WINTER PROJECT: The Merc that everyone told me to throw away

These are pics of the firewall in black epoxy primer, fill and sand primer, and the shiny black paint! I worked my ass off and got this all completed in one weekend...literally didn't have any fingerprints or fingernails left and had cracked and bleeding fingers...the last pic was after I stuffed the engine and trans back in...'62 390 Cadillac hearse mill with a Wilcap adapter and a turbo 350 automatic More pics to come soon!

 

great save on the 50, looking forward to updates.
had i asked "them" on my 59 the answer would have been the same

 

Great pics Steve.

 

that thing is kooler than kool!! awesome work. i'd like to see that in person!

 

Thanks for all of the props fellas! This car's gonna be the rolling business card for the new kustom shop I'm starting up!

 

You truly are an inspiration....Fantastic job.
So sorry to hear about your dog.

 

Loving this. Was hoping to see updates. I also agree that I wasn't sold on the Packard tails until I saw the pictures, now I love it.

 

Thanks again fellas! Sorry about the delays...i had to head down to New Mexico for a couple days...played a show there with my band The Jazz Orgy and just got back home...I'll try to get some more pics up tonight...oh, and Squablow, that's the decklid on the car that I bought from you years ago Thanks man!

 

WOW! Looks pretty good. Once again,someone proves with enough talent and time,anything can be saved....

 

Looking super the so called can't be saved ones are the best ones to save ! I'm hoping to do an a pickup the same way I have so far a frame,cowl,two very bad doors and sub rails . Need the back cab panel for 30-31 but the hunt is a big part of the build. SO KEEP THE PIC'S COMING !

 

Well I promised more pictures, so that's what I've got fer ya! haha...These shots show the next step...fixing the front inner fenderwells...There was some major swiss cheese going on here that needed to be addressed, factory bolt holes that were no longer required, the battery relocated from the driver inner fenderwell to the trunk, and the passenger side inner fenderwell needed to be relieved to make some room for the alternator on that 390 cubic inch Cadillac

 

Next I mocked the one piece front end back onto the car (it's steel, I just welded it all together) and did the filler work on the front inner fenderwells...

 

looking good! the 390 cubic inch Cadillac sounds like a good choice, well worth making room for.

 

The one piece front clip sheetmetal really gives it a smooth look, especially where the grille shell meets the fenders, which is kinda clunky looking stock. But is it a hassle to take that clip on and off?

 

Seriously man, this build is inspiring to me. I admit that, like your friends, I would have thought it wasn't worth saving, but I'd have been wrong. You showed that through your determination and skill.

I'm sorry about your dog. I totally understand you clearcoating his paw prints in the car and I think that was a really cool idea. I've got two dogs that I absolutely adore. I can't bear the thought of losing one of them. They're my best friends.

Carry on!

 

What an awsome thread! I saw the first pics of the car and am in LOVE with the finished product. I am really sorry about your dog I cant even imagine. My dog is my best friend and I love how you clear coated over the prints. MORE PICS!

 

Nice nice work...Cool story about your dog. Sorry about him. Enjoy the Merc!

 

That's passion! Keep it up!

 

nice work man!!! your merc looks bitchin!!!!

 

Thanks guys! And yes...it's a MAJOR pain in the ass to take the front end off the car lol...thanks about my dog too...it's been rough lately not having him around...I'll get some more pics up tonight

 

I never would have believed the Packard fins would look that cool on the Merc. Good show at pulling it all together. Sorry to hear about your dog.

 

Looks Great!

 

Car looking great..keep up the good work!

 

and p.s......why the heck would anyone want you to throw away a perfectly good merc???

 

Okay so it's been a really long time since I've posted up anything about the old girl...and she's come a long way since the last shots...basically I finished out the "roughed in" body work and shot the car in black epoxy primer and ran it around Wisconsin for a summer, working out what I thought was most of the bugs...boy was I wrong! Long story short, I met a great girl, and three weeks later we were engaged! We both have been professional musicians for years and years, she being from Los Angeles and living in Austin, Tx...so we decided to relocate to Austin for the winter of 2012-2013 and I took the Merc along with! We shot the car in SEM Hot Rod Black two nights before leaving Wisconsin... Our first show in Austin was our first night in town...at The Continental Club opening for Rosie Flores on my birthday no less! And we got a parking spot for the Merc right in front of the club! The show went great and it couldn't have been a more perfect night! We lived in Austin together for 6 months almost to the day, and I worked a day job at a rod shop in town there while we played with Rosie Flores. Driving that Mercury to work every day was pretty nutty knowing that I had pulled the car out of a brushy Wisconsin field! And the problems started in with the car...First thing was the steering shaft in the column broke on me at 30 miles an hour on South Lamar Blvd on a Friday night after leaving work! That was a hairy ride! I was able to bring her to a safe stop and get her off the road...After sorting out that issue out, I discovered I had a cracked cylinder head on the Cadillac 390. While trying waiting for my Dad (bless him) to shop me down the one extra head I had in Wisco, the roof cracked on me...bad...


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

So the head showed up in the mail, and I did the switch on the engine...after discussing the roof at length with my boss, it was decided to put a new roof on the car...the roof if this car had been stood on and caved in by the previous owner (I'd like to stand on Him!) and I had remade it out of 3 separate pieces of steel and then put filler on top of it...well, the filler cracked where I had welded it...So I made a buck out of plywood and we formed a new roof panel for the car with a torch and a rosebud tip...We put the roof on, and it was all one piece, so no more cracking issues ever again, but the profile was off...


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Here's a pic of the car with the new roof from the end of summer 2013 after we had moved back to Wisconsin...


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

It was just too flat from the doors back, ya know? So I drove it to Back to the 50's last summer, replaced the front spindles and Aerostar springs with stock Merc springs and Fatman dropped spindles, put about 2000 miles on it, and parked it for the winter in the front of my heated shop....pulled her out for 2 drives this spring, and after looking at that roof all winter and seeing it outside I just couldn't take it any more...couldn't stand it being f'd up...so here we go....


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Here's a side profile shot from 2 nights ago, and you can clearly see even with the rear window out that it's not right...I figured out that when I chopped it initially, I actually dropped the front of the rear window too much...I got it to look right for the first summer with a LOT of filler...not the right way, and I learned the hard way...


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

And then I started cuttin...nothin to be scared of, I've already cut the roof offa this thing twice...third time's the charm, right?


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!