Unless you were driving on California’s highways in the late-Fifties to early-Sixties, odds are you’ve never laid eyes on a car like this before. That’s because, according to its owner Roger Clements, this is the only restored example of a genuine 1958 Mercury Monterey California Highway Patrol car known to exist. Not only that, but Roger has also located only one other ’58 CHP Mercury–in any condition–since acquiring our featured example in 2006.
“I’ve been interested in Lincolns and Mercurys ever since owning one of the Bill Stroppe prepared 1954 Lincolns built for that year’s La Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico, a car I bought and restored in the 1980s,” Roger says. “I had a chance to talk with Bill on several occasions while I owned that car, and I later became intrigued by the idea of owning one of the Stroppe-built ’58 Mercury CHP cars. It took me a while, but here it is.”
Hold on just a minute. Bill Stroppe was associated with Mercury’s CHP cars in 1958? Indeed, he was, and the story is more documented than most.
During the late Fifties, the California Highway Patrol was in the habit of ordering at least several hundred cars annually. That process started with the CHP publishing its required specifications. Interested manufacturers would propose a police package and participate in CHP testing with a prototype. Those tests ultimately determined a winning package.
A five-page story in the October 1958 issue of Hot Rod documented part of that testing process, as well as details CHP vehicles required. Some of the important criteria for the ’58 evaluation stated that cars had to be two-door sedans (with a center B-pillar), have a minimum wheelbase of 122-inches, and weight a minimum of 3,800 pounds. They also required an alternator rather than a generator, heavy-duty brakes and suspension, and 15-inch wheels. Mandated engine specifications included a 10:1 compression ratio, a single carburetor, a displacement of at least 350 cubic inches, and no more than 15 pounds of vehicle weight per horsepower. Surprisingly, a “conventional” differential was mandated rather than a limited-slip unit.
The same magazine article provided an overview of the winning Mercury’s numerous modifications that we’ll discuss momentarily. Yet the article left out one important piece: That the modifications above and beyond a stock ’58 Mercury Monterey were performed by none other than Bill Stroppe and his team of mechanics and engineers. Instead, the article made a vague reference of a “special facility” where alterations were made for the CHP fleet that year.
Bill Stroppe was already well known by then, having been the Lincoln and Mercury west coast “go-to” for special projects throughout the decade (Bud Moore managed east coast projects). Stroppe had already left his mark in boat, sports car, Indy car, and stock car racing, and of course in Mexico. Helping develop and build CHP cars was just another project for the Stroppe team. Odd as it was that Stroppe wasn’t specifically mentioned, we’d be remiss if we didn’t add that the article disclosed the other 1958 CHP test vehicle participants: Buick, Dodge, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. Ultimately, 325 Mercurys were built for the 1958 CHP fleet. Later in the year, a second CHP order was placed for 287 specially prepared Dodges.
Some might find the two-door body style requirement a surprise, but Roger says this was the CHP standard throughout the Fifties. Four-doors were not considered until 1960. “At the time, the CHP was tasked primarily with speed enforcement, accident control/investigation, and assisting with roadside emergencies. They didn’t tend to arrest people and certainly didn’t transport people under arrest. If that was necessary, the police department, or sheriff’s office that had jurisdiction in the area, was called to transport,” Roger says.
Diving into the Mercury’s details, the basic foundation for the 1958 police package consisted of a base Monterey two–door sedan, fitted with FoMoCo’s optional 430-cu.in. MEL-series engine and new Multi-Drive Merc-O-Matic three-speed automatic transmission. As the V-8 was rated for 360 hp, the article stated the result was 12.5 pounds per horsepower, meaning the Mercury weighed about 4,500 pounds.
Delivered as such, the Stroppe crew administered several modifications to either meet CHP specs, or help the cars perform better during the December 1957 performance evaluations held at Riverside International Raceway. There, tests were administered to gauge each candidate’s acceleration, braking, and lap times on the eleven-turn road course.
