Vehicle Description:
276 cu. in. L-head V-8 engine with
Isky cam and Weiand dual carburetors, three-speed manual transmission
with Lincoln-Zephyr gears and Columbia 2-speed rear end. One of the very
first California customs. Built in 1940 by Charles Marr and Gerry Huth.
Owned for four decades by the well-known Carl Morton. Equipped with all
of the best speed equipment and trim of the period. A standout addition
to any custom collection Many today think of a California custom as
something born out of necessity: a used car that has been carefully
rebuilt by skilled amateur artisans into something fast and beautiful.
However, Charles Marr bought this 1940 Mercury Convertible new in
November 1939, and within two weeks, he and his friend Gerry Huth, of
well-known Huth exhaust systems, had chopped the windshield three inches
and added a removable Carson padded top.
Note the date: the Marr/Huth
Mercury is one of the very first California customs, perhaps the first
customized 1940 Mercury in the Los Angeles area, and it is one of the
few surviving to have intact customs built prior to World War II.
The car was acquired in 1962 by Carl Morton, the renowned customizer
who had just prior taken over the former Valley Custom Shop of Burbank.
Morton recognized the car as one of the first Southern California
customs, and he had known both Marr and Huth to be a part of the early
kustom kulture.
He stored the car for some four decades, and unusual
for someone who built custom cars for a living, he appreciated its
originality. Thus, not only does this car retain to the present day all
of its original customized body panels, including the fenders, doors,
hood, and trunk lid, but it also has such prized small trim pieces as
the window frames, vent windows, dashboard, and window trim. In
2005, the Mercury was finally sold to its third owner from new, along
with a horde of original and new old stock parts that had been
accumulated for a long-awaited restoration. That restoration was
undertaken to correct standards between 2008 and 2009, with great care
taken to use only authentic trim.
The car was totally disassembled and
stripped, with the bodywork lead-finished, primered with epoxy, and
painted with custom Sikkens Autcryl green metallic paint, replicating a
hand-rubbed, multi-coat lacquer finish. The original Carson top was
recreated by Paul Reichling of Cedardale Upholstery, and the two-tone
interior, with its 1940 Buick steering wheel, was restored by Guy?s
Interior Restorations of Portland.
The car boasts numerous 1940s
custom touches, including the 1937 DeSoto ?ripple? bumpers, which were
so widely used on period street rods that they are almost impossible to
still find on a 1937 DeSoto today, as well as 1941 Studebaker
taillights, teardrop skirts, and "flipper" hubcaps. Dual Appleton
spotlights were a "must-have" back in the day. Under the hood is a
correct 1940 flathead V-8 that had been bored and stroked to 276 cubic
inches, running a hot Isky three-quarter cam and sporting a Weiand
dual-carburetor set-up and modified Lincoln-Zephyr V-12 dual-coil
ignition. The engine breathes through dual exhausts and exits in an
unusual fashion above the rear bumper. As every hot-rodder worth his
salt did, the owner had the transmission fitted with Lincoln-Zephyr
gears, which ran to a Zephyr two-speed rear axle. Zephyr hypoid
differential moves the car lower without necessitating modifications to
the driveshaft tunnel. All of this means that the car will cruise
comfortably down the highway at proper modern road speeds, and it will
also come nicely to a stop, thanks to Zephyr hydraulic brakes.
Since
its restoration, the Marr/Huth Mercury has been displayed at the 2009
Sacramento Autorama as part of a special display honoring 70 years of
Mercury customs, of which this is arguably the progenitor. All switches
and lights work, and it drives beautifully. Its restored condition is
still excellent in all regards. This Mercury is work of art and one
of the earliest, most important lead sleds. It is a must-have for any
custom collection.
