Projects The Mexicali Merc, another 40 Custom in the works

So a few month ago I was talking to a friend from the HAMB named Reno (aka Sled). I was telling him that Im thinking of getting back into doing Custom cars and Hot Rods for some part time work. So he said, "how about customizing my 40 Merc"? To which I replied, "hell yeah"! But there was only one problem... Reno lives in Mexico and the car was deep down in the country near Guadalajara! Quite a ways away from Northern California where I live so the next few weeks was just trying to figure out the details of how to get it up here.

After talking with a good friend Miguel Torres (aka Magoozi) who also lives in Mexico, we found out it wouldn't be a problem getting it into the country as long as we had the Mexican paperwork for the car, which Reno did.
Now it was just a matter of getting it shipped from Guadalajara to Tijuana. Reno said shipping it to Tijuana wouldn't be a big deal and has shipped cars all over the country in Mexico. So we started the process and got the ball rolling.

The first step was for Reno to dig it out of storage where it had been in hibernation for the last 7 years on his buddy's farm.

First glimpse of a sad and lonely merc.






I think this little guy was living in it and was not happy about being evicted!




Finally out of the shed and washed up! You can see it's a pretty nice car and has had some restoration work done sometime in the last 10-15 years




towing it out to the street to be picked up by the shipping company and the little dog still pissed off his home is leaving!


off to the shipper.




So far so good!


The car is obviously not from Mexicali so the reason for calling it the Mexicali Merc? It's because it's a joint effort between Mexico (mostly financially) and California. And I just like the name.

 

Looks like a great starting point.
What are the plans for it?

 

This will be a great story, looking forward to the progress.
If it turns out anything like yours, it'll stop the Mexicans dead in their tracks.

 

Looks good, can't wait to see the build up on it.

 

sounds like a fun project! pretty clean merc, its always hard for me to look at a stock 39-40 merc, the lids on them are just BAD!

 

Great start!!

 

Round Two was the Tijuana adventure!

So now the car is in transit to Tijuana and everything looks to be going fine. I got a call from Reno telling me the car will arrive on a monday and our friend Miguel will pick it up from the shipper and store it at his place. And a week later we were to meet in Tijuana with Miguel and pick up the car. Sounds easy enough.

Well the Monday the car was supposed to arrive came and went and the car had not shown up. Then Tuesday came, still no car and no answers from the shipper! Finally wednesday Reno called the shipper and they said the car would be there that day and Miguel could come pick it up in the late afternoon. The only problem was Miguel had to leave for the San Diego swapmeet so the car would have to stay at the shippers until the following Monday. That made us all a little nervous but there was nothing we could do.

So the following Monday after the swapmeet Reno flew into Tijuana from Mexico city and met with Miguel. a few hours later I drove the truck and trailer down into Tijuana and met up with the guys.
They had already been to the shipper where the car was stored and had some terrible news. The car was there in the container but had extensive damage from the driver who delivered it from Guadalajara.

Going to the shipper in Tijuana. Poring rain and muddy roads!




Walking up to it I could see the passenger rear fender was dented in


Then I can see the top was totally caved in.




And the hood!


Getting it out of the trailer so we could see how bad the front end damage is


hard to tell by the picture but the hood is wasted


Apparently what happened (we think) was the driver picked up an extra load along the way (for a few extra pesos) and needed room, so he took the car off of the restraints and pushed it forward. then piled a bunch of shit on top and on the side of it. And it looks like it was just rolling around in the truck smashing into the front over and over. The reason the rear didn't get damaged is because there were wood boards screwed to the floor and the car would stop when it rolled back.

nothing to do now but load it up and let Reno fight it out with the shipper. He was mad but not nearly as mad as I was!




Miguel and me at the gas station. He has been a huge help with all this. Thanks Buddy!


Despite the damage to the car Reno was in good spirits and took it much better than I would have. I was just happy to be getting cheap gas! I think my truck actually ran better on Mexican gas!!


Going through the Border was the last hurdle and I was more than a little nervous, but the customs guy/border cop was cool and couldn't care less about the car so everything was fine. There could have been 7 mexicans and 100 pounds of weed in the trunk and we could have driven right through! hahaha


Now for the long haul back Nor Cal!

 

good story,good pics,man i would have really pissed if that was my car,guess reno is easy going guy....good luck with the build........

 

My wife is from Mexicali and we're over there all the time, so I like the name. Looks like a really nice car! Sucks about the damage.

