The post war 1950’s was a period of great creativity in the United States and the “Land of the free” produced some truly free four wheeled creations. One style was the “Lead Sled” which typically featured bodywork that was shaved and nosed, with a chopped top, headlights tunneled, and tail lights frenched.
Fast Facts
- The “Lead Sled” style of hot rod was created in the USA back in the post war 1950’s
- These cars featured heavily modified bodywork that was shaved and nosed, with a chopped top, headlights tunneled, and tail lights frenched.
- One of these lead sled hot rods based on a 1951 Mercury Eight is for sale on Bring a Trailer at time of publication.
Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s when I was still a young lad living in England, I used to pore over car magazines: “respectable” British motor magazines like the “Autocar” and “Motor”, and the wonderfully not at all “respectable” American Hot Rod magazines.
I must admit that the “Mr. Hyde” wildly creative Hot Rod magazines featuring the mind popping creations that Americans in the “Land of the Free” were free to actually drive on the road were fascinating: cars that would be rather heavily frowned upon in not so free Britain.
Perhaps the hot rods that appealed to me most back then were the chopped top cars, often “Lead Sleds” which looked ridiculously fabulous – streamlined, mysterious, creative cars that really were “and now for something completely different”.
Suffice to say that I wanted one – and secretly still do.
But I’m a grown-up now and an aging one at that – so I need to be content with the idea that perhaps I’ll drive a chopped lead sled when I’m in Heaven with Jesus – assuming we will have cars there.
So while I was browsing the web I was quite taken by a chopped lead sled that appears on Bring a Trailer.
This savagely beautiful automobile is based on a 1951 Mercury Eight sport coupe. The top was chopped and the hood lowered, it was painted a deep red and given a flame livery with custom murals on a “Lost in the Fifties” theme.
The car has been fitted with faux lake exhaust pipes down the sides, while the real exhaust pipes are at the rear.
In lead sled style the body has been shaved and nosed, headlights tunneled, and tail lights frenched.
The car is fitted with old fashioned spotlights for both driver and passenger: these not only look great but are really useful for such tasks as looking at street signs when trying to navigate to unfamiliar places.
The interior is also in red and boasts air conditioning along with some creative custom features including a cassette tape player with equalizer, B&M shifter, and air-conditioning.
Under the hood there is no dissappointment. The engine is a 460 cu. in. V8 breathing through a four barrel carburetor and given its spark of life by an MSD ignition.
The car is also fitted with a rather useful air suspension.
This “blast from the past” piece of four wheeled creativity is for sale on Bring a Trailer at time of publication.
You can find the sale page if you click here.
Picture credits: All pictures courtesy Bring a Trailer.
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
