JANUARY 2025: A GREAT-UNCLE’S 1948 MERCURY M-68 TRUCK HELPED BUILD A LEGACY ROAD IN NORTHERN CANADA

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The first question for many of our MyStarCollectorCar readers is what is a 1948 Mercury truck?

Ford of Canada split their Ford-Mercury brands into two separate entities in 1946, including its truck models, so Mercury pickups were sold in Canadian-based Mercury dealerships in time for the 1947 model year.

The Mercury trucks were virtually indistinguishable from their Ford counterparts, save for the extra amount of brightwork on Merc trucks because the brand was a higher-end name in the Ford food chain.

The Mercury truck era ended in 1968 after the Canada-United States 1965 Auto Pact (automotive free trade) agreement began to take effect in North America. There was no need to build standalone Canadian vehicles after the Auto Pact agreement ended large import tariffs on vehicles built in one country and sold in the other country.

A 1948 Mercury M-68 ¾ ton pickup truck caught our interest because of its family link as a legacy vehicle. Richard Annau is the Merc’s current owner and respects the truck’s long history in his family, a process that began when his great-uncle Chef Misiak bought it for hard work in construction.

His great-uncle Chef lived in Hay River, NWT and was a part of the crew that linked the northern Canadian community via a road to Grimshaw, Alberta Canada, also a northern community, but roughly 6 hours south of Hay River on the map.

The road was called the Mackenzie Highway and eventually spanned over 700 miles (1100 kms) upon completion. The old pickup truck was heavily involved in the Hay River phase of the highway project during the late 1940s and served its role as a workhorse very well at the time.

Richard’s great-uncle Chef kept the truck but eventually sold it to Richard’s father Rick about 15 years ago and ensured the ’48 Mercury would stay in the family with the sale.

Richard’s dad wanted to preserve the old Merc’s originality but also wanted to fix a few issues on the truck. For example, one side of the truck’s box was crushed by an excessive load during its working years on the Hay River highway project, so the father and son team repaired the damage.

They also replaced the truck’s wooden bed because hard construction work was not easy on it.

Richard became the 1948 Mercury pickup’s latest owner about 10 years ago when his dad gave him the family heirloom.

The father and son chose to honor the Merc’s legacy by retaining its factory flathead engine coupled to a sturdy 4-speed manual transmission. The truck also retains its factory six-volt electrical system because they saw no need to upgrade to a 12-volt system and unnecessarily take away a piece of its originality.

However, Richard did change the engine’s intake manifold in the recent past because he wanted to ensure improve its overall efficiency on the road. The truck’s deep family connection remains strong because Richard’s young son helped him with the swap.

BY: Jim Sutherland

Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section. 

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