Swap Shop Shoppin'
More than likely we will need to source a Shop not only capable, but willing and eager to take on the body swap side of this Carventure.
With the recent loss of availability of our much preferred "work area" we've been forced to do a bit more digging and the deeper we dive into this Carventure one thing has become abundantly clear. While we have a few ideas on ways we'd like to move forward, with each decision we think we've made, we're immediately faced with yet another last minute obstacle(in this case a "swapsacle") positioning itself smack dab in the middle of our path. Never fails. A Shop we once had in mind either no longer exists, is far too busy, doesn't do that type of "thing", or a combination of all of the above. The list of excuses is seemingly endless.
We knew right from the start that this would be anything but easy. Without a doubt this isn't a "cookie cutter" refresh in any sense of the word. No Siree. This is anything but that and constantly proves itself to be that "one of one" endeavor in every sense of the word. Daunting? Yes. Disappointing? Yes again on that. Will that stop us? NO! Not even. It only makes our desire to conquer this situation even greater.
As the challenge grows, we continue to grow right along with it. Had this been a simple aftermarket chassis and LS swap, the list of places to take that on are seemingly endless. Almost as if every shop out there lives on the modernized "plug-n-play" drivetrain craze. Nor is this your Grandpa's everyday run of the mill standard Mercury Sedan refresh. Pretty sure we could have found someone to take that on no sweat. Come to think of it, neither of those options eve appeals to us. We're fueled solely by the ability to own the "one of one" version, not your "everyone at every Car Show you go to has one" version.
But the minute you mention Marmon-Herrington AWD, the phone goes silent on the other end. Even the background noise seems to cease. It's as if they have their hand over the mic goin' "Hey, has anybody ever heard of somethin' called a Marmon-Herringsomethinorother 4X4 before?" Then it's two minutes of crickets as everyone in the shop scratches their collective heads, followed by a "No, we're too busy right now, sorry" and a dial tone. Wait a second, two minutes ago you were more than hungry to fill the schedule and all of a sudden you're too busy. Yeah, it's like that.
However, that's not all that unusual in a situation such as this. After all, we're pretty much dealing with a 78 year old unknown to most folks one of one situation. A "one size fits almost none" rarified air type of thing. So a certain amount of that is to be expected as we continue to keep our eyes peeled for the right Shop to take this project on. We want the end result of all this effort to be as close to what the original owner ordered when he first sat down at the Mercury Dealership back in 1948 and began to lay out the plan for his dream Mercury Sedan.
