Customs Darkest before the dawn... '51 Merc restoration shots

Some pics from today....

 

Before:

 

Are you redoing your rockers? Do they follow the contour of the door or do they flatten out a bit under the center of the door? Im doing a bunch of work on my friends 50 Merc and they installed some ghetto rockers (with NO inner structure left) that tapered an odd way. Just something I may be noticing on the last pic. Dont want to see you paint it and put the doors on and say "Damn!"

Looks like that is some serious dedication man, hats off to you. Bought a nice car already and have the balls to cut it up and make it your own and nicer. Badass!

 

holy smokes...you were serious about going at that car...keep us posted.

 

SHIT!!! You fucked up a nice car!!!!! HA HA HA!!! Just kidding,John...
You sure jumped in with both feet! I thought you were just gonna scuff it and repaint it. You should have a pretty nice car when you're done fuckin around,LOL...What did you decide for the taillights?

PS- nice consol,HA HA HA!!!

 

Honestly it had too many little issues to just paint over it, though I thought about it.

Bob, '53 Chrysler taillights.

I'll take primer shots in a couple of weeks. And then final paint + bumper shots.

 

We will be looking at the rockers, to make sure they are correct. They have been redone before. I don't recall if they have a weird taper or anything but we'll check.

 

I like it better already! LOL.

Have you decided on all the details? Let us know what you've got planned.
I really look forward to updates.

 

I have pretty much, here is my working list:

-Remove '59 Caddy tail lights, install '53 Chrysler tail lights.
-Remove front and rear Brizio '37 bumpers, installing OEM '50 front and '51 rear bumpers, no over riders.
-Removing stock custom grille, planning to do a floating grille
-Remove thin white walls, and getting wider white wall radial tires
-Plan to paint the rims copper instead of red
-Plan on changing hubcaps, have not decided which ones
-Plan to lower the car at some point
-Plan to paint the car black

 

John,You sure are bustin your ass on that car!!!!!!.I bet it will look a shitload better than when you bought it.Good Luck.

 

Guys like you, Flop (pontiac coupe chop) and this friend of mine owner make me feel LAZY

Before..... rough/stock on the right




the first cut(s)









during

 

No I'm in the lazy/lack-skilz category, my friend's body shop has the car. And in my pics, are you seeing the OLD filler, not the new stuff. So far the only big surprises have been that the driver's side quarter panel had a lot of bondo, someone didn't pull the quarter out after they maybe pushed it in a bit, maybe they rubbed a telephone pole or something. The tailpan looked like it had been redone before the paint was stripped, and there ended up being a couple inches of bondo there, which makes it the worst part of the car. The vein in my forehead will stop throbbing once the car is in primer.

 

Please tell me the Briz bumpers are gonna go to the recycler.

 

Thankfully, yes!

Can't wait to see the final product - lookin' good!

Malcolm

 

Sounds to me like you really did your research and honestly I like every one of the changes you have planned. I'm sure it's scary to see it all torn down right now but I think you're headed down the path to Mercury greatness.

Can't wait to see it painted.

 

A taildraggin' pre-1955 custom is my goal.

 

That car is going to look great. Black would have been my first color choice.

Since you're painting it black, I can offer you some pointers about block-sanding the body using a piece of wood. It really pays off. It would be a lot to type out, but if you call me at (602) 233-8400 I'll be happy to try to help.

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

man do i miss doing that....

your hands feel like they just spent the last 8 hours in a vibratory tumbling machine.

Ah..the smell of bondo in the morning..

tok

 

Black is #1, can anyone push me to repaint the car red?

 

Are you going to install window trim ? If so , you might want to mock it up before you paint .

Its going to look so much better .

I vote NO on the red .

 

Iam amazed at some of the stuff you guys do to the metal work on alot of cars some of you work on!

It just blows me away.

If I cut up the cars like you guys do,I would just have a bunch of crap to haul to the scrap yard...

AMAZING.......Keep up the good work guys ,I love seeing all that you do.......

I can do alot of the little stuff,but nothing like chopping a top or some of the other custom work.........

 

No on the red, it will be slick all black!

 

Dammit!, I want a frickin merc bad...

 

A very well planned list, very cool indeed. Black is the only way to go, it'll look very traditional and cool. I understand the need for a floating grille, the grille you have now in pretty cool too. Can't wait to see the results.

CRUISER

 

merc one damn nice bones there on merc two thats a hell of a cut very nice work on both rides,

 

Wow! Nice going. Keep you priorities in order and follow your list of goals and you're going to have one killer Merc. Glad to see your doing it right. Does your brain still hurt?

 

I'd say all the PM's and questions you asked me is really paying off! Seems like you made a great list of goals and are sticking to them. I think you'll have a nice Custom when you're done...

 

Looks real good. Dig the hudson fuel filler door.

 

looks great..good luck with it

 

Looking good!