Pot O’Gold Customs Blends the Rules with this Custom 1951 Mercury
The practice of customizing cars has always been a way of making your vehicle stand out from the pack. Through the years, however, certain standard practices have made some customs look a little homogenized. When Shannon Manley at Pot O’Gold Customs started this 1951 Mercury project for customer Zack Hughes, both men wanted to break some of those rules and stray from the conventional Mercury mods, while still maintaining a traditional custom style.
Some standard custom Merc elements – the chopped top, for example – were still desired, though Shannon says the previous chop required some correcting to make it look right and flow properly. Beyond that, they resisted common mods like frenching the headlights, rounding the hood corners, or even shaving the hood or trunk lid. Heck, they even left the door handles on the car!
That said, there are still plenty of custom touches, starting with the ’52 DeSoto grille which, unlike many customs, retains its original ends that wrap around the front fenders. Shannon also removed the overriders from the bumpers, shaved the rocker moldings, and frenched the original Merc taillight lenses into the rear quarters. The eventual color of choice for the modified sheet metal – Axalta European Gray – is subtler than the hue found on most customs.
Underneath the body, Shannon again diverged from the common traditional custom path, ditching the original frame for a new Roadster Shop chassis that provides a modern IFS, rack-and-pinion steering, adjustable air springs, and Baer disc brakes. The frame was powder coated red to match the eventual interior color, and it got up and rolling on a set of True Spoke wire wheels shod in Coker wide whitewall radial rubber.
Under the hood of the ground scrapping 1951 Mercury you’ll find a 383c.i. stroker small-block Chevy V8 from BluePrint Engines. It’s fitted with Holley Sniper EFI on an Edelbrock intake and uses Patriot headers to send fumes through a custom exhaust with Smithy glasspack mufflers. The 700R4 transmission is controlled by a tall swan-neck Lokar shifter.
The inside remains true to custom tradition. The stock dash has been restored and outfitted with Dakota Digital instruments in the original insert, with a Speedway Motors steering column topped by a Merc wheel. Bucket seats from a ’67 Impala were separated with a ’64 Mercury Comet console and stitched in red rolls and pleats by Big O Fabrications using Moore & Giles leather. Vintage Air helps keep things cool.
“We wanted to do something timeless and make a statement,” Shannon says, and the results demonstrate they achieved that objective. Yes, Zack’s custom is a traditional chopped custom 1951 Mercury, but it’s one that stands out from the sea of others built through the years.
Photos by John Jackson and Todd Ryden
