Designed in Dearborn and built by George Barris in California, the Mercury Super Marauder made the custom car show scene in 1964.

In the early ’60s, the automakers of the Motor City were turning away from the far-out,  scratch-built dream cars of the previous decade toward customized, production-based vehicles for the auto show circuit. Meanwhile, Ford had determined that the specialty coachbuilders of Italy and Detroit were too expensive for their purposes and decided to give the hot rod and custom shops of Southern California a try.

To serve as a liaison, Ford lead stylist L. David Ash was sent out West, where he formed a partnership with the King of the Kustomizers, George Barris. His shop in North Hollywood, Barris Kustom City, executed a series of custom show cars for Ford, designed in Dearborn but built in California, including this one: the 1964 Mercury Super Marauder.

Based on a production Mercury convertible, the Super Marauder was transformed into a two-place roadster. The top mechanism was removed, the wheelbase shortened five inches to 115 inches, the overall length pared down eight inches. A tonneau cover behind the cockpit hosted a pair of futuristic headrests and a flip-up, racing-style gas cap. Up front were a pair of simulated brake scoops built into the fenders and a set of four Lucas Flamethrower driving lights to serve as the headlamps, a hot customizing trend of the time.

In accordance with the competition theme, the Super Marauder’s wheel openings were opened up and a cut-down windscreen was fitted, while an outside exhaust system and a stylized intake stack on the hood supplied the muscle message. According to the press materials, which weren’t always literally true, there was a 427 cubic-inch V8 under the hood. If so, this could make the Super Marauder one of only 64 full-sized Mercurys equpped with the high-performance V8 that year.

Although the Super Marauder was apparently painted black at one point, it was usually seen in Golden Cinnabar, a bold candy red mixed up by the Barris crew. Travels on the car show circuit included the Cavalcade of Stars, the Lincoln-Mercury division’s parallel to Ford’s Custom Car Caravan, where it appeared next to Parnelli Jones’ Pikes Peak Mercury and a half-roofed Continental town car at shopping centers and car dealerships.

The Barris-ized Mercury was also included in a set of Topps trading cards that featured the  California customs and hot rods of the day. However, the Super Marauder’s greatest moment of glory was in the March, 1964 issue of Car Craft magazine (below). There it appeared on the cover and in two separate features: a two-page spread on the car,  and—probably by Barris himself—a metalworking how-to article on the simulated front brake scoops.