Photo: Classic Cars/Steve Phelps
High three-digit power ratings are not uncommon among custom builds. After all, what’s the fun in giving a vehicle some crazy look if there isn’t a powertrain to match?
There are times when the custom industry gifts even pickup trucks with monstrous power levels, so that’s not exactly news either. But how many of us can say they’ve seen a Mercury pickup truck boasting 650 hp before?
Yes, Ford’s defunct Mercury division was in the business of making pickup trucks once. It started doing so in 1946, and kept at it until the end of the 1960s. It didn’t come up with some revolutionary design on its own, and rather chose to copy the Ford F-Series, but still, there were Mercury pickups around.
And they still are, albeit very few of them. Some are lucky enough to catch the eye of custom garages and get a new lease on life, like the 1950 M47 we talked about in March, or the insane build featured in the gallery above.
The latter is of the M100 variety, produced in 1965 and meant, as all other Mercury pickups, for the Canadian market. Its second life started in 2015, at the Detroit Autorama, where it was shown in this exact guise after a four-year long restoration and customization process conducted by a tuner namer Ken Currie.
Painted in Jamaican Yellow, it sports a list of modifications so long it seems endless. It comprises everything from new body parts to new suspension and chassis upgrades, but most importantly, it packs a monster under its hood.
There sits a blown 383ci (6.3-liters) stroker V8 linked to a 5-speed manual transmission with overdrive that develops a heart-stopping troop of 650 hp.
Like many other builds of its kind, this too has been on the market a lot. It presently is for sale again, via a Florida-based dealer, for $39,950.
Yes, Ford’s defunct Mercury division was in the business of making pickup trucks once. It started doing so in 1946, and kept at it until the end of the 1960s. It didn’t come up with some revolutionary design on its own, and rather chose to copy the Ford F-Series, but still, there were Mercury pickups around.
And they still are, albeit very few of them. Some are lucky enough to catch the eye of custom garages and get a new lease on life, like the 1950 M47 we talked about in March, or the insane build featured in the gallery above.
The latter is of the M100 variety, produced in 1965 and meant, as all other Mercury pickups, for the Canadian market. Its second life started in 2015, at the Detroit Autorama, where it was shown in this exact guise after a four-year long restoration and customization process conducted by a tuner namer Ken Currie.
Painted in Jamaican Yellow, it sports a list of modifications so long it seems endless. It comprises everything from new body parts to new suspension and chassis upgrades, but most importantly, it packs a monster under its hood.
There sits a blown 383ci (6.3-liters) stroker V8 linked to a 5-speed manual transmission with overdrive that develops a heart-stopping troop of 650 hp.
Like many other builds of its kind, this too has been on the market a lot. It presently is for sale again, via a Florida-based dealer, for $39,950.
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