Creating a KREEP..
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Hey Tony,
I too dreaded the thought of gluing those running board covers down and put that task off for a loooonnnngggg time! Turned out to be a baseless fear as the job went swimmingly! Who knew eh? p.s. Lotsa clamps were on hand, but were not necessary!
As for the window channels, I don’t believe there was really any change to the angles. The A and B pillars came down to meet just fine (aside from the Bs being angled forward). I think the stock glass would have worked as-is if the B pillar were to remain upright.. You just wouldn’t need to roll them up as far! Now, I could be wrong in this since the car was chopped before I got it, but I don’t recall any change in the stock mechanisms and channels when removing and re-installing them. Did you have to shove your window frames in a bit to meet the top properly after the chop?
Perhaps some of the other fellows on here can give you a more precise answer..?
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
This may not help, but here’s a shot of the car being chopped and from what I can tell there would not have been much in and out movement of the “posts”. A small shim or two to change the angle of the channel should be plenty?
I hope that helps a little..
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
My A pillars lined up fine but the B’s were removed completely to slant them…the door tops have been set to be flush and gapped as well as possible. It was after that i started to wonder about the glass angle. I guess more mocking up will tell. I have not put the channels back in yet.
Tony… With a 31/2 chop in front and 4 1/2 in rear and angled B pillars I did have to readjust the window channels to make the window work properly but there is enough room for adjustment without having to completely rework the channels. I had to move the bottom of my channels slightly closer to the door skin. Good luck.
I had to move the bottom of my channels slightly closer to the door skin. Good luck.
Thanks Bob, I thought/hoped that may be all that’s needed.
With little hope of affording the true custom’s Appleton spotlights, and not wanting to put the “dummies” back on I looked for an viable alternative. An old friend was having a yard sale and I stopped by to visit as I had not seen him in quite a while. Anyway, he had a very nice looking Guide spot on the table which caught my eye. The light had a decent cone shape to it and the price was right (free to me) so I thought this would at least prepare the car for later options should they arrive.
This was a Guide S18 off of his dad’s ’54 Chevy(!). I was now on the search for another.. Quite some time passed before I found a good match as it seems the vast majority of the S18s have a mirror attached – not good! One did turn up on Ebay for a decent price, so now I had a pair.
Keven Sledge had the template I needed, so we made some holes!
Disassembly to get acquainted with the bits:
Trial fit..
Real spotlights!
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
An early spring trip to John’s salvage once again; this time with my buddy Rob who is all things ’50s Fords. While out there we pinched a couple of 12v horns (honk, honk) to replace the speed shop ones (meep, meep) that came with the car.. His parts car Ranchero was donor this time.
Field tested and working, we pulled ’em.
Looking a bit “weathered”, I blew them apart to spruce them up (ha, ha, “blew” the horns..!):
Well, I can’t find the images of the finished product – suffice to say they look as awesome as horns can look! 😉 A vague pic of the install in progress is all I can come up with for now.. top of the grill area just under the towel fender protector!
At some point along the way I chose to “spatter paint” the trunk area. It turns out this is not the nifty stuff I remember from years ago, but a rough, truly “spatter” replacement not at all as nice as the trunk paint I had hoped for.
I did this to “finish” the area until I could afford to upholster or at least better deal with this part of the car.
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
A while back I mentioned utilizing the LoCar shift mechanism in conjunction with the stock column and lever. This worked to perfection (without a “PRiNDLe” indicator of course) and I promised a pic of the setup when I located one:
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
Remember this?
Well..
Long time friend Cam Hill to the rescue! Cam has been wiring emergency vehicles his whole life(!!) and was willing to tackle the job for his good buddy.. 😉 I had ordered a Rebel Wire kit with approval from Cam and he got to work! While assisting me on much of the re-assembly he also found the time to organize, route, and record where best to run and mount the various electrical wires, fuses, etc..
Lotsa fun standing on your head under the glow of a hot trouble lamp! Good thing he had wired the dash on the workbench before installation making this part a wee bit easier.
A bracket for the cowl vent – you might recall we opened that up again – made a useful mount for the fuse panel up out of sight, but handy for inspection.
Cam is a believer in utilizing a junction panel when longer wires feed more than one component:
After all the electrical functions are working properly loom is added to further “tidy up” the wires. The junction panel is contained in the driver’s side tool box area in the trunk:
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
So.. although these cars are never done – are they? – the Mercury looks like it’s ready to hit the streets once more!
From July 2014 when I delivered the car to Neil at Ramsay’s Rod Shop it has taken until May 2016 for the journey to end. When a fellow like myself can’t do a darn thing on his own; two years is pretty good turn-around I think!
First trip was to Saturday breakfast with the guys.
The driveway at the house never looked so good!
From Al Sinclair and his fellow Jersey based Kustom Knights’ vision, to the care-taking of the Coverts, to the completion of a dream for Dave Snell:
Thanks for following along fellas!
I will continue to add images from any interesting times shared with the Merc.. As a teaser, here’s the car on the way to the Custom Car Revival in Indianapolis this past June. A quick stop to repair a seeping jerry can..
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
YES! Thanks for sharing, Dave. Documenting the history and evolution of a custom is half the fun. Especially when winter hits the North country, and looking over your “album” means entertainment while the winds take the snow and put it all around.
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