1951 HIROHATA MERC - A California Classic
In the 1950's, Los Angeles was a great place to be a gear head. The weather is warm most of the year. Gas was $0.20 a gallon and car culture was in full bloom. This was before the glut of government regulations that hit in the early 70's. This was when custom and speed shops were springing up all over the city. Bob Hirohata took his 1951 Mercury to one of these shops in 1952.
The Barris Bros. were already making a name for themselves, producing wild exotic customs out of their Lynwood CA location. Bob brought his car to them with the intent to build a full custom ride. One of the first ideas was to turn it into a hard top, using a design for the side windows similar to a previous project, Nick Matranga's 1940 Mercury, one of the earliest Barris customs. More ideas were sketched out by George Barris, then it was decided to finish it in time to show it at the upcoming 1952 Motorama.
The roof features a 4" chop in the front and a 7" chop on the rear. The beltline was reshaped so as to flow with the '52 Buick side trim. A functional side scoop was shaped from the rear fenders and adorned with three '52 Chevy grille teeth. Custom rear fenderskirts were made and the wheel openings were flared out all around. The headlights and '52 Lincoln taillights were frenched, and a new grille was crafted from three '51 Ford grilles, surrounded by a hand formed front end. The drivetrain was replaced by Lyon Engineering, using a Cadillac motor,with a clutch from a Ford and a flywheel from an Oldsmobile. In order to make the Motorama deadline, the interior was done by 2 shops, Gaylord's and Carson Top Shop, with custom plastic knobs made by Hirohata. The finishing touch is a pinstriped dashboard by Von Dutch. It's interesting to think they took a one year old car, and using what were brand new factory parts at the time, created this heavily modified, one-of-a-kind vehicle. Also of note, is that Bob used this car as his daily driver for the remainder of the decade, until he sold the car in 1959 after picking up several show trophies and kudos along the way. After Bob sold the car, it's history sounds like that of an aging starlet. Time and mileage were already taking it's toll by the time a teenage Jim McNiel found it in 1960, neglected and sitting in a used car lot for $900. The custom scene had cooled off, people's taste had changed, and the car was in dire need of a rebuild. Jim bought it for $500 and drove it until 1964, when he put it into storage in his garage and moved on to other cars.
Fast forward to 1989. In the intervening years, an appreciation for the car had arose. Due to it's high exposure during it's heyday in magazines and even a movie, the car itself had become somewhat famous as the "Hirohata Merc". Bob Hirohata however, had been killed in an execution style murder in 1981. The case was never solved, but fate was about to give his old car a new lease on life. Through a mutual accountant, Pat Ganahl, an editor for Rod & Custom magazine, was put in touch with Jim McNiel, and convinced him that it was time to do right by the car. So began a nine year process of restoring the vintage custom, something he had planned on doing eventually, but hadn't felt compelled to do. Since the car had been stored inside a garage for the last 25 years or so, there weren't any major rust problems, and aside from a few bumps and dents, the body was in pretty good shape. The mechanicals were where the most work was needed, with Jim doing most of the work himself over seven years. Then history repeated itself, and the car found itself facing another deadline to make it into a show. So Jim enlisted outside help, including some former Barris employees who worked on the car when it was originally built, finishing the paint job in less than a week. One week later, the Merc was headed north to it's Sept 21, 1996 debut re-appearance at the Oakland Museum.
Personally, I think that the clean, uncluttered look they chose for the car, is one of the main reasons the car is still popular today. A lot of the customs from this era, could be hideous, with gaudy overblown designs that show their age. Yet the Hirohata Merc's stylish understated class remains timeless and iconic.
Shown here is my 3D rendition of this custom classic, and funnily enough, the story sounds familiar. I had been working on this model on an off for about a year or so. I have a bad habit of not finishing off my 3d projects. However, in order to include it for this article. I have to (gasp) finish it. So I too will probably find myself working on it until the eleventh hour, trying to meet a deadline. And even then…..
If you would like to find out more about this car or see pictures of the original build and rebuild process, here are some links to sites I used when researching this car.
Beautful work Stu!!
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