Sam Barris 1949 Mercury

[Phildaupho]

For my first model car project of 2021 I am building a close but not exact replica of the Sam Barris 1949 Mercury as part of a series of models of cars pictured in six posters from The Rodder’s Journal that hang above my model building workbench. So far, I have built two of the six.

History – Sam Barris was probably the first to chop a ’49 Mercury. Some say his personal Merc was the first but it is likely he completed a customer car before finishing his own. The car has been restored by Brizio Street Rods and is in the collection John Mumford. There is a great gallery of photos on the Brizio website of the car being restored. Rods in Progress This 1949 Mercury is owned by John Mumford (roybriziostreetrods.com)

Starting point – The Revell ’49 Mercury was a great starting point for this build. The top is already chopped although maybe slightly more than the original but this eliminates the most difficult operation to build a custom Merc. The body is shaved, the hood nosed, the trunk decked and the suspension lowered. The kit also comes with many of the required parts like wide white walled tires, Cadillac hubcaps and spotlights. A custom interior is provided in the kit which is probably reminiscent of the original although no photos exist of the first re-upholstery job.

Modifications done so far

- Headlight mounting extensions cut back and headlight rims from AMT ’49 Merc frenched to body

- Parking light holes filled

- Taillight holes filled

- Tops of doors were rounded [hood on original did not have rounded corners although model does. It is interesting to note that over the years the hood on the original did get rounded corners as well as louvers – the car has been restored back to its first configuration]

- A more prominent peak seam has been added to hood

- The hump in the doors was eliminated giving the sides a full fade-away affect which carries through all the way to the taillight area also eliminating the downturn at the extreme back end of the rear fenders.

Future modifications

- new holes will be cut in for scratch-built taillights

- Chrome trim will be added below side windows

- Lower side chrome trim will be added

- Will add centre trim to windshield and dividers on back window

- Fender skirts will scratch-built but based on the shape of  AMT ’49 Merc skirts

- Stock flathead engine and single exhaust from AMT ’49 Merc

- Bumpers and custom grill from AMT ’49 Merc

- Plan to paint it with Alclad Candy Emerald Green over Alclad Silver Base

Edited January 5, 2021 by Phildaupho

[Dave72]

This is going o be awesome! I really like all of the mods you have done already especially the removal of the door hump! Really makes the Merc’s look very sleek and streamlined. Will be following this with much anticipation!

[larman]

Sam's Mercury is custom car perfection in my book. Most of his cars were that way. He had a really good eye and sense of proportion. You are off to a great start with your build!

Edited January 5, 2021 by larman

[Captain Spaulding]

That's one good looking Merc, looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Phildaupho]

16 hours ago, Dave72 said:

This is going o be awesome! I really like all of the mods you have done already especially the removal of the door hump! Really makes the Merc’s look very sleek and streamlined. Will be following this with much anticipation!

 

15 hours ago, larman said:

Sam's Mercury is custom car perfection in my book. Most of his cars were that way. He had a really good eye and sense of proportion. Your off to a great start with your build!

 

2 hours ago, Captain Spaulding said:

That's one good looking Merc, looking forward to seeing your progress.

Thanks guys - It is great to have so much reference material. I am going to start working on the taillights and fender skirts.

[Ramfins59]

Looking great so far Phil.

[DrKerry]

Looking awesome!! Can't wait for more!!!

[Mcpesq817]

Love the lines on that one - looking forward to following along!

[Sledsel]

Love that Barris Merc. Good luck with the build, hopefully you can make that Revell body look good. Would not have been my choice to start with because the sides are too flat and the hood contours are way off. There are other things, but those are the glaring ones from that kit.  She shows her die cast roots.

[Phildaupho]

6 hours ago, Ramfins59 said:

Looking great so far Phil.

 

5 hours ago, DrKerry said:

Looking awesome!! Can't wait for more!!!

 

2 hours ago, Mcpesq817 said:

Love the lines on that one - looking forward to following along!

 

1 hour ago, Sledsel said:

Love that Barris Merc. Good luck with the build, hopefully you can make that Revell body look good. Would not have been my choice to start with because the sides are too flat and the hood contours are way off. There are other things, but those are the glaring ones from that kit.  She shows her die cast roots.

Thanks Guys and Andy I do agree with the deficiencies you point out but I think it will look representative when completed and it primarily for my display case.

[Phildaupho]

I have always been attracted ’49 – ’51 Mercury Customs. Perhaps the first really cool car I saw cruising the streets of the community I grew up in was a purple 4-door ’51 Mercury that reportedly had a Thunderbird engine was the fastest car in the valley in 1962. Building a chopped AMT ’49 Merc brought me back into the hobby in the mid 1990’s. I painted it purple in remembrance of that ’51 Merc and upholstered it with corduroy like I did back in the ‘60’s. Last year I started off with an AMT ’49 Merc I got in a Secret Santa draw. I built it as the mild custom James Dean drove in the Rebel Without A Cause movie. Recently an acquaintance completed a beautiful ’49 Merc Custom which was a ten year plus project. Once I complete the Sam Barris Merc I will be building a Jimmy Flintstone Hirohata Merc.

[Misha]

Great start on a classic build Phil! I’ve always had a soft spot for these Kustoms... amazing variety out there. I’m also amaz d at the difference it makes to have that mid-body character line straightened out; gonna do that on my Merc (it’s near the top of the list now). Eagerly awaiting your build.

Cheers Misha 

[slusher]

Looking forward to following you Merc build. I like your work...

[Bullybeef]

Inspiration, I started one of those

in the eighties, I may have to get another and start again.

