bobby

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

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Fotzlid

wow.
thats a lot of work there.
rolling sculpture

QuasiMondo

I'm usually not a fan of anything that was made before 1965, but that is just nice!

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BadNick

beautiful, it deserves the prize.

I was born in 1949 so have a natural attaction to that vintage, so the '49 Merc is a classic lowrider I've always wanted.

The Aussie's deserve a lot of credit ...to me it seems they are creative beyond their fair share based on world population. I remember that Holden Efijy custom concept one of them made a couple years ago ...it was another awesome classic custom car that I really liked since it had a lot of the 1949 look to it.

cb93cobra

well mercules is supposed to be here this weekend for the portland rod and custom, look forward to checking it out

Ilow

you mean that's not an Benz E class front end??
p.s., that '49 is awesome--so clean

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SSJTWIZTA

im not a big car nut or anything, but ill be damned if that didnt make my jaw drop.

art on wheels

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First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for me And there was no one left to speak out for me.
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fastom

I'm not a fan of anything made after the sixties so this is right up my alley. Unfortunate obliteration of the front end though, he should have kept it looking like a 50 Merc.

DEI37

Yeah, the Mercury nose is far more stylish. I do agree with you there.

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