Hirohata Merc
The Merc on display at the NHRA Museum in 2007
Overview
ManufacturerBarris Customs
Production1953
DesignerGeorge and Sam Barris
Body and chassis
Body styleClub Coupe
Powertrain
EngineMercury flathead engine
Dimensions
Wheelbasestock

The Hirohata Merc is a 1950s lead sled[1] custom car, often called "the most famous custom of the classic era".[2][3] Setting a style and an attitude, it had a "momentous effect" on custom car builders,[4] appeared in several magazines at the time[5] and has reappeared numerous times since, earning an honorable mention on Rod & Custom's "Twenty Best of All Time" list in 1991.[5] The impact may be measured by the fact that, after more than fifty years and numerous owners, it is still known as "the Hirohata Merc".[6]

Construction

Constructed in 1953 for "Bob" (Robert Masato) Hirohata,[7][8][9] it was designed and built by George and Sam Barris, assisted by Frank Sonzogni.[10][11]

After the U.S. Navy, Hirohata took a 1951 Mercury Club Coupé and a blank check to Barris Kustoms.[12] George Barris procrastinated 83 days, working on other cars, Hirohata demanded the finished car for Motorama, so the shop built the Hirohata Merc in only 14 very long days,[13] with 10 workers. George Barris said he billed Hirohata "about $3,500" ($36,500 in 2021 dollars). Hirohata told Rod & Custom that he was shocked when he got the bill, "I had to sell everything I owned and put my great aunt in hock to pay for the car, but it was worth it."[14]

It started out as a 1951 Club Coupe.[15][16] Nosed, decked, and shaved, the top was chopped four inches in front and seven inches in back,[17] and the vertical B-pillar was reshaped so that it curved forward at the top.[10] The rear window had its posts removed, and was raked steeply forward, requiring a new roof piece to be fabricated.[10] Side trim was replaced with that from a 1952 Buick (the spears),[10] augmented by grille teeth from a 1952 Chevrolet (three per side)[10] and functional scoops. The front wheels are fitted with traditional sombrero ('47-'51 Cadillac) hubcaps.[10]

Skirts were added, fitting flush.[10] Three '51 Ford grilles were used to custom-fabricate one, and the bumper was fitted with dagmars.[15][18][19]

Barris used a vee-butted windshield,[15] a very common customizers' trick in that era, rather than a one-piece windshield, which was available on the '53 Merc. He added Appleton spotlights,[10][15] frenched the headlights (which were fitted with '52 Ford rings),[10] and added '52 Lincoln Capri taillights.[20] The exhaust pipes were routed out through the rear bumper, beneath the taillights,[10] and a pair of radio antennae were frenched into the rear quarter panels.[10][21][22]

The Hirohata Merc was painted in two shades of green, a total of thirty coats,[10] which were applied by Junior Conway.[23] The interior was upholstered with tuck-and-rolled naugahyde. The dash, seats, and headliner were white with dark green inserts, matching the exterior lower body color (below the Buick spears).[10]

Later changes

Hirohata later replaced the original Mercury flathead engine with a transplanted Cadillac engine, creating the nickname "Mercillac"[24] ("merk-ill-ack"), in the fashion of rodders of the period, who in the same way created Fordillacs and Studillacs.

In 1955, the Merc made an appearance in the film Running Wild, for which it was painted gold over the original ice green.[25]

Hirohata sold the Merc, not long after the movie was released[10] and the car changed hands several times. "The Merc was repainted, sold, crashed, neglected".[12][26][27][28]

An owner, Robert Waldsmith, who used it as his daily transportation, was hit by another car, requiring repairs and new paint.[13] Another owner, Doug Kinney, was an employee of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, who repainted it lime green.[13]

In 1959, a teenager, Jim McNiel, bought it for $500, for seven years painstakingly restored it and kept the car his whole life.[12][29] McNiel used it as a daily driver for years, then placed it into storage.[10] Ultimately, McNiel restored the Merc to her original configuration.[10] The paint was done by Hershel "Junior" Conway at Junior's House of Color.

