1956 Mercury Monterey Custom By Greg Zyla

Q: Greg, I really enjoy your columns in Auto Round-Up Magazine, and you’ve written about some of my cars before (Vol. 7, No. 728). However, of all the cars I’ve ever owned, my “true love car” was and always will be my 1956 Mercury. When I met my wife in 1959, I was going to a place in Brooklyn, NY, called “Mitchell’s Drive-In.”

In January of 1960, I bought a black and yellow two-door ’56 Mercury Monterey and shortly after purchasing it, found out that all Ford and Mercury parts were interchangeable. Well, I went crazy doing things to my car, as I bought a 1954 Ford transmission, clutch and bell housing from Monte’s Salvage Yard. Then, I bought a ’54 Mercury stick from a 6- cylinder and had to get a stick shift flywheel and driveshaft from the 1954 Merc. Next, I hooked up a complete 4:11 rear end from a 1955 Ford Station Wagon.

Next, I lowered the rear and added Cruiser Skirts, and up front added split 1955 Pontiac bumpers below with a 1957 DeSoto grille. I de-chromed the rest of the car and installed a picture hanging wire that went from the trunk key mechanism under the back seat to under my driver seat so I could pull it and open the trunk. I had to do this as I removed the chrome trunk key function from the trunk and filled it in I then used some molding from a 1955 Mercury, and reversed it to go from the middle of the front door to the rear taillights…which were now from a 1959 Cadillac! Inside, I went with a black interior with little twinkle Christmas lights in the headliner so that when you opened the doors, stars would shine. I lastly painted the car 1960 Caddy Georgian Poly Blue.

After Mitchell’s, you would go with your girl to Plum Beach to watch the “submarine” races. I am now 68 years old, and wonder how many of the girls and guys reading Auto Round-Up remember Mitchell’s, Plum Beach, warm beer and lousy food and drag racing at Hellie Bly? Mitchell’s Drive-In was the idea behind the place in “Happy Days.” Keep up the great columns, and God Bless America, and our Armed Forces. Dominick Raffone Sr., Brooklyn, New York.

A: Dominick, thanks for your great letter, which lets some of our younger readers know what the pre-baby boomers used to do to their cars back in the day. I had many friends who did the same. If you have a photo of your Mercury, please send it along. Did it have Lake pipes? Also, for the sake of my readers, Plum Beach “submarine races” was actually “special teenage lingo” that meant you were going to Plum Beach with your girl. Plum Beach was a well known teenage “lovers lane” by the water out on Long Island. Thus, if you told someone you were going to watch the “submarine races,” you were going to Plum Beach with your girl.

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