Who wants a 1963 Mercury Meteor... for FREE??

You read it right, for FREE!

This is for those who are interested in 1963 Mercury Meteor Customs:

We'd like to find a new home for our car but local High Schools and Community Colleges would not take cars this old....they prefer cars made in the last 10 years...here's our wish:


We know H.A.M.B.ers drive pre-1964 classics and can think outside the box. Keep in mind this is a four door. If you have no love for four doors, then this offer isnt for you. So, to those that are interested... tell us or show us your design ideas or plans and one of you will get it for free!

We love all classic cars, 2 and 4 doors alike. We just don't want it used for a parts car to build up a 2 door, and we equally do not want to see the parts spread all over Ebay.

We CERTAINLY dont want to see this solid car see the fate of some crappy destruction derby or laid out door to door under some monster trucks tires. Most definately dont want this car simply sold for cash to the crusher.......we want to see it on the road again, in the hands of a H.A.M.B.er....restored, customized, or used as a daily driver. We'd like to see its progress posted on the H.A.M.B.

Note: It does need to be towed from eastside Portland Oregon, although we drove it last summer. It is a 4-door that has straight sheet metal (except for a few small issues), no rust (except for a few surfaces), great glass, all its chrome, even its original small hub caps and beauty rings. Interior is complete. A little ragged in spots, but the dash, cluster and wheel are beautiful. This Meteor is a Custom, which came with an extra chrome package, all present. The auto trany is fine, but the stock 260 V8 has internal issues. The 260 will need to be overhauled or do a motor swap. If wanted there is also a free 1978 302/C4 that's been stored dry and ran 4 years ago....it can go with it.

Actually we'd like it to go to someone who really needs it....someone who has no car project and wants one. Maybe a teenagers first build, like a father/son project. Maybe a mom or dad with a family, and with a little work, can drive this classic to work each day and cruise their kids around in it.....you get the idea.

So, Ive attached some pictures of the car. Look them over and decide if this project is something you could use and enjoy. We really hope so and look forward to not only hearing back from all who are interested, but following the progress build on the H.A.M.B. after you own it.

We have a free and clear title in our name. A bill of sale will be filled out for legal reasons.

 

Monster,what a great and generous offer this is what our hobby should be all about. Hope some young kid ends up with and ends up driving the wheels of it. And if so and he/she wants something louvered send them my way, be happy to make this an even sweeter deal for some young person.


and if that 302 c4 needs a home let me know

 

Good for you Monster...those Meteors are a great little car....did a '64 a few years ago with 5 liter/ AOD and used the manifolds and dist from the 260 on the late 302...looked original and the bugger still got 20 MPG...Oughta make someone a great driver...

 

Damn! Wish I had my F-150 running and a trailer handy.... I'd come get it off your hands!! I could use the 302/C-4 combo also..

 

Do you want the story on the thread or in a private message?

I think my cousin would make a great candidate for this offer. He has just turned 21 and has no vehicle. He keeps looking for a project car but most of the vehicles in his price range are mostly gone and need so much to make them a daily. He is a huge help in my garage and always spensmds time with me down there. He is my car show buddy and loves the road trips to shows.

I will get him on here and have him sign up

What a great offer.

 

now thats a cool idea.give it to some young guy or girl and get 'em hooked on old cars for life. can see this thing being turned into a pretty cool mild custom with not a hell of a lot of work to put in. hope it goes to a good home and look forward to watchin the progress

 

I would like to get this for a daily driver, i'm young, i have no car, i'm broke and live far far away.... hope this one finds a good home

 

Wow, was catching up on posts and I couldn't believe it when I read this. I think my mom would be the PERFECT candidate for this. She has been through a ton in the past 5 years. Not sure if I'm supposed to PM this or not..but here goes.

My mom's name is Heidi. She's 38, and she has Systematic Lupus. She's been a single mom for me and my little brother since we were 1 and 3. We're now 19 and 17. She's always done everything possible to make sure we were taken care of. She's been a whole variety of things, as far as occupations go. She's been in the medical field, she's been a bartender, and even in Savage magazine. [She's covered in tattoo's]. Well, in 2003, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She went thru tons of testing, was put on medication, and it pretty much took her down. 2 years go by, and the doctors decide she doesn't have Multiple Sclerosis after all, and that they've been treating her all wrong. They decided she has Systematic Lupus. So they put her on totally different medications, and at this point, her body was pretty much ruined. Let me put it this way, she went from tiny, in shape, and always out and active, like this:

[First picture is of her when she was in Savage tattoo magazine in 2003. She's the one on the left.]



