The top photo pictured in this issue of the Grundy Weekly Reader was taken in August 1957, with Bill Maher’s steady date at the time.

He says he bought this '51 Mercury, in 1956, for $425-- a premium price for those days. After the photo was taken, he added a '47 Olds grill, completed nose and deck, moved the front fender trim to the doors and painted it a ‘54 Buick maroon.

He installed a Naugahyde roll and pleated interior and some black carpeting from a wrecked ‘55 Caddy he found in a local junkyard. It had the original flathead with dual carbs, milled heads, Mallory ignition, and stick with OD.

“That almost-3,800lb car could barely get out of its own way but was very cool for the times,” says Bill. “I sold it in 1959, and I swore I would buy another one down the road.”

That day came in 2001, some 42 years later, when he did buy another '51 Merc, shown in the second picture with his same steady girl--his wife, Eileen.

The “new” Merc was built at the Wayne County Speed Shop, in Fairfield I.L., by Jim Musgrave and his crew, around 1980. The couple has maintained the “old school” look Jim created while doing a complete “fresh up” on everything mechanical, from front to rear.

“This Merc drives a bit better than our first one, due to the 400 cu. in small block, power steering, front disc power brakes, AC, cruise control, Camaro drive train and air shocks,” says Bill. “Jim named the car ‘First Love,’ which is okay with Eileen, because I did buy the first Merc about three months before we met.”

Bill mentions that his and Eileen's old crowd from high school days is still in contact, for the most part, and still has a fondness for the cars of that era. He adds that a number of them are current owners of '50s cruisers and street rods.

“Among our friends at the time, three '49 Mercs, two '50s, two '51s, two '52s a '53 and one '54," recalls Bill. "Shoe Box Fords made up another eight or so, and aside from a few prewar Fords and a Chevy or two, you had to have a Merc or Ford. How that changed in 1955 with the introduction of the 265 small block and the redesigned Chevy.”

Story edited by: Becky McLaughlin