The Ohanesian 1940Mercuryhad the two fundamental ingredients of a deliver the goods custom car : good design sentiency and quality workmanship . In the early daylight of customizing , many cars had one but not the other .
Some car looked great from a distance , but close examen revealed sloppy metalworking with an excess of lead filler . These cars prompted the then - derogatory term " leadsled . " Other cars had quality bodywork , but ungainly proportions and flakey styling detail .
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This breathtaking 1940 Mercuryconvertiblesedan , originally built for Harold " Buddy " Ohanesian of Sacramento , acquire it all right . The labor was start in 1943 , and build gradually as Ohanesian drove the car in between customizing sessions .
Harry Westergard performed some of the restyling , then Ohanesian ’s high school buddy Dick Bertolucci aim over .
The hood and front buffer were reshaped to live with a 1946Chevygrille . Initially , the lineage Mercury headlight bezels were painted body color , but by the mid fifties the gondola skylark frenched headlamp with an attractive " cove " on their lower edges .
The windshield was hack four inches , with the vent windows and clip cut down to match . All of the stock chrome trim was off , along with the threshold handles . The room access latch were modified to operate by pushbutton electric solenoids mounted in the running boards .
A 1940Packardprovided the teardrop rear fender chick . The rearward fenders were molded to the body , along with the taillights and rear dab cooking pan from a 1942Ford .
Both bumpers were sourced from a 1942 Chevy , and the rearward one was modified with molded - in exhaust outlets . The rear license plate was French into the decklid and mounted behind a man of glass – a limiting that police occasionally glower upon at the sentence .
All of the body limiting are telling , but the highlight of the car is the beautifully contoured steel top . It was helping hand - take form by Bertolucci , who utilized the front half of a 1946Chryslertop , the back half of a 1941Buickroof , and his considerable malleus - welding and metal - fiction skills .
The top is obliterable , but the seams are so fuddled and the shapes so fluid that it come out to be a upstanding part of the car . The caudex trunk opening was tailor down and the rear of the body significantly vamp to accommodate the new top .
The car was severely lower in back with a C’d frame and de - bowed rearward spring with reversed eyes and longsighted shackles . A steel plate was mounted under the gas tankful to protect it from highway bumps . A dropped axle and straight spring brought the front ride height down .
in spite of appearance , a 1947 Cadillac dashboard was installed , along with custom upholstery . Under the tough , a 1946 Mercury flathead was put in to supply the power .
Buddy relied on the Merc as his daily machine driver for several years , even using it as a tow fomite for his 1933 Ford coupe Bonneville racing car . The automobile was then stored until the early 1970s , when it was acquired and partially refurbished by Louie Martin and Dennis Nash of Sacramento .
Ed Hegarty bought the car in about 1975 , and had a more thorough restitution performed in time for an exhibit of historic live rods and customs at the Oakland Museum in 1996 .
The Mercury also appeared at the fiftieth day of remembrance of the Sacramento Autorama in 2000 , where Bertolucci was an honored detergent builder , and at the first viewing of customs at thePebble Beach Concoursin 2005 .
