Merc taillights for my 47 Ford
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Hey everybody new to the group. I’ve been picking away at my 47 Ford coupe for a few years now. I snagged a set of 49 Merc taillights after seeing the Bill Ortega coupe on this site. I’m fairly new to this so I’m learning as I go, but what would be the best way to make the mounting platforms for these Merc taillights?
I’ll take a stab at this, Kristopher.
I see two ways forward.
Attach the stock Mercury units onto the fender.
Or, french the lenses, recessed into the fender.
Either way, starting with stiff paper templates, fashion a metal base plate with holes to accommodate attachment studs and wiring.
Again, for both, shape a template, then probably 20 gauge into a surround. By welding the surround to the plate, you then have a “bucket” to hold the Merc piece.
The divergence comes in how deep you make the bucket. For the stock Merc unit, option one, trim the bucket to the contour of the hole you cut in the fender. For this option you can weld bucket to fender for a smooth opening. Or, (always options), bend round rod as a surround to give the fender opening some definition. (Rob Radcliffe recently demonstrated this on a 49-50 Ford tail light treatment.)
The difference between the above, and a frenched lense only, would be to shape the bucket to the lense outline, and then shape the rod for the fender surface “frenching” to slightly smaller than the lense. This time the bucket isn’t welded to either the fender or the round rod. Instead, studs need to be welded onto the back side of the fender, and “ears” created onto the bucket, with holes matching the new fender studs, so the bucket can be bolted into place from the backside.
Just my musings!
Larry
If you check back through “Torchie’s new project” on this forum, you can find how he used an aftermarket bucket…I believe made back in the day by Butch’s Rod Shop…to add intact original Mercury tail light assemblies to his 49 Dodge project car.
This is how I did it on my 49 Dodge Coronet.
I had the benefit of a set of pre made buckets. Not made any more as I understand it.
But wouldn’t be hard to duplicate.
I set the bucket to the depth I wanted then trimmed away the excess. 1/8 round rod to give them a bit of a lip to flare.
I am running them horizontal. as the Mercs did.
1 inch up from the gravel pan.
I had some pics of them installed but can’t locate them right now.
Follow Larry’s advice and you will be fine.
Be sure to post up some pics.
Torchie
Found some pics of the Merc tail lights mocked in.
Mine are more recessed than the ones on the white car.
You may have to make some sort of pods for them to attach too.
Torchie.
Those pics help a lot thanks. I work at a sheet metal shop so getting something like that cut and bent up shouldn’t be too hard.
Found some pics of the Merc tail lights mocked in. Mine are more recessed than the ones on the white car. You may have to make some sort of pods for them to attach too. Torchie.
Now that I found a pair of buckets. What did you do to determine the opening on the fender?
I recommend a pair of paper templates in the oval form of the bucket.
Then lay out a grid on each fender, so as you lay them up onto the fender surface, you can keep right and left sides at the same height and distance outward from the trunk lid line.
With tape tabs, place the templates onto the fenders.
Stand back and eyeball it, shift their locations until it looks “right” to your eye.
Then slice open those fenders and insert the buckets, at whatever depth you wish in “frenching”.
Larry has it right.
It is up to you to determine how deep you want them.
If you look at my pictures the ones with the blue tape are just mock ups.Thats how I came up with what worked for me.
Keep moving forward on it.
And post up some pictures as you go.
Torchie
You are getting it.
Take your time.
Be glad it’s not wood as you just can’t weld another piece on there.
Keep at it. We are here to help…
Torchie
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