Being lovers of all classic muscle cars, we made sure to catch up with Tom Longoat at SEMA 2016 to discuss the much anticipated Derale Performance 1966 Mercury Cyclone project. And boy, has it come a long way since we saw it last! As is so common with projects of this magnitude, they take longer to build than expected. The completed Derale Cyclone was originally supposed to debut at the 2015 SEMA show, but instead got pushed back a year, making its first show circuit appearance at the 2016 event.
Life and work taking priority over projects happens to the best of us–many times the projects get completely neglected and eventually sold–but Derale stuck with it even through life’s curve balls and they’ve done us proud in a fantastic way! It was definitely worth the extra year wait!
Now, we hadn’t seen the car in person since April 2014. At that time, it was basically just a shell with some of our suspension components hanging under it. Over the next year and a half we received a few teaser pics of the progress, with noticeable strides made toward putting the finished product together. But, those crumbs of information on the progress did little to satisfy out appetites!
We must admit, seeing the car coming together piece by piece was a lot like waiting for the birth of a child. You just can’t wait to meet it for the first time!
In the few weeks leading up to SEMA, we finally got a glimpse of a painted shell. Mind you, this latter part of the build is extremely exciting for those of us not required to burn the midnight oil trying to complete it in time, but rather stressful for those putting their noses to the grindstone. Alas, the team at Derale prevailed and not only completed the car on time, but with a few days to spare. Check out the video below in which Tom walks us through the build process and all the great companies that helped make it happen!
Tom walks us through the build process and all the great companies that helped make it happen.
