My "1927 Mercury" phantom

[Hotrodfil]

Apologies for my creation not being quite stock. It's evolved out of parts I've acquired along the way. Long time happening this one.
Started this eons ago. I had a stock 1927T Tourer.


After failing to sell it around 2005, I bought all the interior, sheetmetal bits and top to get it finished. I decided to make it quicker and fit the running gear I'd bought from an early RHD 1928 A roadster. Somehow along the line though I acquired another T chassis - and another '27 tourer body... Plan was an all T panelled creation on 100" wheelbase.



Well. That project failed to reach the road when real life stepped up and gave us a kicking. As a 40 year old widow with two young kids, my car plans changed. The engine eventually went in the Fordor for a while, and the extra Tourer body went to a friend.

Roll on to 2011 and the chance to buy back the Tourer tub was too tempting. I brought it home and started installing her on a completely stock (so far...) rolling 'A' chassis I'd acquired.



I decided to stick with the Model A wheelbase and build a longer bonnet. This would give me a little extra legroom. An early oval T tank sunk down under the front seat just fine. Rear wings are narrowed and shortened '28 A roadster ones. Smoothed out all the dents and replace a couple of thin sections. Same on the body - the rear panel was particularly transparent in places but luckily I lent the body to a friend to take measurements from and he made me a replacement panel.





I rebuilt all the rear seat frame, opened up some boxes I've had since 2005 and tried out the seat springs.
I also opened another box from 2005 containing two new full height screen posts from Speedway only to discover... they'd sold me two offside ones. Arse. Probably a little late to complain.
Ah well - Pimms time.

[Hotrodfil]

Costs nowt to beat on bits of old tin...
For those that have never darkened my doorstep - behold the horrors of my shed. That's not all my shit. No, I store some of it somewhere else...


For hitting bits of steel I found this recent £10 ebay purchase rather handy.


I cut out all the footboard area to make space for unmodified Model A pedals. Handy hint no.1. Don't used 1mm cutting discs where you cant actually see what you're doing.
Handy hint no.2 Teach someone in the house where to find plasters before you try to cut your finger off.
Handy hint no. 3 Model A bearing caps with the babbit out are a snug fit round a Model A steering column.


I had a radiator built in Cambridge by Anglia Radiator Services. Superb! T top tank scalloped out to miss the fan and an A bottom tank.

[Hotrodfil]

Comes a time when you need to hear it run...



Jury rigged a switch, fitted an electric pump and it fired up almost instantly. Ran like a bag of crap. Knackered condenser and a mile wide points diagnosed plus rust on the valve seats. Probably. So - time to drive it out of the garage? Nope. Stuck clutch.




Still, fading light, cleared the drive and went for a quick charge down the road. Clutch freed off and driven back in the garage. Still popping and banging, big backfire when I turned it off (yup - checked the timing...) but - Brill!!!!!

Bonnet fabricated except for adding the clamps. Hinge gap looks a little wide as I've just rigged it together with 3mm stainless rod rather than the 1/4" rod I used to roll the hinges. I ended up adding some louvres before it was painted.



Outside with the top irons up.



Finally - stripped and painted.


More to come later...

[1931 flamingo]

HOLY COW ! ! ! ! !
LOOKIN GOOD ! ! ! !


Paul in CT

[2manycars]

That is an interesting story and result. There is a model T roadster on a model A chassis in eastern Connecticut. It looks very good, and reportedly runs fine.

[Hotrodfil]

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Anyway - a spot of trimming, electrickery and MOT work. Yes, I had to carry on building it on the driveway as we had a few tons of bark chippings delivered and I couldn't swing into the garage.









At the MOT station. Passed!!




Pouring down with rain for most of the summer here. So I spent a day tapping tacks through my fingers in the confines of the garage.
Bring on the dancing bears - it's circus Big Top time!





Finally my registration turned up so took a maiden voyage to town.



And finally time to see if the top actually folds back down. Henry's 'one-man top' took three blokes but tada!





Well that all seemed fine so I'm tore out the engine and box out and changed the back axle...

B engine stolen from the Fordor, close ratio gears, and a 3.27 rear end, all fitted and fingers crossed.

[Hotrodfil]

Reason for the running gear change? A trip to Le Mans for the Classic 24 hour. Background to the trip - the boy turned 18 and left college this year. My new girlfriend Lynda is partial to a spot of vino and I'm the kind of vegetarian well served betwixt fromargerie and boulangerie. Probably the last chance for an epic family holiday so I booked my daughter out of school and the gite about a year ago. A friend Mark with an A Sports Coupe seemed up for a wedge or two of fromage and organised the ferry from Newhaven - 11pm crossing so we'd be twilighting France when we landed. Pre-booked weekend tickets for €49 and some free club parking spots courtesy of the VSCC? Sorted.

Our humble accommodation for the week.



Plotting world domination from the back of our staff car. A rare top down moment from the week away.

[glenn in camino]

Looks like fun.

[Hotrodfil]

Jobs left to do - I'm not happy with the top - too late I realised the top bow was too high so I'll be stripping it off to redo later in the year. Couple of the doors need repainting as they were quite pitted, and one rear door needs replacing as it turned out to be an English Drop Frame one.

Apart from that? I took us four up on a 1200 mile journey with nothing but a broken fan to contend with so I'm more than happy so far!

[Hotrodfil]

Oh - swapped the Holley 94 out for a little 1-1/4" downdraft SU before I went to give us some kind of range out of the T petrol tank. Fastest speed on the trip was a sat nav 61mph with the top up and everybody and their luggage on board. Top down there's plenty more left...

By the way - I fitted Ted's Floaters to a set of '32 brakes up front and they were superb!

[Aerocraft]

Great job, some will think it is "factory" ! Gar Williams

[RcT]

Outstanding... I have to admire people with your skills. You have created a beauty. (I agree with you on the top... looks a little out of proportion, but I love the looks of it with the top down). My one big question is how in the world did you register the car? They must be very liberal in Europe. Again, well done and drive it in good health.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Very nice work. I was going to mention that the second top bow from the front doesn't appear to be folded completely into position. That would lower the hump and make the top look better.

[Ray in La Mesa]

Kool story and a very unique and great result, I love the engineering.

[dumb person]

How did you make the louvers? And how does the fuel get to the carb'?

[al's28/33]

I remember a story of a similar mad scientist eccentric inventor, took a race car from a pile of smoking melted ruins and turned into a magical flying car!!!

EXCELENT STORY!! You are a very talented man and thank you for sharing.

[Hotrodfil]

Originally Posted by dumb person

How did you make the louvers? And how does the fuel get to the carb'?

Friend of mine has a small set of louvre dies that fit in a fly press which was handy!

That's a Diamond B engine in there at the moment with a stock 'B' fuel pump. I'm putting together another A engine to replace it with so I'll have to put an electric pump back on.

[700rpm]

I'm a stock purist, but I also admire good work, and you've done a fine job and created one of the most interesting Fords I've ever seen.

[CHuDWah]

Sweet car - kind of a "baby-Rolls" look. But isn't the steering on the "wrong" side?

[Hotrodfil]

Originally Posted by RcT

My one big question is how in the world did you register the car? They must be very liberal in Europe. Again, well done and drive it in good health.

Registration is based on the chassis frame number and the engine number, plus a points system based on the use of original axles, suspension, steering, gearbox etc.

The actual body does not carry any points and is not included.

The registration was issued based on the 1930 engine and chassis used. That's why I waited until it was registered before swapping in my known good engine. It will be going back to another A engine (pressurised, ported, good cam, Winfield head) once I've finished building it.