Rob Ida 1940 Mercury

ROB IDA 1940 MERCURY

In the works at Rob Ida’s Concepts is this 1940 Mercury three window coupe major restyling project for owner Jack Kiely.

 
[dropcap]Rob[/dropcap] Ida Concepts in Morganville, NJ has been working on a 1940 three window coupe custom for several years already. The project had been on halt for some time, but now the cars owner Jack Kiely asked the team to go full speed ahead on it again. Rob Ida Concept is known for its exclusive out of the box and finely crafted cars for many years. The shop is know for their series of Tucker projects which we will cover in an other article. Rob send me a couple of photos of the progress from the last couple of month. The body is not mostly shaped and the shop is working on all the finer details including the brass trim, the amazing engine, and all other hand made parts. This one will be exceptional.
 
The photos above are from 2009-10 when the shop was full force on the project. They show the car in the early staged and how much of the original body was replaced to get the desired shapes. The base car with the 1939 front end on the top left. The top right shows that the complete top was cut off and later the rear fenders were also discarded as the cardboard template shows. The two bare metal photos show the new very sleek lines of the car.
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The team at Rob Ida Concepts has been working on the Mercury for the last couple of month and has made great progress with a lot of really amazing details. The Mercury will be something completely different with a lot of Coachbuilding influences. Every part on this car is specially designed and crafter in the very well equipped shop. Rob mentioned that despite the on the floor stance on the first set of photos, the car will actually have a more speed boat style stance when done.
 
This near profile shot shows the new three window roof line really well.  And also shows the plans for the fully skirted rear and front fenders. The front skirts will steer with the wheels. The tape around the belt-line indicated the new scratch-build side trim shape.
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This more recent photo shows that the brass side trim includes the side mirror as well, once completely done the bras will be chrome plated. Its great to see the original style window trim to be part of the new design. 
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This photo does not only show the AMAING attention to detail on the engine, but also shows the unfinished brass side trim pieces. 
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The copper colored cloth wires add a wonderful early feel to the engine bay. Notice the scratch-built details as the wire loom.
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