Well, finally starting a thread on the new to me Merc. A '49-'51 chop top has been on the top of my list since I was around 10 years old, but I've never had the opportunity or the expendable income to get myself one, and when one has come along that was realistic, it was hacked together, needing paint, packing a Chevy small block, or something else that wouldn't fit the bill. I've had guys go look at them in other parts of the country, I've traveled to look myself, etc. And then, I wouldn't have the cash or the room. So I finally got serious and sold my '60 Coupe Deville that most of you know and I loved to procure the funds for when the right one came along, and so I had an open garage spot when it happened (can't keep them all, unfortunately). Well, long story slightly shorter, a couple weeks ago my pinstriper buddy (now retired) messages me and asks me if I'd like to swing by and have a beer at his shop. I hadn't seen or heard from him in, oh, two years or so. Sure, I say, I'd love to catch up. Plus his shop is bitchin'....when I get there another friend I hadn't seen in months is also hanging out. We get to bullshitting as car guys do, and the second fella asks "Hey, you still looking for a Merc?". Why yes, yes I am.....he proceeds to show me a video of a damn fine looking automobile, and says his buddy who owns a hot rod/custom car shop a couple hours away has been storing for the owner, who passed away, and now the son and daughter (kids in their 60's age-wise) are ready to let it go.....get me that fella's number. NOW. I call up the guy storing it and get to talking with him, and line up a time to come check the car out the next weekend. He gives me the price that the son and daughter of the previous owner have turned down before, which is waaaaaayyyy out of my range. Whatever, I figure, I'll still go see a sweet Merc, and check out some other hot rods. Plus the female was staying in the same town the car resides in on a girls' weekend, so I figure I can snag her away and we can have dinner if nothing else (she lives in a different town than I do, so we don't see each other every week). The day comes, I meet the female and steal her away from her friends, and we get to the guy's shop. Non-descript looking old compound in an industrial part of a mining town (Butte, America, as we like to say)....make introductions, and I can tell me and this guy are going to be pals....Old trucks, busses, chop tops, turbos, muscle cars, tri-fives. EV. REE. WHERE. Old gas station signs hanging all around. Still hadn't told the blonde what we were going to look at, so when the garage door opens where the car is stored, it was a shock. For her. For me. The car was drop dead gorgeous. So much better than the pics and videos I'd seen. Glowed like the Candy Apple the paint is named after. Mint interior. Perfect Chop. Freakin' finned aluminum and chromed out Nailhead under hood, with a 700R4 overdrive behind it, and a built Ford 9" behind that. Nosed, decked, frenched, peeked, V'ed, dropped....Instantaneous, undying love. The one.... Fella can't get a hold of the son or daughter because the rodeo is in the next city over and they're both there, and he hadn't informed them I was coming to look at the Dad's car, but screw it he says, let's fire it up and take it out. I drive it, and it runs and drives like a top. No squeaks, no rattles, no misses, nothing that'd tell you this was a 75 year old chopped hot rod....we get back to the shop and I ask what the family is needing out of it...and he tells me what they'd turned down, and as I said, it was much more than I had to offer, but that he'd talk to them for me. I'd given him my whole story about building the Riviera and selling it to get the Caddy and building it then selling it to get the funds for one of these, and that this was a forever car for me, my end all be all, never sell it, keep it forever ride....... Time to get outta work here for the night and I haven't got a computer at home......so.....To be continued tomorrow.....
I'll edit tomorrow, Mart. And thanks brother. I got some nobody has seen that belong at the beginning, but I want more of the story told before I post them, but here's one everyone has seen already.
How cool are you? Are you Lucas in sunglasses next to his chopped Merc cool? I don't think so. No one is that cool
Now that is some funny chit right there my friend....hell, I don't think I'm as cool as that pic makes me look
Congrats Lucas - Can't wait to read the rest of the story but sounds like you got an awesome car & yes, that's a pretty cool pic, lol. Not even sure this belongs in "other" bench being it's Buick powered.
Very cool 49 Merc. When I was a kid, I built a lot of model cars and one of my favorites was a 49 Merc, very similar to the one on American graffiti. Seen a lot of flatheads in Merc's but a Buick Nailhead, WoW, super cool. Love your grin leaning next to that awesome Merc.
Damn, I went in to get another cup of coffee and the story ends. I wonder what channel this is? I wonder what time the next episode will be on? Looks awesome Lucas! Very cool story also!
