Corey Behrens found this Canadian-market Ford F1- doppelganger in Colorado, where it might raise a few eyebrows if anyone bothers to look at the script on its tailgate. More likely not; how many folks today know whether Mercury ever sold trucks in the US, or not? How many even remember Mercury at all?
David Saunders did a post on the Mercury trucks here a few years back; it gives the lowdown as to why.
I went to Wikipedia to remind myself when Ford went to this new toothy grille on these trucks. I’ve long learned to not take everything written there by amateurs as the final truth, but their page on the first generation of F-series trucks is really embarrassing. The claim is that the 1948 Ford F-Series was the only one of the three new post war pickups/light trucks by the Big Three to be “all new”, claiming that the Chevrolet/GMC Advanced design tucks rode on the pre-war GM A-Body platform. That’s absurd on several levels. First of all, the chassis for them was new. Second, GM’s Bodies were not “platforms”; quite the opposite actually; they were body families that rode on the respective (and typically unique) chassis of the various divisions. A typical Ford fanboi rant. Sad.
It’s a bit hard to tell in this shot, because the front wheels are cocked, but one of the more distinctive new aspects of these trucks was the setback front axle, more noticeable in its successors, the ’54-56 F series. This was done to improve weight distribution.
These trucks were of course available with either the venerable flathead V8 or the rather more modern and actually all-round superior 226 six. But of course the flattie V8s are the ones folks want, most of all for their distinctive exhaust sound through a pair of glass-packs.
For some reason, I’ve always preferred the GM trucks of this vintage, but then I’m a fan of inline sixes, especially the bigger GMC units. But I’d take this, just for the name and sound alone.
There are a couple of puzzling accessories.
The little mirrors on top of the doors seem to be purposeful, not just decorative.
The cord wrapped diagonally around the sideboards is not just hanging around; it’s carefully fastened at the front with zipties. It seems to have junction points, and seems to have a connection into the cab. Looks sort of like a heating element?
Christmas lights, maybe?
Cool old truck! Makes me smile to see it.
Did anyone ever make a Canadian parody of Sanford & Son? If not, then this truck would be just the ticket for filming the opening credits.
Bonjour Fred, come, we must go, our reservation at the Poutine Palace is for 7 o’clock.
I can’t go now Grady. The hockey game isn’t over and besides, I’m on my eleventh Molson. Maybe Lamont Pierre will swing by there and bring take out home to us in my fine Mercury pickup, Eh?
He’s a good boy Fred.
He’s 35 Grady, and he’s a dummy.
This appears to have been lowered, as it sits just a bit too low for a stock pickup. It probably never had outside rear view mirrors from the factory, but a driver’s side mirror would have been a dealer installed option added at some point.
I find this model interesting, but the Mercury ” cues ” are just a bit too subtle. I prefer the 52-56 model of all the Mercury trucks as it is obviously not a ” factory produced ” Ford but a GENUINE Mercury.
That said, I would be tempted to straight trade my V6 Mustang for this .
This truck not riding on original 16×4 1/2″ wheels.
I’m in, and I will be happy with either powerplant. But if your druthers is to prefer one of the Chevy Advance Design trucks, mine is a Studebaker R series. Oh well, there are surely plenty of people here for whom this Mercury would be first choice.
I agree with Howard, that the unique Mercury traits are mighty subtle here, and I’m not sure I would have even recognized this as something other than a Ford F1 had I driven by it.
Mercury on the hood is definitely rarer than Mercury under the hood. My recollection is that Mercury had a larger displacement flathead V8 than Ford so they were a popular swap. A friend has a 49 Ford F2 with Mercury power out in the shed.
Ford V8 = 239ci
Mercury = 256ci
Is the “GVW” stencil on each door side an indication this might have seen military service at some point?
GVW = Gross Vehicle Weight Required to be shown in some states and provinces back in the day on all trucks, even pickups, with a commercial license plate.
mercury flathead through glasspacks:
Like it and for some reason the odd one pops up over here whether LHD recent import or RHD sold new is luck of the draw our new US Fords were ex Canada so maybe the odd Mercury pickup kit got thrown in who knows, I dont know what the rest of the planet had but our post war Mercury’s were high trim Ford bodies and Fords and Mercurys all shared the Mercury flathead V8 there was no smaller option and the 6 was unknown, want a 6 buy a Chevy Bedford Fargo pickup.
Show, é o que há de melhor para demonstrar o que a indústria automobilística fez pelo mundo, um ícone, trabalho e força, construiu vários países pelo mundo……
It does seem a little low, but pickups didn’t ride particularly high back then, so I’m not so sure. And usually if someone lowers something like a pickup it’s more dramatic, not subtle like a sports car/sedan might do. Not to mention springs have been known to sag over the course of 70 years if they’re original.
One way in which these trucks (the 1951-52 Ford/Mercury) were 10 yrs ahead of their time was the way in which their headlights were incorporated into the grill – vs in separate and higher placed nacelles, like Chevy and Dodge.
Passenger cars, mostly all have their headlights in nacelles, such as the 1959 Ford. However by 1960, Ford had their headlights incorporated into the grill. GM was doing it in 1959, although with some transitional detail on some of their cars.
It was sort of revolutionary. Not sure where the design theme originated with Ford designers. Maybe someone can write an article about the headlight transition from nacelle to grill.
Thanks for pointing that out. I have touched on that transition a number of times in various articles, but never as a topic by itself. It deserves that.
I look forward to see a comprehensive article on this subject.
Another nice old truck .
Those flathead V8’s have a wonderful exhaust note, you can run them without mufflers and with a crossover & they won’t be ticket magnets .
-Nate
Long live the F-1’s. Bought mine this past spring, still grin from ear to ear when I fire up the flathead 8.