The Leo Lyons Custom Mercury
In 1950, 20 year old Leo Lyons set out to fulfill his dream of building his own custom two seat coupe with a unique design. Ed Iskenderian and George and Sam Barris were instrumental in Leo’s big plan to build ten identical custom cars, each with brand new parts. The chassis and panels were purchased new from Ford, and Leo quickly learned the art of metal shaping under the guidance of Sam Barris and with the help of California Metal Shaping. After ten year’s work, his new ‘Leo Lyons Custom Mercury’ appeared on a Car Craft magazine cover, and was featured at custom car shows across Southern California. Nicknamed the ‘Ultra-Modern Mercury’, this car is one of the most radically customized ’49-51 Custom Mercurys ever built, but sadly the other nine cars were never constructed.
In early 1960 it was featured on the cover and in an article in Trend Inc.’s Custom Car magazine. In Trend’s 1961 Custom Cars Annual it was also recognized as one of the most significant custom cars built to date.