[Phildaupho]

On 1/5/2021 at 5:54 PM, Misha said:

Great start on a classic build Phil! I’ve always had a soft spot for these Kustoms... amazing variety out there. I’m also amaz d at the difference it makes to have that mid-body character line straightened out; gonna do that on my Merc (it’s near the top of the list now). Eagerly awaiting your build.

Cheers Misha 

 

On 1/5/2021 at 6:17 PM, slusher said:

Looking forward to following you Merc build. I like your work...

 

On 1/5/2021 at 10:37 PM, Bullybeef said:

Inspiration, I started one of those

in the eighties, I may have to get another and start again.

Thanks guys. If you have access to past issue of The Rodder's Journal there are great article on the Sam Barris Merc in issues 29 and 38 both before and after restoration.

[Koellefornia Kid]

Nice to see this icon being built in scale! Great start,  will follow that! 

[Phildaupho]

54 minutes ago, Koellefornia Kid said:

Nice to see this icon being built in scale! Great start,  will follow that! 

Thanks Oliver. An aspect of the Sam Barris Merc I really like is how flush the fender skirts fit the body. The kit skirts are not straight across the bottom and are also too thick but I like how there is an inner lip t0 facilitate fitting them to the wheelwell. I did consider modifying the AMT ’49 Merc skirts but these are designed to fit the more rounded sides of the AMT Merc. So my option was to make new skirts of thin sheet styrene with thicker styrene on the backside cut to the contour of the wheelwells.

AMT - left                                                                                                     Revell - centre                                                                         Mine -right

This photo shows how unrealistically slab-sided the Revell Merc is but it is what it is and I am sticking with it.

[Phildaupho]

The last major body modification was to figure out how to replicate the taillights. I had already filled the round holes for the kit taillights. The original car had custom hand-built taillights frenched into the body. My first attempt was to try and modify the stock AMT taillights for application directly to the body. This might have worked but the reworked taillights became so thin and fragile that I broke one. Then I decided to drill and cut oblong slots into the body which I back filled with sheet styrene. At first I planned to bare metal foil the recesses after body paint and then flow in multiple applications of clear red paint to create lenses. This probably would have produced acceptable results but I found a clear red sprue that I can shape to make lenses. They still need some work to fit flusher.

At this point I decided to see how other parts fitted and to check the stance. I just had to drill new holes to mount the AMT ’49 rear bumper but the front bumper required that the peak be taken out of the Revell ’49 Merc gravel pan. The AMT ’49 Merc custom grill is similar to the original but I may reduce its depth to fit deeper inside the grill opening. I was not happy with the shape rounded shape of the kit spotlights so checked out the AMT ’49 Merc units which were more pointed but too small. The spotlights on the original were actual spotlights and fairly large. I found the spotlights in the AMT ’59 El Camino looked very close to the originals.

[tim boyd]

Phil....great project and one that is near and dear to my heart (I built a chopped full custom '49 Merc for the MPC Contest series in the mid 1970's and no one knew what to think about it; it eventually won 2nd nationwide in the finals that year).  It is very interesting to me that you based yours on the Revell kit, as even though I thought it was a well done effort overall, seems many trashed it for various reasons.  Excellent progress so far and keep up the good work!   TIM 

[foghorn62]

Delete

Edited January 9, 2021 by foghorn62

[foghorn62]

2 hours ago, tim boyd said:

I built a chopped full custom '49 Merc for the MPC Contest series in the mid 1970's and no one knew what to think about it

I beg your pardon!

[Plowboy]

Nice work so far Phil! Something I noticed on that body is the header panel above the grille is squared. Did you modify to look like that or is it that way from the box?

[Phildaupho]

8 hours ago, Plowboy said:

Nice work so far Phil! Something I noticed on that body is the header panel above the grille is squared. Did you modify to look like that or is it that way from the box?

Thanks Roger - I did not modify the area above the grill. That is just one of the many aspects of the Revell kit I am learning about that was not rendered correctly. 

[Phildaupho]

12 hours ago, tim boyd said:

Phil....great project and one that is near and dear to my heart (I built a chopped full custom '49 Merc for the MPC Contest series in the mid 1970's and no one knew what to think about it; it eventually won 2nd nationwide in the finals that year).  It is very interesting to me that you based yours on the Revell kit, as even though I thought it was a well done effort overall, seems many trashed it for various reasons.  Excellent progress so far and keep up the good work!   TIM 

Thanks Tim for your reply. I always enjoy reading your insightful and knowledgeable comments. One of the many reasons I get so much out of participating on this forum is that there is always something to learn from other car modelers. Unfortunately I was not paying  attention to new kit reviews when the Revell '49 Merc was released . Although I have at least three of these kits in my stash,  I never had to urge to build another chopped Merc until now. I picked the Revell kit to build the Sam Barris Merc basically for expediency in that it seemed like many of the required modifications had already been done and many of the needed parts were included in the kit. Now that the build has progressed and replies have been made;  the deficiencies  of this kit are very obvious. But it is just a model car and I think it will still look very representative when it is in a display case under a poster of the real car.

I could not resist taking a photo of this project next to the AMT '49 Merc I built in 1994 when I was just seriously getting back into the model car hobby. I did a lot of research on how to chop a '49 Merc whether scale model or full scale. I am still very happy with how the chop turned out. With the two side by side it is very obvious the Revell sides are too flat, the shape of the hood is way off and as pointed out by Roger the shape of the grill opening is not correct. Just for curiosity I may have to find the reviews of this kit when it was new to discover other possible deficiencies I have so far missed.

[tim boyd]

12 hours ago, foghorn62 said:

I beg your pardon!

Hah!  That is, everyone except you, Tim (thank goodness!) and Alan Cozby,.   Cheers...TB