Roster and Gallery
1946 Mercury Sedan Coupe
The story surrounding this car is very unusual - Unusal because Mr. Haddad is the original owner. This Mercury was the 7th car off the Richmond, California assembly line in October of 1946. Everything on the car has been restored as new. The color is Mercury's Dynamic Maroon.
The Haddad's raised four kids with the help of this car - in fact - they even drove it on their honeymoon to New York City. That trip wasn't without incident. The engine threw a rod, Jim remembers, just 39 miles out of Gallup, New Mexico. According to Jim's keen memory, the car didn't have a tach so he couldn't determine engine R.P.M. The rear-end was found to be a 4:11 instead of a 3:54 as it was stamped. Jim further recalls that he was supposed to leave for England to pursue his studies. This presented a major problem - He couldn't afford to do that and put a new engine in the car too. He went to England 10 years later
After his discharge from military service, Jim purchased a house in Buena Park and settled into an engineering job at North American Aviation. Later he would go into business for himself wholesaling to art galleries and frame shops. Acording to Jim, the big trunk of the Merc worked out well in the early years but would eventually have to be replaced with '54 station wagon. Subsequently, the family business would go on to become the largest of its kind in the U.S.
In 1969, the old Merc blew a head gasket. It sat in the garage until 1993 when Jim decided to "refurbish" it. According to Jim, "it was a long process but the car is a beauty."