1961 Mercury Meteor 600 Project

Some quick background on me and my car history. I have worked cars since my father taught me how to at a very young age. Over the years I have done many small projects and three major restorations. All of them Mustangs. Generally speaking, all of the work was done by me along with my father and even my wife ( the last Mustang was for her.). The sole exceptions being one engine rebuild and one auto trans rebuild. I really enjoy it.

Last year I had the desire to do another project but not another Mustang. Something larger, more comfortable and roomy. After all I am a lot older now and I have grown fond of a nice luxurious ride. I was ready to buy a T-bird when my wife asked me......"What about my Grandfather's Meteor?" Now, I remember seeing the car before we were married. At the time it wasn't a Mustang so I never gave it a thought. We'll, that was 17 years ago so I said ok. I thought why not (and she would not have let me buy a T-bird if I didn't) so off we went.......

The car I was looking at under a pile of stuff was born 12/5/1960 at the Wayne Michigan Assembly Plant. It was shipped to B&R Motor Sales in New Castle, PA where it was purchased new by her Grandfather. According to the invoice ("window sticker"?) the total cost, with transportation charges of $61.50 was $2734.60. Its base price of $2533 was increased by $75.10 for the heater and defroster and by $65.00 for the push button radio. He drove it into the mid 80's until he passed away. It had roughly 53000 miles on it at that time.

It sat in his Erie, PA garage until my brother-in-law brought it to Michigan on a flat bed. It sat in my mother-in-law's garage (his was filled with a camper and a '70 Cuda) until the late '90s at which time she moved to a condo. At that time it was put in my brother-in-law's now empty garage where is sat until last April.

My first impression was that this wasn't the car I had remembered. Even under all of the stuff piled on it I could see it wasn't in bad shape at all. I had started with much, much worse and I thought the small fins were too cool. We looked it over, talked about it, my mind racing and knowing this was the next project, and then I asked what he wanted me to give him for it. The response was, 'Nothing, it is staying in the family and that is enough." On top of that he knows someone with a towing company so the flatbed trip to our house was also going to be free. It was the only way. It hadn't been started for over 15 years, the front brakes were locked up, and there was no battery.

Three days later, late in the evening, and it was in my driveway, the front end jacked up with a jack so we could roll it into the garage in the dark with only the garage lights to guide us. It just fit with enough room to talk around the back. At nearly 18 feet is it a bit bigger than the Mustangs.

Tomorrow I will post pictures in the thread (they are on my jump drive that I left at work and I don't know how to get them from my gallery to here) and continue the story of the journey that takes me to today.

More please

As it sat in my brother-in-law's garage.

Uncovered and delivered to her new home. Desparately needing a bath to see what condition she was really in.

Washed and ready for mechanical work.

Mechanical work to make it road worthy:

oil change, changed out the generic spark plug wires for new ones, redid the front brakes (including new lines), inspected the rear (they were ok), installed a new master cylinder, a new fuel pump, new voltage regulator, new fuel line, sender, had the tank refurbished (cleaned/sealed inside and out), and last but not least put new tires on it.

Everything else was ok. Didn't do any other work on it last year - just enjoyed it. Put about 400 miles on her. Now she sits on jack stands ready for some TLC. Spring Columbus is this weekend and I have my shopping list and $ ready.

I have yet to decide which I will do first. Sheet metal repair, the under side, or the engine (corl gasket replacement, painting, etc - runs perfect and needs no full rebuild). We'll see what I find tmorrow in Columbus. If I have luck finding sheetmetal from the people I have tried to contact or at the swap that will be first. If not, most likely the underbody. It is in good shape as my wife's grandfather really undercoated teh heck out of it.

The rust on the frame should clean up fairly well and POR-15 will cover it.

The floor has no holes so probably a good cleaning and some spray on under coating. She is going to be a driver for now so I won't go crazy with underbody detailing.

What ever I do i still want to be able to drive it this year so I don't want it down for the spring/summer/fall. My key point with this next project was to be able to enjoy it while working on it. Extended down time is expected just not for too long.

The long term plan is a new paint job, refinished interior, engine bay, and something for better highway driving (either the selectable planetary OD they offered if I ever find a complete set up or possibly an AOD). I am also considering a add on fuel injection set up but for now I am happy to stay with the 2bbl carb.

Any comments/suggestions/lessons learned will be much appreciated and welcomed.

That looks like Madison Heights or Royal Oak....that is AMAZING that it has a solid trunk being in Michigan!!

Redford actually. The car's on road life was all in PA before I got it back on the road.. Her Grandfather had it under coated pretty well. Just couldn't stop the fender and rear quarter rust from the wheel splash.

Wow. Looks pretty good. I'm also surprised about the trunk condition. A few things I would becareful about not to break is the front fender gun sites (plastic lens or the metal ring) and the door scripts. Very, very hard to find. Interesting the back window is so different from mine. Enjoy your new project and I will be following along. I grew up in Richmond Michigan and my pops lives in Croswell.

I hear you on the fender gun sites. In my initial cleaning I was looking at how they come out and.......pop, it came out pretty easy. I took both out and stored so that they wouldn't fall out while driving on our not so smooth SE Michigan roads. I will be careful with all of the emblems. I plan to have them re-chromed currently. And thank you again for the Big M auto contact. We have been trading emails and I am just waiting for some pictures so that we can set up a purchase on the sheet metal. I highly doubt I will find what he says he has in Columbus tomorrow.

