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‘Slither’ 40 Merc
Brian Everette
Slither
By
Hot Rod Hank
This 1940 Mercury has been a long time coming. Brian Everett, internationally renowned tattoo artist and cofounder of the legendary Beatnik Car Club first fell head over heels for a ‘40 Mercury called Stardust back in the 90s. Everett was always a fan of the Westergard style customs, where a car looks like it’s going 90 miles per hour while it’s standing still.
After turning over a few rocks, Brian got a lead on a ‘40 Mercury in the south panhandle of Texas, and he wasted no time in getting down there. Arriving in a remote small town, in a mainly farming community, a man, Joe, who could have stepped right out of a Norman Rockwell painting greeted Brian. He was not tall in stature but had a handshake similar to a vise grip. After a good once over of the car Brian was ready to make the deal. Not so fast said Joe, “You’re not going to hot-rod this thing are ya?” Brian responded reassuringly, “Absolutely not.” Although, not revealing his actual intention to build a badass kool kustom. As we all know there is a distinct difference between hot rods and kustoms. It would be almost fifteen years before Everett started the metamorphosis of Slither, and now after seeing the result, even Joe might have had a change of heart.
Long time friend and premier customizer Oz Welch and Brian met in 1989 at a West Coast Kustoms Car Show in Paso Robles, California. At their annual meeting Everett and Welch spent a good part of the day critiquing body modifications deciding who should receive “not a clue citations” and who should receive the “right on the money trophies.” Oz and Brian talked years ago about getting started on Slither but Brian, knowing it was going to be a money pit, had to wait for the right financial time. Finally it was time, and Oz Welch was the only man for the job. Brian used his own artistic skills to draw a number of renderings to get a conceptual feel for how he wanted the car to look. Oz, with his keen eye, and his talent for metal shaping eventually made the dream car a reality.
Brian wanted a car that would drive as nice as it looked. Bobby Radford of Radford Motor Works in Santa Maria, California was selected for this monumental task. Bobby removed the body and sand blasted the frame. After the frame was free of all rust and paint he modified the stock X member to accommodate the new automatic transmission. Next, Bobby boxed the frame rails and installed the Fat Man Stage IV Mustang front end, complete with disc brakes and air bags. With the front end intact he started modification for installation of an Air Ride Technologies Triangulated 4-link in the rear. He then narrowed a Ford 9 inch rear end with 3.55 to 1 gears and an Auburn posi unit sporting Wilwood disc brakes to be fitted to the 4-link. All this driveline needed now was a Ford Racing 302-350 HP crate motor mated to a Lentech AOD transmission with a Genie Shifter. The only one way to keep that motor running kool was a kustom built aluminum radiator provided by Don Armstrong of U.S. Radiator.
After the body was set back on the frame Bobby installed an Air Ride Technologies Ride Pro Systems under the tongue cover area. Then he installed a Polished Flaming River tilt column and a Hot Rod Air A/C unit. Last, but not least, he wired the car with a Kwit Wire harness.
Upon drive train completion the car made its way north to Oroville, California, the home of Oz Kustoms. As Brian approached Oz’s establishment he stared at a long inclined driveway with vintage car carcasses reverently arranged on both sides. The very large metal building on top of the hill was adorned with at least another 30 cars giving the appearance that you had arrived at Hot Rod Heaven. On arrival the project was off and running. Oz immediately stated, “We need to get this baby laid out.” He channeled the car about 5 inches over the frame rails. This gave it the ability to set right on the ground yet ride at the right height maintaining a nice ride. He then chopped the top removing 4 inches from the A pillars and about 7 inches from the back. It required a bit of metal mastery to achieve that smooth transition from front to back. The windshield opening appeared a little too narrow so Oz raised the windshield into the roofline. This made the windshield and side glass aesthetically aligned. All side glass molding was hand built by Oz. The stock rear window was replaced with that of a ‘48 ford. Its oval shape blended into the rear of the car helping the chop top to flow. The trunk corners were rounded and the metal below the trunk was reshaped around the back of the car to transition into the ‘39 Zephyr rear fenders. The Zephyr fenders were sectioned 8 to 10 inches and reshaped. Adding 10 inches of length to the front fenders flowing into the door line gave conformity to the rear fenders.
The door got the suicide treatment and the door bottoms were modified to accommodate the new front fenders. To tie in the front and back fenders, Oz hand formed running boards. The hood was peaked and extended 2 inches with the overall shape giving the appearance of a frenched in grill. The gravel pan was hand built as well as the centerpiece for the grill. ‘55 Buick Dagmyers frenched in on each side of the grill tied into the Dagmyers on the back of the car on both sides of the sectioned 40 Zephyr front bumper.
After the custom metalwork was complete, Oz spent over 100 hours making all gap margins consistent and as tight as tolerance would allow. The Mercury was then prepped for final paint. Numerous hours of wet sanding were required before the House of Kolor Kandy Pagan Gold 3 stage paint could be applied. After many hours of final polishing, the paint shimmered like a precious gem. The final treatment required the talents of Bob Divines Upholstery. Bob started by wrapping the car front to back with DynaMat giving it the sound deadening properties of a new car. He then upholstered the tongue cover Oz built. Bob wrapped the tongue cover in a 2-tone white and baize tuck and roll. The ‘64-Thunderbird seats surrounded by the tongue cover and separated by a waterfall console were given the same treatment. The accent short pile wool carpet gave it a look of luxury.
Slither was invited to Blackies precious invitation only Fresno Autorama and given a Outstanding Elegance Award. Slither won best of show at West Coast Kustoms Cruising Nationals in Santa Maria CA. It also won Best Paint Award from Bill Hines at the same show. Slither won the first Americas kustom de Excellence Award at Showcase of Customs in Long Beach CA. The car then went to Kustom Kemps of America Lead Spectacular in Salinas KS to win the Most Spectacular Leadslead and Hall of Fame picks by both Darryl Starbird and Bill Hines. Slither has sense been asked to be one of ten kustoms selected to be showcased at the 2010 Detroit Autorama.
Brian thanks both Oz and his son and right hand man, Kyle “Coyote” for the exceptional work they did on Slither. He also thanks Don Armstrong of U.S. Radiators and Scott Whitaker of DynaMat for their contributions in making the 1940 Mercury into the dream car now known as Slither.
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