Sick 1950 Mercury Eight Coupe Custom Welcomes You to Gotham with Vengeful Mystery V8

People were enchanted by the writing, the voice acting, orchestrated soundtrack and the incredible artistic presentation featuring the so-called “Dark Deco” visuals. In case you didn’t know, the showrunners wanted to combine “noir” imagery with Art Deco design, resulting in this timeless environment, dominated by massive airships and imposing, retro-looking automobiles.

For some people, seeing cars from the 1940s and early 1950s today, will immediately trigger memories of watching Batman: TAS when they were kids, and classics such as the Mercury Eight fit the bill perfectly, especially those hot rod-like retromods.

Well, as luck would have it, we just happened to stumble across one such vehicle in this heavily modified 1950 Mercury Eight Coupe, featuring a custom exterior, reupholstered interior and a replacement 396 ci V8, but more about the powertrain later.

Let’s start with the aesthetics, if you’re ready that is. I’ll wait until you catch your breath. Alright, let’s go.

The main reason this car looks the way it does is because of its shaved and tunneled body, featuring a chopped tan canvas roof, stacked headlights, decorative side pipes, and orange side stripes. The grille, meanwhile, was sourced from a 1953 DeSoto, while the split bumpers used to belong on a 1956 Pontiac.

Other highlights include the chrome-finished wheels with the polished hub caps and Coker classic wide white wall tires, but also the hydraulically adjustable front and rear suspension components, which came from a Chevy Monte Carlo.

Inside, you’ve got swiveling black leather front bucket seats, a reupholstered rear bench, color-coordinated headliner, door panels and carpets, cedar wood trim accents for the center console and arm rests, a Vintage Air climate control system, power windows and locks, a glove box, a Jansen cassette stereo, four-spoke woodgrain steering wheel (mounted to a tilt-adjustable column), and some additional sound-damping materials.

As for the engine, it's a 396 ci V8 unit that’s been fitted with a finned Hilborn-style air intake, a Holley carburetor, Mickey Thompson valve covers, an aluminum radiator, and a replacement four-speed automatic gearbox, sending power to the rear wheels.

Now, a safe assumption would be that we’re dealing with GM’s famous Big Block V8, the same one used on the likes of the Corvette and the Chevelle back in the mid 1960s. If true, this Mercury should be putting down well over 300 horsepower. If I had to pick a number, and again, just speculating, I’d roll the dice with either 350 hp or 375 hp, but who the heck knows?

Anyway, the engine has only been running for 272 miles in its current configuration, while the total chassis mileage is unknown.