Gord Bredo was not the first owner of his 1952 Mercury M-1 pickup truck because that honor went to his father.
The common denominator for Gord and his Dad was the Merc truck because it was the first truck for both father and son.
A Mercury truck is a rare species because they were found only on the Canadian side of the border in North America during their run, thus the “Canuck truck” label.
This Mercury pickup spent its life on the family farm and worked hard during those years until it was put out to pasture by the Bredo family. Gord was the proud 15-year-old owner of the truck until the magic finally wore off and he eventually moved on to another vehicle in his life.
The old Merc then sat unused on the farm for years and reached that point of no return in 2002 for Gord: the farm had been sold and the fate of the old truck, now 50 years old, was also possibly on the sales block.
A 1952 Mercury truck that had sat for 20 years after it had outlived its usefulness on the farm required a lot of investment to resurrect it and Gord had to weigh this factor into the equation. Ultimately, his sentimental attachment to the truck and its link to Gord’s dad won the day, so he kept it.
The truck has undergone a huge transformation from its humble beginnings as a farm worker. It was a frame-off resto mod project that started with the frame itself. Gord boxed the frame because it would need to be able the torque from the heart transplant which came from a Corvette LT1 donor engine.
The engine is bolted to a six-speed transmission that pushes all that power toward a Ford nine-inch rear end. The steering is now upgraded to a Mustang II package, so this particular Mercury can fly with the best of them on the road.
Gord loves to attend as many car shows as possible every summer because he enjoys all that time behind the wheel of the old four-wheeled farmhand with a new lease on life from all of the upgrades and creature comforts that Gord added during its restoration process.
The first thing that we noticed about the born-again Mercury farm truck was the difficulty we had keeping people away from the pickup long enough to get photos of it. The truck has been taken to an award-winning level of custom perfection and it draws a crowd whenever it makes an appearance at a show.
We had to shoot around the admirers to get our photos, plus we had to move some of the information boards about the truck, likely because Gord would wear out his voice if he answered all of the questions from the curious onlookers. Something as nice as this truck will always be an attention-getter and Gord is a friendly enough guy to handle the attention for his beloved family truck.
Gord has no regrets about his decision to save the truck except for one…his father did not live long enough to see its completion.
However the memories of the man will always be a big part of the Mercury’s appeal for Gord when he gets behind the wheel.
Jim Sutherland
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