Bill Gaylord’s 1949 Mercury was the first 49 Mercury to be chopped and completely finished. Ofcoars the convertible was less time consuming to chop than the coupe that Sam Barris or the Ayala’s where chopping at the same time and who finished there customs later.

Bill created a wonderful styled padded top for his Mercury. A version that had never been done by any of the upholstery shops. Bill decided to visually eliminate the rear quarter windows completely. The sides of the padded top run all the way to the back of the doors. The door window had an aluminum channel built around them which looked great with the top in place, or even without the top but with the windows up.

At the front the headlights rings where molded to the fenders for a frenched look. The hood was relieved of its chrome but – just as Sam Barris – Bill did not round of the hood corners. Which is kind of strange. Other cars customized before 1949 had rounded corners on doors and truck, so why did these two body man decide not to round the corners of the hood, while that for sure would have improved the overall appearance of the front. It was possibly Gill Ayala who rounded the first hood corners on a 1949 Mercury Which would then be the standard.

Bill did mold in the stock grille surround for a very smooth look. The parking lights where left alone, and the bumper received an accessory bumper guard overrider.

At the rear all Bill did just remove the trunk of the chrome. The rest of the car was left pretty much stock. Even the door handles and locks where left in place.

Right after Bill finished the car he was called for his army Duties and left to Germany.

He tried to sell his 49 mercury... and an interested buyer took Mercury to be able to get a load to pay for the car and never returned. The car was gone, and as far as I know has never been seen again.