1950 Mercury Custom

Concept for this came from an old chopped and sectioned 1951 Mercury that I saw at Kit Carson Park in Escondido, California the Saturday before Elvis Presley passed away which was on Tuesday August 16th, 1977. I was drawing custom Mercury’s on typing paper with color pencils when my great Aunt came into the house crying that afternoon after just hearing on the radio that Elvis was dead. The rest of that day we sat before the TV watching the stories and listening to the radio… and I kept drawing as I was too young to understand what Elvis meant to her. (I wish I had my drawings today but they are long gone now)

Basically that Merc I saw that prior weekend was a radical custom but it was unique in that it kept all the stock factory trim upon it with a simple dark blue paintjob. This wasn’t Kustom — it was custom. (and there is a difference!) The owner ran a set of (then current era) new Lincoln Mark V wheels (and tires) instead of mag wheels or traditional wheel caps with big whitewalls. This concept is just a salute to the clean custom he built as I remember it and with a few enhancements of my own.