Rare Mercury 4-WD Pickups Restored

Rare Mercury 4-WD Pickups Restored AG WORLD Brian Beard has two rare 3/4-ton 4-WD Mercury M250 pickups that are fully restored One is a 1967 model Beard bought new in 1968 It was one of only 125 built that year The other is a 1966 model and it’s even more rare because fewer were built Almost as unusual as the trucks themselves are the journeys they’ve been on and the fact that they ended up in the same garage One reason the trucks are so rare is that Mercury branded pickups were sold only in Canada and only until 1968 The other is that 4-WD models were priced at twice that of 2-WD trucks At the time it was worth it to Beard who caught four-wheel fever at age 14 after riding in his neighbor’s Dodge Power Wagon Beard earned money hauling supplies to Edmonton Alta area oil fields after school and weekends He ordered the 1967 M250 when he was just 18 Outfitted with a 352-cu in V-8 4-speed transmission two-tone paint cab lights AM radio and bush bar the truck stood out at the time “Wherever I went with it people would remark that it was the prettiest truck they had ever seen ” says Beard Once Beard left home for college he discovered keeping up on payments was too much He worked out a deal with his cousin Buck who put the truck to work on his farm By 1979 it had been beat up and worn out In 2009 Buck called with an offer to restore the old truck It took two years parts from another 1967 Mercury pickup and a total redo The truck was disassembled the frame sandblasted and painted and the engine rebuilt along with the running gear Rusted and damaged body parts were replaced with transplants from the second truck and repainted Even the original bush guard was repaired and reinstalled It had been twisted out of shape towing tractors out of the mud in years past Since bringing it home Beard who now lives near Vancouver B C has taken it to car and truck shows “It’s wonderful to be able to tell people how rare and special she is ” he says When Beard heard about a 1966 M250 in northern Saskatchewan he decided to check it out The original owner’s son-in-law had restored it Though it had a completely different body it too had 4-WD The engine and running gear were identical “The odds were one in a hundred to find a second Mercury pickup from that time with 4-WD and a V-8 engine ” says Beard who bought it “Like mine it had been a special order Most pickups had V-6 engines and 2-WD It’s neat to have a matched set to take to shows ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Brian Beard 6872 229 St Langley B C Canada V2Y 2J7 ph 604 888-7967 or 604 953-2321; b beard@shaw ca

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