Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
-
- Airman First Class
- Posts: 55
- Joined: Wed 24. Dec 2008, 04:34
Re: Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
looking real good!!!
- Shelby#18
- Master Sergeant
- Posts: 366
- Joined: Fri 17. Apr 2009, 14:15
- Gender: male
- Music instruments you're playing: none
Re: Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
Gry, nice to see you back. Mine has been progressing also. I should have some photos posted soon. Hope all is well.
Rick
Rick
- mercs4fun
- Airman First Class
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Mon 16. Dec 2013, 05:25
- Gender: female
- Music instruments you're playing: Piano, Hammond B3 Organ, Synthesizers, guitars, bass, accordion.
- Contact:
Some 60 Mercury restoration details
Rick, I am doing fine and I hope you are too. I am looking forward to see some updates on your 59 Park lane as well.
Exhaust hangers
Regarding the exhaust installation, for more common cars there are reproduction exhaust hangers out there. For a 60 Mercury it is not so easy so I restored some old hangers I had. The metal was re plated and rubber replaced using rubber cut out from old tires. I also decided to go for a dual exhaust on my car, even if they only came with single exhaust that year. That means I had to order a exhaust system for a 59 Park lane and cut the rear pipes to fit the 60 as the 60 is a shorter car.
Door Hinges
On old cars the door hinges are always worn, even if you can't feel it when the hinges are off the car, they are. So there is no way getting around rebuilding them. You can search all the catalogs in the world, but no one seems to list bushings and pins for these cars, so I just order a few different types for Ford hinges, and then I use the ones I think will work the best. For these hinges the outer diameter on the brass bushings are just a little too small so just to make sure they will sit as they should I also add a very thin coat of metal glue to them when I put them in. That will for sure hold them in place.
For these hinges I ended up using the hinge bushings from the kit to the right and the pins from the kit in the middle. Original worn pins and bushings to the left.
Exhaust hangers
Regarding the exhaust installation, for more common cars there are reproduction exhaust hangers out there. For a 60 Mercury it is not so easy so I restored some old hangers I had. The metal was re plated and rubber replaced using rubber cut out from old tires. I also decided to go for a dual exhaust on my car, even if they only came with single exhaust that year. That means I had to order a exhaust system for a 59 Park lane and cut the rear pipes to fit the 60 as the 60 is a shorter car.
Door Hinges
On old cars the door hinges are always worn, even if you can't feel it when the hinges are off the car, they are. So there is no way getting around rebuilding them. You can search all the catalogs in the world, but no one seems to list bushings and pins for these cars, so I just order a few different types for Ford hinges, and then I use the ones I think will work the best. For these hinges the outer diameter on the brass bushings are just a little too small so just to make sure they will sit as they should I also add a very thin coat of metal glue to them when I put them in. That will for sure hold them in place.
For these hinges I ended up using the hinge bushings from the kit to the right and the pins from the kit in the middle. Original worn pins and bushings to the left.
Mercury - Built to lead - Built to last
- mercs4fun
- Airman First Class
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Mon 16. Dec 2013, 05:25
- Gender: female
- Music instruments you're playing: Piano, Hammond B3 Organ, Synthesizers, guitars, bass, accordion.
- Contact:
The color drama.
Last year I spent a lot of energy trying to decide what color to put on my car. Since then I began to doubt my own judgment on the color choice I had made and decided to go a new round with the options. I painted a few test sheets with silver, gray metallic and black metallic and put them on the side of the car and walked around it for days and weeks trying to make up my mind. Some days I was wondering if I would ever be able to make up my mind, but finally I decided to just stay with my initial decision and go for the violet metallic color I made last year. So I went to the paint store to have a quart of paint made to paint the inside of the body and firewall. Well, it turned out to be not as easy as I thought as they had deleted the mixing recipe from their files So I was basically back on scratch and had to start over again and make a new recipe. Yesterday I had the fender skirts test painted with the new color, and to my satisfaction, it seems like we nailed it. The color is probably a little more lilac than the one I had last year, and that just makes it a little more vibrant, especially in the sun. I love it, hope you do too
Mercury - Built to lead - Built to last
- mercs4fun
- Airman First Class
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Mon 16. Dec 2013, 05:25
- Gender: female
- Music instruments you're playing: Piano, Hammond B3 Organ, Synthesizers, guitars, bass, accordion.
- Contact:
Re: Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
Here is another thing that always needs attention on these cars, and that is the baffles inside the air ducts. The rubber seals inside them are usually rotten, if they are present at all. There is only one way to do this, and that is to take everything apart and use the old seal as a template to make new ones. I have found that a rubber hose from a truck wheel has the correct thickness for this, so that's what I used. When I installed the new rubber I used pop rivets to put the baffles back together, as I find them more convenient that the staples used originally. In this case, where nothing ever will be visible after installation I go for function over originality.
Mercury - Built to lead - Built to last
- mercs4fun
- Airman First Class
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Mon 16. Dec 2013, 05:25
- Gender: female
- Music instruments you're playing: Piano, Hammond B3 Organ, Synthesizers, guitars, bass, accordion.
- Contact:
Re: Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
Today I painted the inside of the body and the firewall. The lighting in my garage makes the color look slightly brighter and more lilac than it actually is.
Mercury - Built to lead - Built to last
- Theo
- Administrator
- Posts: 1209
- Joined: Sun 21. Dec 2008, 14:10
- Gender: male
- Location: Berlin / Potsdam in Germany
- Contact:
Re: Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
Gry, thank you for the follow up. Nice job if that word ever nails this great restoration project.
Best regards
Theo
Admin
Theo
Admin
- mercs4fun
- Airman First Class
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Mon 16. Dec 2013, 05:25
- Gender: female
- Music instruments you're playing: Piano, Hammond B3 Organ, Synthesizers, guitars, bass, accordion.
- Contact:
Re: Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
So I got the body back on the frame so I can put the doors on and do some final adjustments to the sheet metal if needed before I start the paint prep work.
Mercury - Built to lead - Built to last
- mercs4fun
- Airman First Class
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Mon 16. Dec 2013, 05:25
- Gender: female
- Music instruments you're playing: Piano, Hammond B3 Organ, Synthesizers, guitars, bass, accordion.
- Contact:
Re: Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
The Mercury is now painted and ready to be re assembled.
While the car was out of the garage I painted the dash, steering column and other interior parts. This dash had no cut outs for the power windows, so that had to be made. As you can see I have also sand blasted the dash and some other parts.
I decided to go for black carpet, black dash and dash pad and a black convertible top.
While the car was out of the garage I painted the dash, steering column and other interior parts. This dash had no cut outs for the power windows, so that had to be made. As you can see I have also sand blasted the dash and some other parts.
I decided to go for black carpet, black dash and dash pad and a black convertible top.
Mercury - Built to lead - Built to last
- mercs4fun
- Airman First Class
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Mon 16. Dec 2013, 05:25
- Gender: female
- Music instruments you're playing: Piano, Hammond B3 Organ, Synthesizers, guitars, bass, accordion.
- Contact:
Re: Building a 1960 Mercury Park Lane convertible
The back seat had some rust in the lower part, so some of the rods had to be replaced before it went to the sand blaster and then to the powder coater. Now it is ready for new upholstery.
Mercury - Built to lead - Built to last
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests