The 1949 Mercury Dash Gauge Set. Be like James Dean.

One of the all-time top custom cars from a builder's view-point is the 1949 to 1951 Mercury. In any top ten list of famous hot rod creations you'll find a representative, usually the Sam and George Barris collaboration on the Bob Hirohata -owned 51 Merc...

 There was also the cachet of coolness given to it by dint of a 49 being the ride of James Dean in "Rebel Without A Cause".

 

 And of course,  it was the club car of the Pharoahs in the classic "American Graffiti" film...

A 1950 version was even featured as the "badass" ride of Cobra, in the Sylvester Stallone flick of 1986.

Why was this such an influential car?

For one, this was a three-year only body style, with cosmetic variations. It was a radical shift from the 1948 model...

And it's smooth body lines made it a perfect canvas for different body trim and grilles.

Since it's introduction,  a popular choice for hot-rodders has been the one-year only 1949 Mercury dash gauges. 

They are easy to remove from a dead car, they are dependable (made by Stewart Warner) and they are clean and sharp-looking...

They have a beautiful silver swirl pattern to them, a heavy-chrome finish, and the only major update is upgrading from the original six-volt to twelve-volt flow. I see these in older customs, like this set-up in the Bob Longie of Hawaii 1932 Ford roadster, from 1953...

Here's the Tom Wilson 1928 Ford roadster pickup, with the set mounted and framed by some cool pinstriping, including one sketch of the "L'il Devil"...

You can still pick these up relatively cheap, and I say they're a great acquisition because they're simple, the silver color scheme is easy to plug into most painted dashes, and well, they're from the 49 Merc, still one of the coolest cars ever built!