......so, part two of the story..... As we're sitting there ogling the car after the test drive, the hot rod shop's owner's phone rings (I'm just going to call him by his name Derek instead of typing that out every time now), and it's the son of the late owner (his name is Steve). Derek walks away and I can see him looking a little distraught/frustrated, but I just walk back into the shop to try to mind my own business and not eve's drop. Female has other plans and stays lingering outside.....Derek comes in where I'm at and says "Well, I talked to Steve, and he's going to try to get a hold of his sister who is still at the rodeo. But he's the one who has turned down all the higher offers and she's the one who has been more into selling it, so I don't know how things are going to go, but I tried man." Derek says Steve will call me in an hour or two, but gives me Steve's number just in case..... We get in the car and I take the female to dinner, where she tells me she heard Derek on the phone outside the shop tell Steve "this is absolutely the guy you want to have your Dad's car. He reminds me of your Dad when I met him, and he's going to take care of it better than anyone else. You need to sell him the car." Then drop her off to rejoin her friends for the rest of their weekend. No call from Steve, so I figure it's a loss, but I'm not losing this car without trying. I sit in the car and call up Steve.... Steve is a very polite guy, apologizes for not calling me, he hasn't been able to get a hold of his sister...Steve tells me the story of the car and his Dad. How his dad (Bill) purchased it in 1953 as a teenager, swapped in the 322 Nailhead in 1956, and built and kept it all those years. All the body work, the color, the spotlights, the gauges, the trans swap, the lowering, the interior, all the decisions that go into a car, all done how Bill wanted it to be. Told me how it was the fastest car in the area in the '50s and early '60s (something I'd hear repeated by multiple old school guys who were there over the next couple weeks). How it won multiple GoodGuys shows, been to the Nationals, been invited to the Detroit Autorama. How Bill used to drive it 100 mph everywhere, and drove it everywhere there was to drive. How it was his pride and joy, his love. And how he wanted to be buried in it....and how hard it is for them to let it go now that he's gone. We go over my story, the Mach 1 and I, how I've had it since I was 12 and how every little thing on it is done the way I wanted, just like Bill's Merc, and how just like Bill's Merc it's never leaving me until I die....And how I've been looking for a Merc for years, what I've done, given up, and what I've built and sold to get to this point, and how the car is exactly how I'd build one, perfect chop, body mods, stance, a Nailhead, all just like I'd do myself, it's like I got to pick everything and it's already there like his Dad did it for me. I let him know I'm not going to flip the car, I've got the spot for it, and I'm going to keep it forever. I let him know how honored and proud I'd be to have his Dad's car, and that I knew the moment I saw it that it was the car for me, and I understood how tough it was for them to let it go.......He asks me what I do and I tell him about the dealership where I run the shop. He says it's such a strange, small world, because that previous Friday he came to our dealership to get his truck worked on because he couldn't get the help he needed at his hometown dealership, and how well we treated him and that he actually went in to my manager and told him how great we'd been. I told him he'd probably actually seen me that day.....everything just lined up. He said he needed to talk to his sister but he'd call me back the next day. We exchanged nice goodbyes and I wished him the best no matter if I ended up with the car or not. Next day comes and I'm riding with a friend, and my phone rings from Steve's number, he asks if it's a good time....I tell him I'd call back once we get parked. I call back and I can tell he's emotional, but he let's me know his sister and himself had decided that I was the right one for his Dad's car, for the money I had available, and that he had a bunch of extra parts his Dad had saved along with notebooks, receipts, etc. if I'd want it all. I tell him I want every little thing you're willing to get rid of and how happy I am. I was crying a bit, and I could tell he was, too. We made the deal and he actually offered to deliver to me....which happened two days later.... Here's teenage Bill in 1953 with the car. Not a car like mine and Bill's car, but mine and Bill's actual car. And when I first saw and sat in the car, and Steve and I when we first met in person and he delivered it to me. Here's some of Derek's shop...
Here's pics of Derek's property and some of his cars, and customer's cars. Yeah, that's a quad turbo first Gen Hemi in that rat rod. Camaro is a twin turbo 1600 hp Art Morrison chassis customer car. Lots of projects waiting to happen....
Awesome! You've waited a long time for this and you finally get to enjoy it! what a great car - looks fantastic. They only thing to make it better is if it has a flame shooter on the exhaust! lol
Car when I first saw it at Derek's and when I got it home....some Derek sent me before I went to see it....
First poker run 300 mile road trip outing last week, and I got the new Cokers and '57 Lancer caps on yesterday....wired the fans in on switches instead of the thermistor so I can control them, changed oil, plugs, and started detailing the engine compartment. Put an oval finned aluminum air cleaner on the 322 instead of the old '90s Edelbrock Elite it had...lot's of plans for the engine compartment coming this winter......Car came with skirts which I will put on. Bill never ran them because fast cars didn't run skirts back in the day....lots of little things to do I'll keep updating.
I'll leave it up to the powers that be if it goes up in the Bench or stays down here....makes no difference to me
Thanks everyone! Better pay tribute to the two main ones that got me here....Black River '63 Riviera and the '60 Caddy.... https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/my-63-riviera-custom.316125/ https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/the-60-deville-build-thread.355563/
Will all the pics of your Merc, it's got Contours written ALL over it. Your car is so perfect, I would be afraid to drive it. It's been a very long time since I've seen a 49 Merc as perfect as yours. Enjoy. Vet
