1951 Mercury Coupe

1951 Mercury Coupe - Ed Spielman's Car "Kung Fu"- Hollywood & Movie Provenance!

This is a 1951 Mercury Coupe with a story no other car can match. It was owned from 1968 by Hollywood writer and producer Ed Spielman, creator of the landmark KUNG FU television series, who kept it for decades as his honeymoon car, his weekend escape, and an honest to goodness movie car that appeared in The Lords of Flatbush and Next Stop, Greenwich Village. Years later, Spielman handed it to master craftsman Terry Becker of New River, Arizona for a multi-year build, with one idea guiding the whole project: treat the '51 Mercury not as a chopped lead sled but as an American take on a European coach-built classic, an "American Delahaye." The result is a stock-bodied, numbers-matching coupe finished in gunmetal grey and black with hand-laid burgundy pinstriping, a full grey leather interior, and a built Flathead V-8 making more than 200 horsepower. It still looks and drives beautifully today.

Highlights:
Owned from 1968 by Hollywood writer and producer Ed Spielman, creator of the Emmy Award winning KUNG FU television series
Documented film history: appeared in The Lords of Flatbush (1974, with Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler) and Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976, with Christopher Walken and Shelley Winters), among others
Appears in print in Spielman's biography "The Mighty Atom" (page 210), giving the car both film and literary provenance
Multi-year build by master craftsman Terry Becker, body kept absolutely stock
Numbers-matching Mercury Flathead V-8 built to 276 cubic inches, now making 200+ horsepower
Blue Ribbon, First Place, "Best Touring Car" at the 2014 Ventura Motorsports Gathering Concours
Two-tone gunmetal grey and black with hand-laid burgundy pinstriping and Ed Spielman's initials on each door
Full custom grey leather interior
Comes with a complete documentation binder: provenance letter, magazine retrospective written by Spielman, build details, operating notes, and a DVD

Options:
Two-tone gunmetal grey and black paint with hand-applied burgundy pinstriping
Custom grey leather interior
Front disc brakes by Master Power Brake with dual master cylinder
12-volt electrical conversion
Electric windshield wiper motor
Electric fuel pump
Two-speed electric cooling fan
Evans Waterless Coolant system with custom non-pressure radiator cap
Coker wide whitewall radial tires, 235/75R15

Equipment:
255.4ci Mercury Flathead V-8, bored to 276 cubic inches
Polished aluminum Offenhauser #425 heads
8.6:1 compression, block relieved .090 and polished
Offenhauser intake, ported to match the block
Isky Max 1 camshaft, Isky solid lifters and springs
Scat crankshaft and "H" beam connecting rods
Ross Racing pistons
Melling M19 high-volume oil pump
Aluminum timing gear and full-flow remote oil filter
Mallory Unilite electronic distributor
Early Holley 4-barrel carburetor, Model 4160
Fenton headers feeding dual exhausts with Borla mufflers
All rotating components balanced
200+ horsepower

Condition:
The build was completed around 2014, when the car made its only concours appearance and took home Best Touring Car at the Ventura Motorsports Gathering. It has been carefully kept since, and it shows and presents today essentially the way it did the day Terry Becker finished it. The chrome is beautiful, the grey leather interior is very nice, and the car runs and drives great. This is an older restoration, not a fresh respray, so there are a few show-grade flaws in the paint here and there. At seventy-plus years old it has earned them, and they take nothing away from how well the car presents at any show or out on the road.

Exterior:
The whole point of this build was restraint. Rather than chop, channel, or section it, Becker kept the body absolutely stock and let the Mercury's natural lines do the work. Spielman always argued those lines were closer to the English Bristol 401, with its Carrozzeria Touring body, than to a typical greaser custom, and that the shape could just as easily have been penned by Ghia. The gunmetal grey and black two-tone, with burgundy pinstriping laid by hand, was chosen to amplify that aerodynamic, almost Art Deco character. Ed Spielman's initials are pinstriped on each door. The Coker wide whitewall radials finish the look and keep the stance correct.

Interior:
Inside is a full custom grey leather treatment that replaced the original worn mohair, again with a European saloon feeling in mind. The cabin was deliberately kept clean and tasteful. As Spielman put it in the binder, no suicide knob and no fuzzy dice. It is a comfortable, handsome place to cover miles.

Mechanical:
The heart of the car is its original numbers-matching Mercury Flathead V-8, a powerplant that made Ward's list of the Ten Best Engines of the 20th Century. Becker treated the engine as an art piece in its own right. The block was bored to 276 cubic inches and topped with polished aluminum Offenhauser #425 heads, with a ported Offenhauser intake, Isky cam and valvetrain, Scat crank and rods, Ross pistons, a Mallory electronic distributor, and an early Holley four-barrel. Fenton headers feed dual exhausts with Borla mufflers, and the result is more than 200 horsepower from a Flathead. The car was also brought up to modern usability with front disc brakes, a dual master cylinder, a 12-volt conversion, an electric fuel pump and cooling fan, and Evans Waterless Coolant. It runs and drives wonderfully and makes a great cruiser and driver.

Underneath:
Stock ride height was retained with new springs. The front disc brake conversion and the Fenton header and Borla dual exhaust system are visible underneath, and the car is documented in its history file as a rust-free body.

Trunk:
The trunk is clean and functional. Detailed photos of the trunk and underside are included in the listing gallery.

Closing statement:
What sets this Mercury apart is not just the build, it is the story behind it. A young Ed Spielman was gifted this car in 1968 by vintage racer and collector Herb Wetanson. He and his wife took it on their honeymoon, driving it from Greenwich Village to Iowa and back. It spent years as a New York movie car through his neighbor Danny List, the transportation captain who supplied the cars for the Godfather films. It even sat in the very garage that the TV series TAXI later recreated as its set. Then it was reborn through a thoughtful multi-year build. Spielman wrote a full retrospective on the car, comparing it to a French Delahaye and signing off that, looking at the finished car, "we should all look so good." The entire history is captured in the documentation binder that comes with the car. As the binder says, this is a car that would grace any museum, shine in any collection, or serve as the ultimate Sunday cruiser.

Contact us:
For questions, please call Bobby at 480-226-4018. We can assist with shipping connections. International buyers are welcome. The car is located in sunny Scottsdale, AZ.