1950 Mercury Coupe - Makeover Merc

The Merc that originally showed up at the shop was a suede cruiser, built in a somewhat conventional custom style with flat black suede paint and silver ghost flames, wide whites, a big-block engine, and suspension of unknown pedigree. The red leather interior by Ed Brescia at Fast Ed's Interiors had just been installed.

Hot Rods & Hobbies was commissioned to paint the doorjambs to match the body, but the owner returned within a matter of days. He wasn't happy with the way the car drove and the way it stopped. After evaluating the poor quality of the work on the car, Scott recommended replacing the chassis. The owner's response was something of a surprise, "Go ahead and change the chassis . . .and, oh yeah, chop it too!"

Pretty soon, the simple paintjob that turned into a chassis rebuild was quickly becoming a full rebuild. The next step was to bring in automotive designer and illustrator Steve Stanford to create a whole new vision for a very unconventional car-with the body of a custom and the soul of a hot rod.

Stanford's concept drawing featured many of the elements that ended up on the reworked Merc, including the custom frenched headlights, handmade one-off taillights, modified stock grille with parking lights eliminated, shaved handles and emblems, custom side trim, exhaust exits cut into the rear quarter-panels, modified rear wheel arches, filled cowl and seams, rounded hood and decklid corners, custom bumpers (nickel-plated at Vern's Plating), and one-piece windows with modified trim and moldings. And of course the top, which was chopped 3 1/2 inches.

The sheetmetal was massaged for hours before going into the HR&H paint booth, where it was shot in black. Scott Baldwin stepped in to shoot the Green Pearl ghost flames, followed by lots of clear. The chassis was painted with a custom Green Pearl to tie in with the flames, accented with nickel plating, stainless, and black anodized hardware. The same green is found on the engine, transmission, and rearend.

The right or wrong rolling stock can make or break a custom. In this case, these Salt Flat-style kidney bean rims-they're Santa Fe models from Billet Specialties' Vintage series-are a great choice for a custom built to combine style and performance. Scott mounted 18x10s in the rear with 18x8s in front. The Toyo Proxes high-performance tires measure 295/45R18 and 245/40R18.

Ed Brescia at Fast Ed's Interiors got another chance to build an interior for the car, replacing his still-fresh red leather upholstery with top-shelf bullhide wrapped around a pair of cut-down Toyota buckets and a custom-built rear bench. A little leather was saved for the custom door panels and transmission hump, and the trunk.

The dash, evocative of a '51 Ford, was fabricated to wrap around the door panels. Scott liked the idea of pods for the custom instruments, and decided to put them in the center instead of directly above the steering wheel. Controls are hidden behind the modified glovebox door in the center of the dash, and the master cylinder and Vintage Air A/C are mounted underneath the dash. An iPod, along with Hertz amp and speakers, provides the sound track.

The Merc's first public appearance at the '09 Grand National Roadster Show was a big success, and earned the custom a First in Class prize and the Overall Outstanding Custom award, in addition to the Triple Gun Award of Excellence, presented by Zane Cullen, Darryl Hollenbeck, and Charley Hutton. Best of all, perhaps, was the admiration it got from the general public. A few weeks later at the Sacramento Autorama, the car was selected for the show's big prize: World's Most Beautiful Custom.

You may be happy to learn that, since then, the Merc's owner has been driving the car the way he planned to way back when it was a suede cruiser. "It's been getting dirty and buggy," Scott promised us. And it will be driven, not trailered, when it heads off to a couple of the first Goodguys shows this spring. You can see it for yourself at the All-American Get-Together in Pleasanton, California, in March, and at the Del Mar Nationals near San Diego in April.

Facts & Figures
Scott Bonowski,
Hot Rods & Hobbies
Signal Hill, California
1950 Mercury coupe