After a 30 year stint in a barn, this solid Mercury M1 has finally seen the light of day once more and is up for sale. Although not currently running, this M1 has been very well preserved and has little rust. Packing a flat head V8 and great looks, this Mercury is bid up to $3,000. Check it out here on ebay out of Cavalier, North Dakota.
There are a few varying colors in the engine bay, as well as on the rest of this truck. It would appear that the engine has been painted at some point, and perhaps even “worked on” if someone went to the trouble to remove it for paint. Although not currently running, the seller explains in the sales ad that he is going to try to get this one started before the conclusion of the auction.
Although the interior does not appear too shabby, it is a bit of a train wreck. Someone took it upon themselves to spray paint the cockpit in sea foam green. The original color of this truck was white with black fenders according to the seller, so the sea foam green looks to have been a random color change. It would appear that the spray paint shenanigans happened a while ago, as some of the spray paint is chipping off of the dash revealing the original white paint. Also the factory radio or blanking plate was removed after the spray paint as well. The bench seat looks to wear original upholstery, or very old reupholstered fabric, that has split on the seat bottom as well as on the seat back.
The faded and matte finish Campbell’s tomato soup red is worn revealing some of the original paint, as well as some minor surface rust in a few areas. Overall this truck is very solid with no rot to report. Even the wood planked bed is still in place, although some of the boards are getting rough. Surface rust can be seen in the door jamb areas, but this is superficial. The cab corners and fenders are excellent with no major damage to report. The passenger fender has a rust blister, and the running boards are evenly covered with surface rust. Beyond those concerns this truck looks like a great start to a classic project. Is this Mercury the beginning to your next dream project?
Just had a Sanford and sun flashback ,I no that on was a51 and a Ford 🚛
The original Sanford + Son truck was a Mercury.
I’d have to remove the mouse ear lights from the top but, otherwise, I’d keep it pretty much the way you see it here.
I rather like the dash color. A nice looking old truck.
What a perfect first time resto project…Be great for a father/son adventure. These old trucks are simple to work on,no ABS systems, CCMs, BCMs or a myriad of sensors.Just the bare bones basics.Perfect for a fledgling Auto buff to skin his knuckles on…I would love to have this one myself… I can just imagine it in Alpine White with the Black fenders,painted rims w/Dogdish hub caps freshened upholstery and an Arden headed flathead with a few l97’s on top… That would be Great!!!
The very first pickup I drove was in 1978. It belong to some friends of mine. It was a 1952 Ford pick up, painted orange (though the paint was not nearly as nice) very similar to this one. Sadly, it was junked not too long after that. But it was in very rough shape.
Love the 50’s Ford / Mercury pickups, grill just looks cool.
Great candidate for Resto Mod…. Nuff said.
Sorry, thumbs down
Nice truck! A very worthwhile restoration project. Living on the border I saw a lot of Mercury trucks and they always had an edge over their Ford counterparts. They came standard with the deluxe cab option. If you wanted one basic, it was a delete option. One other thing I noticed is that the light Mercury pickups, 1950 and up, were available with the larger Mercury engine. I’ve argued with people on this but I saw a lot of Mercury pickups of this vintage and with the exception of one ’49 model which had a 239 engine with aluminum heads (it was unique too), the vast majority ran the 255. The Meteor car, which shared the body and basic chassis with the Ford car, sported the Mercury motor from 1950 on as well.
I wonder if this truck read miles or kilometers on the speedometer.
It will likely read miles. The Canadians didn’t switch to metric until 1976. There are lots of them that I know that have refused to change even then.
I think this orange beast is a 1951, just because of the hood trim.
These trucks run forever with just good maintenance, (oh, and an engine rebuild) Had mine since 1977. Looks good when its wet.
The hood trim is the same as your Ford, definitely a 52. 51’s have totally different hood trim. Look it up. Here’s a photo that I found of a 51 Mercury.
Great truck. I used my ’52 Panel to pull our ’42 trailer house around the country for a few years. Never quit or broke down.