Mike Green’s Unique 1950 Mercury Coupe

This Full-Custom Coyote Swapped Mercury Coupe Leaves Us Green With Envy

By Gerry Burger – Photography By E.J. Talik

Mike Green has many interests in life; now that he is retired, he has time to pursue two of his favorites: early customs and baseball. His garage currently holds a 1950 Mercury Fordor, and while he has enjoyed this early custom, he always wanted a Tudor version of the classic custom. He is also the assistant coach for the Fairview High School varsity baseball team in his hometown of Fairview, Pennsylvania.

02 That slammed stance is complements of a Roadster Shop chassis with custom air suspension — That slammed stance is complements of a Roadster Shop chassis with custom air suspension. Note the stout X-member and super beefy front crossmember. Motor mounts will support a 700hp Ford Coyote engine.

With visions of timeless customs rolling in his head he turned to Tavis Highlander to collaborate on the design of a ’50 Mercury Tudor. In Mike’s words: “I wanted to build a custom with some features no one has seen before, while still paying homage to all the things that have been done by all the talented customizers from generations of years past.” Armed with Highlander illustrations, the build began.

The body arrived at Craftworks Fabrication looking like this, an early custom with a pleasing profile but less-than-satisfactory metalwork. An entire roofskin would be formed to replace the existing piece and the entire lower portion of the body was replaced due to rust issues. Here the body is fitted to the Roadster Shop chassis with the Coyote engine in place.

In the summer of 2020, Mike located an old, chopped Merc, a car with a nice profile but in dire need of repair. Northeastern weather had taken its toll and while the early chop had a nice profile it would require a lot of work. Enter E.J. Talik and his shop Craftworks Fabrication, located in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. Like many great customs, the end design would come from the collaboration of the owner, the designer, and the fabricator. With input from these three hot rodders, one unique ’50 Mercury custom was born. In the end it would be Talik’s responsibility to turn visions and renderings into reality.

04 Removing the original floor exposes the Roadster Shop parallel four link suspended 9 inch rear end — The original floor pan suffered from rust issues and those wheel tubs are not nearly large enough to house 20×11 Schott wheels. Removing the original floor exposes the Roadster Shop parallel four-link suspended, 9 inch rear end, and Ridetech air suspension.

Once in the shop, Talik took inventory of the old custom. It would require a completely new floor and the lower sheet metal around the entire car would be replaced. Since patch panels and reproduction sheet metal is not available for a ’50 Mercury, all the metal would need to be fabricated. We mentioned the old, chopped Merc had a pleasant profile with a properly laid-down rear window, and while we try avoiding criticizing early hot rod work, suffice it to say the metalwork on the roof was not nearly up to Craftworks Fabrication’ standards. The entire roof would be reskinned and in the process the car was converted to a hardtop. Talik decided the original chop (approximately 4 inches) was fine, as he knew the conversion to a hardtop and reconfiguring the quarter-window openings would visually lower the roof line.

05 Craftworks Fabrication built this floor subframe — Craftworks Fabrication built this floor subframe for two reasons. First it provides attaching points for the new floor panels, and second it adds structural rigidity to the body. Since the conversion to hardtop eliminates the B-pillar, the floor must be very strong.

So, roof repair, lower body rust repair, and a new floor were first on the list. Things like filling all the trim holes, frenching the headlights, forming a new grille opening, and filling it with two modified 1951 Ford F1 grilles came later. The grille makes a bold statement, think 1953 DeSoto on steroids. The completely reworked decklid now fits flush between the quarter-panels, rather than on top of them. The decklid work is not shown in our photos, but we did get a sneak peek and the metalwork is amazing.

06 Here we see the floor subframe test fit to the Roadster Shop chassis — Here we see the floor subframe test-fit to the Roadster Shop chassis. The bolts are going to the original body mount locations. This subframe will be welded to the floor, thereby becoming part of the body.

This reshaped body will roll on a Roadster Shop chassis with custom air suspension. Merc customs from years past were often referred to as “leadsleds,” referencing the soft metal filler of the day. They were also not known to be particularly fast. All that has changed with the modern Merc. There will be minimal filler and maximum horsepower for this custom. Power comes from a 302 inch, Ford Gen II Coyote engine pumping out an estimated 700 hp. A Ford 6R80 transmission passes the power back to a Currie 9 inch rear end.

07 E J Talik began the fabrication by forming the piece that goes over the rear axle housing — E.J. Talik began the fabrication by forming the piece that goes over the rear axle housing. The subframe provides attaching points for the 18-gauge, bead-rolled floor panel. Cleco fasteners hold the panels in place prior to welding. Note the original wheel tubs have been cut out.

We mention this only because, for the most part, it will all be covered with some of the finest metalwork found anywhere. The custom floor pan features a beautifully formed transmission tunnel, bead rolled floor panels, and a firewall featuring formed recesses. When building a custom chassis car, the floor is a structural part of the body. It is imperative that the floor be strong enough to hold the shape of the body. So, all those handsome beads rolled in floor pans look great, but they also add structural integrity to the floor. Another unique feature of the floor structure is the subframe that Talik fabricated under the floor panels. This subframe follows the contour of the Roadster Shop chassis and provides a strong mounting structure for the floor sheetmetal and for the body mount bolts attaching the body to the chassis.

08 Perfectly formed and beautifully beaded yet another group of Cleco fasteners hold the panel to the subframe — The next panel to be formed is the trunk panel. Perfectly formed and beautifully beaded, yet another group of Cleco fasteners hold the panel to the subframe. Note factory body mount locations are now bolted through the new floor panel and subframe. The horseshoe-shaped relief is for the fuel fill pipe.

We will bring you a full feature on the Mike Green Merc upon its completion, but we wanted to give you an inside look at what goes into building a car of this caliber. Much of this beautiful work will be covered when the car is complete, and with the low stance seeing it from below will be difficult, at best.

09 Turning his talents to the front of the rear suspension the third panel is formed — Turning his talents to the front of the rear suspension the third panel is formed. You’ll note the factory floor remains intact and this new panel meets that raised portion of the original floor.

A project of this magnitude takes years to complete and Team Green is hoping for completion next year (Summer 2023). There are still many things to fabricate and solutions to be found, ranging from the dashboard to making those hardtop quarter-windows work. Many decisions will be made along the way as cars begin “to talk to you” as the modifications accumulate. We can’t wait to see the finished product, and while the final color has yet to be chosen, Green did mention the color of bare metal sure shows the lines nicely.

10 With the beautifully formed wheelhouses in place the rear portion of the floor is welded to the subframe — With the beautifully formed wheelhouses in place the rear portion of the floor is welded to the subframe. The Mike Green Mercury is now rust-free, strong, and it almost seems a shame to cover metal work this pretty.

One thing is certain, Green has stepped up to the plate for this build and while we are only approaching the seventh inning stretch, we feel certain, upon completion, this Merc is going to knock it out of the park. MR