Well, I am back from Columbus and overall I would say it was a pretty good trip. Not a lot of items but successfully picked up a new, uncracked, exhaust manifold set; a 4bbl intake; a rechromed bumper, and a set of NOS Fender Ornaments. I was surprised at the lack of valve covers of any kind for the 292 V8 and the lack of Mercury script emblems. I didn't expect a large number but more than 0. Oh well. I can still rechrome mine.

WOW, you just don't run across family like that everywhere. Its a fantastic find, I hate to see ones like this overlooked for their potential. Theres a Rambler from the 50's close by, but I just haven't been able to talk the wife into letting me drag another one home till I get my current one driveable. Yours wil definately get attention, you just don't see that many of them. Good find, good job, and good luck with it.

Thanks. I am excited about it. I am currently working on some sheet metal that I need.

I also know what you mean about getting another project. I have a T-bird I could get for a great price. I simply don't have the room. To be honest this car is a bit big for my garage but I will find a way to manage. I need at least a 2.5 car garage. Oh well.

Ok. Due to family issues and work I have not had much time to do any work. I did find enough time to clean the dirties carb I have even seen. The pictures do not do justice to just how much dirt and oil were caked onto it. I am surprised the car ran as well as it did. After hours of scrubbing it cleaned up pretty nice. It looks out of place now on the filthy engine. I am considering an update to an Auto because I cannot find a 3 spd OD (complete set up). As such I have delayed pulling the engine. I also decided to do a quick clean up and repaint of the steel wheels. Examples shown.

Such a great story and real swell Merc. These were the cars that were the bread and butter for Mercury back in the 60's. My uncle had a 1960 Mercury Monterey in the early to mid seventies, that I absolutely loved. I've been a Mercury fan ever since. Your 600 and Laughing Coyote's 800 projects make my mouth water. I sure would not entertain a change to an automatic. Rebuild the old tranny and go with it, keep it original (MHO). Thanks for your efforts! :-)

Thank you for the kind words. If I could find the 3 spd OD that was an available option I would be happiest. I want to use her for long trips up north (3 hours each way) and that just wouldn't be pleasant without OD. If I do the auto it will be a 4 speed.

Thank you for the kind words. If I could find the 3 spd OD that was an available option I would be happiest. I want to use her for long trips up north (3 hours each way) and that just wouldn't be pleasant without OD. If I do the auto it will be a 4 speed.

You might try to contact Northwest Transmission Parts (google it) to see if they know anyone they sell parts to, who refurbs those old stick shift with OD transmissions and offers them for sale. Northwest will probably have the parts too if you find a transmission that needs work. The 3-speed overdrive (combo was common in Ramblers and Studebakers). Those were Borg Warner trannies and R10/R11 overdrives in the 50s and 60s I think. Maybe Ford used the same thing. I"m not sure. Joe

Thank you Joe. I will definitely check it out. I appreciate the lead.

Mark

The carb looks great Mark. keep up the great work.

Been shopping mostly. Lots of NOS and used parts have arrived lately. I never knew I could find so much on eBay. My fenders have arrived and the quarters arrive tomorrow according to Fedex. Once I have them all I will have them stripped so that I can seal them in epoxy primer. That will protect them until I can get to them.

I have had little time because work has been nuts and it seems that my family is on a run of bad luck. The latest was a nasty cut on my wife's thumb last Thursday. 7 stitches to seal it up. She cut it slicing a bagel with one of our Cutco knives. He birthday is in 2 weeks......I hope she like the bagel slicer she is getting.

You have a rare car there. It's very rare to find a full-sized 1960s Mercury with three-speed stick shift. I would leave it original. In more and more cases, original unrestored cars are starting to climb above the value of the restored cars, as people realize the rarity of an unrestored 50-year-old car, and given the cost of restoring one. These were not real common cars when they were new. The only one I ever saw back in the 1960s belonged to one of the older cafeteria ladies at my elementary school in Sherman, Tx. It was a 6-cylinder, standard shift, full-sized '61 Mercury. She couldn't drive a stick shift car very well, and every afternoon, from the open windows of our classroom, I would hear her start that thing up and try to maneuver it out of the tight parking area, when she left to go home around 2 p.m. She would rev the living daylights out of that six (3,000 to 4,000 rpm at least!), slip the clutch something fierce, and finally slowly make it out of the parking lot. It probably didn't have any power steering either, because it would take her several minutes just to get backed up and turned around. I'll bet she had to get a new clutch every year in that thing. As you can see, I was already a car nut by 5th and 6th grade.

Pete Phillips

Leonard, Tx

Thanks Pete. For the short term at least it will stay 3 on the tree.

Project update......

I put the battery back in yesterday and started her back up. I was pleased that there are no leaks an she runs perfectly. The next step is to get her off the jack stands and wash her. The first cruise in night starts on the 28th and I plan to be there.

On the parts front I have received new fenders and quarters from Big M Auto in California. Super solid and fair prices. Shipping was expensive but everything arrived without further damage. I am very please with Big M. The response is a little slow when working from the other side of the country but we'll worth it for me. The fenders arrived with bonus side ornaments (these were off an 800) and the quarters arrived with wheel houses and trunk drop offs. Both of which are solid. Not sure what I will do with the side ornaments other than clean them up. They aren't bad but not great either.

Nothing else too exciting. Work is crazy busy and my wife and I are looking for a new house which will have a larger garage. I need the room to really get in and restore this car.

Sounds like your getting her ready. Are the body parts Gold? If so we both have parts from the same car. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

For sure. Same car. Getting to be less of it there based on what is sitting in Michigan now. I'll post picks next week. I am also finalizing the steering column purchase with John so that I can have a key component to my reversible auto update. Just waiting for shipping costs so that I can pay him for the total and get it on its way.