Mercury Trucks 1967 1968 ID and details...

[mk]

Many of you guys have seen these trucks in pictures and maybe few and far between at shows. The history of this Canadian Ford variant, introduced just after the war in 1946 is fairly well covered on other sites.

The 1965 Auto Pact probably had a big hand in mostly rendering the concept of uniquely Canadian vehicles obsolete as the agreement allowed vehicles produced in both Canada and the US to cross the border tariff free. Thus, production of the Mercury truck ended in the late spring of 1968, with, at that time, over two hundred separate combinations possible.  What I wanted to do here is show what made the last two years unique amongst the other Ford trucks. As I have owned a few of these over the years (currently having two) and having had a chance to inspect close to thirty others inside and out, I've amassed some info worth sharing.  Pictures in this thread are from my collection and not necessarily what I presently own  





mike

[mk]

With the 1967 and 1968 Mercurys representing the winding down of a twenty-two year run, the Ford stylists and bean counters got creative. The hood letters and cowl emblems were recycled from previous years designs; the letters were the same ones used in 1965/66 with updated part numbers and the cowl emblems were modified 1963/64 pieces.


1967/68 -black paint in letters


1963/64 -red paint in letters


top 1963/64 -nuts on studs   bottom 1967/68 -attached with barrel clips


The tailgate was apparently the only major tooling to amortize for these trucks.


mike

[mk]

Previous years of Mercury trucks often had unique parts like hubcaps, horn rings, valve covers and radio blockoff plates to set them apart. On the 1961-1966 Mercurys, a gear/lightning bolt symbol on the horn button and Mercury hub caps were the only unique parts used other than the nameplates, letters and tailgate. Neither the 1961 Canadian Ford and Mercury truck master parts catalog nor the '68 Ford/Merc parts catalog show anything other than the Ford valve covers and radio being used in the Mercury trucks after 1960. Ford only used the Mercury FE valve covers on the big Merc cars and maybe the Cougars and never made a Mercury version of the 240/300 valve cover.  In 1967/68, the Ford radio blockoff plate and horn button were employed and no other unique parts were installed with exception of the amber lower front fender reflectors on the 1968 Mercury truck to comply with federal legislation for that year.




mike

[mk]

These pictures show that the Mercury hoods followed the Ford design changes between 1967 and 1968. The Ford superstructure was used right down to the holes drilled for the hood emblems, though the Mercurys did not use them.
1967

1968


mike

[mk]

As noted, the Mercury trucks came in a pile of variations, from plain jane shortbox to loaded Ranger bumpsides as well as the heavy diesel conventional and cabover models.

1967 Ranger C/S


1968 4x4




mike

[kaptnkaos]

Nice stuff there mk..

Thanks for posting all the Merc stuff.. that's cool.
I like the little things like the front fender reflector that are unique to the Merc bumps...

KaptnKA S

[Joshpow]

Cool little lesson on Merc Bumps mk.  Appreciate you sharing that info.

[mk]

As I've seen these trucks pop up up here and there on ebay and other sites, I thought it was only fair to get some info posted to make it easier to pick out the more obvious clones before the long green gets laid out.
Up until 1965, the Mercurys had a special code in the serial number but from 66-68 that was no longer the case. The production totals for the Mercs and the Fords were no longer separated, either.
Prior to the Auto Pact, all production was based in Oakville. After the signing, production was apparently split between Oakville (C) and San Jose (R). A significant number of '66-'68 western Canadian Mercurys were actually built in California.
As the main retailer of these trucks was the Lincoln/Mercury dealer network, the most common DSO code on the Mercs ran from A1-A7, the sales districts across Canada.  Not every locality was big enough to support both a Ford and an L/M dealer though, so some of these trucks were ordered through Ford dealers -DSO codes B1-7. I own one of each but the B code trucks are definitely in the minority.
It's been said that the last Mercury was built on Mar 23, 1968. This is based on the story of a salesman in northern Ontario telling a customer he had  the last one. The owner of this truck sent me a note explaining his story and his conversation with a source at Ford. The source's help was well meaning but inaccurate as it showed he had not done any research on how the serial numbers actually decoded for these trucks. I had a similar experience with a source at Ford as well that unfortunately showed little experience in the subject matter. I have now seen a few trucks with later serial numbers that pass muster as originals, not 'rebadges' after a careful inspection of paint match and trim mountings. These trucks show numbers all the way up to the D17000 range, built into April of '68. I'd sure like to hear from anyone with trucks in this serial number range and possibly someone at Ford that might have further info on these trucks and possibly a memo or better proof of the production ending date.
I welcome feedback as I'm not claiming this to be the last word on these trucks, but just what I've learned through my own sleuthing...



mike

[RedneckTexan]

1967 Ranger C/S

Nice truck! I love anything with 8 lugs!

1968 4x4

AWESOME! I love Hiboys!

[mk]

Another rare one...

viewtopic.php?t=9600







mike

[RedneckTexan]

Oh Yeah, I've seen that beast, didja ever get ahold of the guy?

[mk]

Haven't seen it since I took the pics...


mike

[JimmyK]

Yeah, I'm still kicking myself for not looking after the Merc I had. My grandfather bought it new as a chassis cab. 67, no options, 240 3 on the tree manual everything. It finally rusted away sitting at the farm. I still have the owner's manual and a few of the trim pieces. They'll be going on my 68 F100. Good post, makes me wish I was smarter in my younger years.

[mk]

Finally found my brochures...







and owners manuals...



The brochures are pretty much identical to the US version inside. In '67, all the Canadian Ford vehicle owner manuals had the Centennial emblem on them. The 1968 manual in the pic is the original from one of my Mercurys. Apparently they were the same as the regular Ford manuals for the last year of production.


mike

[mk]

Here's a genuine '68 Ford truck build sheet sent to me by a friend (thanks, stu!)




If a guy ever finds one of these in a Mercury, box 18 on line E will be marked...

Here's an original '67 Merc truck bill of sale..check out the trade-in  





mike