1963 Mercury Comet s22 hard top

Mercury Comet s22 hard top (1963)
for sale

Price: US $3,900.00

Description:

Hello Ebay! Its finally time to sell my Gasser.
This is a 1963 Mercury Comet. Its the very rare S22 Hard top one year only body that has been made into a Gasser.
Built in a rat rod fashion this ride is rough mean and scary in all the right ways while also looking absolutely wild and ready for a fight.
Lets just go over each area one at a time, but first be aware this is not for the easily shaken. It rides rough, is hard to park, is very loud, and is definitely a hand full but that's what makes it fun! Read ALLLLLL of the description and seriously check out the video and pictures!
This Gasser is just plain cool with red windows, vintage slot mags, fat vintage drag tires, a lot of great vintage decals on the rear seat delete, straight axle, radised quarters, huge Mopar scoop, white fender well headers, and of course the thing that really makes any Gasser, the name. She is the Gass Clown. ...Yes like the childish insult mixed with Gasser
Car comes with a lot of stuff including all of the original body trim in perfect shape wrapped in paper including some duplicates. also read through the description for a lot of other stuff that can come with the car.
Drive train:
Engine is an early Chevy 305 that has been stroked and bored making an estimated 353 CI. Build has about 600 miles on it and a hand full of drag passes. Has a 3/4 style cam, gear drive, short double hump heads, aluminum intake with Edelbrock 650, Chevy 2 headers cut and re-angled to fit a 1949 Chevy then pressed into service here. on that note the turnouts do have baffles but this is still in the drag car volume level (I have some side pipes that fit it if the buyer wants). Does seem to be leaking from the oil pressure sender, but is otherwise very very healthy with no noise, smoke or issues. Sits in a welded in speedway cross member. Also has an aluminum radiator with an electric fan. and new motor mounts, one solid, one poly.
Transmission is a th350 with a nice agressive shift kit and a 2800 stall. It shifts hard and tight and is attached to a Lokar shifter. The trans does leak out of the speedo cable. Yes Im aware its a 10 cent o-ring i just haven't had the time to get to it. Sits in a hand made cross member of overkill thick steel. new poly mount.
Rear is a 71 nova 10 bolt mounted under the springs with air shocks. Gears are stupid. . it was welded when I got it... with... 273 gears. because of this it pushes out some gear oil on the driver side axle seal if its filled all the way up and is a bear to back into a parking spot but I do it frequently any way. This whole rear was something I was going to change. I have a prepped 54 inch 7 5/8 10 bolt with open 308 gears i was going to put in on top of the springs. This would make it lower, quicker, and easier to drive. The buyer has first option to buy this rear and a 343 gear set for it.
Chassis:
Front end is a narrowed 65 ford Econoline van straight axle with new shocks and lift blocks. The lightening holes are painted on. It does have some play in the manual steering but its mostly in the drivers side king pin. A new one is included. Has a speedway cross-member for the engine, and a hand made thick tranny cross-member, also sports an engine chain, and a drive shaft loop, Air shocks in basically stock location in the rear. Brakes all around are new (300 miles) manual drums. It stops fine for what it is but don't expect it to come screeching to a halt. Tires are fine but vintage.
Interior:
Mostly original with pitted chrome and aging but good door panels and dash. Has brand new carpet put in 2 weeks ago. Seats are from a 1997 Thunderbird and are basically temporary and are bolted in at slightly wonky angles because I have a set of vintage racing buckets I was going to have recovered in red flake bass boat fabric. Buyer can have the racing seats as well. Steering wheel is grant and shifter is Lokar. Still has that awesome S22 center console. Rear seat has been deleted with a sheet of steel that has been covered in vintage racing stickers. Headliner is fairly new, all windows go down and have red tint but window seals are original. They do leak. Car was a stick previously and still has clutch pedal. Column shifter was poorly ground off. Has a flip switch ignition with push button starter, fan switch, Tach, oil pressure (reads 20 lb high due to leak) temp and volt gauges up top and a working speedo. Gas tank is also new. I'm going to mention the wiring here.. I would recommend putting in a EZ or Painless buggy harness as its a mess under the dash and all of the lights are either on or off with the same switch for the ignition. This means no turn signals or brake lights!!!! They are all just on... all the time. I drive it like this with hand signals no problem but you may not find the same joy in flailing an arm out the window while wrestling manual steering as I do. It does come with the original front harness if you feel like rewiring it for the Chevy engine.
