History Matranga Mercury at the 1951 Oakland Roadster show

Pat Ganahl was kind enough to scan the background photos of the Matranga photo at the 1951 Oakland Roadster show for me.
And now we know for sure that photo B is indeed the 1946 Cadillac Convertible... But we still don't know who owned it.
Thanks Pat for scanning this photo.






And here is the enlargement of the Photo B which clearly shows that this car is the 1946 Cadillac.





And the new Card...

 

Yeah Pat..........

 

Good news!! So who used to hang around the Barris shop in 1951? Maybe any one of these would know?

 

And upon closer inspection I think that Photo "I" is not the Barris built 1941 Ford for Dick Carter, but rather the one they did for Harold Larsen.

If I look closely at the new scan I can see the side trim extend more on the hood than it does on Dick's 1941 (very short piece of side trim on the hood).
The side trim on the 41 Ford in the photo extends to about center point of the front wheels.

 

To digress a bit from the Merc emphasis in this thread, I wanted to express my regret that this style of custom GM convert has not enjoyed the same nostalgic rebirth that Mercs and shoeboxes have seen. Together with the Marcia Campbell car...



I was impressed by each of these cars when I saw them featured in Hop Up in the early '50s, and had the impression that this format ('49-'52 Chev Converts with chopped Carson tops and no quarter windows) was a popular one, rivaling Mercs as a popular style for customs. In retrospect, it seems that these three comprise almost the whole list of cars in this style, and none of them are known to survive. Too bad that nobody has done a current car in this style.

 

Two, not three!

But other than that... I totally agree with you.

 

Well, I wasn't sure whether the Abajian/Campbell cars were one and the same, and a search of "Marcia Campbell Chevy" turned up one thread asking the question but getting no answer. The similarities between the two are very clear, but I noticed that there is a difference in the outer/lower grilles between the two cars -- Marcia's has a hole where the Cadillac parking lights lived, and the Abajian car appears to be solid. Maybe the hole is there on Carl's but doesn't show up against the dark paint.

If they are known to be the same car, then of course you're right, Rik.

 

In general it seems that, even those who are building cars in the early custom style, are veering away from doing carson-style tops.
I think it is partly the difficulty in locating the correct style fabric nowadays and mostly because customs went through a rough period a decade or two ago where-in many bad chops were 'rescued' by doing a padded top (which were often just as poorly done), so that now, many people avoid them thinking it will make their car look like an aborted chop that was 'rescued'
It is a real shame the style has gone out of fashion because the carson-top style is so very cool and was so prominent back then and it just looks so 'right' on an early style custom.
I'd love to see more cars built in this style.

 

Cleatus,

It's probably because of my own ignorance that I've undertaken a car with a top of this type -- it's a prewar car, though. Then again, I don't have an attachment to its period authenticity, so I'm just hopeful that we'll end up with a good-looking car.

 

Oh man, glad to hear this. Based on your previous efforts, I know it'll be another great looker.

 

Tony, are you going to share some pictures of this project with us?

BB

 

Yes please X2 !!

 

Well, thanks for the interest, guys! See here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=584682

 

I don't see a car of that style there.

 

The '40 coupe will have its top cut off and replaced with a Carson type top. I was trying not to hijack this thread further with a discussion of it.

 

Rik!<O</O
In pursuit of the show history of Nick Matranga’s Mercury, here is one that I can’t seem to get any answers on. This was the “Auto Show/Reliability Run” held in Pasadena and sponsored by the two local clubs, “Falcons” and “Gripers”. This was featured in Hot Rod magazine in a two-page article in June 1952. Assuming at least a couple months lead time on some of these articles, the show was probably held sometime in April-May ’52. The Matranga Merc is clearly present, but not identified as such. Nick told me personally that he sold the car late September-early October 1951. Assuming this is correct, the ’40 Mercury appeared at this show at least six months subsequent to Nick’s selling the car. Therefore the car was entered in this Pasadena show by the second owner. It is also a possibility that the car may have been wrecked before this feature even came out in HR mag. Do you, or anyone else, know the identity of the second owner? Is he possibly pictured in any of the HR mag photos, and could he possibly have been a member of any of the clubs in attendance that day? I can clearly identify at least eight of the clubs: “Ramblers”, “Cavaliers”, “Renegades”, “Exiles”, “Cut Outs”, “Turbans”, all of Long Beach, CA, as well as “Idlers” of Fullerton, and the Wilmington, CA “Road Kings”. It would be very interesting and enlightening if we can identify the mysterious second owner of Nick’s car, and determine a close date of its extinction. Is there a clearer photograph of Nick’s car as it appears in this article out there? Or even more taken at this show?
-Timechanic tm

 

Michelle, do you think the photo may be misplaced?

