Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible

[Shelby#18]

Thats why I stick with White. Boring, but safe.

[mercs4fun]

Rick, you should absolutely try something else than white. For a 59 Mercury white is IMHO, well you said it, boring. There are a few really nice colors for the year that I think will make your car look so much classier. One thing is for sure, my 60 Mercury is not going to get a boring color . After looking through thousands of different color chips I finally came down to a few that I wanted to test spray, but none of them were a perfect hit, so then I had to mix colors myself, test spray, adjust the mix and after doing this over a few times I finally have the color right.

Testing colors

Getting closer

Final color mix. I have tested both acrylic base coat / clear coat paint and water based base colors and found that the acrylic base colors had a superior depth compared to the water based colors.

[mercs4fun]

Beside of working with the color for the car I have not done much to it lately. I got the valve covers and air cleaner painted tonight, but that's about it. Not much will happen in the near future either as I have a few other cars that needs my attention. But when something is going on I will of course keep you updated.

[Shelby#18]

Gry I like the new color. It will really look great. I know how other things pull us away, and look forward to your future posts.

[Theo]

Gry, keep in mind that for a true restoration color depth could get too modern w. its' 3 D appearance. The old colors were flat 2 D colors compared to the fancy modern colors. I would stick with the most authentic paint I could get. Just my opinion.

[mercs4fun]

Theo, thanks for your concern but I am not looking for the most authentic paint job on this car as I first of all want a color that was not available for the year. And even if my choice was one of the original metallic colors for 1960 the 1 stage enamel paint they used back then has been obsolete for years and years. Even when I restored my first car some 35 years ago I had a hard time to find the 1 stage enamel paint for the authentic look. The metallic paint back then wasn't a great paint and had very little shine to it, even when new. Because it had no clear coat is lost all shine shortly and looked almost like a semi gloss paint unless the owner polished the car frequently. Also the metal particles were extremely small and reflected light in a very limited way. Very few would even consider to paint a car with this type of paint today, even if it was available.

When it comes to metallic paint today there are two options available, old fashion acrylic base coat /clear coat (getting hard to find) and the common environmental friendly water based base coat / clear coat used by all paint shops today. None of these paints will ever look like the original paint, but I think the acrylic base captures the way the original paint reflects the light in a more old fashion way than the water based base coats.

For years I've been doing concourse correct restorations being extremely truthful to how the car left factory. I am done with that for a while. Call it a custom if you like, but this car will be built just like I would have ordered it from the factory.

[Theo]

I understand. Yeah, in the end it all boils down to personal taste. I'm aware of the difference of metallic colors of the past. My family had quite a few american cars back then when I grew up. You're right, the metallic flakes are a lot smaller and all newer metallic colors don't match this vibe. One of our vehicles was a dark green metallic Dart w. a black racing stripe wrapping around the trunk lid and quarter panels. Even in those days I remember the flakes being very small. I personally like those old metallic colors as they are more subtle. Off course they are technically inferior.

[mercs4fun]

It sure has been a long pause since my last post about my 60 Mercury restoration. Anyway, that does not mean that the nothing is going on here. After waiting for a long time for my engine to come back from the machine show, I finally got it back last fall. So at least I got it assembled and painted before I once again had to pause the project for a long time. Here are some pictures.

Bigger 58 valves installed in the cylinder head.

Quality control is important.

[mercs4fun]

In early spring 2015 I started the paint preparation work on the body. I first did all the bondo on the quarter panels and trunk lid and then let it rest for a few months before I continued. But before I continued I also removed the body off the frame again and put it on my lift. That makes it easier to work on the body and also no risk of getting over spray on the frame.

Lots of work

Epoxy primer and two layers of polyester filler done

Finally time for primer.

Clean and nice fenders

Two days later

I like to paint the underside of the fenders in a color similar to the original red-brown factory primer.

[mercs4fun]

While the body is off the frame again I have also installed the engine, transmission and new exhaust system.