Memo Ortega Stories Part 26

MEMO’S 51 MERCURY FINISHED

Memo Has been working on his personal 51 Mercury for many years. In the last couple of weeks Memo was finally able to get all the loose ends taken care of and apart from having a complete clean up and polish session… Memo’s 1951 Mercury can now be called Finished.

 
[box_light]Memo Ortega is a well known name in the SoCal Custom Car and LowRider Scene, but perhaps not as well known as it should be. Memo has been working on custom cars and Low Riders since the early 1950’s. He became good friends with Custom Car Icon Gil Ayala, and in the late 1950’s he even bought Gil’s famous 1942-46 Ford Coupe as a persona driver. Today, in 2015, 80 years young, Memo is still chopping tops, and any other custom car work you can think of from, his garage work-shop. Check out more of the Memo Ortega Stories in the Memo Ortega Files on the CCC[/box_light]
 
 

In the Memo Ortega Stories 20 and 21 we have already shared the early stages of Memo’s personal 1951 Mercury project. The car has been almost finished for quite some time. But there were a few things that still needed to be done. The most important and the things that in the end made it to take a while to get done were; new chrome on a lot of the parts and a new rear window. The chrome was a matter of saving money and get the parts done over a period of time Rafael H. Chrome from the Best Polishing and Chrome Shop in Pomona did an really great job on all of the Chrome parts on Memo’s Mercury. Memo has been using Rafael on several projects with great success. Each time when the new chrome came in Memo took his time to instal it on the car. In the meantime memo was keeping busy with other projects for his friends and clients.

Freshly plated rear bumper back from Rafael H. Chrome, looking good.
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Installing the freshly plated rear bumper.
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After installing the windshield and stainless it was time to get the Spotlights on. Memo had saved a set of real Appleton Spotlights for his Mercury. Feels good to have the rear thing on this Merc.
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After struggling with the rear window for a long time, getting new glass, new rubber twice, Memo and a glass guy finally were able to get it to fit. Almost done now.
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When the car had been painted and Memo started to put the car back together is came out really nice… and one thing Memo did not like was the way the old 1951 Mercury rear window glass looked. Over time it had been scratched a lot, and during the build process this was not really that noticeable. But it just looked so much out of place on the finished high gloss painted car. So Memo decided to find a replacement rear window. It took him some time to find one and to get it installed right. After many attempts the rear window was finally in place and after that it was really a matter of finishing all the small details. This article shows the first snapshot Memo and his nephew Will took of the finished Mercury parked on the front lawn…. enjoy.

 
Memo would like to thank his first born grandson Will. Without his help he could not have gotten the merc to this final stage. It was their work collaboration that made the Mercury to what it is today.
 

Modifying a set of Cadillac Sombrero hubcaps to fit the Merc’s wheels.
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Saturday November 21, 2015, first time outside as a nearly completed car. All that is left are some final cleaning and a good polish job. Congratulations Memo.
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Memo kept the stock 1951 Mercury taillights and even the chrome plated “louvered” panels on the rear quarters, and the both look so great on Memo’s Mercury. Notice how smooth the flush fitted skirts look.
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The car looks already amazing… but will look even better after a good polishing. reflections show that all the hard work prepping the body really payed off.
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Memo and Will Ortega with the Mercury on the front lawn.
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One of those things that are still on the “to-do-but-can-wait-for-now-list” is to have the dash insert all cleaned up and send out to be replated. But for now its just perfect…. And Memo just wants to have this one on the road and start cruising it. 
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Interior in dark blue and white traditional style tuck & roll fits the deep dark blue painted body really well.
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The new scratch free tinted rear window looks really great on the car, and so does the upholstered package shelf.
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Go to Part 27 of the Memo Ortega stories.
Go back to Part 25.
 
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