Legends of Hot Rodding: The Sam Barris Custom Merc – the Other Barris Makes His Mark
The ’49 – ’51 Mercury coupe is to custom cars what the ’32 Ford highboy is to hot rods – the matchless standard-bearer of its discipline. We’ve showcased many a ’32 in this column, but the Mercury custom has been a bit neglected. To make amends, we will focus on the ’49 Merc that was bought new, then customized by Sam Barris.
Most of you are familiar with the name Barris, as in George, possibly the most famous customizer of the era. His brother Sam was no slouch either and worked side-by-side with his sibling in the early years to pull off many a metal miracle. The Barris brothers were born in Chicago in the early 1920s. Sadly, their parents passed away when they were mere were toddlers and the pair were sent to live with relatives in Roseville, California, near Sacramento.
When the duo were teenagers, the family (Greek restauranteurs) presented George and Sam with a ramshackle 1925 Buick in need of repair. The boys launched into the project with gusto – they tweaked the car’s aesthetics, hammered the body into shape, and painted its newly smoothed exterior.
When World War II commenced, Sam joined the Navy and George tried out for the Merchant Marine in Los Angeles. George’s marine duty didn’t materialize, and when Sam was discharged in LA in 1945, he tracked down his brother and together they opened Barris Kustoms in 1946.
In late 1948 Sam bought the 1949 Mercury Coupe, new off a dealer’s lot. He sold his ’40 Merc to pay for it. He drove it daily for a little while, all the while scheming how to improve its profile. The first hurdle was chopping the top, not an easy task on a car already boasting a flowing countenance. The chop commenced in 1950 at the Barris shop on Atlantic Blvd. in LA, and hot-rod historians agree it was one of the first Merc coupes to ever be chopped.
Sam lowered the lid 4-inches, disposed of the drip rails, and rounded the door corners, while retaining the B-pillars’ upright posture. Chopped cars are an ingress and egress ordeal, best left to 12-year-old female Romanian gymnasts., few of which are hot rodders. Thus, Sam ingeniously cut off the seat tracks and hardware and secured the seat frame directly to the floor.
A multitude of additional mods poured from Sam’s fertile mind and trusty torch. He removed the door dogleg to create fadeaway front fenders, which amplified the car’s already sleek body line. The front fenders were molded directly to the grille surround, forming a symmetrical opening.
Other tricks included frenched headlights, a custom floating grille bar, custom taillights, shaved door handles, filled grille seams, custom fender skirts, and erasing all extraneous emblems and trim, save for the modified 1948 Buick side molding. The finishing touch? A sensual deep metallic green hue was applied.
Sam Barris unveiled the car at the 1951 Oakland Roadster Show. It earned runners-up honors in the full custom class. Not sure how disappointed Barris was, since the interior was unfinished. Not a stitch of upholstery! Soon thereafter, the interior was completed in white Fabrilite (a DuPont brand name for vinyl-coated fabrics) accented with green piping to match the exterior. A more-modern Mercury Monterrey steering wheel was the cabin closer. 
With Barris Kustoms already on the media’s radar it was no surprise when Sam’s Merc found its way onto the pages and cover of the December 1951 Motor Trend.
(Side note: Tom Medley, who shot many features for Hot Rod and Motor Trend, once recalled the unique approach Barris would use to achieve a perfect ride height. When Barris would arrive for the shoot, a really big guy would tag along. As the lensman finalized the composition, the oversized sidekick would fold himself into the trunk. That extra ballast would lower the car into the preferred stance.)
Sam kept the Merc briefly before selling it in 1951. It changed hands several times over the years, eventually ending up in New Jersey before current owner and collector John Mumford purchased it in the early-2000s. It’d been slightly changed from its original form so Mumford had Roy Brizio’s team perform one of their flawless restorations, with paint by Darryl Hollenbeck at Vintage Color Studio.
In 2015, seven notable ’49 – ’51 Merc customs were chosen for a leadsled shootout at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – Mercurys on the Lawn – and Sam’s Merc was among the magnificent seven. It placed second, behind the well-regarded 1951 Hirohata Merc, another Barris creation.
Classiccars.com Journal was at Pebble Beach that day and had this to report: “People were blown away by how good the car looked. These custom cars were something special in their era. Part of it was the skill it took to build a really good car, and when someone got it really right, like Barris, the car became absolutely elegant.”
Esteemed designer Harry Bradley once said, “The ’49 Mercury was the perfect car, just waiting for the torch.” And in the hands of Sam Barris, that torch created magic.
