Mercury Trucks 1967 1968 ID and details...

[mk]

How dull it is to pause, to make an end;
to rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
(tennyson)



mike

[fastEdsel]

Many Thanks mk for your thread on the Mercury trucks. I owned a 1963 Mercury, 292 Y block, three on the tree and 3:89 diff. It was a tire shredder. I traded it off on a 1965 F100 352, three on the tree and 3:54 Dana diff. I currently own a 1949 M155 Mercury 3 ton which I am going to start restoring this winter. Out comes the flathead/4 speed and hopefully will install a 390 C6. It measures up so should be a good project. My Dad's old 1950 red and black Mercury pickup is now at Irma, Alberta and made it into the "Canada" magazine a while back. I remembered when he traded it off for the '57 "Ford-O-Matic" pickup, he put all new hub caps on the Merc and I still have the old ones here in very nice condition. I also have a pair of Fargo hubcaps. That too is the Canadian version of a 1950's Dodge pickup. I got adding it up and there are 16 Mercury's within a 20 mile radius of here. Nice trucks, enjoyed your thread.

[mk]

Thanks. Funny how they don't seem all that rare to us as we can still find them around, isn't it?

mike

[72Highboy]

Hey everyone I have a question. I tunrned to this website with my problem to my truck and I try to help people with problems like mine. I was wondering since this post is talking about Mecury trucks. I decided to turn here to ask my question. I am helping my lil bro fix his car and I need help. I was wondering if you guys new of any websites that I can decode a vin to a 1977 Mercury Cougar XR-7. Please And Thank you guys.

[ximy]

Those are amazing.. I have never seen one

[mk]

I guess this is the truck that originally motivated me to put this together...



http://www.fairlaneacres.com/merc.html

It's pretty sharp but the 429, wrong hood chrome and claims of factory stuff restored kind of muddy the waters and add to the fairy tales surrounding the history of these trucks.


mike

[1982 flareside]

Another rare one...

http://www.fordification.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9600


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mike

WOW

[Skimp_Nugget]

hello, ive just recently puerchased an old mercury truck it is a M-100 4x4 "farmer four speed" 390 Fleetside, shes deffinatly a body mans special. i believe its a 68 ive been running the Vin trying to find its a real merc or a clone. what should i really look for to tell?
what throws me off the most is the tailgate on it is a ford. but there is also another tailgate sitting in the box thats also stamped ford they both match the color. it makes me wonder if either tailgates are origonal to the truck or if some old farmer busted the origanal and threw a random ford tailgate on.
it has all the letterings on the hood and both fender nameplates reading mercury 100 it also has one amber side marker on the lower driver side fender
its got the "in cab" gas tank but the "Custom Cab" nameplate is missing
Also ive been trying to find some drit on the rarety of a M-100 4x4 and how many may have been made?

please excuse my spelling i have my 1 week ond daughter in my arms

[fordman]

from did you know"According to MercuryPickup.com, the last true "factory" Mercury truck was built on March 23, 1968. Mercury dealers continued to rebadge Ford trucks on special order thru 1968."

[crazyhorse]

Skimp-Nugget, let me be the 1st to welcome you to Fordification.
Good luck with your truck.

[mk]

Congrats on your new daughter What's her name?
Good way to start her off with a Merc in the family, too
Ford unfortunately did not keep the Mercury truck production totals separate from the Ford totals for the last few years of production and there is no identifying code in the vin after '65. The main thing to go by is the DSO code; should be one of the Canadian Lincoln/Mercury dealer district numbers A1-7. As I've mentioned before, there are also a few '66-'68 Mercs out there with Ford dealer DSOs. To verify yours, you can check the paint match under the hood with the firewall and also check under the sides of the hood to make sure it hasn't got welded up side reflector holes from someone converting a Ford hood. Does the fender without the lower reflector still have screw holes for it or is it a replacement? If the paint matches and the mounting of the emblems and relectors look like the ones on the original trucks pictured here, it's likely you might have an original merc. Strictly for getting a sense of the completeness of your truck, check that the glass date codes are all within a couple of months of each other and the codes on your drivetrain pieces and seat tags.
That date in march 68 quoted as a the end of Merc production is based on a possible misunderstanding of a salesman's words and incorrect info from a source at Ford that didn't know what he was talking about. While it's entirely likely that Ford dealers rebadged trucks for customers, these can't be called original factory built Mercs any more than a '65 Mustang equipped with a period over-the-counter Cobra dress-up kit could be called an original Shelby. I have found a few factory built Mercurys bearing higher serial numbers.
You can also get an information sheet from Ford customer service stating the original options on your truck. Don't expect it to confirm Mercury status though as they didn't keep separate totals.

mike

[mk]

Just thought this update was due...

Here's a '68 Merc that Ford records show being built on apr 16, 1968 and the owner has the original paperwork.






It's in beautiful original condition with all original paint except for some touchup on the lower front fenders and was ordered with a 300, a/t, hd suspension and alternator, dual tanks, roof lights and radio. Of course, the chrome stars and a couple of other trim pieces were added by the original owner. The red interior pic shown earlier in this thread is from this truck. The serial number is in the D13xxx range but it's not even the highest number I've found.


mike

[mk]

The question of the value of these trucks frequently surfaces, but I know there's guys faaaaar more qualified than me to discuss the topic.
This pretty 1967 Merc had a double run recently on a well known on-line auction site. It was restored by Ivan Stewart, a Californian known for much success in winning off-road races in oriental trucks. The first run ran up a no-sale bid of $28G against a buyitnow price of $59G and the second run only netted a max bid of $8G against a lowered buyitnow of $49G. It is beautifully done but raises the perennial question of whether higher money goes to a vehicle restored to one person's taste or one that has been restored to as close to factory as possible. It looks like the kind of truck to win 'peoples choice' a lot but would fall short in strict judging for 1967 originality. Most of the inaccuracies would be fairly easy to correct on this one: steering column paint match, upper grill valance paint color, instrument cluster bezel (needs ribbed black areas), '68 Merc hood is wrong (hole in bracing over air cleaner is not present on '67 hood) and accent paint on custom cab nameplates and hubcaps is needed among other things like restoring correct drive train part colors and cab/box bottom finishes(red oxide primer with body color overspray). Even a straight mounted front bumper would help.
Guess it boils down to what a buyer wants: historical accuracy or a shiny chariot. Looks like these have a ways to go yet to hit BJ price levels...











mike

[fastEdsel]

He might get that but maybe he has been watching too much Barret-Jackson. The first bunch of '67's that came to our town, including the Mercury's all had gold colored engines and the transmissions certainly were not painted. In late '67 the engines were painted blue and then they were all blue. The '67 I just bought has a blue engine but according to the serial number, the truck was built in August of '67, the same month I turned 17 so it could have been a blue 352. At that age when these trucks came out it was certainly a refreshing sight. Too bad there are not any NOS mufflers around to fit onto those big blocks we are restoring because if anyone else on this forum remembers the sound of those trucks when they were new they were truly head turners. Mike we have a person restoring a 1940 Fargo and they need the globe hood ornament to finish the trucks trim. Not to hijack your thread but the Fargo was Chryslers version of the Mercury to be sold alongside of the Dodge trucks, but we already knew that. It's finally drying up here so hope to get both the Mercury trucks I bought home this weekend. Great thread mk!

[red403]

I know where there is a 67 reg cab long box 2wd mercury sitting, that does run. I half thought of buying it and doing it instead of the ford but I don't plan to keep the truck stock so I would hate to do that to a merc. I still have it in the back of my mind if something goes wrong with the ford.