Phildaupho

I would have loved to attend the Mercury display at the 2009 Sacramento Autorama that featured a huge number of chopped 49-51 Mercs. It is amazing how many of those vintage customs survived and have been. This is from Rod & Custom magazine.

Thanks John - You are obviously a custom Merc historian. Your post made me have another look at Pat Ganahl's book The American Custom Car and a couple past issues of the Rodder's Journal featuring custom Mercs. The Ayala Merc is similar in many ways but with additional features like slanted b-pillars, rounded hood, spinners on the front hubcaps and a flipped front bumper over-rider. Pat wrote that Barrises actually finished the car off with frenched taillights, custom grill and a burgundy paint job.

Great story Tom inspired by a really nice model built from a crappy kit. I remember that discussion at GSL

Fabulously gorgeous Syder. Very well built

Thanks Hector. Now its time to move on to a new project.

Great project in the making. It will be stunner when done.

Thanks Chris - it was a fun project

Thanks Carl Thanks David Thanks Tom

This is the first build up of the Revell kit I have seen and it looks good to me judging by how handsome your model turned out. Did you get your kit from a local hobby shop? They have not arrived yet on Vancouver Island. I don't think the windshield height will discourage me from buying one of these kits.

Watertown's photos of Sam's Merc at Pebble Beach made me want to try to get a photo of the models interior and I have also included a photo of the engine compartment albeit a little dusty.

Great photos Mike. I really like the view of the interior. The car currently has 1949 California license plates which I initially wanted for the model. Interestingly in the photos of the car with Sam and on the Motor Trend cover the car has 1951 plates. The Revell kit has a 51 California plate on the decal sheet so although not the same number, I used a couple of those on the model.

Thanks Steve - I really found the history of this car from new to the present very interesting Thanks Dan. Not that I have any plans to do so myself but someone could certainly build a very fine custom Mercury custom by combining the best of both the Revell and AMT kits.

Thanks Craig. I completely agree with your assessment of the Revell Merc kit. There is definitely a lot to like about it.

Thanks Steve. I really enjoy the research and figuring out and executing the replication but always seem to struggle with the final assembly and especially the painting.

Very handsome collection

Thanks Steve Thanks Glen Thanks Larry Thanks Jim I appreciate all yours comments.

Thanks Oliver Thanks Chris Thanks David Thanks Alan - I really got a kick out of your candy comment Thanks I really gained an appreciation of the Revell kit during this build. There is a lot to like about it especially the interior, chassis and engine compartment.

Thanks David for the colour cover photo which was taken after Sam sold the Merc and it moved back east. This is one of my favourite photos of the car with Sam just before he sold it after it having won Best Custom at the Oakland Roadster Show. This photo was colourized by custom car historian Rik Hoving who is also a great car modeller and has mastered a number of custom parts for Replicas and Miniatures.

Thanks Mark

Thanks Gary - I certainly gained a lot of respect for Sam building this model of his car Thanks Jim I agree Larry. Sam's Merc was definitely the inspiration for many custom 49/50 Mercury's Thanks David. I have always been better at body mods than painting. Thanks Craig. I bought the ALCLAD Emerald Green a number of years ago with Sam's Merc in mind Thanks Paul. I have to confess that the paint job is far from flawless. I had never used any ALCLAD paint other than their chrome and their prismatic paints. The bottle says ALCLAD LACQUER but I did not notice that it was described as Candy Emerald Green Enamel until I had been treating it like lacquer. The paint is extremely transparent so you can hardy see it any build up. As a result I went in closer, turned the pressure up and applied thicker coats. That resulted in visible paint tracks. I then polished it out and added more coats. I dropped my airbrush with a full cup of paint and ended up using every last drop. I had decided not to clear coat it because Sam did not clear his car. But in retrospect I should have cleared it because the ALCLAD is extremely fragile and I probably should have let cure for longer. Handling it left finger prints and even sitting roof down on a paper towel for a few hours left marks; all of which had to be polished out. It also chipped easily. The paint job in regular light is very dark so I knew the only way to get the effects I wanted was to photograph it outside in bright sunlight which definitely flatters the paint job Thanks Russ - see my comments above about the paint. I am going to be using ALCLAD Candy Apple Red in the near future so I think I will be able to avoid the problems I had with the green.

BODY - Revell ’49 Merc Custom - Fender line extended into full fad away - Hood reshaped and more distinctive peak added - Custom grill and bumpers from AMT ’49 Merc - Headlights from AMT ’49 Merc frenched into cut back fenders - Custom made taillights - Drip rails removed - Upper and lower side trim added and Bare Metal Foiled - Splitters added to windshield and back window - Spotlights from AMT ’59 El Camino - Scratch built fender skirts PAINT - ALCLAD Candy Emerald Green over ALCLAD silver base INTERIOR - Revell ’49 Merc satin white with green trim - Front seat split cut - Door handles and armrests added to door panels - Carpets and headliner dark green - clutch pedal added CHASSIS - Revell ’49 Merc Custom - Rear of frame C’d - Removed mounts of dual exhaust and lakes pipes DRIVETRAIN - Stock AMT ’49 Merc engine On the Workbench thread Sam Barris 1949 Mercury - WIP: Model Cars - Model Cars Magazine Forum

Built 14 years ago. I called this Magnum PU.

A very successful mash-up.

It turned out fabulous. Great photography.

I really like your rear-end treatment. Very attractive