1967 Mercury Commuter Wagon...

Thanks, I can't wait to get it out on the road myself. Just trying to get time to work on it with 3 kids is tough. As far as the exhaust goes, it will exit to the side. I need to work out exactly how far back after I finish building the headers and can put it up on the hoist.

For now, I am in the process of working out how I attack doing the door panels. "rechroming" the trim is not easy, and I am still trying to figure out what works best for me. It looks like there will be a balance struck between how it looks, and how it performs.

More to come...

 

Rear jump seats

They look great---I was just signing in to request pics of 68 rear jump seats install. I have a 68 Country Squire. I just dyed mine today red to black. Came out really nice...very happy with them. I was going to try and install later this week.
I would greatly any pics and/or advice from the install of yours. If you wouldn't mind my email address is brians1113@comcast.net
Thanks! Brian

 

Hi Brian,

Let me see what I can come up with.

Paul

 

thanks---I appreciate it

 

Got a little more done over the last week. Redyed one of the door panels with SMS Color Coat and it turned out beautiful. Still working on the "chrome" though. I tried a chrome body tape from the parts store and it looked absolutely beautiful, but the edges kept releasing. I picked up another option from Home Depot that might work, but it isn't as shiney, and the adhesive is thicker, but we'll see.

Did some additional work on the second header. I have the routing mostly worked out and am almost to the collector with the first tube. I did end up having to buy some additional tubes as there weren't enough bends to complete the second header without them. Fortunately, the P/S doesn't look to be as messy as the D/S was, so hopefully that, and a little experience with the other side, will help this one get done soon!

Still working on interior trim. The rear interior panels are now pulled. Now I just need to find someone to make up some new ones from the extra vinyl I purchased for the upholstery. Anyone have a recommendation in the southern Michigan area?

 

Too bad you weren't closer across the lake! My 68 has all the panels recovered in white vinyl and it looks stunning. It was done by the interior guy at American Auto Restoration in Homer Glen IL. He did a real nice job restoring the interior and put the vinyl top on it as well. He did all the work then put the car up for sale and I bought it.

 

FINALLY finished up a door panel and have worked out the bugs for restoring the other three.

Although I'm not going for show quality on these, I did want them to present fairly well, and that meant spending extra time with prep. Quite a bit of it actually. It also meant I had to pick my battles on what was going to be "fixed" and what wasn't since I can't afford to spend a month on each panel.

In the end, I am very pleased, even with my compromises. If you are interested in how I put them together, feel free to check out my blog in a day or so and I will post more details there.

But for now, here are a couple of pics!

 

Nice job on the door panels. I had a very difficult time restoring mine as well. The SEM paint was the easy part for me. The difficult part was the plastic chrome trim that bent up over the top of the door panel. The chrome trim tape I used went on the other parts of the trim fine, however it looks pretty bad on the top of the door panel.

 

Starting the body work...

 

Dang buddy! You dig right in there!

Looking real good!

David

 

geez Paul...your doing some great work !!!
cant wait to see it when shes done

 

Been splitting my time between body and interior. I started stripping off the trim and the rear air deflector area. What a pain. So much gunk collected in around the different seams. I think when it goes back together it will get an extra dose of sealant to help keep the dirt, sand, leaves and water out.

I also started the body filler to smooth out the dents after working the metal best as I could. These sure are big panels to try to keep flat! Will try to get some pics up soon.

I am also continuing to move the door panels along. So much left to do, and no time to do it.

In other news, I found a company that is making up a set of dew wipes for the doors as well as the tailgate. If all looks good I will make a post in one of the main forums as I know the dew wipes pretty much don't exist. Hope to post more on this in a couple of weeks...

 

Just finished wire-wheeling and stripping the inside panel for the tailgate. A healthy coat of zinc-based primer and about 5 coats of SMEM Color Coat Super White and it looks almost as good as new. I'd post a picture, but it just looks like a brilliantly white rectangle in the bright sunlight.

Now, on to finishing up the headers...

 

Finished the headers. Here are a couple of pictures. Note that I opted to weld the primaries into the flanges on the inside for a couple of reasons:

1) Not worried about maximizing power.
2) These are 2" primaries. There's lots of extra room.
3) Access to the bolts should be better.

Now that I have these complete, back on the body work!

 

Body work is still coming along, and progress is being made. Here are a couple pics from Sunday.