Local Shop creates custom $250,000 Car

By Samuel McEachern

Windsor-based auto customs shop Xcentrick Autosports has been working on a customer’s 1950 Mercury for a little over a year.

Chris Darmon, one of the head mechanics and co-owners at Xcentrick said the vehicle, which is the most expensive he’s ever built, will be done in about 2 months.

“As the car sits it’s actually appraised for over $200,000 and it’ll be worth almost $300,000 by the time it’s done,” Darmon said. ”It’ll be about 13 months start to finish for it to be built.”

The rare car is completely bespoke. The roof has been chopped six inches and the interior will be totally custom featuring up to date features from modern cars.

“It’s a hand built interior, the seats are out of a 2012 Cadillac CTS that we’ve cut down and made fit to the car, because we’ve cut six inches off the roof,” said Darmon. “It’s got Ford backup sensors and a Ford backup camera, cause with the six inch chop once your sitting In the car you really cant see much.”

Nothing on the vehicle has been left from the original 1950 Mercury. Although the budget started fairly low, it has since been increased once Darmon and the client started talking about ideas. Although they were originally going to go with an older Chevrolet V8, they’ve opted for a more up to date engine.

“The motor started out as a basic small block 350 Chevy and then we started playing around with our options and now it’s a brand new 2012 Corvette LS3, we started just doing our own thing,” Darmon said. “This car started with about an $85,000 budget and now the budgets been completely taken off and its whatever it takes to finish the car.”

The customer is a wealthy Revelstoke, B.C. man, whom Chris contacts almost everyday. They discuss ideas for custom work, troubleshooting, and the progress of the vehicle. Although the car’s body is currently covered in primer, it’s nearing its completion date and will be hand delivered to British Columbia for the customer.

“I’ve actually only met the gentleman once,” said Darmon. “He flew out about 6 months into the build just to say hi. I talk to him daily though, I send him pictures two to three times a week, I talk to him at least once a day on the phone and we go back and forth bouncing ideas off each other.”

Although Xcentrick Autosports will do full restorations and custom builds, Darmon said that this is the most extreme car he’s built so far. Between the modern engine and electrical components, as well as a full air ride suspension, the car is extremely advanced compared to what is normally done at Xcentrick.

“This car here is pretty much a prototype, so this is a little bit more wild than something we would normally do.”