(WBO) Steadfast Tin Roller; Unleaded '49 Mercury. FINISHED!!!

[Missing Link]

So, picked a 1949 Mercury up at the Pate Swap Meet at TX Motor Speedway last year not the car, sadly, the bike, and have been waiting to do something fun with it. It's not anything out of the ordinary, original black paint over red primer, two bar, kind of boring really, a late 40's early 50's Murray built blah.

it came with part of the original fork;

which is the same type used on X-53's, pretty cool, but finding parts to complete it has been difficult, but I found them, crusty, broken slightly wrong, I found them.
My goal with this build is to keep the original patina on the frame and fork, add fenders, chainguard, rack? etc. not matching the model, but try and match them to the finish and feel. Of course I'll add some artistic twists as I did with "Draguar", last years WBO 2nd place tie, and "The Pepperbox Special" my BO9 entry. But we'll see where this goes. There are a lot of cool ideas and even more cool bikes this year so, I don't even think I'll place, but in the end I'll have something new to cruise, and as long as it looks cool and rides well, that's fine with me.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Maybe not out of the ordinary...
But awesome classic lines and the perfect color.
I think my Typhoon is more boring...

Carl.

 

[jlr551CFD]

That's a beaut! Can't wait to see where you take it!

 

[Chad T]

That headbadge really makes it. Plus you can tell people you have a '49 Mercury.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

That headbadge really makes it. Plus you can tell people you have a '49 Mercury.

Luke.

 

[CRASH]

That headbadge and those classic lines make this a great start! You can get new "hammer-in" rivets if you want to remove and reinstall that headbadge. I look forward to seeing what you do with this!

 

[Funkme]

Great frame for a starter also the forks.Interesting to see where this goes...

 

[Mr. Kool]

You can't go wrong with this one... And yeah!!!!... You own a '49 Merc....bike...certainly less common than the car.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Great start for a rat!

 

[Missing Link]

So in the summer, I built this incarnation;


I thought I'd sell it at a swap meet for a quick buck, at the last minute I couldn't part with it and wasn't quite happy with the way the '59 Flightliner forks and rack looked. So once again, back to the drawing board.
I have a Color Flow rack that wouldn't work on my BO9 bike that I may use, and some era correct Higgins fenders, which I have no qualms cutting or drilling. I figure keeping it in the Murray-built family is a pretty safe option, but do I really want to play it safe?

 

[Missing Link]

Does anyone remember the light I used on "Draguar" last year?

If you can't tell from the picture, it's got a Mercury badge and, yeah, I have another on in a box somewhere that's going to find it's way onto this build.

 

[pick]

COOL! What is the chainguard on

So in the summer, I built this incarnation;


I thought I'd sell it at a swap meet for a quick buck, at the last minute I couldn't part with it and wasn't quite happy with the way the '59 Flightliner forks and rack looked. So once again, back to the drawing board.
I have a Color Flow rack that wouldn't work on my BO9 bike that I may use, and some era correct Higgins fenders, which I have no qualms cutting or drilling. I figure keeping it in the Murray-built family is a pretty safe option, but do I really want to play it safe?

Great Start! Where did you find that chainguard?

 

[Missing Link]

COOL! What is the chainguard on



Great Start! Where did you find that chainguard?

I think it's a 50's Hawthorne? chainguard, I have two that I picked up at different swap meets.

 

[c1run1]

what a good looking head badge and frame !

 

[Pedal_junky]

I think it's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Very nice lines, great patina. Love those badges too.

 

[Missing Link]

So we've had high temperatures this week barely above freezing and some rain and no sun what so ever so progress has been slow. I got home today and used the surplus body heat I earned on my six mile commute, on my '36 Hawthorne, no less, to get a quicky mock up thrown together. Here's what I'm thinking so far, please forgive the bad cell phone pics;




I think I'm sticking with the Hawthorne? chainguard I originally had on it, and as of right now I'm liking the '60s Murray chainring, it originally would have been a skiptooth, and whereas I have a couple chainrings lying around, I don't have a chain long enough and don't really feel like messing with it. The fork is actually two different forks worth of parts put together, it has some fit issues to be worked out, but works for the mockup. I found the light although I need to figure out mounting as it's currently perched on a machine screw, the housing may need the chrome distressed a bit to fit the feel of everything else, but I dig the amber lense. The wheels and tires I took off a Texas Ranger Project, and I think they fit this better, I will need to rebuild the Komet hub, and true them up. So far so good. Now to wait till a warmer day comes along so that I can strip it all back down and start really building.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Good stuff! I don't think I'd mess with the chrome, it looks fine like it is to me.

 

[Walker]

Might be an Iverson chainguard or Stelber? either way, it's cool and fits the frame perfect.

 

[Missing Link]

Might be an Iverson chainguard or Stelber? either way, it's cool and fits the frame perfect.

Thanks for the input, I'll do some looking, I think a large majority of this thread, in the end will be people trying to figure out what this chainguard was originally on, I myself have no clue and I've got 2?

 

[Missing Link]

Okay, so I've been looking at this bike, and as far as the bars are concerned, I'm leaning towards almost straight drag bars, input?