Hirohata Merc
The Hirohata Merc is a very famous custom car that we have seen brought into the diecast world by Hot Wheels. With the reintroduction of the diecast model in the 2024 Hot Wheels G Case, we thought it would be a good idea to dive into the history of this iconic vehicle. In the 1950’s having a custom car was the best way to show off your personality and get all the attention at the drive in. George and Sam Barris were among the first to start chopping and customizing cars and by 1951, they had become one of the premier shops for auto customization. The shop had more than it’s fair share of talent to help build the best vehicles on the road. Alongside the Barris brothers was Herschel “Junior” Conway, now known for his affinity of car painting. George Barris was the one running things at the shop, directing the customs in the direction he had in mind. Masato “Bob” Hirohata bought a brand new 1951 Mercury and brought it over to the Barris custom shop in hopes of having a completely custom car. Bob was hoping to have the car finished in time for the 1952 Motorama.
After months of procrastination, the car was started and finished in around a two week timespan. Some of the custom details included changing the lines on the car to be more streamlined. Many of the emblems and chrome parts were also removed including the door handles. A hidden button along the side of the car would allow access to the car. A curved chrome trim piece separated the front and rear windows giving another unique look to this car. The roof was chopped more in the rear than in the front giving the car an iconic sweptback look. The car featured parts from other car manufacturers that had to be bought new and attached to the car. Some highlights were the Buick side spear, grill from a 51 Ford, separated French headlights, Cadillac hubcaps, ’52 Lincoln taillights, Appleton spotlights, and a Cadillac motor. The dashboard featured pinstriping details done by Kenneth Robert Howard, who is now referred to as the father of modern pinstriping. The interior also feature custom dash knobs and an immense amount of upholstery details. The “Ice Green” paint job was a stark contrast to the metallic paints that most customs of the time were using.
After doing well at the 1952 Motorama, the car began being featured in magazines including Motortrend and Hot Rod. In 1953 Bob Hirohata drove the car cross country to Indianapolis for a car shop competition and took best in show. In 1955, the car went through a color change, replacing the Ice Green for a gold metallic paint. The car would display this new paint scheme for the movie Running Wild where it was featured. After the movie appearance, Bob sold his Merc. It moved to a few other owners until 1959 where Jim McNiel purchased it from a lot for $500. By this time the car had been neglected and needed some work. After some restoration, Jim fixed the car up, but after he met his soon to be wife, the car was forgotten once again, but left in a protected place. Jim kept his aspirations of maintaining the car and declined multiple offers on the car including one reportedly up to a million dollars. Some time later Jim received a call from Pat Ganahl, editor for Rod and Custom magazine. Pat had an aspiration to help Jim restore his Merc so the magazine would have a high-profile car to feature in the magazine. The car stayed in the garage for the restoration. Most of the work was done by Jim and his son with some outside help here and there.
As the car neared completion, a target date and location was set for the cars re-unveiling. The Hot Rods and Customs car show at the Oakland museum of Art. The last detail that needed to be added was the paint and a call came in from Junior who didn’t work on the car during its first rendition but wanted to give his hand a try at painting the newly restored body. The car was restored to the original two tone “Ice Green” paint scheme with help from PPG. After 10 years of work, Jim’s dream of restoring the Hirohata Merc was complete. The car went to a multitude of car shows and eventually made its way to the Pebble Beach car show where it won first in class helping cement the cars legacy. On April 12, 2017 the Hirohata Merc was made part of the National Historic Vehicle Registers now archived in the Library of Congress. The car now resided at The Peterson Automotive Museum following the death of Jim McNiel. “The real car is currently owned by Beau Boeckmann over from Galpin motors and it’s on display in his Galpin Speed Shop up in Van Nuys, California” says Brendon Vetuskey, one of the creative Hot Wheels designers. The car was sold at a Mecum auction in 2022 for $2,145,000 after all fees had been paid.
This isn’t the first release of the Hirohata Merc from Hot Wheels. “Well, it’s not the first time that hot wheels has made this car in 1/64 scale. It was done previously in the premium product lines. However, it’s back in 2024 as a mainline car so you can buy it for one dollar…” Vetuskey states. The Merc had its first debut in 1998 as part of the Legends: Barris Kustom 4-Car Set. Along with being part of the premium set meant with more detail came a higher price. Vetuskey explains how he managed to take the complex car from premium to mainline. “I borrowed the original sculpted pattern from Larry Wood for this car and had it scanned in our model shop. I made a few adjustments to it and that’s what we used to prepare the digital sculpting for this car…With a car in the mainline, we are typically limited to four parts to keep it at a one dollar price point and I incorporated part of the body into the chassis to provide a color break which represents the real car. It will also help our graphic designers when they do new color versions of this for future releases” Vetuskey explains. There is plenty of excitement surrounding the real and diecast version of this classic custom and we’d love to see more cars like this make their way to the pegs.