Auto wreckers are a good source for a project because some yards still have hidden gold.
This 1964 Mercury 250 pickup is a classic example of what you can find in the back 40 of a small-town wrecking yard.
Jerry Sutherland
Matt Sawatzky was still in high school when he spotted this old workhorse in a local yard. He was drawn in by what he called “the old look”. That was 12 years ago–he paid 500 dollars for this classic Canadian (sold only in Canada) truck.
The truck was supposed to be a parts truck, but Matt had bigger plans for his ’64 Merc. He learned it was a dump truck in its former life because the truck bed had a hydraulic lift, and the tailgate was cut in half to unload material. The truck had been through a nightmarish life of hard work, but it had survived.
The Merc wasn’t running, but Matt was relieved to learn the 300 cubic-inch straight-six wasn’t stuck. He had it running in no time, so that was a major victory for a high school kid.
Matt found a 90-dollar carburetor and that addition brought the old 300-six back to life in a big way. Most car guys never get that lucky with low-end parts. He also replaced the fuel pump and did a few other tweaks to get the Merc tuned up to roadworthy specs. The original radiator is still there—a testament to quality back in ’64.
Matt dumped the split-rim wheels on the Merc because he’d heard so many stories about how nightmarish they were to work on. Most tire shops won’t touch them, so Matt replaced them with aftermarket wheels that didn’t carry the same built-in risk factor.
This truck has the basic 4-speed manual transmission found on most work trucks from that era. First gear is so low you could pull an elephant out of quicksand, so it was rarely used in regular driving because the rear gear was installed for hard work at low speeds.
Matt said the Merc can do 60 miles per hour, but he’s reluctant to push it any harder. The truck has three times the number of factory springs at the back end to handle the heavy loads, so it rides much harder than a typical ’64 Mercury.
Matt has no plans to make the beat-up truck look better, but he wants to upgrade a few things. He learned a newer Dodge truck rear end is almost a bolt-in so he plans to do that because it would make the Merc work less at highway speeds.
He plans to take it to a major September car show several hundred miles away—the factory farmer gears in the truck would make the trip a lot harder.
Matt’s fondest memory to date of the old Merc is a photo of his great-grandparents in the old Merc because it was the last one ever taken.
That’s a huge return on his 500-dollar investment.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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