Bill Papke with a hard to find Mercury Hood Ornament

NO MERCURY BLUES WITH PAPKE

If you’ve been feelin’ the Mercury Blues, perhaps you might want to pay a visit to the next Pomona Swap Meet and visit Road 22, Spaces 25, 27, 29, 31, 33 & 35 where you’ll find Bill Papke. There you’ll find a man who was enthralled with the ’49 Mercury since he saw it new in the show room and he has established himself as one of the preeminent sources of parts for ’49-’51 Ford and Mercury automobiles in the country.

You might have heard of Bill Papke, owner of Papke Enterprises and a rep for West Coast Customs, or maybe happened by his Swap Space in Pomona during this past quarter of a century. But sure thing, if you’re restoring a Merc or a Ford from the era he covers, you’ve probably got parts on your car that came from his shop.

Papke Enterprises specializes in helping people who want to restore these iconic automobiles or turn them into their own creation. “I’m one of the biggest parts carries in Southern California,” noted Papke of his inventory, “Every car show we go to somebody knows me.”

The people who know him are both the ones whom you run into at your neighborhood car show as well as those you might watch on your neighborhood movie screen. Papke’s helped people like Johnny Agostino, Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone with their cars. As mentioned, Bill Papke has had an eye for these vehicles since he saw them new in the showroom. “I grew up with these cars and knew they’d be hot even into the future.” He was right!

Bill's table of Ford & Mercury Parts

With his expertise in Ford & Mercury, Bill get's many questions throught the day.

But it was the movie American Graffiti that really lit a fire under collectors for these cars. “Before American Graffiti, I was going through 15-20 Mercurys a year. I’d buy ‘em and fix ‘em up and sell ‘em.” However, after the movie, he saw people come from Europe and Japan and literally buy container loads of cars and ship them back to their home countries. Now it’s more difficult to find parts or donor vehicles.

“I haven’t had a parts car in 3-4 years,” says Papke. But that doesn’t mean he can’t still find what people are looking for. Or, sometimes, he has the parts made. “I had parts re-manufactured in New Zealand like the center piece of a hubcap.” He also had a lot of other parts that he designed and had manufactured of his own design. “I’m always looking to have someone make stuff for me.”

As with all auto aficionados, the road that brought Papke to today is certainly an interesting journey. After serving time in the Marine Corps, Bill Papke returned to the States where he took his experience and used it to be a field engineer representing pre-cast concrete products. But, life taught him not to put all his eggs in one basket, so he also ran a filling station at night. “My wife would bring me dinner at the gas station that I’d manage at night,” he recalls of those days.

Lights, Chrome, Intake and much much more!

Today things are much different. Papke has seen a lot of interesting cars come and go. Among the cars to his credit are a 1950 Mercury limousine and Papke’s wall is covered in trophies. That particular 1950 Merc’ was stretched by four feet and took about nine months to complete, but it certainly got attention.

Recently, he came upon a car that he knew was from the movie Grease. Papke knows his Mercurys, so when he saw the car, he knew what it was despite having the wrong paint on it. In those days, the cars would be used over and over by the studios and the Grease Mercury was taken to the studio after the movie and shot with primer. It then appeared in another movie. After some time with acetone, Papke’s hunch was absolutely correct, as usual, and there he found the paint job that was so recognizable from Grease.

Whether you want an entire car that you’ve seen on the big screen or just some parts for one that you’re hoping to finish, Bill Papke is a resource you won’t want to forget. And if you need something specific, you can call him ahead of time and come see him at the next Pomona Swap Meet. He’ll have the part and a warm greeting for you there at the show.

This article was written by Tony Barthel from the Curbside Auto Column and Car Show Calendar. For auto articles, news and an on-line calendar of automotive events, please visit www.curbside.tv.

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