1953 Mercury Monterey - Custom 2 door hardtop coupe - FRAME OFF RESTORATION

Up for bid is my 1953 Mercury Monterey 2 door hardtop. What started off as a mild custom turned into a COMPLETE FRAME OFF build and restoration. After many years and countless hours looking for hard to find parts, it is much to my chagrin that the time has finally come to sell her.
The car was built by a well-respected member of the Lifters Car Club, and as such, was built to be period correct. The build took over two years to complete and has since seen press in “Traditional Kustom” and “Rod and Kustom” Magazines and won awards at the Grand National Roadster Show. It has also been used in multiple advertising photo shoots.
The “Merc” has been living its life a member of my family for the last 3 years, but when it was under the knife, quite literally everything was either replaced or rebuilt. The new CANDY gold paint job shines likes it’s in competition with the sun. The frame was painted in black frame/chassis paint. The whole underside of the body was painted as well. The car has all new suspension and features new air bags WITH bump stops on all 4 corners. New chrome everywhere and on everything. New rubbers and weather stripping. Windows roll up and down as they should. All new interior from carpet to headliner. Matching carpet in the trunk. Rebuilt original speedo. All new 12v wiring. A modern CD/iPod player was installed in the dash. New structure boxes were built and a new floor pan from a same year Ford Victoria installed. Power brakes with all new brake lines, etc. FORD, it has a Ford 302 small block with a C4 transmission. Edelbrock Carburetor. MSD Distributor. Drives up and down the road with ease and is geared to cruise the highway without breaking a sweat.
Unfortunately, living close to the beach is not without its faults. There are a couple small bubbles in the paint on the lower front corner of the passenger door. Additionally, I lost a hubcap going around a corner too fast and and the hubcap left a couple marks in the paint. They've been touched up, but still noticeable if looking for them. Finally, the gas gauge is not working at the moment. I'm not a mechanic, but my mechanic looked at it and said I might need a new sending unit.
The list of everything that has gone into this car is almost infinite. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. If you’re looking for a reliable daily driver that can also turn some heads and win a few awards, than look no further.
AllenNine four nine - 697- five five six six
Bidding starts at $25k with no reserve.
https://youtu.be/GosPhjb7sis
Clean titleSmall block Ford 302 motor (approximately 5k miles since rebuild)C4 Automatic TrannyPower brakes