A brief history of the club.
In 1968 Gordon McIlonie and about a dozen of his friends from Millikan High School in Long Beach, California started goofing around with cars. They formed the Mercifuls So Cal Car Club with outings to the desert, and help building their customs and lowriders. The name came as a rival club wanted to get down to business and we said we’d be Merciful on them. That would be a great story, but actually it was one member who was rather religious came up with the name. The club stayed together throughout the late Sixties and early Seventies when the members went in to the military, grew older, got married, etc. In the mid 1970ās the club disbanded, but the friendships stayed alive.
Fast-forward nearly 40 years and some of the original members were hanging out at the 2010 Bixby Knolls show in Long Beach and joked about getting back together. A joke without a punchline I guess. The club restarted with some of the founding members and some original members and some new friends. Within the first year it grew to over 18 members.
The club is different than most, because there have virtually no rules. Sure thereās the standard, treat fellow club members and their ladies with respect, no fighting or abuse and such. Then at one meeting there was a complete meltdown and near break-up of the club. What came from that event was a re-invigorated membership. Problems were hashed out and the club transformed to a close-knit, focused group of guys who help each other with their cars, share each others accolades and give back to the community.
Each year, the Mercifuls contribute to the ABC7 Long Beach Fire Deptās Spark of Love Toy Drive. For over 13 years, the toy drive has grown throughout Southern California and resulted in trailer-loads of toys for needy kids.
You may see the membersā cars on the TV Show āChop Cut Rebuildā. Host, Dan Woods, used the members cars in the ādrive-upā scene in each episode. Many of the members cars were in the pages of magazines such as Old Skool Rodz and Car Kulture Deluxe. Some members have been featured in International publications such as FlyWheels from Japan! The club was featured in an exhibition at the Long Beach Historical Society’s program “Chrome” documenting cruising life in Long Beach.
