I used to drive a '57 Merc Turnpike Cruiser. 2-toned green. Horridly rusted out and no exhaust pipes left past the frame just below the manifolds.... I remember watching the last scraps of the pipes and mufflers coming off and flying wildly off the road in pieces behind me one day. Talk about loud. I sealed up the rusted out trunk by pouring a bunch of roof coating tar in and covering it all with newspaper! It worked... sort of... but sure dripped a lot of tar on hot days. The good old days, eh?! Quite the beast that thing. Had a little push button on the dash that lubed the entire chassis, spring hangers and all. Little lube tubes were running all over underneath it. A "Wonder bar" radio that searched when you held the bar down; no crude knob turning for this kid!. Must have been quite a car when new. We also had two '59 Mercs, a black station wagon, powered by one of those nice big old rumbling 430? CI Lincoln engines, that would haul a lot of lumber or bags of concrete, and a stunning metallic blue one with chrome trim on everything. THAT was a very nice car. We had a nice '60 Lincoln with that big old engine also; that baby would roll down the hiway at 110mph as smooth as silk. Don't even get me going on our '56 Packard custom-built Caribbean convertible with a 460CI,460HP engine with dual Carter 4-bbls with rear throats the size of the bore of a small grenade launcher, push-button automatic transmission, leather interior, wire wheels and automatic load-levelers for when you filled the trunk up heavy. Nothing if not powerful that thing. When you lean over the carbs while tuning an engine like that up and crank the throttle lever your eyes nearly get sucked out of your head, your ears pop, you get a nose bleed, and the barometric pressure drops dramatically for a radius of at least 100ft. Then there was the '48 Chrysler wooden-body Town and Country convertible we had that I think is still around and graced the cover of the Barrett Jackson auction brochure a few years back. We sold the Packard and the Chrysler for $900ea in 1962.... who woulda known....? Cars today are Tonka toys by comparison to that fine old iron...
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02-04-2011, 02:17 PM
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