[rotorwrench]

One of my 51 Mercs was owned by a little old lady that only drove it to the post office & store then to church on Sundays. It only had 26,000 miles on it when my pop bought it in 1954. My other 51 was owned by a lady from Clovis, NM whose father gave it to her sometime after he bought it new. She kept the records on it clear up into the early 70s when it likely was used by her children or grand children as a bumper car. The fellow I purchased it from bought it from her and never really did anything with it except store it. After I tryed to get it running I found out why. The bores are still standard after one re-ring & valve job done in 1963. The poor thing was plum run into the ground back in the early 90s. I've never seen rings worn as bad as these. It finally just got so low on compression that it would no longer run. The speedo was replaced back in the 60s so I have no idea how many miles are on it. I'd venture a guess at several hundred thousand from its condition. Pretty good shape though since NM is pretty dry and the Mercs are heavily built. My Kansas car has about the same rust as it does. The two came out of the Saint Louis, Mo. plant about 2-weeks apart.