What you are looking at is the chassis of a 1949 Mercury–we’re not sure if it’s moving under it’s own power or not, but a lot of the work has been completed. This is one of those partially finished projects that will provide both the thrill of finding something previously restored and the agony of missing parts. It’s located in Southampton, Pennsylvania and is listed for sale here on eBay, where bidding is quite low but there is a $7,000 buy it now if you want to go ahead and pull the trigger.
Here’s the body shell, which conveniently comes with the rotisserie lift it’s currently mounted on. Pricing those alone looks like they go for about $1,000, possibly more with the hydraulic option seen here. The shell itself has rust only in the trunk, and a patch panel is included for that area.
The body shell certainly looks clean and straight in these pictures; there’s no way to hide things when it’s in bare metal! The body was soda blasted to get to this point.
That shiny black frame has been painted with POR15 after having been stripped. The seller tells us that the front bumper is newly rechromed, the gas tank is new and that the transmission has new bearings installed. Unfortunately, they don’t tell us anything about the engine, but the seller’s phone number is in the eBay listing so you can easily call and ask any questions you might have.
Which direction would you take this car? Seeing as the only part the seller says is missing is the dashboard, there’s no easy excuse to turn it into a restomod like the drive train is missing. On the other hand, if you are looking for value, a four door non-customized 1949 Mercury probably isn’t going to bring a lot of money. On the other hand, when was the last time you have seen a nice one? Please tell me what you would do if this car showed up on your doorstep! Thanks!
Interesting project. Alot of these 1949 Mercs were converted into lead sleds and the project is at a point that if you decided to go in that direction, it’s not a bad time to do it.
Looks like a car for a big man….
That should be Sylvester Stallone sitting in that drivers seat, can you say “COBRA”.
Too many doors
Lead Sled rules allow for 4 door donors. Here are some examples:
#2
#3
I like lead sleds! I also like these Mercs in their original form. It would be a real conundrum for me if I bought it, one I’d probably resolve by doing it up in factory-fresh form.
But there would always be the temptation to give it a shave, paint it in some wild Kustom Kar scheme, and lever something appropriately noisy and powerful into the engine bay!
I’d need TWO of these!
I was just sitting here thinking the EXACT same thing!
Looks like a nice base to go either stock or custom
I feel for the guy! And a lift included! But wheres the dash? Probably in the pile. If you had the space and were young enough, ie had the time on your meter, this would be a doable project, On the other hand, if you’ve been around long enough you know this outcome is all too predictable.and unless you’re trying to hide from the wife in the garage for the next ten years, probably a pass.
Crazy bout a Mercury!
Great looking cars either customized or restored to original. There is an original 1951 Merc right down the street from me here in Yuma. He wants 21K for it. Looks fantastic, but again, who has 21K sitting around? I sure don’t. The cars themselves are smaller than the pictures project. Always thought they were bigger, but that was just my own preconceptions?
Reggie White had a Chopped top Merc under construction at the time of his passing. Powered by a multicam Lincoln Navigator motor. His bucket seat was moved about 8 inches to the rear. After a couple of years, sports announcer JB bought it. Don’t know if it was ever finished.
I saw so many lead sleds over the years that I literally got sick of them; they were getting like belly buttons; everybody has one. You have to admit that this version of Mercury was begging to be customized but unfortunately not many of them are left because of it. Kind of like the ’32-’34 Fords. The only way to go with this one is to finish it properly. Let people know that a Mercury didn’t come from the factory with a thousand pounds of lead….
Chop it & slam it.
Bob