1968 Mercury M100

[Chuck Most]

Oh, Canada. Always doing things a little bit differently than your perceived unstable hillbilly neighbors to the south. We have Starbucks, you have Tim Hortons. We have Five Finger Death Punch, you have Nickelback. We have a 50 caliber Browning for every day of the week, you have healthcare. You have maple syrup... well, I guess we also have that.

And from 1947 to 1968, Canada had Mercury pickups. Change pickups to trucks, and Mercury had them up to 1972. Although the rest of the Mercury truck range went away in 1968, the C Series tilt cab was sold as a Mercury until 1972, for no reason I can discern. Something something something Ford's Canadian dealership network.

As you might expect, they're mostly just Fords with different decorations. There are three quick ways to tell them apart if you're ever in doubt...

1. The badging (obviously). Earlier Mercury trucks had completely different grilles, but by the end, the difference amounted to badging.

2. The VIN/serial number. Again, obviously. 

3. The accent. Tell the truck your home was damaged in a recent storm. An American market Ford will say "sorry about your house". A Canadian Mercury will say "soary aboot yer hewse". 

Thanks to Morgan Automotive Detail you can do what I did and bring a little piece of the Great White North to your display shelf with one of his awesome Mercury conversion sets. Not that I have to... I work for a Canadian company, on a clear day I could probably see Ontario, and I've seen every episode of Trailer Park Boys at least once. So I get more Canadian exposure than anyone this far from the border should. But I just had to build a Bumpside Canuk Merc. The 1967-8 version comes with a decal for the hood lettering, and resin tailgate, hubcaps, and cowl emblems. 

The basic kit was the 68 F250. I had planned to renumber the badges and keep the 3/4 ton specs but I didn't want to maul the nicely molded badges. So it's a half ton now. I used tires from an AMT Ford Courier, and lowered the front suspension a little. 

The 300 six has a turbocharger and conical air filter from Iceman Collections. Because why not. A cut down AMT 59 El Camino console houses a T handle floor shifter, and I used a later style Ford steering wheel. Why a turbo 300 six, you ask? Why not, I ask in response.

Paint is Tamiya French Blue, hence the Quebec plate up front. I did the firewall, interior, and some of the underside in a darker blue to indicate that the truck was repainted at some point in time. On the real truck the vertical grille bars were blacked out. Instead I painted them in matching French Blue, just to do something a little different.

I managed to get the Mercury hood decal slightly off center, and while talking the photos I noticed the paint on the left backup light is smudged. And I somehow completely forgot the rear cab cross member. I might fix that and the backup light, but I'm going live with the off center lettering.

I worked on this while I was waiting for paint and adhesive to dry on the Motorhome I finished yesterday.

Probably a big shock but I like these Moebius F Series kits. 

[Can-Con]

"soary aboot yer hewse". ? ,,Really?  pretty offensive there Chuck. Some of us find it funny, most are too polite to say how they really feel about it. , , ,Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. ??

Seeing how you work for a Canadian company, you should go into work tomorrow and greet your boss like that.   ??

Anyway, nice build. The turbo is a nice touch.

[Jim B]

Nice Mercury, eh.  Bien joué.

[Chuck Most]

10 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

"soary aboot yer hewse". ? ,,Really?  pretty offensive there Chuck. Some of us find it funny, most are too polite to say how they really feel about it. , , ,Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. ??

Seeing how you work for a Canadian company, you should go into work tomorrow and greet your boss like that.   ??

Anyway, nice build. The turbo is a nice touch.

My direct boss is American. Believe me.... I'm waaaaaaaaay more disrespectful to him than I am to the folks from Windsor. ????? 

[Bills72sj]

Pretty truck. Love the tail gate. But, someone stole your back bumper and hitch ball.

[Zippi]

That's a Great looking Mercury long bed pickup.  Great looking color and the wheels and tires look the part.  Good looking 240 C.I. straight-6 in the business end.

[fredo84]

I dig it ! ? Lovely !! 

[Kris Morgan]

Thank you for the props. Here is the expalination I was given as to why Canada offered Merc trucks. In many small remote towns there would be a Mercury dealer but, no Ford dealer. FoMoCo did not want to miss out on truck sales. Rumor has it GM did the same by selling GMC trucks at B.O.P. dealers. 

[Chuck Most]

14 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

Pretty truck. Love the tail gate. But, someone stole your back bumper and hitch ball.

Weight savings. With that being said don't ask why I retained the spare tire. ?

[Can-Con]

6 hours ago, Kris Morgan said:

Thank you for the props. Here is the expalination I was given as to why Canada offered Merc trucks. In many small remote towns there would be a Mercury dealer but, no Ford dealer. FoMoCo did not want to miss out on truck sales. Rumor has it GM did the same by selling GMC trucks at B.O.P. dealers. 

That's pretty well it Kris. 

Here in Canada the GM dealers were broke down as  "Chev/Olds/Caddy" and "Pontiac/Buick/GMC". 

[espo]

Either way this has a great paint job and I do like the Mercury trim addition. 

[NOBLNG]

Yes, it looks really good in the Mercury trim!?

[charger74]

It looks really good ????

[ncbuckeye67]

That is amazing! (Eh?)

[Rattlecan Dan]

Nice looking build. Great paint job.

[mk11]

Nice work, Chuck !

If moeb hadn't stuck us with the early motormax diecast style proportions, it'd be perfect 

On 9/19/2023 at 8:10 AM, Kris Morgan said:

Thank you for the props. Here is the expalination I was given as to why Canada offered Merc trucks. In many small remote towns there would be a Mercury dealer but, no Ford dealer. FoMoCo did not want to miss out on truck sales. Rumor has it GM did the same by selling GMC trucks at B.O.P. dealers. 

GM and Chrysler had already split their dealer/model streams and Ford was just catching up to the idea after the war. Took the Whiz Kids, Breech and the Deuce to get Ford back on track.

Merc trucks were only marketed til '68; there's no mention in the parts books after that. Here's some info on the last ones...

http://www.fordification.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35331&sid=500dab07635234c30758a66b112e29ee

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by mk11

[Darbo]

Beautiful truck, love the wheels and tires

[ChrisR]

Looking great!

[thatz4u]

Chuck, another nice one, a little glossy for you isn't it?

[Horrorshow]

Nice truck…nice history lesson too, eh.

[slusher]

Beautiful Ford pickup!

[PappyD340]

Looks fantastic Chuck!