Heavy Duty Canadian: 1954 Mercury M-350
Canadian market vehicles are always interesting to see, at least for a lot of us folks who don’t live there. This 1954 Mercury M-350 pickup is one rugged farm truck and it can be found here on eBay in Sweet Grass, Montana. The current bid is just over $2,500 and there is no reserve.
Chrysler had a line of Fargo trucks in 1928 after purchasing Fargo Motors and Ford had Mercury trucks in Canada. Fargo trucks don’t seem to come up for sale as often but we’ve seen a few Mercury pickups over the last few years. This M-350 is a 1-ton truck that was basically the same as a 1954 Ford F-350 other than badging and the engine. I ran across a cool graphic showing the different Mercury truck grilles here. It shows them up to 1972 even though the last year would have been 1968, but it took a few years to sell off the remaining inventory.
The seller says that this truck is unrestored and it has a good look to it but there is some rust as you would expect on a truck this old. They also mention that the tailgate was missing but they tracked one down, although it’s missing its ends. The next owner can have it for $250.
Unless this truck was used to haul Christmas trees, I don’t know if it would have originally been green with a red interior. I prefer dark green but I’d want to choose one color or the other. Not that the color of a 65-year old, 1-ton pickup matters, unless a Concours car show is in its future. They say that it needs brakes but otherwise it drives. The floors look solid, too.
Mercury pickups didn’t get Ford’s new overhead-valve V8 for the 1954 year, they still used the former flathead V8 and I believe this is the 239 cubic-inch version. The seller doesn’t mention the size of the engine and they don’t give a VIN but one of you will know for sure. This one needs a fuel pump and hoses but it’s said to run and power this truck around the yard. Have any of you owned a Mercury pickup?
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Comments
No, but we would especially as it has the dump mechanism on it! Perfect truck for working around the “yard” here.
Yes. Had 9 foot box and most had plywood sides. With box hoist thats how grain was hauled and off loaded at the local elevator. Simpler times. Local elevators and small towns they supported are both just memories now. Kind of sad really.
Some guy in Saskatchewan has photographed all of the aged grain elevators that are still in existence in that province and he has them all listed on his website with photos of their various states of disrepair. He was on the CBC two days ago talking about those lost years when times were much simpler.
Bob
1954 was about the time trucks like this were being passed over in favor of the 2 and 3 ton units. There are still a few tonners in the Cutbank area but north and east the farms got larger. Mercury truck? Unless someone changed the engine out it would be a 255, not a 239. A lot of light Mercury trucks in northern Montana and I never saw one (‘50 and up) that did NOT have a 255. That’s the one thing that the Mercury dealer just north of the border lorded over the Fords: he could sell you a new light truck with the bigger engine for the same money. Now for this truck, l’m sure it will be a welcome addition to anyone’s collection. I know a guy who bought one of these and dropped in a 354 Perkins diesel. Went pretty well although I’m sure it couldn’t keep pace with a 5.9 Cummins…
Would love to get my hands on this one great style looks like life on the farm!!
As Corb Lund says that Montana keeps stealing Canuck trucks.
We will get that 5 bucks back
This is a new one for me, I never realized that Mercury made trucks back then. And I’m old and have been around Ford products for years! Good find!
I grew up on the border and saw Mercury trucks on both sides. The nearest Ford or Mercury dealer was 10 miles north into Canada. I think I was 11 years old before I found out that Mercury trucks were ONLY built in Canada.
I grew up on the North side of the border, on the west coast, and I never knew that Mercury trucks were NOT built in the states. Always assumed we both had them. We got Mercury Econolines, too. There’s a pickup version still blasting around here. Too cool!