To being swollen up to a balloon, weak and sick, no longer able to work, her legs had swelled up, and this was due to her Lupus, and them putting her on steriods to treat the Lupus, which caused nothing but more damage:

This was Christmas 2008.


Because of this, she lost her car, lost her license, and was forced to go on disability and not be able to work anymore. Keep in mind, my mom is only 38 currently. Since then, she hasn't really gone out, doesn't have any sort of social life, and is stuck at home and limited on what she can do. She's getting better, but she'll never be able to go back to how she was, just 5 years ago. She's been in and out of the hospital, gone from doctor to doctor, and today we are still trying to get her health issues figured out and assessed, because of the fact that Lupus is one of the most complicated diseases around. So, now her health is a bit more stable, and she's trying to find ways to get back to the way she used to be as much as possible. She's going to try and get her license again, and she seems to be getting better mentally as well. Here's how she looks today:




She struggles with the fact that she's never gonna get her tiny figure back, and that she looks so different now, but she's doing better. She's legally died 3 times throughout the time she's been dealing with this disease. She's coded, been in ICU, and still has come back out of it and is with us still. Thru out all of this, my mom has still managed to be an awesome mother to me and my brother, and always made sure we were taken care of, even though she was the one who needed taking care of. So I've been dying to find a way to give back to her, and find something to help make her happy again and get her life back. She loves old cars. Loves them. I myself drive a '63 Dart everyday, and she loves it. She always talks about how she wants an old car for herself, and I've always wanted to get one and restore it to exactly how she'd want it, and surprise her. So when I saw this, I had to atleast try and share my reason why my mom would be the perfect candidate for this. I've tried to get a car for her, but I'm 19 and can barely afford myself, let alone a car thats solid and complete and that wouldn't take a ton of money to get on the road. So this Merc would be just PERFECT for her. I'd love to have the opportunity to give her this as a way to thank her for staying strong for me and my brother's sake, and as a way to give her an opportunity to get back out there and get her life back. This disease has literally taken her whole life away, and I know that this car could give some of that back to her. I hope she'd be considered for this offer, and the progress of the car's re-vamp would be posted on here of course.

Thanks again,

-Allan

 

Thanks so far to all that have responded! Allan, Im glad to hear your mom is doing better. We will let this thread run for a while to give as many people a chance to respond as possible.

And to answer a question: Please post ALL requests, ideas and plans regarding this offer on THIS thread, not to my PM. Thanks! Lets hear from you all!!

 

I cant wait to read some of the custom ideas these HAMBer's might have.

Killer idea dude.

 

Good on you, man. This is living right.

 

I would LOVE to take your '63 Mercury Meteor off your hands, but that would be greedy as I already have a 1962 Mercury Meteor 4-door. But it would also be greedy as I have my health, and make some money at the end of the day to keep on tinkering on the cars I love. So for inspiration for what this car could be, here's a rendering I did in Autocad of my 1962 Mercury Meteor:



I hope this car finds a great home - wish it were mine!

Thanks!
Tom - Glass_Packs

 

Monster- I'd be honored to take it if it's still available. I'd love to turn it into a nice daily driver! I can give it a good home! Let me know either way. I can tow it as well.

EDIT* I don't NEED it, so if someone in or around Portland DOES, let them have first crack at it. But if no deserving parties step forward, I will gladly give it a home.

 

Really cool thing to do Monster, this is why i kick the kids off the pc so i can spend most of my free time on here during the week.
really hope someone ends up with it as their first car.

 

Man if I was not in Georgia I would love to get this for my students. I had an engineering class then lost it due to funding- We used to tool around on my "A" and some other cars. Now I still do the engineering class but i have to do it for free after school with those kids that still have a love for automotive engineering. Dang you for being so far!

That is a killer offer and I know it would just be some kids dream to get that. When I was 16 the hot rod hobby was so far out of reach which is why I started on imports. Now I'm older and have my hot rod too. I would have loved to have gotten started at 16 on a classic American.

 

So a design student who is broke as hell and hasn't had a project to work on since he started school would be the perfect candidate eh? ....Interesting...

 

Hell Id take it and restore it ,But could you deliver for free also,Goodluck to ever you give it to............

