IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE
AND LOWER A CUSTOM CAR.
Legendary cars don’t build themselves. Particularly when they’re period custom cars or traditional hot rods. It takes a talented cast of cast of characters working as a dedicated team. Which is precisely what you’ll find at Mercury Charlie’s. A crew that cares deeply about keeping old cars on the road and making automotive dreams come true. Jalopy lovers. Radical-custom lovers. Salt-lake racing fans. Period purists and hardcore hot rod revivalists. Craftsman who are building custom cars and hot rods the only way they know how. Passionately, and with deep respect for those who came before them.
For central Texas legends like Gary Howard and Vernon McKean, who set the custom bar for a generation to follow. For Jimmie Vaughan, who’s a custom car and blues guitarist virtuoso. For Rod Powell, Sam Foose, Lee Pratt and Gene Winfield, who helped define the meaning of the term, “timeless”. These are all the individuals who together set the bar for Charlie and his crew. Whose cues and influences have shaped the custom-car hobby. Charlie will be the first to tell you that it’s an honor to honor the period-custom greats and proudly carry the tradition into the future. But it’s no solo mission. Teamwork is everything.
So without further delay, meet the team.
CHARLIE RUNNELS,
PERIOD PERFECTIONIST,
CUSTOM CUSTODIAN
CHIEF STORYTELLER
HEAD HONCHO
NICKNAME: “MERCURY” CHARLIE
CHARLIE BUILDS TRADITIONAL HOT RODS
AND PERIOD CUSTOMS, PERIOD.
Ask Mercury Charlie about pretty much anything, and you’ll hear a great story. But if you ask him about hot rods and custom cars, you’re in for a real treat. To say he’s a walking encyclopedia of old cars gives encyclopedias too much credit. Charlie eats, sleeps and lives old school hot rods and customs. Custom tricks and performance tweaks. Gow jobs. Jalopies. Barn finds and bench racing. Charlie knows every trick in the book and you can bet your bippy he’s used more than a few of ‘em at one time or another.
CHRIS SLUBAR,
SHOP MANAGER | HORSEPOWER WRANGLER
It seems both fitting and ironic that Chris scored his first hit of speed from a Del Rio used car dealership that was later revealed to be an illicit drug operation. It was a 1965 Malibu SS and Chris was 17 at the time. There’s no question who got the better end of that deal.
Chris still has that car and has owned it for over half his life.
Chris grew up with an older sister who was a star athlete and an older brother who was a man about town. Chris followed in neither sibling’s footsteps, and we suspect that Malibu SS and a heavy right foot are the reasons why. He soon developed a penchant for squeezing every drop of horsepower out of that Malibu. And he wasn’t afraid to bury his right foot to prove it.
Let’s just say that Chris’s SS Malibu won about all the races it needed to win in west Texas.
If Chris has a real-life hero, it’s Mark Stielow, the prolific car builder with a swarm of SEMA Camaros to his credit, not to mention a couple equally remarkable Malibus. Stielow sets the performance bar for horsepower purists like Chris.
Chris saw a similar quality in Charlie when he opted to join our family of car lovers. The bar that Mercury Charlie sets is more than just a horsepower bar. He sets an aesthetic bar. A period-custom bar. A traditional bar. A bar that Chris intends to soak up like every article he’s read about Stielow in Hot Rod, Car Craft, and Chevy High Performance.
We’re happy to have Chris in the family and if that means that our brother from another mother finds a few more horses hidden under your hood, all the better. Being a quick study in all things that move people forward, including the past, we’re proud to call Chris one of ours.
Come say hey to the tall one if you’re in the neighborhood. But don’t make the mistake of lining up across from his ‘65 Malibu SS. Why should you or your car suffer that kind of humiliation?
If you can’t beat ‘em, hire ‘em. We did.
WILL PULLEY,
NICKNAME: PAPA WHEELIE
If you ever purchase a tape measure and you darkly suspect it’s off by one or two thousandths of an inch, compare it to Will Pulley’s eye.
Stance. Proportion. Backspacing. Chops. You name it, Will’s eye is better than any spirit level and it’s a secret sauce that comes in quite handy around here. It’s as predictable as taxes and cheap-wine hangovers. But enough about that. Let’s get to know Will a little better.
KAMRON CRAGLE,
A young man with the title of “Chief Mechanic” does’t come lightly in this type of industry. It requires the ability to walk up to a variety of problems and solve them. Whether your issue requires trouble shooting a 6 volt positive ground to a modern ECU diagnosis to an engine swap on your concours Cadillac Biarritz, Kamron will sort it out. A young gun with one hell of a work ethic, mechanical aptitude, and a business degree to add to the mix. We dig what he does all so well.
RILEY NINGEN,
METAL SMITH ARTIST
This man doesn’t need a bio, all his words on in is work!
Give him a follow!…….
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/riley.ningen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rileyningen/
JOHN,
NICK NAME: WHIPPER SNAPPER, JK
The youngest of the shop, determined to learn what is needed and move forward. Hard listener and determined to get the job done with what ever it takes. The man to ask to throw on some tunes or to joke around with.