Ever doubt that the World’s Most Beautiful Custom award really covers customs built outside the United States? Well, not so this year.
Australian Bruno Gianoncelli took the honors over the weekend at the Sacramento Autorama with the heavily modified Mercury that he calls Mercules. Inspired by the Sylvester Stallone movie Cobra, Gianoncelli sought out a similar car — not an easy task in the land Down Under.
He eventually found the starting point for his project in Perth, Western Australia, with a 1950 Mercury two-door that had lost most of its sheetmetal due to rust anyway. He then chopped it four inches, stretched the trunk, redesigned the interior and reshaped the front end around the Mercedes E-Class headlamps, learning to weld through the entire project.
For the engine, he chose a Ford 6.8-liter V-10, topped with an Autorotor 424 Special supercharger and backed with a Ford 4R100 four-speed automatic transmission. He runs 18-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels, kept in line with Jaguar independent front and rear suspensions modified with an Air Ride airbag system that can drop the Mercury to within an inch of the ground
well,there you have it....xoxoxoo