There are so many interesting subcultures within the car community that have made their mark on our great hobby. Coming to us from one of these genres, the Kustom Kamp, is this kool 1955 Mercury Monterey. Loaded with all the custom touches made famous in the little pages of 50s car magazines, this Merc is up for sale here on Craigslist and is located in West Virginia. Slathered in Raven black paint, this killer kustom can be yours for $8,500. Thank you so much to the fine eye of Mitchell G for sending this in!
So many fads have arisen and faded away in the car scene. From the van craze to the Carolina Squat, people have used their cars and trucks to make a personal statement in many different creative ways. One of the earliest subcultures to emerge in the car scene was the custom, or Kustom (or Kemp, if you’re really hip), culture. People have been customizing their cars since the invention of the automobile, but it really became a scene after WW2. Folks were chopping tops, sectioning bodies, nosing, decking, frenching, and doing everything possible to make their artistic vision come alive.
This has to be one of the most infuriating ads I have ever seen. The only info we get is that this is a “V8”. Cool! But, who built this car? Is it a vintage build, or new? What kind of mods were done to this car besides the obvious? Regardless, the pics we get are decent, and we know that with a good wash, this car should present nicely. The V8 appears to be the stock Y-block with some chrome valve covers and a single carb. The rolls and pleats interior fits the car perfectly and looks like it is in good shape. Taking a close look at the pics, we can see the car has the following kustom touches: frenched antenna, cutom tube grill with a roll pan and front bumper deleted, quad headlights added with fender extensions (anyone know where these headlights are from?), rear fenders have been reshaped with new tail lights (anyone know which car these are from?), and it looks like the rear bumper has been tucked. Nice touches on this kemp.
As time continues to march on, and the styles change, I hope we never forget the kustoms. For my money, this is one of the more interesting subcultures in the car scene, and I think it is not spoken of enough. So much work is poured into these cars to make them sleek and clean, and I worry that these skills and styles will be lost to time. So, for those of you that clicked on this, I hope you take a few moments to recognize the work that went into this car and understand how cheap $8500 is for this Merc. And I hope that you help keep the kemps alive!
I try and start these on a positive note. Some feel it’s their duty to pee on ones parade, and I feel sorry for those folks. I only hope we can get through THIS one with a minimum of guff.
I love it, and hard to tell, I say and older build, as not many do this today. I believe the 1958 Lincoln headlights were the choice for many a hot rod. I remember rusted Lincolns( not many) in junkyards, all with the headlights gone missing. I think not all canted hot rod headlights were Lincoln, some had Chrysler or even tilted Nash, but I’m sure many were fabricated. This is a pretty wild custom,headlights, side pipes, interior, spots( fake or real is ok), grill and front, shaved door handles, skirts, fuzzy dice, lowered, all that’s missing is the twin antennas, and some kind of wheel covers, I suggest Olds spinners.
I was saddened by some folks reaction on the Ford a while back, I was taught to respect history, not make fun of it, and cars like this were just the coolest, an awesome find.
Totally agree, Howard!
I mostly agree with you here. I’m not dissing the build (a custom is a reflection of the builders personal taste after all) but, IMHO, I’d lose (please people! It’s a single O not loose!) the spotlights. Go to all the trouble of shaving the door handles and rolling the pans only to plop some clunky spots on the A pillars? Also, the cliche fuzzy dice would be the first into the bin.
This looks like a good build that still has plenty of room for the next owner to express themselves with a lot of the heavy work done.
This is a great write up and find Dusty and Mitchell G. This looks like a lot of work went into it. And the glossy black paint certainly highlights the straight body panels as well. The white interior sure compliments the black exterior. I agree with Howard, a set of Olds spinners would really look just right on this Merc. That and more period correct width white walls as well, it would really dress up the black paint as well. Very nice. But like Dusty said, a little more info would go a long way here in the ad.
-Dave
And a few more pictures not taken by a drone. Would like to see what was done to the rear end.
This is very cool and ready to be refreshed and updated into a modern hot rod! I love it.
“Slathered” = spread or smear (a substance) thickly or liberally.
I think that the tail lights are from a Mercury of around the same vintage. May even be the entire rear quarters.
I agree on the Lincoln headlights. Back in the day you could buy fiberglass vertical quad units that you glassed onto your car. Whichever was used the way they stick out it almost looks like they were added onto the the original headlight areas rather than removing some material and integrating them more into the existing body lines.
The side trim almost looks like ’53 Buick Skylark but could be most anything.
Not much info on the add, be nice to know milage and work done. What’s the engine , 292 or 312 etc.
All it needs is a set of baby moons.
With everything they did to this car and they can’t even get $8,500 that is pretty sad. I would put the car back to factory original. They ruined the look of the car by removing all of the original chrome. that was what set the car off. Why put side pipes on any car and make them fake might as well run the exhaust through the side pipes instead of have them for looks and not use them it’s a waist of money and time and material.
Well, here you have it folks, the smoking gun as to our attitudes today.I’m not calling Steve out, but his attitudes are very typical of todays classic car visions are, and proof positive, you can never go home again. It bums me out that people like Steve missed out on some of the best times, we can’t even begin to describe with a mere custom car. It’s okay, Steve, I never did the “Charleston” either, but some things to us are sacred, for another couple years, anyway.