 

I am 20 years old and am currently living/caretaking for my grandfather. He sure doesn't care for much these days since his wife (my grandma) passed away. However whenever I find myself on the internet looking at cars he always says hey thats a '54 Chev or hey thats a '64 Ford. When he was growing up he didn't have much money so him and his brothers scratch built a Model T out of junkyard parts. When he grew up he had a slew of early Beetles, a '57 Chevy 4-door, and lots of '60's cars. I remember when I got my '56 Ford 4 door and I took him around the block he had the biggest grin (I don't really see him smile that much). I think it would be a cool project for us. Just fix her up, lower her, and do some mild custom touches. I would then let him cruise it around while I could cruise side by side him in my '56 Ford 4-door. Hope you'll consider him and I. Although whoever gets it I wish them the best of luck!

Thanks for giving a grandfather/grandson a chance!

Update:
Monster asked for info on the forth page so here goes...

Mitchell de Moor
Regina, SK (Canada)
Car will be drivin (by truck and trailer) to my grandfathers doorstep.

 

imo- winner!

 

Just in the process of finishing my 4 door Meteor. Here is what is possible. Three year build done on a slim budget. Bought it to be my daily family ride. Hope it is inspiration for someone.

 

Monster,
I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to see something like this. I applaud your generosity and desire to do someone else good. That kind of kindness and thoughtfulness is definately needed in our world today. Good luck to the one who gets it! BRAVO!!!

 

That is the exact car i first bought about 12 years ago with grand plans of restoring. The rust was alot worse than your but the colours were the same inside and out. I was in the tear down stage when a over zealous bylaw officer got after us about the cars so it and one other non-runner got scrapped to keep him happy. I'm sure it will be a long time before i get to own another as now i have a wife and two kids to support, plus a vintage house that needs lots of repair.

 

Extremely temping, even with a one week round trip from Florida. I've been playing with getting a four door for a company car for going out to look at cars for Hagerty & Grundy. I need to think about this...

 

Totally agree with JimV57!

 

Hey monster, I live near by, in Scappoose, and would love to have this project for my youngest son and I. Is it still available? Is that a stude in the background?
Talking with my son, Joe, we would start out by first dropping in the 302, making the car safe and reliable to drive, than... blocks in the rear, shaved handles, moon discs or possibly a set of chromes with thin whites and spiders, duals (maby even straight pipes!!) Honestly paint would be down the road a bit, some sort of 2 tone. Time would tell for sure.
Tunes are pretty high on the priority list, so a hidden amp and speakers with his Ipod would work. The car would also get the vintage white steering wheel that we have on the garage wall. Joe learned to drive in our 64 Daytona, and took his driving test in our 63 Lark.
We also have a flatbed trailer and truck, so getting it home and IN the garage would be no problem.

Thanks for your considerations

54RAT

 

So here is my entry....

I'm currently a Graphic design student which in itself is...a pocket book hurting experience to say the least. I'm a full time student and also a design intern for a local professional sports team. My Girlfriend and I moved in with her family because they were having unemployment issues and were getting behind in bills, so we moved in to help them pay bills so they could get there lives back together... Between all of these things I have pretty much zero money left for a several hundred (or thousand for that matter) dollar project find its way to my garage. I've longed for a project to be my therapy again but with helping pay bills and working for free I just haven't had a chance to make it happen.

The thing I do have going for me is before I went back to school I had customized several cars, everything from lowriders to mini trucks and Mustangs, as well as worked in body shops, so if I were to get a project car I would have the know-how to fix it up and most of the tools as well. I'm not usually one to try for things like this but I figured I'd give it a shot, a project car would take a little stress off my life and would give me something to do with my time other than draw draw draw....and pay massive bills.

As for the car I'd keep it simple based on my budget, rear roll pan, custom grill (knob style) suicide rear doors, lowered and sitting on some caps or supremes depending on what I could come up with. Here is a rough rendering...

 

Here is the Model T my grandfather and brothers built growing up...


Here is one of my grandpas old cars...


And here is when I got my '56 and I took the old boy for a ride...

 

Maccumstom- Can you tell me what type and color that paint is, I really like it!


The Monster- Very cool of you to do this, inspiring to see generosity these days.

 

Monster,,,sugestion, see if there is a car club that would donate a rebuild as a club and then give it away..or if the young person that got the car got involved with the build at the host club and helped build it...
Very generous offer on your part..tip of the hat to you !

 

This looks like the perfect mild custom/daily driver to me. If I was the very luck one selected I'd do just that. Supreme's/cragars, mild lowering,maybe some flake, a nice running 302/c4 combo. This being my first project I'd do all the work myself, what a better way to learn than hands on. About myself I am 22. Currently Part time work/ Part time school, Focusing in the automotive field. I would love to have a father/son project but I lost my dad at a young age so I guess I have to do it solo, but I have quite a interest in starting a project and this looks like the perfect start. Thanks for the consideration.