I bought a ’51 Mercury, which has a six-inch chop on it. Normally the chop jobs you see on those cars is four inches. That means the windows you see out of are small and it’s really like a low rider type car. In the next week, it’ll get media blasted, where they take it down to the metal to find out what’s wrong with the frame. If you paint over Bondo and stuff like that from repairs that have been done in the past, a lot of times the paint job will crack, so they have to take it down to the metal. That’s where I’m at now. There’s really no interior, so I’m going to get to do the whole thing the way I want to. It’s going to be like building a house, but on a smaller scale. There’s a lot of detail — you’ve got to pick out your own gauges and shifters and paint color and decide if you’re going to do anything within the paint job and things of that nature.

If there are any car enthusiasts with any ideas or pictures of ’51 Mercurys or something they saw on a custom job, let me know. I’m also looking for some good websites to help with this.

Why this car? I like the look. It’s like a low rider car, and a lot of them have air ride suspensions, so when you park, they drop to the ground and they’re an inch off the ground. It’s going to be a pretty cool car.

I’m going to have to sell the Cobra. I don’t get to drive it as much. It has to be perfect weather to be able to drive it. There is a top for it but it takes away cool points when you put the top on.

The Mercury will be a fun project. As the process goes along, there’s a custom place near Vegas, called Findlay Customs, which is rebuilding the car for me. I’m sure they’ll send me a bunch of pictures over the year and we’ll update everybody.

— Reed