1951 Mercury 2 Door Coupe

Up for sale is a 1951 Mercury 2 door coupe. This is one of those cars that every true hot rodder wants in his collection. The “’51 Merc”. This car is an original South American car and has the original flathead engine and original column shift 3 speed manual transmission with dual exhaust. The car has power front disc brakes and rear drum brakes. It has manual steering manual windows. This car has been lowered 4 inches with new wheels, shaved door and trunk handles, restored interior and paint (10+ years old) and a lot of suspension upgrades. It has 12 volt conversion as well as the kilometer to MPH conversion on the speedometer. There is a long story to this car being 65 years old and presents itself well as a rust free car. It is an original steel body car. The body is untouched. It has not been chopped. This car has a clean PA title in hand. It was titled as a 1949 Mercury, but is a 1951 body. (This is still a mystery to everyone I ask but should not be a concern)

This is a unique car with a great story. It is originally a South American heater delete Mercury, but found its way to southern California in the 90s where it went through a restoration with some hot rod modifications. This is where most of the mods were completed including but not limited to lowering the car 4 inches, suspension and power brake upgrades, shaving the door and trunk handles, 12 volt conversion of the entire car including gauges, radio, windshield wipers and new wiring harness. In addition, 4 new wheels were purchased to accommodate the disc brakes up front. The car also had a factory heater installed to accommodate those chilly California mornings and nights. The car was driven in California for more than 8 years.

The owner of the car in California entered some rough financial times in the late 90s or early 2000s and sold the car to a friend in Philadelphia, who stored the car in a warehouse for a decade. In Philadelphia, the car was repainted the charcoal gray, the interior was redone including painting the dash, and there were new tires put on the car. The car was not driven at all in the 10 years it was stored in the warehouse in Philadelphia.

I bought the car 3 years ago from that Philadelphia gentlemen and put it on the road made it roadworthy. I have been driving it to car shows and around on the weekends for fun. To make it roadworthy, the car needed a ton of tweaks. Those included an alignment, all the fluids drained, new spark plugs, a new choke and adjusted the carburetor. We adjusted the linkage of the manual column shift to make sure that it was aligned and lubed it as well as the entire car. We also adjusted the panel fit to get the doors, trunk and hood aligned properly and completed the door actuated poppers which work perfectly. Panel fit is pretty good considering the car is 65 years old. I bought a lot of original parts to complete the car including door trim and garnish moldings, vent window handles, inside door handles and installed them. There are a ton of hours of labor in this car over the past three owners, as well as a lot of money in upgraded parts or original OEM parts, not to mention the time it takes to find them.

Here are all the specifics to the car in bulleted form:

1951 Mercury – South American rust free car (titled as a 1949 but body is a 1951) This was always a bit of a mystery. Clean PA Title.

Style 9M72 Body NO 15816

9CM*-*65058*

Body:

· Body has Solid Steel all around

· New chrome tail light housings and lenses – all original

· Re-chromed bumpers, horn ring & tail light surrounds by Frankford Plating

· Lights are frenched in.

· Door and trunk handles are shaved with actuated door poppers installed. Controlled from a key fob.

· Paint is shiny but has a few bubbles and cracks in gutters and top of fenders. Remainder of the car body is straight and without damage or dents. The paint is approximately 10 years old so it shows some age (not perfect)

Interior:

· Original Radio converted to solid state AM/FM/CD, 12 volt, etc.

· Was heater delete – All original heater system installed

· Ron Francis Wiring fuse block with new custom harness

· Original Cluster reworked by Auto Instruments (and Speedo converted from kilometers to miles)

· Seats and door panels all look great with gray and white vinyl door panels

Mechanical:

· J&M Enterprises (Jamco) Deluxe ride kit:

· 4” reduction in OEM ride height

· Generation II Front Sway Bar

· Deluxe Rear Leaf Kit with 4” reduction in OEM ride height

· Dual Chamber Master Cylinder w/booster kit

· King Pin to Ball Joint Conversion

· Disc Brake conversion on Front brakes

· New center link & idler arm kit

· New custom wheels from Stockton wheel to accommodate new disk brakes

· 2 -15x7 OEM 50N4.5 @4.25” & 2 15x7 OEM 50N5.5 @4.25”

· New radial tires

· New 12 Volt wiper systems

· Correct repro serial number tag & data plate from AE

· Dual exhaust out the sides in front of the rear wheel (sounds great)

· Original flathead engine and transmission – runs great

· Many, many correct replacement parts – not reproduction

· Manuals and pictures of the California restoration included

Bottom line:

This is a very nice car that still needs a few final tweaks as there are items that are not perfect or need completed. It is the perfect car for the guy that wants to finish completing and customizing the car their way while being able to drive it on the road. I’m selling the car because I would like to take a Merc and resto mod the entire drive train. This car is way too together and functional to rip the body off and drop it on a new chassis with a new fuel injected crate engine.

There are still items to complete on the car including:

· Install rebuilt radio

· Connect all gauges in dash

· Install windshield wipers

Contact Carl @ 717-645-7771