I also know the factories back then could make true customs.
When I was a kid in the 60s, I prided myself on being able to
recognize any car on the road, most even at night just by the head and tail
lights. It became one of my obsessions. I was completely
confounded, however, by a car that lived a few blocks down the street. I knew
it looked like a 59 Mercury, but something was not right about it. A few
years later, when I got a paper route, that house was one of my
customers. The car, I found out, belonged to the grandfather who lived
with his son and their family. I caught him outside one day and asked
about the car. He proudly told me that he had worked for Ford Motor
Company for over 40 years, and that his retirement gift from the company was a
custom special – anything he wanted from the Ford/Mercury/Lincoln line,
as many parts were interchangeable among the various models. He had a
Merc with a Lincoln front end, and a unique mixture of part swaps built just
for him, to his specs, from the factory. No, I didn’t see a
build sheet, but took this man at his word. The car was too unique for
any other explanation!
Don Sears
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