My '69 Mercury Montego Convertible

[clutch47]

I've been here for a while now and thought I'd throw a few shots of my Merc on here. Originally a 302 2bbl/C4 car.
I bought it out from under a bush about 10 years ago. It had been the victim of an interior fire caused by an errant cigar lighter popping out of the dash, rolling under the seat and it burned from the center of the front bench outwards. I'll put pix of it as it was in a later post.
Here's where it's at today.
6 and 8 inch Cragars with 225 and 275 15's on it in this picture. Recognize the wheels in the other shots.? They are on my '86 CV Sherrie now.
Here's some pix.




It's gotten a driveline update in the works.
Right now a TCI streetfighter C6 that has been rollerized.
Built a 393 4V Closed Chamber iron head Cleveland that's going in VERY soon.
Here's a few pix of the Cleveland.

block



Full Roller

Forged

Cam Card

More to follow soon. I'm pretty amped over this car..

[knucklehead0202]

That's a friggin' beauty and i love that you went stroker clevo. Pretty sweet man.

[DerekTheGreat]

That thing be sexy sir. Ver' nice.

[87gtVIC]

Nice ride.

[clutch47]

Thanks Ya'll
I always wanted to have a real Cleveland built properly.
So not being a big fan of the aftermarket in general, I stayed as close to all FORD as I could.
It took 2 years of learning and research to figure out I wanted to go that far with this engine.
Idea being do it right, do it once. Do it cheap, do it again and again.
So we bushed the lifter bores and went deep into oiling and freeing up the power that is there.
It made 430 to 460 tq from 3500 to about 6300. So, I'm looking forward to that kind of thrust.
Tq curve flat enough to sit your coffee on according to the engine Sen-Sei I learned from.
Just shy of 500 hp on a very conservative dyno calibrated for 8 and 9 thousand RPM dirt track engines making 800+..
Now hopefully I can learn how to drive it...LOL..

[P72Ford]

Very neat car; not often seen either, which is extra cool. Not enough people build Clevelands; I'm all for any type of Ford build, but the world is inundated with 385 series, SBF, and even FE builds.

The first thing I thought was... I hope he's not putting that in front of the existing C4... and then I re-read.

[clutch47]

Very neat car; not often seen either, which is extra cool. Thanks. Not often does a car speak to me immediately. This one did. Not enough people build Clevelands; I'm all for any type of Ford build, but the world is inundated with 385 series, SBF, and even FE builds. I TOTALLY agree with this. The 335 engines are seriously misunderstood and mysterious to many

The first thing I thought was... I hope he's not putting that in front of the existing C4... and then I re-read.

Nope. That early C4 would have grenaded quickly. I scored the C6 on a swap and since it literally cost me nothing, I decided to go in it deep with roller planetaries and whatever my local transmission guy thought would free up the known C6 power sucking issues along with longevity/strengthening. I'm learning about driveshafts now...that's next.

[clutch47]

More pix for your visual stimulation..


The way I found the car. Wide open to the elements. No top or guts from the fire. Not running.


The rear Bow of the top. A critical measurement in fitting a top. I never put a top on from nothing before. Most top replacements give you the old top to kinda go by. I had Jack-Squat. You can see the burned wiring harness laying there. I ended up making a new one myself. Nobody makes restoration parts for this obscure car. You have to bastardize Torino parts. They sometimes just don't work..



After I got the top on. I let it sit in the sun for a few days and then used a hair dryer to get most of the waves out of the C-pillar.



With big and littles and window tint after I got it running. My friend bent exhaust for it. I like where it came out sneaky behind the tire.



I cut an old tach I had into the dash where the blank was taking up the space a clock would have been if the buyer had wanted it.
It ran OK. Enemic 302 with an Autolite 2bbl and serious airplane gears. 90 miles an hour just breaking 3K rpms. I thought it was funny.



I drove the shit out of it for years. Took it up to see my Mom one day and took her out for ice cream. She had a blast. I did too.



Found a blue seat out of a Fairlane. It fit. I'm still running it. Slowly re-did the inside one piece at a time. It's going to get Mach-One buckets this spring.



Door panel dye job. From 70's FORD Ivy Green to Plain old Black.



Dumped the original drums that I drove on for a year or two when I went to coil-overs. Re-Built the whole front end with a TCI poly kit, and a big sway bar.
Now it goes around corners flat and really stops well. The manual Shelby 4 pistons are easy, effective, and all Ford. I've always liked manual discs better.



