| MIKE and KATHY PERSHING – FOUNDING MEMBERS |
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Mike and Kathy Pershing are two of the remaining Founding Members of the Brandywine Cruisers. Mike has served as President for most of the years and designed and maintains the web site. Kathy has served as Secretary for as many years. Both Mike and Kathy are "car people", Kathy lays claim to the '40 Nash known as the "Georgia Peach- "Jes Pchy". They have traveled the mid-west from north to south in "the Peach". The '50 Mercury "is Mike's".
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1940 Nash Sedan - "Jes - Pchy" -
We call "her" "the Peach", "Jes Peachy" or "The Georgia Peach".... Yes, this Street Rod has been to Georgia but that's not the reason for the name.... it's all about the paint... PPG Deltron "Sweet Georgia Peach". She is Kathy's car....and yes I do drive it a lot....'cause it's fun, comfortable - - and WE have spent many an hour cruising the US of A......
We had a '37 Dodge Street Rod "Project" and Kathy figured out we would be "anchient" by the time it was roadworthy enough to do what we expected it to do (business, life, responsibility, you know). At GoodGuys about 1992 she "fell in love" with "The Peach".... and it's been hauling us around for many miles (about 75,000 today) for many years (about 17 as of 2009). Built originally by Dave Hall of the Cinci area for his wife..... it's been nothing but a great dependable ride. From home to far away places like Oklahoma, Michigan, the Carolinas - 'most everywhere east of the Rockies - it's a great ride.
It's taken us camping - Nash was well known for it's "sleeper capabilities" with the back seat turning into a sleeping compartment - and it still does that. It's hauled '48 Caddy fenders from Evansville - with the rear seat "up" it's like an early version of a hatch back. It's explored the Smokey Mountains numerous times fair weather and in the snow. It's gotten banged up a couple times but that can happen when ya drive your street rod. It's gotten us home from Oklahoma City with a rear shock "bailing wired" good enough for the trip. We've sipped great wine under the shade of the trunk lid with good friends - somewhere. Ya, we sure have had a lot of fun cruisin' in the "Peach".....
With it's 350 Mouse and 400 Turbo it's the dependable, easy to maintain cruiser it is intended to be... and our plan is to just "keep 'er rollin for as long as we cruise....
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1950 Mercury –
This car has been ours for over 20 years. And, it is pretty much like it was then and for some years before – a ’50 Merc mild custom or “Hot Rod Mercury” – which ever is politically correct, I guess. It has some early history as can be seen in the way some changes have been made over the years – some lead, some black lacquer, cut coils, 6-volt. And, there is a vintage Kustom Kemps of America lead sled decal from a show in Kansas, a real air rifle hole in one side of the front glass.
All done up in black like Johnny Cash and sporting red “traditional” pin striping from hood to rear deck, it has that “look”. And, it’s all ‘50’s with wide bias-ply Firestone whites, ’57 Caddy caps, full length lakes pipes, ’51 skirts, shaved, decked and nosed and spots on both sides. Inside there is good ol’ red and black naugahide tuck and roll (my High School Colors), red and black teardrop knobs and gear shift knob, fuzzie dice and mirror cover, more stripping, red carpet and original dash and sun tach. Under the hood is all flathead three speed and original in appearance. Oh ya, duals with Smithy’s with nice big cans at the end of the pipes. Did I fail to mention blue dots out back and that the grill is two Merc grills end to end with the center piece removed? And, the top is NOT chopped!
Like many others, this Merc has done its share if cruising and “showing” from Kansas to Oklahoma, from north to south, from Dean to KKOA. It’s garnered a few prizes and covered the miles.
Where is this Merc, you may ask (and many do) >>> it is resting peacefully and awaiting a reawakening! One day this ol’ Merc will cruise again – head up and tail down – no polished billet, no small block anything – just an ol’ “Hot Rod Merc” – just the way it should be!
Mike P
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The Rebel is re-born! Varrrooom Vidio #1 (December 2009)
Varrroooom...vidio #2 (December 2009)
MERCURY PROJECT 2010......
It's odd how things go, sometimes. Good friend John Zapf has been prodding for quite some time for us to get the Merc back on the road where it belongs. Life's clock keeps tickin', stuff keeps comin' at ya and some things just set there and wait. That's the Merc story...set and wait. And each day that passes means one less "marble in the life jar".
New member Dan Wineinger heard about the "Merc buried in the garage" and couldn't leave it alone. He teamed up with John, ganged up on me. I had said it had been "buried under stuff" for about 5 or 6 years. When Dan finally pushed me into at least considering action this fall (2009) he came over and we pushed the old ride out into the light of day for the first time in - nope, not 5 or 6 but 10+ years. He didn't notice the discrepancy until we were pushing the ol' Rebel back into the garage....ya...pushing. He looked down and saw the plate...... time flies when you are having fun, I'm told...
Anyway, after making sure the only thing in the tank was good/new gas, the 6-V stuff was by-passed, the new fuel was "blown" to the fuel pump, the plugs were blasted clean - it lit up as if it had just been run to the Dean Run a few days ago!
