Mercury vs. Ford
 

Hello, will a 1948 Mercury front clip fit into a 1948 Ford. Can anyone here tell me if the two are interchangeable?

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

The Mercury car is longer from the firewall forward. So no, that will not work.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

To my knowledge, no. The Mercury wheelbase is longer than the Ford by several inches from the firewall forward.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

I can tell you for certain the front seat in a Mercury is ALSO wider, not sure IF that width is in the overall body width or not BUT I do know it is wider!!! I have a 46 and we tried using a front seat out of a 47 Ford but it was narrower.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

It has always amazed me that from '39 forward, how a Mercury looks similar to it's Ford counterparts, but almost nothing is transferable. Mercury models are longer, wider, have a added body line, etc. that make them different. The amount of tooling that was required to make the Mercury different from a Ford is quite remarkable.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

Thank you all, good information.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

Find me a cowl and I'd build a phantom 'Sportsman'. That's a beautiful front clip.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

How about a whole coupe? I'll move mine to you IF you like!!!

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

The clip and chassis has been sold.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

Hmmmmm, pm sent :)

I do not think I have seen the subject of the ford sportsman show up even once since I'm been coming to the barn. Maybe me and a couple others suggesting that Ol Bob Brown was a miracle worker when ya see what he produced in that home-spun shop of his. Any barn members own one?

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...1" height="494

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...1" height="494

Regarding the question, "Is the front clip of a 1942-1948 Ford and Mercury interchangeable", the answer is yes and no??
Please read on:- Over 50 years ago, I visited a property where the owner had a nice 1946 Ford Sedan and a rough 1942 Mercury Sedan in his back yard. The first photo is how the 1942 Mercury looked when I first saw it. They are extremely rare in Australia and I have only seen one other example. Knowing how rare the Mercury was, he was going to make a nice 1942 Mercury out of these two cars. He removed the front clip of the Mercury and took the rest to the dump. He then removed the front clip from his 1946 Ford and added the 42 Mercury front clip, but then noticed a problem, the front wheels were not central in the wheel cut-outs? For us who are familiar with these models, we realise that the wheelbase on the Fords is 114" while the Mercurys wheelbase is 4" longer at 118". The extra length is ahead of the firewall. I lost contact with this original owner, but some years later, I did see the car for sale. Please refer to second photo. I regret that I did not take a photo highlighting this problem with the wheel not being central in the cut-out, but only took a head on shot. Back then, taking photos was not cheap, and one had to be selective.
So there you have it, the front clips will bolt on either model, but the problem is that the wheels will not be central in the wheel cut-outs. Regards Mercman <><

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

Here is a photo of Alan Egelseer's "1941 Mercury Sportsman" that he created. It is in Wisconsin. Sorry for the poor picture.

Ken

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

Here are TWO of the subject matter year. The first - Black one was taken in 2005 from the Ron Thorne collection on my way to the 05 Breckenridge Western National The second - Green one was taken at the 2009 Central National meet in Auburn IN.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...6&d=1761058012

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...7&d=1761058012

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

I can tell you all for sure a beautiful 41 Ford front clip will not stretch onto a 41 Merc coupe ! 4" seems to the extra length on Merc frame. Too bad as the Ford fenders were almost like NOS !

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

As far as I know Bob (junior) is still carrying on the tradition. He's pretty much a one man show but certainly has the capabilities that his dad had along with specialty fixtures and profilers for turning out Sportsman body parts such as complete wood deck lids and the like.

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

Good to know. Maybe I will pull off on the Alger exit next time I'm heading north on I-5. Not too often a young man follows in Dad's footsteps these days. And those were big shoes to fill. Did ford actually make a Merc Sportsman, or were the ones pictured phantom one-offs?

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

1948 Mercury Sportsman CLONE...
https://classiccars.com/listings/vie...rg-texas-78624
https://photos.classiccars.com/cc-te...n-cv-thumb.jpg

Re: Mercury vs. Ford
 

**********CLARIFICATION OF POST*********

My above post on the front seat width comes from the following experience. We have a 1946 Mercury Coupe that at the time of purchase was in need of a front seat. We had an acquaintance here in town, at that time (20 years aga now) that was hot rodding a 1946 Ford Coupe and was putting bucket seats in his coupe. He gave Us his front bench seat, which was narrower (as there was a larger than normal space between the door and the seat bottom/back than what seemed should be. We later found a Mercury front seat which in fact was wider than what we got here locally from the coupe. We "assumed" that it was original to the car as it was identical in form to what it needed to be and I am NOT sure that it was correct to the 46 Ford, we assumed at the time that it WAS, BUT my statement was based off of that "experience".