The 1949-51 Mercury is the quintessential custom car. Thousands of them have gone under the knife in the last five decades, so it's a little surprising to discover how little aftermarket support there is for these beloved 'sleds. It's a particularly disheartening discovery if you happen to be buildi
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When Chip Foose and Wes Rydell get together on a custom project, step back and watch out. The results are bound to be spectacular.
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Whether you're attempting your first build or your 20th, one key to maintaining sanity is finding a balance between what you can afford and the desire to use top-quality parts. Fortunately, the hot rod aftermarket continues to develop quality parts to help us improve our cars, and magazines like Cus
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Wiring-the mere mention of the subject brings chills to the spines of most do-it-yourself rodders. For many, it's part of the sacred trio of chores left to hired guns-paint, upholstery, and wiring. But for those willing to do some research, practice a bit of trial and error, and spend the time and e
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When Derek Dejonge became the caretaker of his father's mildly customized '50 Olds 88 fastback, he knew he was being handed the keys to a cool ride. What he didn't expect was the crash course in modified suspensions he would receive.
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Laundry, lawn mowing, taking out the trash, and picking up my room-all things I love not doing. In the grand scheme of things, though, ever since I was old enough to realize that I couldn't care less for those chores, the female role model in my life has constantly reminded me how necessary they are
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As American automakers clamored to turn out new car designs following World War II, a number of prewar construction techniques lingered, particularly on lower-priced makes and models. One was the practice of stamping hoods in two pieces and welding them together in the center. The resulting seams we
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A custom tiller with a secretMost of us are well aware that if a determined thief really wants a car, he can figure out a way to get it. Yet we also realize that many car thefts are crimes of opportunity, and if we make it more difficult to steal our cars, we're less likely to loose them. That's the
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Any enthusiast who owns the same custom car for a significant length of time is bound to refine it as he goes along. He builds the car, drives it, determines its strengths and weaknesses, and, ideally, makes tweaks to improve it through the years.
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The 1949-51 Mercury is the quintessential custom car. Thousands of them have gone under the knife in the last five decades, so it's a little surprising to discover how little aftermarket support there is for these beloved 'sleds. It's a particularly disheartening discovery if you happen to be buildi
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There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different taillights adapted to the quarter-panels of custom '49-51 Mercurys through the years. Some designs are natural fits; others aren't so memorable. Selecting the right style can make or break the appeal of a custom's posterior.
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Every project has to start somewhere, and mine usually begin at the bottom-with the suspension and brakes. I'd like to say it's because I approach car projects logically by stripping them down to bare frames and rebuilding them from the ground up, but that's not really the case. I'm not nearly so ra
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If you've been paying attention to the last few issues of Custom Rodder, you may recognize this '53 Pontiac from tech stories where we installed a Fatman front frame stub and chopped the Poncho's roof. To keep the progress flowing in the right direction, it's time to put some similar thought and ene
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Check out the Classic Mercury that we install a power steering conversion kit on!
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We like to preach about building offbeat cars here at Custom Rodder, but we must admit there's something to be said for following a more mainstream path.
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Sometimes it's hard to believe that '50s and '60s cars remain as popular as they are in 2005. It's even more amazing to imagine how many are still being found in barns, fields, and the occasional car lot just waiting for enthusiasts to bring them back to life.
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Of all the chores associated with modified car maintenance, one of the most neglected could well be frontend alignment. It's one of those things that none of us pay much attention to--that is, until the car seems to have a mind of its own and wanders all over the road or the tires develop a funny we
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Today's top customs and street rods arguably wear more scratch-built parts than ever. From custom frames to hand-hammered bodies, many go beyond the realm of mere "customs" or "rods" to become handcrafted, coachbuilt creations.
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In the beginning (well, many, many years ago, anyway) there was the Jaguar independent rear suspension. It was considered high tech before the term was ever applied to rods and customs. Next came the Corvette IRS, which soon became equally sought after by car builders seeking great handling and corn
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When I drive a car, any car, I like things relatively quiet. I like to go straight. I like to stop within reason. I especially like it when the engine responds to the throttle appropriately. This is nothing beyond the reason of a typical driver. Now, with older cars, I particularly like to cruise on
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The new-model-year blues have hit more than a few car buyers when they came to realize their car wasn't the latest and greatest anymore. It's a dilemma that has been going on since the beginning of automotive time, and one that has always helped sell new cars. This was particularly true in the '50s
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It's no secret that custom car enthusiasts often ignore the design advice that suggests form should follow function. We snub practicality in our quest for style, and sometimes even eschew simple safety measures to score cool points.
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Save for your bigger custom shops--and those phony TV shows we all love to watch--finishing a chopped car of pretty much any type is no easy task ... and I'm not even talking about the roof chop itself! Anyone who has ever dealt with trying to get a curved windshield cut down knows what I'm talking
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Check out this Concept one pulley system; custom with a 427 engine and braided stainless power steering lines.
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Mid-century Chevys have been popular with the custom crowd ever since the first '49 models rolled off the assembly line. They were the basis for some of the most memorable customs of the '50s, including the Moonglow, La Jolla, and Larry Earnst cars, to name just a few. Back then, it's safe to say th
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