Maybe my next project.

[carbuilder1950]

In the 1950's, in SoCal where I grew up, I was a "snot-nosed" kid walking to junior high school every day about 6 blocks from my house.

One day in the morning I was walking  to school and I saw this car being backed out of this guys garage - it looked like a space ship from the future at the time.

It was love at first sight - the car. On my way home the same day, the guy still had the car out and was working on it. It was painted and mostly done,

but needed the final touches.

Not being a shy kid I went up to the guy and started talking to him. He showed me all over the car and explained to me about all the pieces he used and all the work he had done, and that it was a customized and SHORTENED 1950 MERCURY, with a lot of 1955 Chevy pieces used.

He was so friendly and I think he could tell I was really taken by the car. He told me I could come by anytime and talk to him again, and see the progress of the car.

Not long after that I found out he moved and I was so disappointed

But that's not the end of the story.

Years later I ran into him again through some friends when I was in my early 20's. My buddies were working in a machine shop in Rialto California, not far from where I lived in the next town over

just a few miles away, and not to far from where "Big Daddy Roth" was building his cars.

Anyway it turns out this guy who built the custom was of all people LEO LYONS, and he was at the machine shop finishing up the first ever set of ALUMINUM HEMI HEADS for a 350 Chevy going into a dragster.

I was blown away when I heard who he was and we both talked and he still had the car stored away.

TODAY, I ran into an article about the car being restored and going to Pebble beach, and a picture of LEO LYONS with the guy who bought and restored the car. Yeah, LEO still had that car over 50 years.

I also met Ron Aguire who built the Sonic X bubble top corvette and saw it on the street when he was testing it before the first show he had it in. That was wild, but that's another story.

Several years later and old enough to drive I bought my first car, a 1950 Mercury, and I painted it the same blue you see his car in the photos below. Last 3 pics are the restored car that went to Pebble Beach.

Sometimes, life is just amazing.

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by carbuilder1950

[slusher]

Great looking custom…

[Tom Geiger]

Great story! That Merc is just screaming to be built in scale!

[RSchnell]

I knew the man that owned this car at one time, Rick D'Louhy. We weren't close friends but knew each other from the local car show scene. At the time he was a promoter for the huge Turkey Rod Run in Daytona Beach, FL. He later started the Daytona Beach Dream Cruise. I never got the chance to see the Merc in person. You might enjoy this pic & link.

https://www.undiscoveredclassics.com/front-page/people/rick-dlouhy/rick-dlouhy-forgotten-fiberglass-raconteur/