Mercury Trucks 1967 1968 ID and details...

[mk]

If you're planning mods that are reversable, I'd say do the Merc and let the Ford sit. Just document what it was like in pics and records. Get it back out in circulation and enjoy it if that's the truck you dream of. What are we saving stuff for? I mean take good care of things but if they enhance your enjoyment of life, get use out of them. This could apply to anything in our life from that fine china you never use in the cupboard to clothes to vehicles.
As we hear of periodically here on the forum, time does run out eventually. Who knows how much we've got?


mike

[haddens_garage]

Nice post. Good info and pictures. I have a set of the front hood emblems for these, but nothing to use them on...

[mk]

I had an interesting call from a retired Ford service manager in Ontario recently after he read an article about the red and white high serial Merc I had submitted to the Old Autos newspaper printed mar/11 (published biweekly at Bothwell, Ont). Turns out he recalled that Ford sent pallets of Ford tailgates and letters to the dealers that had remaining Mercury stock in the late spring of 1968. This was to change the trucks back into Fords. Can anyone else corroborate this story?
(edit: Got talking to a guy at the big Red Deer SuperRun car show this summer (aug/12) that had worked for a dealer in the 60's and, unprompted, told me about changing over late production Mercs to Fords as well)
This has not yet been confirmed by any Ford sources so it's not necessarily gospel.
One of the april '68 built Mercurys I came across in a wrecker had the cowl mounting holes and extra hood letter holes brazed in and had Ford letters and tailgate mounted. I originally figured maybe someone had stolen his letters and emblems and he just decided to put the Ford nameplates on but now I'm not so sure that was the case.
This truck was also factory painted royal maroon, a color apparently not on Ford's 1968 truck paint list. This color has also turned up on '68 Fords as well, so it isn't a Mercury specific thing.

[FLASH 1]

great article on Mercury's since I do own a real and true 1965 Mercury M-100 long bed stepside

[mk]

I'm sure I've got enough pics here to do a '61-'66 gallery as well...sometime...heck, I could do pics all the way from '46 but it's been done already by socp.net (great gallery), wingedmessenger.net and a merc pickup site.


Found some interesting stuff I'd forgotten about in a box last week. There was some notes and data plates I'd scavenged about ten years ago when I really first seriously started saving data on these trucks. There's info on a Merc crew cab reported in Ontario with a serial number in the D26xxx range and a tag from an M350 that I remember well because I had to climb a stack of trucks to retrieve it. It shows as San Jose built in the D29xxx range.


mike

[SomersMerc]

Thanks for all the good ifo MK. The DSO on the truck I am working on is A66... So maybe it is a Mercury after all and not a rebadged one. Would it not say model M100 on the door plate though? Everytime i go to post a photo it says it is to large any suggestions on how to post photos would be appreciated.
Thanks

[nadams]

I don't know how I missed this the first time? Now I want a Merc crew cab! Thanks for posing all this MK.

[CACWBY]

MK - another big thank you for your posting all this Knowledge. I had never seen a M-100 until my 1st trip to SuperNats in 2003 with my F-100.

And everytime I see a picture of a 1946 Mercury Truck I can't help but wonder why didn't we get that better looking Grill down here?

[mk]

Current ebay listing on 22,000 mile original...

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 1000680768





Apparently has original bill of sale and serial number in D21000 range makes this the highest documented serial/ lowest mileage merc that I know of. Seller tells me original owner says the grill hasn't been changed.

Doubtful Ford would have allowed that combination past quality control even if it was a '68 aluminum grill. Dealer probably swapped in that '69 grill due to damage to the original white painted grill.
Who knows; lots of interesting things happen at dealers. More questions than answers about this truck at the moment as they also admit to a repaint...

Ford historical has supplied some info. Build date of May 7, '68 makes it the latest built Merc with documentation, though I have recorded higher serial numbers.


april '13 update: truck has been relisted http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Ford-F-100-M-100 ... 3f243fb180


mike

[mk]

Thought this ol' pup might be of interest...




It's a '68 Merc 350 crew cab built in the last few weeks of production in early may of '68. Apparently saw some service years ago north of the 60th parallel for an oil company out of Edmonton and still runs fairly decent. Just looks like your basic well broke in truck but it came from the previous owner with a little surprise...
A Marti Report




mike

[Gettysburg150]

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing.

Now to find me some Merc' badges and make my F100 mutt look rare

[rvfixerguy]

Thanks MK for all your info
I recently went on kijiji looking for a drive train for this:


And found this:


After a bit of internet research (wish I would have found this thread first before I bought it) I decided it would be better to rebuild it, being it is a Mercury, than take its motor and tranny etc out. During my search I found that the vin on the door said it was a F250 not a F100 like the ad said. Also had a 360 not 390 like advertised. I thought no big deal, its cool anyway its a Merc!

So I bought it and thought if nothing else I could still have the drive train for the '49. More searching of vin to find out it said the truck was a 4x2 but clearly it has 4x4 in it. And the transfer case has only two choices and according to info on this site (found site after purchase)and that it only came in an F100. So now I'm really beginning to think its the wrong tag on the door, and what the heck did I really buy anyway?

Found the vin stamp on the frame, again thanks to this site, and turns out is a F100, 4x4(obviously) with 360 motor. Still not sure if it authentic Merc, but after reading this thread I'm almost convinced. It looks like it had a poor resto job done to it in the past and the doors were likely donated from a F250 and thats how it is registered now.

I'm going to rebuild it anyway, I've never owned a Ford 4x4 before



Dash says FORD:


Tailgate said FORD at one time:

[mk]

Nice patina on that old Merc Dad might have spare flattie for it if you're thinking that way.
That '68 is the one that was out at Rocky? I was watching that ad too but held back because I just bought this crewcab. Would have bought it instead if I'd seen it before I nailed the crew.

mike

[mk]

Here's a pic to show some data plate details, some applicable to all the Fords, some specific to the Mercury trucks.



The 'buck' tag on the upper left was stapled to the firewall above the master cylinder on the '67 Ford and Mercury trucks. Seems Ford stopped placing them there after about april of '67. I have occasionally found them in various places on newer trucks.
This one is from a '67 Mercury 250 Ranger built in Oakville in Dec '66; the big stamped 'A' indicates a Canadian Lincoln-Mercury dealer order. The door tag from the same truck is directly below it with an A6 (Alberta L-M dealer) dso code. I also have another Merc buck tag here with a B7(Ford) dso; as noted previously, this indicated an order from a locality not big enough to support both a Ford and a L/M dealer.
It's interesting that the serial number is mis-stamped on the buck tag with an 'A' plant code not used in '67. Four other buck tags I have here have similar errors.
The bottom plate on the left is from a San Jose built '67 Merc. The background paint color (black or gray) on these tags indicates which type of paint was being used by the plant it came from.
The plate on the upper right is from another S-J produced '67; this one was a Ford ordered by an Alberta Ford dealer (B6 dso).
Note the difference in format of these two American door tags. Apparently this change took effect between april and june of '67. Seems the Oakville built trucks kept using the old format til the end of '67 production.
The bottom two tags on the right show that the shape of the plate was altered sometime during '68 production; top corners rounded off.


mike

[mk]

The plate in the bottom right of the preceding picture was retrieved from a crusher bound truck a few years ago. Mr Marti has confirmed its Mercury heritage...



showing it to have been built on may 15/68, making it the latest built Merc I have information on.

Seriously, if you have a '67-up Ford you want documented, a Marti Report is very reasonable and worth obtaining.


mike