Found a guy that has a 51 Merc.Beautiful body excellent paint,new windows ,new interior,BUT no frame. Evidently someone was building/restoring this car and passed away & the frame & body got seperated..Is there another more available frame that will fit or must it be a 51 frame???
There is a junkyard up here in SC that has two 49-51 Mercs, both have frames. A frame won't be super hard to find on Ebay or wherever, but it may be hard to find one close to you. I would DEFINATELY grab the car and find a frame later. Some have used the 79-81 Olds Delta frame/floorpan combination on Mercs, but I wouldn't. The track width is just too damn wide. I would stick a Merc frame under her for sure. Good luck and make sure to post pics. -Abone.
A good frame is probably easier to find than a good body, go for it. And as the others said, frame swaps are pretty common.
I'd grab the merc, but I wouldn't suggest the swap unless you have about 15 miles of welding wire and few years of your life to dedicate to the swap. You can find a clean 49-51 merc frame on ebay from time to time. Good luck.
We have a frame here with some pans and a cowl on it from a '51 Merc. Even has bumpers. I put it on eBay before scrap got out of hand for like $50 and got no bids. So you can probably find a frame easy enough - 49-51 Merc all should work fine. Or do that Oldsmobile/Buick frame swap a lot of guys do with a fullsize 80's sedan. It will ride like it's on marshmallows, but it's another option.
You can always find frames or beaters that you can take the body of and junk it. DON'T put it on a newer frame! WAY too much work for what you want. Leave that to the custom guys. Get a frame and COMPLETELY go through it,bushings,bodymounts,u-joints,brakes,EVERYTHING! You will be much happier in the long run.
Mercury Charlie builds frames for them, just saw one at the Lone Star Roundup this spring. Get the car, call him for a frame....done!
He was telling me all about his frames,at the Ink-n-Iron. 2x4 tubing,already notched,MustangII front sus..Don't know the price though.
Contact EDDIE here on the HAMB. He hes a few Mercs for sale in north Georgia. He has a few 4 doors that would be perfect for a frame donation. Tell him ETHER sent ya.
Wow, did you find that locally? Good luck? I used to have a '40 Merc and I agree that there is no reason to use a late model frame when there's so much you can do with an original frame.
I'm thinking if cost is the biggest consideration, you'd want to source a frame locally. If not I'd look into that aftermarket frame, but that's just me. My '51 rolls on a late model big GM frame, like a Caprice, I have no idea how much work it is, but you'd need fab skills or a shop to let you know what's involved.
There's a guy on here who did a few posts on putting a late model Mercury/Lincoln frame from a Towncar under his Merc. If I'm not mistaken, he used the entire running gear out of it too. Could be wrong on that part, but I'm positive on the frame. Do a search, he has his own site documenting the work he did to make it fit. It seemed like a relatively easy swap....tons of pictures...very informative. He said the whole thing was pretty cheap too. Got the donor car for next to nothing.
Get the car find a frame later. I would use the old frame 49-51. You can upgrade the brakes or clip it.
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