1951 Mercury Eight Custom Chop Top, Air-ride, power disc brake, AC, Ford 460 V8

1951 Mercury Eight Custom Chop Top

Remember Hell’s Chariot, driven by Leo, leader of the bad-ass Scorpions gang in “Grease?” The one who raced Danny Zuko and Greased Lightning down the Los Angeles River and lost in the climactic scene? MotoeXotica is pleased to present a similar car, a 1951 Mercury Eight Custom Chop Top.

Originally made at Ford’s Edison Assembly plant in Metuchen, New Jersey, this car has been heavily modified from stock. Dressed in putty gray paint with stylized maroon pinstriping, the car’s paint and trim show very well, with only minor blemishes visible upon close inspection. Its tinted windows are in good shape and all vehicle lights are intact and clear. The Mercury’s body panels are laser straight, dent-free and the hood features eight rows of vents to allow engine heat to escape. Car sports a four-inch chop with a 3.5-inch slant.

Occupying the engine bay is a Ford 460 CID big-block V-8 with a four-barrel carburetor, replacing the original stock 255 CID Flathead V-8. The engine bay is clean and features many performance parts – a Griffin radiator, transmission cooler, fan and shroud, a Weiand intake manifold, competition cam, lifters and valve springs, a FAST E6 ignition, EZEFI self-tuning injection and a two-battery charging system. The engine is buttoned to an automatic transmission with floor-mounted shifter. To get in the car, you have to open the driver’s side vent window then use the interior door release; there are no exterior door handles. The Mercury’s brakes have been converted to power discs.

Inside, it has complementary and reciprocating hues, a maroon dash with stylized putty-colored pin stripes – plus putty-colored vinyl seats, split bench in front, with maroon cloth inserts over black carpet. The horn is inoperable but there are working VDO gauges within a burled plood border and flanking the two-spoke steering wheel with an image of the Roman god on the hub. A classic air-conditioning system is under the dashboard with a Pioneer AM/FM stereo above it and a pair of Kenwood speakers in the rear package shelf. Car also has a remote trunk release.

Another unique feature of this Mercury is that it has an air-ride suspension with ACCUAIR management system, with Firestone D2600 air bags and two compressor ACCUAIR EXO mounts and an Aeromotive Stealth Fuel Cell. Car rides on radial tires surrounding 15-inch steel wheels.

Within its era and beyond, the Mercury Eight was popular with customizers. In 1949, Sam Barris built the first lead sled from a 1949 Mercury Eight; the Eight became the definitive lead sled, much as the Ford V-8 (as the “deuce”) became the definitive hot rod. The Eights were among the first models to receive an aftermarket OHV engine swap, since Oldsmobile and Cadillac developed the first high-compression OHV V-8 engines in 1949, whereas Ford was still using a sidevalve engine. Sam and George Barris also used the 1949 body style to build “the most famous custom car ever,” the Hirohata Merc, for customer Bob Hirohata in 1953. Setting a style and an attitude, it had a “momentous effect” on custom car builders, appeared in several magazines at the time and reappeared numerous times since, earning an honorable mention on Rod & Custom‘s “Twenty Best of All Time” list in 1991. The Eight remains a very popular subject for car modelers.

Fiberglass replicas of the Eight, inspired by Sam Barris’ car, are still in production and are popular with custom and rod enthusiasts.

Ironically, one of the cars used in “Grease” as a Hell’s Chariot extra, has been found and was put up for sale recently – https://www.yahoo.com/movies/bp/long-lost–grease–car-is-back–for-sale-010941992.html – even more ironic is that it began life as a hardtop.

Current mileage on the odometer shows 10,513 miles. It is sold as is, where is on a clean and clear, mileage exempt Texas title. GET OUT AND DRIVE!!!

VIN: 51ME90840

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