Hard to find parts

[Anonymous]

I’m just curious as to why parts are so hard to find for my 49 Merc.  I still can not find bumper bolts and a pulley for the generator.  I’ve called every advertisor listed in the membership directory and no one has them.  The bumper bolts are only made by one company and they have been on back order for over a month and not expected to be available for another month.  I just found out today that tail lamps are no longer being made.  Water pumps are very very hard to find and only rebuilt ones are available and the same for generators.  Any ideas on this?   

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

I went to the 2009/2010 printed Membership Directory and found 37 owners of ’49 Mercs so it doesn’t seem that they are that rare of a car.  I think I knew that the ’49s have a unique water pump in that the flathead motor mounts are part of that assembly and it is a bit different for ’49.  The tail lights would have the same situation but a generator pulley just does not seem like a one off item.  I know you said you called every  advertiser in the directory but I have an old catalog from Concours Parts in Carson City, NV that lists bumper bolts specifically for a ’49.  It looks like the catalog is from 2008.

I would guess that parts suppliers have slimmed down on their inventories and manufacturing for those parts that don’t have a huge following.  A supplier has to be able to have the part at a reasonable price with enough demand to cover the set up expense.  I assume we all know that.  Good luck with you search.

[Jerry Robbin]

Mac’s states they have them

http://macsautoparts.com/product.asp?camid=F50&pn=JS0R3CHL1106786&sid=FROOGLE&EID=FR&bhcd2=1284300792

Concours staes they have them

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~dyndetail~Z5Z5Z50000051e~Z5Z5Z5AAPAS~P2.75~~~~~~~F

 

Jerry

[Anonymous]

Thanks and I understand about manufacturers needing a demand to reproduce parts.  Only  <cite>http://www.ccrod.com/pdffiles/ccrcatalog.pdf</cite>   has the correct bumper bolts for the 49 and they have them specially made by a company in Canada.  The bolts Mac and Concours sell will fit but they do not have the oblong head that correctly fits.  The bolts they sell work fine for the parts covered by the bumper guards but two bolt in front and two in back which show have a special head. 

[Anonymous]

I am looking for a 1965 Mercury Park Lane power window relay and having a really difficult time.  Anyone have any ideas.  We are new at this and have been restoring our first car for 4 years.  We are in our seventies and hope to finish before we leave this place for greener pastures.

[Roy & Brenda Lange]

5900, do you have a picture of the relay your are looking for….thinking you have one but it does not work and you are looking for a replacement.

 

Roy

[Anonymous]

I found a GREAT parts store in Florida for my 1958 Mercury.  I don’t know if they have parts for a ’49, but they do specialize in old Lincoln-Mercury parts.  I found my extremely hard to find transmission inhibitor switch for my 1958 Mecury Monterey from this place.  URL link below.  Good luck!

http://www.lincolnoldparts.com/

[Jerry Robbin]

Have you tried Dennis Carpenter? He does have NOS parts and does make reproductions for the ’51

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~dyndetail~Z5Z5Z50000024l~Z5Z5Z5AAPBA~P8.00~~~~S3330QRSSM67184419624g~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z50000024L

 

All Mercury parts are hard top locate, but 49-51 are a little easier.

[Anonymous]

I have a newly acquired 1954 Mercury Hard Top Bittersweet with Arctic White top. It is in excellent shape. I would like to paint the faded instrument hands on the gauges, Temperature, Oil, Gas, etc. and Speedometer. Does anyone know how much trouble it is and how to get to the gauges?

Wayne Jones  hwayne37@aol.com

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

I looked up removing the instrument cluster in my ’54 shop manual.  It looks pretty straightforward to get the cluster out.  The trickiest part would be moving the left side heater controls out of the way.  Essentially these are the steps: Disconnect the ground side of the battery (VERY IMPORTANT STEP!!!), take the knobs of the heater controls, remove the phillips head screws at the top of the instrument cluster, remove the phillips head screws (from underneath) that hold the bottom and top of the instrument housing together. lift off the top, move the left side heater controls out of the way (there are three screws you need to remove), remove the screws (2) holding the instrument cluster to the lower control panel, remove four cap screws (two at the bottom and two at the rear of the instrument panel assembly) which hold the lower control panel to the insturment panel.  You don’t need to remove the lower control panel completely.  Disconnect the speedometer cable and pull the instrument cluster forward, disconnect the wire which runs through the loop on the back of the ampmeter at the 30 amp circuit breaker. remove the wires from the oli, fuel, and temp gauges and then remove the cluster.  You can now remove the gauges from the back of the cluster to access the insturment hands on the gauges.  Sounds like a lot of work but I think it should not be a big problem.

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