Magazine appearances

  • Hop Up March 1953
  • Hot Rod March 1953
  • Motor Trend March 1953
  • Rod & Custom October 1953 "Kross Kountry in a Kustom"[30]
  • Trend Book 109 Custom Cars 1954 Annual
  • Rodding and Re-styling January 1956
  • Trend Book 143 Restyle Your Car
  • Rod & Custom August 1989
  • Road & Track August 2004
  • Trend Book 133 Custom Cars 1957 Annual
  • The Big Book of Barris[31]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Institute, Revs (18 March 2021). "Emerald Icon from a Lost Era - The Saga of the Hirohata Mercury". Revs Automedia. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  2. ↑ Bernsau, Tim (2003-12-01). "Favorite 50 Rods & Customs". Rod & Custom. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  3. ↑ Rod & Custom, 8/89, p.12.
  4. ↑ DeWitt, John. Cool cars, high art: the rise of kustom kulture, University Press of Mississippi, 2001. ISBN 978-1578064021 , p.69.
  5. 1 2 DeWitt, p.70
  6. ↑ DeWitt, p.80
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Rod & Custom, 8/89, pp.12 & 14.
  9. ↑ Hoving, Rik. "'50s Hirohata Merc Photo's album - including article from Rod & Custom October 1953". FOTKI INC. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Jalopy Journal Accessed February 14, 2018
  11. ↑ Street Rodder, 1/85, p.111.
  12. 1 2 3 "Exploring the Hirohata Mercury, One of History's Most Famous Custom Cars". Yahoo News. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 Peek, Jeff (29 July 2020). "How Barris Kustoms built the Hirohata Mercury in only 14 days". Hagerty Media. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  14. ↑ Gross, Ken (December 27, 2021). "Car of the Week: The Hirohata Merc". Old Cars Weekly. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Barris.com Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine Accessed February 14, 2018
  16. ↑ The same body style as D'Agostino's Merc. Street Rodder, 1/85, pp.52-3.
  17. ↑ Hirohata, Bob (2004). "Kross Kountry in a Kustom". In Leah Noel (ed.). Rod and Custom in the 1950s. Motorbooks International. p. 29. ISBN 0760316309.
  18. ↑ Peek, Jeff (22 July 2020). "Thanks to Barris Kustoms, this Hirohata Mercury fueled the custom car trend". Hagerty Media. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  19. ↑ "1951 Mercury Hirohata Merc". national-historic-vehicle-register. Hagerty. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  20. ↑ They are identical to those used on D'Agostino's Merc. Street Rodder, 1/85, pp.52-3.
  21. ↑ "A 1951 Mercury Just Sold For Nearly $2 Million At Auction". Jalopnik. 18 January 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  22. ↑ Barris, George; Fetherston, David. Big Book of Barris. MotorBooks International. ISBN 978-1-61060-820-6. Retrieved 30 October 2023. Bob Hirohata proudly displays one of the trophies for his Mercury on the curb outside the parking lot where he worked in Los ...
  23. ↑ DeWitt, p.72.
  24. ↑ DeWitt, p.69
  25. ↑ Rod & Custom Magazine, 8/89, p.12.
  26. ↑ https://www.customcarchronicle.com/tag/bob-hirohata/
  27. ↑ https://www.hemmings.com/blog/tag/bob-hirohata/
  28. ↑ https://www.streetmusclemag.com/tag/bob-hirohata/
  29. ↑ Bernsau, Tim, editor. "Favorite 50 Rods & Customs" (written 1 December 2003), at Hot Rod Magazine online (retrieved 14 May 2018)
  30. ↑ DeWitt, Jack (September 1, 2009). "Cars and Culture: The Hirohata Merc — So Cool". The American Poetry Review. World Poetry, Inc. Retrieved 30 October 2023 – via Free Online Library.
  31. ↑ Kustomrama: Bob Hirohata's 1951 Mercury Accessed February 14, 2018

References

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