Label in the glove box. Car was originally Ivy Gold. Can you imagine a 3600lb car on F-70-14 bis-ply tires WITH A 428 CJ and a 4 speed.?
No wonder they all got smashed to hell. There's no way they hooked up that kind of torque. I'm sure glad tire technology has improved.

More soon. Enjoy.

[sluggish91]

Beautiful car, I have a soft spot for big two door Mercury's.

Glad you're keeping it Ford as much as possible.

That stroker cleveland is gonna make it a beast!

[gadget73]

Nice. Was this someone else's resto project when it caught fire? Looks like it was still in pretty good shape even after the fire. Not all rusty like they get.

[Tiggie]

Glad you were able to save it before the elements too their toll. Wouldn’t have taken long with the top gone.

My grandma has a 69 Fairlane 500 fastback she bought new. It’s the 302/3-speed. Room for 6 inside, but still good MPG and easy to park. Also has freeway gears. I like them. It’s fun running the fast lane on the interstate and passing all the little new sedans that are maxing out their 4 banger on the mountain grades.

[clutch47]

2 previous owners prior did a $5 color change with Enamel and a really shitty amateur resto. It's easily 3/32' thick in a few places and cracked everywhere.
The way the story goes, dude smoked cigars. So he's all happy with his car BEFORE he got a tag and insurance. Goes for a drive.
Comes home, pulls in the garage and lets it idle while he lights his stogie. ..puts the lighter back in the socket and pushes it in all the way.
Shuts off the car, goes in the house. Smells smoke comes out to see his car on fire inside.
Grabs a garden hose and puts it out through the melted top. The center of the seat was really burned and caught the carpet too.
So dude calls every insurance company he can find. Homeowners, car, etc. Gets no rhythm. He's pissed..
...SO HE KEYED EVERY PANEL..and puts in a claim to his homeowners for a break-in vandalization claim.
Insurance company denies the claim...he's pissed X2 and sells the non-running, burned, keyed car for $1K.
Goes through another owner to the place you see in the picture.
Last owner was smart enough to pull all the body plugs and strip everything out of it... and then I got it.
The thing loves me. I treat it right and give it pats on the back regularly.
The paint is TERRIBLE. I didn't know what to do with it..it was that bad.
So I bought a cheap *electric* random orbital sander, some 1500 paper and a spray bottle. Fuck it right.?
I went too far on the sides so it's into the gray primer a little. Kinda like a cloud effect.
I've compounded it about 5 times. No wax. Just compound under a polisher. It's a decent 20 footer..LOL.

Here's a funny one. A few buddies and I went to the East Coast Gasser reunion/Nostalgia drags at Beaver springs dragway near me.
Instead of parking across the bean field, My buddy Jim coerced me into entering the show for $6 so we could park close.
An hour later some fella comes up and says "You really should register for the show".. So I did.
2nd place Mercury (out of 2)..LOL.. So we drove down the dragstrip TOTALLY BLOWN OUT. Laughed our nuts off...



2 of my buddies and what ended up to be 74 empty cans in the trunk the next day.



Yeah. LOADED. Fun...

[clutch47]

Glad you were able to save it before the elements too their toll. Wouldn’t have taken long with the top gone.

My grandma has a 69 Fairlane 500 fastback she bought new. It’s the 302/3-speed. Room for 6 inside, but still good MPG and easy to park. Also has freeway gears. I like them. It’s fun running the fast lane on the interstate and passing all the little new sedans that are maxing out their 4 banger on the mountain grades.

I'd love to see a few pix of that sweetheart. 302/3-speed. Coolness.. Maybe a shot of Grandma driving it.? NOTHING better...

[Tiggie]

I'd love to see a few pix of that sweetheart. 302/3-speed. Coolness.. Maybe a shot of Grandma driving it.? NOTHING better...

My dad *suggested* she quit driving it about ten years ago... manual drum brakes and a tailgate/late minute brake prone grandma. She’s 90 this year. She’s a firecracker though.

Your paint looks really good in the pics. But sounds like you don’t have to worry about rock chips.

[clutch47]

Rock chips. Nah. I 'wash' the car with spray-way glass cleaner. When it's time to do the body and paint.. I'll take good care of it.
I'm hesitant to make it too nice actually. I like the hellraiser look and not giving an actual shite if it rains. Makes running the car often that much more fun.
While finding the block for Sherries engine, I think I found a '68 Torino 9 inch rear housing. I'll know in a week or two when the owner digs it out.
If so, I'll build a decent 9 inch to replace the 8 inch in it. Should bolt right in. Melikes bolt-in OEM FoMoCo parts.