MISSOURI DAN | ’51 MERCURY SPORT COUPE “MARCELINE” | GREASERAMA 2021

Stories and Photos by Dare Devil Inc

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Those who build and restore Mercuries tend to skew conservative: they appreciate their streamlined profile and Cadillac-adjacent styling and obsess over bringing them back to their former glory. Missouri Dan isn’t one of them. 

Roadmen CC | Missouri chapter President via Springfield MO, Dan has taken a very different approach with his ’51 Sport Coupe, Marceline. Bought from the original owners in ’19, his list of tech upgrades and modifications is long, replacing many of the essentials and electric and upgrading his flathead with an aluminum radiator, modified block hugger headers, an Offenhauser 2x2 Dual intake and Stromberg carburetors. The suspension’s been dropped, but not ridiculously. Just enough to prowl. 

It isn’t what’s under the hood that gives Marceline her personality; it’s the peculiar blend of traditional flair, trophy rust, clever DIY detailing and personal touches, equally wild west and punk — an enigmatic and very Midwestern fusion that Marceline wears like an old jacket.

Her headline feature is the exterior detailing: a mix of traditional flames and scallops arrived at by compromise between his two children, who “pretty much designed the whole thing”, applied by creating a negative-stencil around the entire car with masking tape. Other touches include upcycled vintage non-car parts, custom dagmars and hubcaps, and a trunkful of MGD.

A longtime admirer of Bo Huff’s legendary Mercury builds, Dan has big plans ahead, “a full radical kustom” with parts he’s been collecting for the past year of pretty much everything but other Mercuries. 

Riding along with Missouri Dan and his wife Heather is an invitation into their home; the hospitality, but also their rules. It’s right on on the dash, and Dan points out the sticker: Be Humble, But Let Motherfuckers Know. Marceline does.

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