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Topic starter
06/06/2021 9:43 am
Thank you, Sun Star for bringing me back to my teens. This '56 Mercury Montclair is almost identical to my first car. Replace the Persimmon Red with Carousel Red and replace the 312 engine with a 368 Lincoln V8 and it's exactly what I remember. Of course I ditched the skirts and full wheel covers for 'baby moons' and nosed the hood.... it's just what you did back then.
Frank Kocour and Frank Kocour reacted
06/06/2021 10:12 am
awesome presentation.... thanks!
06/06/2021 10:13 am
Did you put the Lincoln engine in it?
06/06/2021 10:29 am
I remember your posting pictures of your 1/1. IMO hardly a misspent youth as that's what we did back in the day.
Topic starter
06/06/2021 10:38 am
@jack-dodds I bought the car used in 1963. My father brought it home wheezing with a blown head gasket. My father had me disassemble the engine down to the short block and clean the gunk out of the engine with Varsol (now a known carcinogen). Grind the valves by hand (good for blisters and callouses), got the heads milled and then took the 4bbl carb apart. I replaced the plugs, points, rotor and cap. While I was manually reaming out the break cylinders, my old man was out buying those old car manuals and shaking his head. Finally he comes to me and says, "Guess what? You got a 368 Lincoln in there."
One more anecdote: When my father brought the car home wheezing and smoking, what struck me was the tires were ballooned like a cartoon car. It turned out the dealer had given me 4 bald tires that had new tread cut into them. When he took out on the Parkway, all 4 ballooned but somehow didn't blow. Well needless to say my driving was delayed about 4 months and drained whatever money I had left. LOL
06/06/2021 12:13 pm
@rich-sufficool Thanks for this background story Rich; very interesting. Incredible that the dealer would pull off that dangerous nonsense with "retreading" bald tires. Regarding the engine; do you think this was an option for the 56 Merc or that someone had replaced the original engine at some point?
06/06/2021 12:15 pm
Absolutely 101% great memories that you've shared with us. Thank-you Richard ! I'm gonna spend my Sunday thinking about my car adventures in h.s. from '67-'71 and all the time spent in the front yard under our huge shade tree 
06/06/2021 7:36 pm
A great SunStar Platinum model !
Topic starter
06/06/2021 8:01 pm
@jack-dodds There were 2 options that year: the standard 312 2bbl and a 312 4bbl.