All of the CHP Mercs were built at the Los Angeles assembly plant, which was conveniently close to Stroppe’s facilities in Long Beach. Stroppe modifications included fitting beefier Park Lane front spindles and hubs, an even larger heavy-duty front anti-roll bar with revised mounting points, specially valved heavy-duty shocks, “export” front coil springs, and station wagon rear leaf springs. Additionally, rear brake drums were upgraded from 11 x 2.5-inches to the same 11 x 3.0-inch standard front brakes, along with heavy-duty linings. A radiator designed for air conditioning applications was fitted and moved reward 3/8-inch to provide specified space, in front of the radiator, for the mechanical siren, alternator rectifier, and external radio speaker. A special mechanical cooling fan with a reinforced hub was also used, along with a revised fan pulley.
Interesting as the story of Stroppe-built CHP units is, equally worthy of attention is the restoration Roger lavished on this one-of-a-kind service car. After putting out the word amongst his wide net of car acquaintances, Roger found this example in Northern California, again in 2006. Typical of the retired genre, it was stripped of its unique CHP lighting and radio equipment. The Mercury had also been repainted white. Roger found the car to have plenty of repair challenges due to rust in the doors and floors, but fortunately the bulk of the Stroppe installed parts were still in place, meaning the big spindles and brakes, springs, unique anti–roll bar, etc.
Another bonus was the presence of the original engine and transmission, though they may not have run since 1966. The trim and bumpers were generally intact and in restorable condition, and Roger realized that if his dream of owning a functional Stroppe-built patrol car was ever going to be fulfilled, this one represented as good an opportunity as he’d likely find. He made a deal and dragged the project home.
Roger was well suited to take on a project of this scope. In the early 2000s, he operated a restoration shop that specialized in Fifties-era Lincolns and Continentals. Yet the CHP restoration was unique. One of the biggest challenges Roger faced revolved around the original police-spec radio and lighting equipment. Without an original example to compare his car to, Roger had to put on his detective hat to figure out what was right. An invaluable resource was Geoff Fors, a historian of all things related to CHP radio equipment. Through Geoff, and aided by period emergency equipment manufacturer catalogs and CHP literature, Roger learned that the ’58 CHP Mercurys were fitted with General Electric radio gear, specifically from the company’s Progress line. While Roger has since forgotten the source of the head unit and trunk mounted radio transmitter, they’re period correct to CHP specs. Roger does remember that the unique alternator and separate rectifier that was mounted behind the grille came from Crain Auto Electric in Los Angeles, which amazingly still had new units on its shelves.
“That was the result of some serious sleuthing and plenty of phone calls,” Roger says.
The restoration was a body-off effort since Mercurys of the era were of traditional body-on-frame construction. The list of work performed could fill a book, not least of which was resurrecting the body. Donor panels replaced originals that were peppered with rot-through corrosion. Once the metal work was completed and prepped for paint, the exterior was finished in the original CHP Tuxedo Black/White hues using single stage enamel. Roger refurbished the frame and suspension using routine restoration practices of media blasting, repainting, and replacement of worn components. He also rebuilt the 430-cu.in V-8 himself, after some machine work was managed by Cope Brothers Automotive Machine in Tacoma, Washington.
Not surprisingly, reproduction parts for a 1958 Monterey are virtually non-existent, and NOS or good used components are a tough find. Roger was fortunate that the original brightwork was almost entirely restorable, including the massive bumpers he eventually had rechromed by Art Brass Plating in Seattle. A variety of stainless or anodized exterior trim pieces were restored by D&L Custom Metal Finishing, and Roger was able to score NOS parts to replace the heavily pitted pot metal castings that are part of the taillamp assemblies.
While Roger subscribes to the ideology that a car is never entirely finished, he debuted his restored CHP Mercury in 2011. He’s still on the hunt for a few details, such as a different model of the mechanical siren that sits in the front grill. “It’s a Sireno and it should be a particularly hard to find Federal model instead,” Roger explains. These are the issues that a detail-oriented owner sweats regarding originality. Roger makes no apologies for his pursuit of excellence. The rest of us just appreciate what he’s already done and enjoy hearing the story that involved a couple of legends–the CHP and Bill Stroppe–that have largely been lost to time.
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