LOW and slow is the only way to roll as far as Ben Mahony is concerned. He spent just over two years creating his dream ride – this chopped 1949 Mercury coupe. “I’ve always wanted a ’49 Merc,” Ben says. “I like their nice, round bum.”

Yep, this Mercury would give Sir Mix-a-lot a boner, but of course it didn’t look anywhere near this good when Ben bought it. “Apparently the car had sat in a swamp for a long, long time,” says Ben. “The bottom 12-16 inches of the car was missing – there were absolutely no floors.” It was also sporting more than a few bullet holes.

Despite its poor condition Ben had the wreck shipped to Australia where he set about tackling the mammoth build. Originally he planned to get a workshop to handle the big jobs, but most shops took one look and ran for the hills. Others wanted a massive chunk of change to take on the job and Ben wasn’t willing to drop a house deposit on the body work.

So he took on the job himself, at home. “It was measure four times and cut once,” says Ben “I spent hundreds of hours, eyeballed everything countless times to make sure the roof sat level, the front and rear screens were straight and angled just right.”

As you can see, that patience paid off. We had a short chat to Ben about the build and checked it out during the photo shoot for Street Machine Hot Rod #17; it’s a beautiful ride. The magazine goes on sale August 1, but you can see this amazing Mercury here first.