Im sure a few of you guys know who Bill Hines "The lead slinger" is. Well I have a buddy that said he knew the Hines..... So I just kept telling him to take me down to long beach so I could meet the legend. Well this morning when I pulled into our local parking lot gathering we do on saturday mornings I spotted a full on custom Merc I have never seen before. After I crawled all around the car looking at everything walked away and started BS ing with a few of the other guys their.My fried walks over to me taps me on my shoulder and said he had someone for me to meet. As we were walking to where the guy was standing in the shade he asked if I saw the license plate?... no I replied.... I was too busy drooling all over the guys car..HAHA. Sure enough its Bill Hines 51 Merc! His son brought it out and was super cool.He invite me down to the shop so I can't wait to get down to Long Beach. Ill take lots of picks if I do get the chance to make it to LB. -Dane
I saw the car at LARS, the back window is worth looking at closely, it really is a nice looking '51. Bob
Any idea the name of the color on the car? Very cool to meet someone is a true legend in the business and also happens to be a real nice guy. Jimbo
I thought the color was a brandy wine but he told me the name of the pigment he mixed. It's a laquar paint job. He said it was over gold base. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
ask Bill how Eddie Martinez (known as the king of tuck and roll, by the way), is doing. They used to be neighbors, shop wise. Haven't heard anything lately about Eddie, though I know he had some health issues.....
I'm seriously jealous. I've only seen two of Bill Hines cars in person. I saw the '41 Bat and also a '50's Lincoln or Merc ragtop that was showing back while he was building the '41 BAT. Both were at the Fresno Autorama.
My dear old friend and Downriver Legend Mike Gator Gaydos built a Bat tribute pedal car for his Granddaughter many years ago. He formed the body with round bar and sheet metal off the stock body. When he had it ready for paint Bill had driven back to Michigan like he used to do on many summers and brought some his special candy apple red lacquer and went over to Gators to paint the body. The pedal car was in Custom Rodder magazine and won a award at the Autorama. Although Gator has gone upstairs to hang with his car and bike friends the pedal car lives on and is being well taken care of by the Gaydos Boys. Might even make an Autorama appearance again complete with angel hair....just like Gator would have wanted
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