According to Street Rodder April 1984, this is what happened to the Merc:

"On a rainy night early in 1952 the new owner lost control of the car while street racing it over some railroad tracks in San Pedro, and hit a telephone pole. The owner walked away, but the Matranga Mercury was totaled. The dash was buckled and the remainder was declared a total loss."

So based on this info I started searching through a newspaper database I have access to, looking for accidents happening early in 1952. After a while I found an accident that found place January 7, 1952 in Artesia that potentially could be the Matranga Merc. According to the story published in The Independent, Tuesday, January 8, 1952, 19 years old Stanley James Hannenberg was injured as he lost control of his 1939 coupe on a rainy night. An Edison Co. pole was sheared off and four mailboxes wrecked in the accident. The coupe was wrecked.

Based on this I think we should try to find out more about Stanley James Hannenberg.
it can be another accident, but chances are that it is the new owner of the Matranga Merc. I wonder if Stanley James Hannenberg is still around. I searched for him on Google without any luck.

Here is the article:

 

Nice detective work Sondre...
I hope that news paper article will lead to something. Hopefully somebody local can do a search on Stanley James Hannenberg from Artesia. And see if this is the guy that bought the Matranga Merc from Nick.

And on the show/event... somebody from Pasadena or close on here most likely went to that show in 1952. It must be, somebody must remember something about that show.
If the Matranga Merc was at that show it most likely stood out from the rest - judging from the other cars shown in the article - and it would have left a mark at that show/event.
And how about the Hot Rod archives... somebody on here must have have access to it and be able to go back to this issue of Hot Rod magazine and see what else there is in the files. More than likely there are more photos taken. And perhaps even the notes of the reporter will be included.

 

I agree Rik, it would have been nice to confirm if the merc really was at the reliability run and car show that year. The run was held March 30 that year, so if it was there, it couldn't have been crashed in January. Only 11 cars participated in the car show that year, so it should be easy to spot.

 

Here are two complete scans of this Hot Rod article.
Thanks to Jimmy B for scanning them

 

Hey Rik...I dont know if you have seen this ad, it was in Motor Trend Nov. 1949. Who the heck were Hector and John????​

​

R&C RON​

 

No I had not seen that ad... I do not have a complete Motor Trend collection of those early days... Its still on my wish list.

Fantastic ad... I have always assumed that the John in these ads (The have done more like this with other car(s) was Sam's Son... Not sure who Hector is... perhaps another son... Not sure. And why not just George and Sam? Hopefully somebody can shed a light on this.

Great!!!


And what a fantastic photo of that car... to bad we don't have a larger better copy of that photo. Hopefully the Barris shop will find those old ad's photos one day...

 

Here is some more info on the 41' Buick...Rik, it is also another a Hall Top car!








R&C RON

 

I know there are alot of unanswered questions like who chopped the first merc who was the second owner of the matranga merc etc . I ask this question because I have been following this thread with great interest. My question is has anyone asked bill Hines any of these questions since he was around at that time and knew the people involved . I would be interested if he could shed any light on any of these topics

 

Very Interesting reading Rik....as always with your postings...
P M sent for you possibly finding more shots of Sams Merc from the early 50s

 

hey ya changed yer avatar Rikster ... almost missed it?

 

Great pics RIK.

 

Yeah... it was time for something new... well actually older... 1950 to be precise, the old one was from 1951.

 

Marcia Campbell '41 Ford....such a beautiful car!.....good choice Rik

 

Actually its a 1942 Ford. Wider in the front... both the front fenders and hood are wider, and differently shaped than the 1941 Ford.
Ever since I received a contact sheet photo of this car from David and Michelle - who got it from Suzanne, Marcia's live partner - I have been in love with this car. Its perfect!