 

Sorry to hear about the extra damge. I know Id be frickin pissed!!!
At least you got it so now the fun can begin.

 

Wow!!!!! I was beyond pissed! when I had my car hauled up here from SoCal and saw it covered with Hydraulic Fluid and had a small dent on one of the trim pieces. Reno sounds like one calm dude! Can't wait to see what you do to his Merc Sledge. Man that's a shame!

 

Nice car!! Them dents aint right and hope they make it right!! John

 

Driver needs to be bitch-slapped big time! Such a sweet find, and it ends up lookin' like that before you even get it home! Sorry dude, what a shame!

To second what BornintheWrong said, Reno must be one mellow fellow, ...had a lady rearend me on the way home from the body shop with a newly painted motorcycle trailer in tow, I had to politely ask the gal to leave the scene so I could explode, ...I was freakin'ballistic for a day & a half!

 

Looked like a pretty nice car.What a shame what the transporters did to it.I sure would be worried sending it back after you customize it.Good luck and keep us posted with your progress.

 

Holy shit Kevan!

I'm stoked you'll be building this on the side, I love these Mercs!

Wht a crazy story, hopefully it gets better from here? I can't even imagine how pissed I'd be if that kind of BS was done to one of my cars...

Are you going to be doing a full build on this, or just bodywork?

 

Finally made it back home the next night after a speeding ticket and two blow outs on the trailer! I woke the next day to find it had snowed and the merc wasn't too happy! I could swear I heard some Spanish cuss words as I walked out the door.

 

So after about a week of rain and snow it finally dried out enough to get the Merc off the trailer. I rolled my car out to meet his long lost brother and to get acquainted with his new stable mate! I sometimes forget how drastically different these cars look after they've been customized.







Stock mercs sit really high from the factory. And the front spring is broken so it would sit even higher!






From this angle you can really see the difference in roof lines. Not sure what Ford was thinking when they decided on the roof for the 39-40 merc? Maybe they thought it looked sophisticated (like a top hat) or European? Whatever the case may be, the Mexicali Merc is getting a haircut real soon!


Now in the garage together they've got 70+ years of catching up to do. Mr Mexicali was exported to Mexico in 1949 (we have the original paperwork). He has lost most of his native tongue and speaks primarily Spanish now, but my merc has been getting him caught up to speed and has been busy teaching him the ways of the california custom!

 

Were you able to pop the fender and roof dents out? They don't show in any of the other pics?

 

Nice

 

Wow, great story, Kevan. Sorry to hear about the shipping mishap. Good luck on the project. Keep us posted.

 

They plan for the car is a full early custom. He wants a few subtle differences but it will end up very similar to mine. Im starting with repairing the damage from the idiot driver.

I started with fixing the roof. The dent popped out fairly easy but of course it left lots of wavy high and low areas from being stretched. So hours of hammer and dolly work and some heat shrinking got it back into shape.




Got to the back of the roof and realized it had lots of hidden surface rust and bondo. The first sign of some bad work under the paint.


here you can see just how bad the hood is. Anything is repairable but these hoods are relatively easy to find so getting a strait one was the decision.


I found this hood (thanks to the HAMB and Kustomman#1) over at Sacramento Kustoms. Over all it's pretty strait and it's off an old custom! The stainless holes have been filled with lead and the front has been peaked so it will save some work.


Killer job on the peak whoever did it!

 

Yeah the rear fender dent was popped out by Reno when it was still in the trailer. I didn't pop the roof dent out until I got it home.

 

I'm excited to see this one come together!! I love you Merc so much it'll be nice to follow along on your process. Very very cool project!

 

"The Mexicali rose"

 

I really enjoy the progress being made on projects such as this and numerous others that I have followed on here. It's been said before but I'll say it again, the talent that some people have here is just amazing, whether you do it for yourself as a hobby or do it for a living. I hope you keep the photo journal going of this project and let us follow along.

 

Very Kool post. Looking forward to watch'n the progress, please keep us posted
with pics.

Happy Trails, Mick

 

Looking good Sledge ,i thinks this gonna be one of my favorite threads

 

Yes,very cool post.Thanks for sharing Sledge.

 

I've never understood the stock roof on those things - The rest of the design is pure magic, but the roof just doesn't even look like it was designed by the same studio.
Like a hydrocephalic swimsuit model.

I know you'll make it right. Keep the build pics coming as you go Kevin