Would it "go"? Give it a shot! We knew there were no brakes (only the emergency that dragged on one corner!), we powered her down the drive way onto the road. MAN did that feel good! Without further ado, I drove it (very carefully) to the Wineinger 'hood where his garage is lift equipped (good for us "elder guys"). The pix will be proof of the beginning of the "road trip back" for this Rebel Merc....
All new wire and switches - 12V / Dual Master Cylinder brakes.....
Special thanks to Dan for pushing me into action and putting his back into the project at hand and to John who jumped in with the wrenchin' and wire pullin'.. and to Kathy who said, "Git the Damn Thing Back on the Road - NOW", or something to that effect!
Here are some "at work" shots as proof to those who are non-believers! - and those who just want to look - CLICK ON THE > TO DO THE SLIDE SHOW.....
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CRUISIN' THE "DEAN"
Cruisin' the Dean - where else but Fairmount, IN and the James Dean Run.
Rollin' past James' High School wif my Lady!
Life is Good!
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1955 Chevy Pick Up "Big Window"
This truck is pure "hot rod" with its black coat of paint covering a mildly cleaned up body. The hood badges and trim along with unnecessary trim elsewhere has been removed. Power is by a Crane cammed 283 ci currently topped by a 4BBL and backed by a Hurst shifted 4-speed with power reaching the ground through 4.11 gears out back.
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First car stories and pictures are, well, just neat - especially to the guy who lived it and had it, what ever it was.
This 1949 Dodge (ya, Zapf, my first car was a Mopar - sorta kinda). Long story short, it was 1960 and dad had bought a '60 Mercury and I was "allowed" to drive the "old" car. I guess I was 17. Probably was a smart move as very quickly I managed to destroy the L-Head "6" - rods through the block, etc. Kinda was fun, though. The thing was a "GyroMatic" shifter. You had a clutch to get into first gear and then simply lifted your accelerator foot to "click" the tranny into high. That was how you were supposed to do it. I quickly learned though that if you stomped the clutch peddle you could get into high - sorta a "speed shift" sort of thing. It usually worked - except the one time that it didn't and the revs climbed to the stratosphere....well you know how it went, I'm sure!Having accomplished that feat of stupidity - I set out to build the "World's Fastest Dodge" - in the Lafayette, IN world at least.
Determined to be different I bought a '58 Chevy 283 out of a wrecked Impala Convertable in Indy - loaded it in the trunk of Dad's new Mercury (I borrowed his car to do something quite unlike hauling an engine, I'm sure) and took it to Kenny Cox's "Kustom Tune-Up" shop in Lafayette. A Chevy 3-speed tranny was attached and mounts were fabed, the drive shaft was cut and spliced (Chevy front/Dodge rear), pipes were made and it was ready to take home to finish.
Dad, I'm sure, was not overly happy about where this whole thing was going, especially when it ended up in his garage and strawberry patch - depending on what stage the project was in. There was even a tree out back so I guess the title could be "shade tree" mechanic built. Ya know, he never did ask, I don't think, where the engine came from or how it got from where it was to where it needed to be.
Adding a "Drag Fast" straight line shifer with a looooong and tall stick for lookin' cool and a reeeeal short stick made for fast and fun shifting. So fast, in fact, that I got real good at replacing synchros in the tranny. The clutch was set up with a Ford F-100 hydraulic set up. The 283 got a new 4-bbl Rochester, Isky Z30 cam and solids, and topped off with Corvette finned aluminum valve covers. The electrical was 12V start/battery and 6V for everything else - real simple - a 12V battery with a screw terminal inserted in the center of the battery yielding 6 volts for the rest of the car. Hey, it worked!
There you have it...my first car/ my first "hot rod".......and, as most of us know it was/had to be my go everywhere car, "daily driver". My "Dodgerolet".
Mike P
PS - I let Dad drive it just one time - and I had to keep it locked after that because he wanted to "cruise" the campus at Purdue - hell, he may have been trollin' for "babes", I dunno!
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1956 Chvey 210 2-door post - about 1965 or so
This was one sweet little Chevy! Six cylinders, duals, dual carbs and three-on-the-tree! And have to mention the "Amoco 120" double white wall tires on "Anson" rims....how sweet it was!
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| Mike's '59 Chevy Impala Convertable |
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| 1959 Chevrolet Impala Convertable -
A mild custom I put together in the mid '60's, it was Roman Red with a white convertable top. This car I had painted by Jerry Camp at Van's Body Shop in Lafayette (my home town). (Incidentally, Jerry's brother Ron Camp was building a '60 Convertable at about the same time. Ron went to California before it was finished, going to work for George Barris. There the '60 was finished and became the "Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" which later was reproduced by Danbury Mint.) My '59 stayed with me in Indiana until 1968 when my dad "sold" it to someone while I was doing my due with Uncle Sam. (I never have found any trail to the car except that it may have gone first to Lebanon, IN - it would be fun to know what it's story was/is!). Anyway, the car - built in my back yard as we did stuff then, it had '53 Ford headlights (singles) in place of the quads, an "egg crate" white grill, the front of the hood was curved under in one piece eliminating the air intakes and parking lights. The side trim was left alone up front and on the doors but I added another front spear to the rear quarters in place of the stock trim. The antenna was electric and was positioned to go up and through the driver's side rear tail fin. (More on this as time allows & I know there are pictures somewhere here in the "stash".)
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