The Ultra Modern Merc: Leo Lyons Custom Mercury

82 About The Authors—Rick D’Louhy Rick’s automotive passion was ignited by his father Richard “Dick” D’Louhy. Together they witnessed racing at its finest at Lime Rock, CT in the late 1950’s, Watkins Glen, NY in the 1960’s, and Daytona Beach, FL in the 1970’s. Receiving a subscription to “Road & Track” when he was only 9 years old in 1958 helped propel Rick to his extreme appreciation of interesting motor vehicles.Rick’s automotive tastes aren’t exactly main stream. After becoming friends with the research on the Shark in the early 1980’s, Rick and Geoff continued their focus on unusual cars and in the early 1980’s Geoff helped Rick bring home a 351 Windsor-powered “barn find” ’70 Italia. During the research on the Forgotten FIberglass Book, Rick and Geoff traveled the country meeting the families and individuals who built these cars back in the 1950’s. These trips took both of them to over 35 states with visits to over 50 significant families from back in the day. Over the years, Rick’s had some fun, yet practical, American-engined British & Italian sportscars including 3 Sunbeam Tigers, a Triumph TR8, a DeTomaso Mangusta, 2 Intermeccanica Italias, and a Chevy-powered Maserati Ghibli. He’s also had an Elva Courier Mk IV and a Lotus Europa Twin Cam. His current stable of uncommon cars includes a ’65 Morgan 4/4 GT roadster, ’84 TVR 280i Tasmin convertible, ’57 LaDawri Conquest roadster, ’64 Vanguard Warrior I roadster, ’58 Grand Prix ¼ Midget, one of the finest vintage Meteor SR1’s known to exist, and two outrageous aluminum bodied sports cars – one of which served as the prototype for the famed Bill Thomas Cheetah. Another of Rick’s latest barn finds is M.A. Adams’ lost Meteor SR1. You can see a video of it being built on the front page of Forgotten Fiberglass. Another recent achievement is the location, restoration, and debut of a car Rick calls the 1955 California Sports Special – also known as a “Mysterion”. This is a car that Rick has found three of, but with an unknown name, builder, and designer. However, the lack information didn’t stop Rick and his friend Geoff from using this as an opportunity to celebrate all of the unheralded designers and builders of fiberglass cars in the 1950’s, and to this point debuted the car at the 2010 Amelia Island Concours d’ Elegance to great excitement and celebration. Since the late 1980’s, Rick has produced and promoted prominent collector car events at Zephyrhills, Florida, and at Daytona International Speedway. He now owns and produces a major collector car event on the east coast of Florida, the Daytona Beach Dream Cruise. Rick – aka Dr. RPM – has been resident technical expert for a national tv show on the RTV Network. Click here to learn more about Rick’s involvement with the show.