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29/08/2021 9:51 am
I learned about this from another die cast car board.
I did a bit of research on the car.
The cost of the customizing (not counting the engine swap ) was $3,500. In today's money that would be $36,057, still a bargain based upon what radical body work costs these days.
The engine swap from a flat head was done a year later in 5 days and then the car was driven 2,500 miles to be in a custom show. The engine was a brand new 1953 Cadillac overhead valve V8, Dick Lyon of Lyon Engineering did the engine switch. The clutch was taken from a Ford truck, and the flywheel came from an Olds the 3-speed transmission is Merc.
The car sold in 1955 for $4,900, the equivalent of $49,218.49 in today's money. Based upon current prices that would be a bargain today.
A customizing shop was asked, in 2007, what it would cost to clone this Merc. Here is their answer, "On our Barris clone, we figure we have over 3000 hours. . . . that would be about $300,000 labor. Now figure in 8 k interior, about 4 K plating, and about 20 k in parts. The is not counting the engine swap,
One can only guess what the restoration cost.
It will be interesting to see what it sells for at the Mecum Kissimmee, Florida auction. I'm guessing close to $1MM
https://www.collierautomedia.com/emerald-icon-from-a-lost-era-the-saga-of-the-hirohata-mercury
Here's some info on the restoration.
Here are the specs:
https://www.motortrend.com/features/hrdp-9809-jim-mcniels-1951-mercury-custom/
30/08/2021 11:30 am
Saw this Mercury at the Oakland Museum of Art, around 1990, for a special Cars of California exhibit. The exterior was done and the windows were fogged to hide the incomplete interior. It was sitting right next to Billy F. Gibbons Cadzilla, a newly completed '48 or '49 Cadillac radical custom. Both were, and are, outstanding examples of the custom craft.
John Kuvakas and John Kuvakas reacted