Ok guys wallys merc is by far my favorite one of them all. Does anybody know the color he used when he painted it purple in 1953? I want to paint my 54 chevy that color. If you guys know where i can get a close enough match for it. Thanks nathan Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Did Barris paint it? I remember that the Ayala Brothers did the first custom work on it, but then think it went to Barris...not sure if the records were lost in the Barris shop fire, but know that Barris did keep paint records in case one of their cars got crashed and needed a redo.....
A great car for inspiration for sure. I think I like the early Ayala version better with fewer teeth. Sorry I can't help with the color.
It is my understanding that the color of the car now is not an exact match of the original color. It is a "similar" color that was chosen and embilished by the former owner, restorer of the car and old friend of mine Joe Eddie. The car is awsome in person.
No matter what some of the books say by several different authors the truth is....... yes Barris painted the car . After Wally won best Custom at the motorama in 1951 with his gorgeous lime gold Ayala paint job. Its the same paint job he had when he graced the cover of Hop Up magazine.It seems people forget those details these days.
The current owner of the car, Justin Mozart, apparently has the paint codes for both the original lime gold and purple colours. They matched samples of the original paint found on the car during the restoration to variant decks. I have been trying to get the information for the lime gold colour for a while through Jason Bickford but have so far come up with nothing. Jason says Justin is willing to share the codes but I haven't been able to get the info yet so who knows. If anyone knows how to contact Justin the codes may be available and if you do I would really appreciate the lime gold code as well.
I've read it referred to ‘Organic Purple’. Don’t know if that was an automaker’s production color, or a generic color you could buy at the paint store. Beautiful though!
Man its really killing me. House of kolor has a good selection of colors. But i was really hopeing to find a single stage urethane. TCP global offers a firemist purpe but its a little light and has a shade of violet. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I have emailed Justin myself I will let you know if I find anything out. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
best front end ive seen on a merc to date. but that stance is ridiculous, I say lower it just an inch or two, not too much. but for a traditional ride the stance, along with everything else, is just perfect.
and I have no idea what the color is but it seems easy to match. very nice shade of purple. would love to see a picture of it in gold
The photo of the Wally Welch Mercury shown in the first post was taken at the 2009 Sacramento Autorama. The restoration on the car was not finished back then and there was no engine installed, hence the higher stance. Here is a LINK to a Custom Car Chronicle article on the Wally Welch Mercury and how it won the big Custom Car prize at the 1951 Petersen's Motorama show at the Pan Pacific Autorama. And here is photo of the car showing it in the lime gold.
I was thinking about the purple again... If you're at the autopaint store, or out drivin' around, check out the Toyota Scion purple...really nice! Or the Honda Civic purple from a couple of years ago, very dark, but a very nice shade. You could have the paint store lighten it up a tad. Also, the metalics in some of the modern production car paints are a little 'chunky'. You could probably have the paint store mix a color with a bit finer mica in it, to better match the metalic paints of the 50's.
Ok will do. Thanks for the input i am looking at house of kolor kandy base clear paint. They have many differnt shades. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Ok guys iv decided to switch gears a little bit. Iv been inspired by my buddys 49 ford shoebox's color scheme. Im not going to take the paint scheme all the way down to the quarters. I will just do it to the belt line that goes under the wondows. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Hey, Watch out, if you're goin' for a '' period correct '' or '' traditional '' finish on your build avoid the use of late model colours! Mica wasn't included in paint finishes until several decades after Wally's Merc was built. Mica is used in a mix to produce that ''flip-flop'' or what I call ''lizard belly'' look, and isn't a traditional paint material at all. Ditto too, the use of heavy, overcleared urethane finishes, the kind you see on many street rods Urethane clear is a plastic material, and looks nothing like a cut and buffed lacquer paint job. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed "
Oh, thanks man! We can always count on rikster to pull through with vintage photos that thing really does look killer, glad to see it's still around
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