Body:
Its not perfect, but it looks good. Chrome is pitted but looks the part, and as stated before I have all of the body chrome including duplicates , thousands of dollars of chrome if you had to buy it for this one year only car. There has been a lot of body work done so there isn't much rust in the actual body except a few small eraser sized holes in the trunk, the hood lip underneath is missing some but has been sanded and painted over, and under the dash has some flaky bits. Lots of bondo and new panels in the lower areas of the body that were done very well. Underneath though it was repaired with a lot of small panels in places then just painted over, not smoothed out. Body was moderately sanded and sprayed satin black. When I got the car it had huge holes in the hood for zoomies. I patched in a few small pieces to cover up the parts of the holes that would still be exposed with the scoop installed. Could stand to be skinned over and paint the whole hood as one go to match. There were some stitches cuts made in the facing where the headers needed clearance that could stand to be welded at their current angle and smoothed. I also have started a radius of the rear quarters but it is unfinished. metal has been cut and some foam temporarily filled in the gap. Needs lips fabbed and smoothed in. The name and external lettering are all vinyl so they can easily be removed to paint the whole car later on.
Thats the major things to speak of. Car goes down the road fine and steers fine, if a tad sloppy, and stops fine but do remember that it has solid mounts, a straight axle, manual drum brakes, a welded rear, open headers, and no climate controls what soever. I drive it 10 to 20 miles on a regular basis with no issues. I have seen a drag time of 14.9, which is sad I know, but 2.73 gears will do that. It pulls like a freight train above 2800 rpm all the way up to 6200 comfortably, and is just changing into 3rd gear at the 1/4 mile mark. with some 4.11 gears I would expect some serious results out of that happy little Chevy mill.
Things I would change:
Radiator. It gets hot in traffic on 95 degree days but will run 160 any other time.. one side of the radiator gets hot but not the other.
Rearend. seriously welded 273 gears... need I say more?
Wiring. The rats nest under the dash is unsightly and id like some brake lights. I didn't mind no turn signals. Occasionally you need to touch the terminals on the starter to start it. Somewhere the wiring for the switch is being dumb but not very often
Seats. Some seriously gasser red flake covers for the included hard buckets
Take care of the silly tranny speedo leak and oil sender leak
Get some big ole ladder bars and a moon bumper tank
If you love rats and can stand to drive a nasty Gasser you will love this car. It has been a blast for the 3 years I have owned it and gets serious attention and fear going down the road. I have found a beautiful 53 ford with a Chevy engine that just stole my heart and this toy must go. Also check out the youtube video! you can hear it run and listen to this dorky dude give it a walk around. Feel free to ask lots of questions and bid! The reserve is quite reasonable.
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Heres the general legality stuff. The car is sold as is where is. I can help load a trailer but will not ship it. That is up to the buyer. 500 dollars is due in pay pal at auction end. That deposit is non refundable! If you don't have the money or means to buy the car don't bid. And I seriously don't want you to show up and get cold feet. Ebay is a contract to buy. Bid to own.

update: 2015-08-29

Features:

Condition:Seller Notes:
Used
“Its a rat gasser. not perfect but a blast”
VIN (Vehicle Identification Number): 3H17U544019Year: 1963
Number of Cylinders: 8Make: Mercury
Transmission: th350Model: Comet
Body Type: hard topEngine: sbc 353
Warranty: noooooooDrive Type: rear
Vehicle Title: ClearSub Model: s22 hard top
Fuel Type: 93 octaneExterior Color: black
For Sale By: ownerInterior Color: red gold

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