, and start delving into whats going on with it. A slight miss is not a steady miss. I'm suspecting it had something to do with spraying the junk off of the engine.

That also revealed a BAD fluid leak somewhere. What it is and what is causing it I don't know. When we moved it in Tucson there was a small puddle of transmission fluid. I'm betting this tranny is way toasted. Hope it isn't a cracked case. Buddy from work said it looked like a C-6. I have a comparison chart and will crawl under and look.

Also a thurough clean out is in store. I need to get the remainin 50 packs of empty cig cases out from under the seats, and the rest of the junk out from the trunk.
I also confirmed that the wipers work as does the heater! So thats pretty cool.

 

I should lower all my cars by removing the shocks. Wow great idea. He is a wise dude.

 

So started cleaning / diagnosing.

First - there are some OBVIOUS signs of love on this car. I spent about 10 minutes cleaning the dash - and it shines! One small crack in the speedo bezel is the only major flaw I could find.

Took a look under the dash and found one wire disconected - put it back - heard the turn signal start. So - thats fixed - and they work too!

Wipers now work as well.

Found lables on a lot of wires. Someone was planning on installing a tach as well on this car aparently (or one was installed at some point).

All wires on this car are encased in shielding for protection.

Also cleaned off the rear seat a little for now. Need a scrub brush to get the majority of the grime off.

Heading to town in a bit for a new starter solenoid and a decent battery.

 

Nice save rp.
I'm guessing the breezeway window is operated by a switch on the dash? Pretty cool.
I've got a 65 galaxie 500 ltd thats about 5th in line on my list that's in surprisingly similar condition, right down to the dummy-punched trunk lock..

 

Love it! Great car, enjoy!

 

Great find, thanks for saving her!

 

Damn...That's a nice Merc. Congrats on the save.

 

Yesterday afternoon I changed the plugs and plug wires - that fixed the miss. I also replaced the starter solenoid as I was having starting issues (sometimes the starter would not engage via key - jumping the starter to the positive terminal works though) but still have issues with starting with the key.

I also have a pretty good oil leak out the back of the engine somewhere. Will delve more into that when I have a solid weekend free.

I did pull it out of the carport (pushed really) and used some soap, water, rubbing compound, wax, and some elbow grease. She's looking better after three coats. Still will need body work and paint - but for now it looks a LOT better. Also put the caps back on.

Really not bad for well under $1k