Projects 1951 Mercury chopped and styled by Miles Masa

This weekend I went to a car show by my house held at the Vienna Beef headquarters. Much to my pleasant surprise, another customized 1951 Mercury was also there.

I took a bunch of pics frankly because I have not finished my car and I still need to figure some stuff out, so the pictures are not like magazine quality.

Anyway, this Mercury was purchased in the late 1970's after the owner saw an article in Street Rodder that had a lot of Mercurys featured, I think it's the same article that many of us own (I can't think of the date of the article).

The owner had Miles Masa whose name he had come across in some articles customize the car over the course of a couple years.

I hope to at some point get a bunch of 49-51 Mercury owners from around Chicago get together for a photo shoot. Here are some pictures:

 

Nice looking car until you see the dash and that steering column and wheel.

 

I'm sure this car looks better in person but the roof line in the photos looks like the top of the rear window is to low so that the roof and window don't flow together and the tail lights don't do it for me..X2 on the wheel and dash...

 

Yeah, but for a car that was part of the resurgence of late 70's/ early 80's a very nice car.

 

Yeah... terrible chop. And what was done to that beautiful Merc dash is a crime.

 

Very nice car. But ya. That dash and the A/C vents are screaming get me outta here. Not crazy about the tail lights, but that's just me being petty

 

I agree! Some bad details. I like yours better,John.
Dash,steering wheel,grill,headliner,door panels,taillights,pinstriping on the fenders,to name a few...

 

I don't think the chop looks bad. What are your concerns?

 

Steve, I was hoping to some day share the thread with the owner of the car. However your comment renders that an impossibility - Anyway we can encourage an older guy (70?) to someday even share some pictures? He already mentioned to me a Mercury guy I have never heard of, Mercury Bob (Ward).

I wasn't a fan of his gauges, heck I think we both have VDO gauges unfortunately. But I'm not in a position to nit-pick his car since I have yet to install a grille and interior. I got a lot of good insight into how the interior would be in my car.

Very nice guy. I wonder if HAMB member Showrod knows the car he seems to know about Miles Masa.

 

I think my dream chop in terms of the back window is between mine and his. Wasn't there a Mercury side profile thread somewhere, maybe Bob started it a few years ago? I have a good pic of mine.

For me it was a personal thrill to do the nose-to-nose pic, it's inspiring for me to finish mine. I followed him through traffic and went out of my way, just so I could see in the car in traffic, the reactions of the folks walking on the street. Dennis told me he got a kick out of seeing me in his rear-view mirror. I showed him my grille that I'm working on, got a nice reaction.

I love these cars!

By the way, I saw in his car, I now understand why folks channel these cars. Mine is channeled I thought we all had tons of headroom.

 

John,
You really have to plan out an interior before taking it to the upolstry shop. Doesn't look like the details were worked out. Height of the pleated area,how the door panels align with the pleats on the seats, balance,like the width of the smooth area around the pleats.
I'll delete my comments if you feel they don't belong here.

 

Side by side comparisons are always cool. I was next to Jeffsleds Merc once,and could see the difference in how things were done. With the exception of the driprail removal,I think Jeff's the the bar to judge a balanced,well done Merc. As far as 51's,Terry Hageman's is the one to shoot for. IMO

 

There's a 'flat' spot above the rear window; the top curvature flows to that, hits that flat area, then the window curves 'up', then down. The window looks to be laid down about 1" too much, maybe less. In any case, the front-to-rear 'flow' isn't there. The work on the garnish moldings isn't all that great either.

Don't get me wrong, I think customs are the purest form of hot rodding, but awkward details is the curse of many customs.

 

Mine (if I can when I get home I'll snap a better shot farther back and lower)...

 

It's hard to get the roof/glass to flow well when using a 51 back window.
Dick Dean was a master at it though. Much easier with the 49/50 rear window, that is why you see so many 51s with the earlier glass.

 

Your Merc is lookin Good!, I think it was kool, to put them together and I liked the other Merc, Looked pretty good to me, I don't nit-pick other peoples cars, but thats just me and how I think about the car hobby. John. Pro stock John, check out BrewtownCruisers car club based in Milwaukee Wi. I have joined , met some members, seems like a good club

 

Bob your right, both Jeff's and Terry's have the perfect flow. I prefer the drip rails left on too. They accent the flow of the roof.

 

I haven't seen another chopped Merc in a couple of years so you'll have to excuse my excitement.

 

I wasn't trying to rain on your parade, but the way you posted this you seemed to be inviting comments. And your multiple shots of the roof profile highlighted the chop, particularly the sail panels/rear window area. As has been pointed out in many threads here, getting the 'flow' correct on a chop is the most critical aspect, and the mark was missed here.

I'm sorry I gave offense, but it is what it is...

PS.... Yours has the right flow....

 

I really like it, love the taillights & radical chop. About all it would need if I owned it is 4" lower all around & v the Corvette grille bar some....love the way the taillights mimic the back of a old jet fighter plane, to me thats what a lot of successfully customized car were shooting for in the 50's...jet age look...very cool!

 

No worries, I have opinions on any car I see vis a vis the chop, colors, everything quite frankly. Regarding chop, it's more radical than mine, and it's too much for me, but I still appreciate the ideas.

One interesting thing I noticed was that the chrome parts underhood that covered the fender sides were attached and covering the factory sheetmetal. That's an interesting idea as my car has some warts in that regard.

 

Owner (Dennis) said the car was in a magazine in the 80's... Street Rodder?

Weird that his car looks longer than mine, optical illusion.

 

Jet Age didn't start til the 60's. Those taillights don't fit that car at all. Look like they're off a trailer.

 

Just went back and looked at the last pic in the first post,and can see what you mean about the flat spot. The rear of the roof is chopped too much,not allowing the window alignment. Or,maybe he just didn't curve the filler piece enough.

 

The '51 back glass is hard to work with, only a handful of cars really have the perfect look. The car in this thread is layed down a little too much, and my car has the glass standing up too much. Either way, still love the cars.

 

Yeah, that flat spot starts about the middle of the quarter windows and goes to the rear glass. That's one of those details that many people won't even see, some will kind of see it but not realize what's 'wrong', and a handful will spot it. You need a 'artist's eye' to really see and understand these things, not everybody has that. I'm blessed/cursed with that eye (I went to art school, but the term 'starving artist' had a bit too much truth to it so I picked another career...LOL) so for me a custom really needs to have a good 'flow' in all mods to be successful. Few actually accomplish a totality of that for my eye unfortunately, but my standards may be too high....

 

Bob, could you measure the height of your front window glass opening?

 

I'll check it when I get home...

 

yeah the rear of the roof stands out . Quite correctable tho if the owner was so inclined. Leaning the rear screen down too much also meant raising the 'catwalk' area between the screen and trunk....which further disrupts the flow.
Theres nothing on the car that a little jiggery pokery couldn't sort IMO. I bet he just loves driving it and enjoying it.

interesting to note Dick Dean chopped the Lee Lucero '51 and the Ken Stuart '51 Mercs and they also retain a bit of the disrupted flow in the transition roof to glass. He also chopped Jeffsled's '50 Merc.