Sam Barris Merc in the nude!

[Ron Brooks]

One of the cool things about being in a club like the Satans Angels is that sometimes we get to go to collections or shops that others might not see. In 2005 custom painter Darryl Hollenbeck invited our club to see something very special! He was about to begin the restoration of Sam Barris’s 49 Merc , had stripped the car to bare metal and thought we might like a look.What we saw was amazing and magical…..the design and metal work of Sam was just spectacular.To see workmanship this good from such an early time in customizing was a thrill I will not forget! Enjoy some photos.

This was a cool discovery , a hub cap used for clearance for the rear-end.

[Rik Hoving]

WOW… that is so neat. To be able to see this car in bare metal at this “private” showing by Daryll. It must have be amazing to see it there with the paint just removed. I remember reading about the restoration and I was really so excited about this. Also great to see the hubcaps in the trunk in bare metal. John Mumford showed me the hubcap when he showed the car at the 2009 Sacramento Autorama. I took a picture of it then, but for some reason it was to dark.. and then he closed the trunk again. SO this is really great.

Thanks for posting

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[Curt Iseli]

I never knew that about the hubcap. That’s pretty cool. I love stuff like that…when I talked to Buzzy Busman about his Chevy that Watson painted he said they used valve covers cut down and welded end-to-end to raise the driveshaft tunnel.

Great photos Ron.

[Jeff Neppl]

Great photos Ron… thanks for sharing these. That would of been really great to cruise your own custom to go look at Sams car. Also these photos further prove that this mercury was clearly not the crude cut merc that was in Marcia’s photos that were on the poster.

[Rik Hoving]

This is the photo I took of the hubcaps back in 2009. I think the flap on the left was a piece of carpet to cover it.

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[Renaud Zed Legardez]

wow ! too kool ! thanks for sharing ! i have to admit i’ve never noticed before that the lower angles of the grille cavity were rounded !

[Torchie]

Thanks for posting these pics.
Interesting to see the amount of lead work done on these cars.
Wonder when the last time the car looked like this? Was it when Sam Barris was working on it?
Torchie.

[Dave (a.k.a. rodncustomdreams)]

Jeff Neppl wrote:

Also these photos further prove that this mercury was clearly not the crude cut merc that was in Marcia’s photos that were on the poster.

Jeff – is that a pot you’re stirring? 😉 Ha, ha.

Thanks for including us in your shop tour Ron, it’s really great to see these images and imagine Sam finessing his work with the paddle and file. True craftsmanship!

Dave

Jus' creepin' along..

[Jeff Neppl]

Actually I wasn’t really trying stir because there isn’t anything left to stir in that pot. Anybody who knows anything about customs knows that this wasn’t the same car as in the poster. This merc of Sams looks like it was much more graceful and a smoother operation.

[bob tindale]

The Sam Barris Merc has no equal. Some are close. Thanks for posting this thread.

[PalleJ]

thanks for showing Ron!..this again shows that the work done in the Barris shop actuelly was pretty nice. some of you have seen my car, and it looks better than what most ‘fabricators’ do today

-palle

[Ian Gibbons]

Thanks for posting these Ron. It is incredibly cool seeing these old cars in the raw like this. It was awe inspiring to stand next to Palle’s Jack Stewart car at the GNRS and I imagine it must have been equally cool to see Sam’s car.

[KingKustoms]

Always fun to see where the great customizers did their work and how they approached a chop

Robert A. Radcliffe III
King Kustoms

[John Ryan]

I’ve never seen these pics before, thanks for sharing!!!!

~John

[Stephen Gotz]

Very cool pics indeed and great to see this car in this state, thanks for sharing!

[Author]

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