Beautiful truck! I never realized how fancy those Mercs were, enough chrome to be a Lincoln!

 

Thanks, it turns a few heads. I have had it in a couple car show. Its always fun to hear "I didnt know Mercury made a truck". Now if I can just get a little education. There seems to be a lot of different views/opinions of what was available. Just like some of the others wrote in this thread. I called Cooker tire they said 6.00x16 tires, I have an owners manual that says 6.50x16. There are several articles that state there was a 255cid flathead but other say that there never was. Then there is the fender color. Some say that the running boards, front and rear fenders were always black. My truck and pictures I have seen of others show the fenders the same color as the truck. I have a feeling I'm going to research this to death and then do what ever I want to do anyway. But it will be a fun ride getting there!

 

All Canadian trucks (Ford and Merc) had black fenders, not sure about the running boards.

If you go with bias plies, get the biggest ones that were available, i.e., the 6.50's, IMO

 

I was checking out your pics, nice truck.

 

Here's what I know.

Your owners manual and my sales brochures both say the standard tire was 6.50x16 4 ply, so I would say that is the truth.

The only engine available in the Mercury M1 thru M4 was the 239 V-8. M5 and 6 got the 255. Six cylinder engines were not available in Mercurys.

Every original photo I've seen of Canadian trucks had black fenders and running boards. Interestingly, the drawings and depictions of the trucks in my sales brochures do not show the same thing. The jury may still out on that one, for me, but this much I do know. My truck was ordered in primer only (that was an option). The cab and doors, inside and out, are red-oxide primer except for the exterior that was coated after purchase. The fenders and running boards were still done only in black. That leads me to believe the black fenders/runningboards story is true. It would be interesting to know if your truck has ever been painted, and if underneath what you now see is originally black.

 

Awesome showroom pic. Where did you find that? I'm planning on a total rebuild next fall. I want to get one more summer of car shows out of it. I plan on taking special care of the fenders. I really want to check them out carefully. Yours came just primed? Wow I cant imagine buying a truck and telling the dealer "Dont worry I will take care of the paint" Times sure have changed. As far as the tires I will go with the 6.50x16. I'm thinking about a knobby/slightly aggressive tire on the rear and a more basic tread on the front.

 

The picture was something I found by accident searching for something, and fortunately I saved it. For the life of me, I don't remember where it was, and I've never ran into it since running the same search words. But it is about one of the coolest ones I've seen. I call it Mercury truck as Supermodel. ;-)

 

After looking at these Merc pics I'm kicking myself for giving away my merc .....no space to store it.

 

If you bought the truck, or a fleet of trucks for a business then the business would want it painted in their colors to match their existing trucks. So, yes, this was an option.

 

Coca Cola, Budweiser, LaBlatts, etc.

There are a lot of Merc pics on the HAMB's "Vintage shots from days gone by", if you want to wade thru 600+ pages...

 

49m47

Dave, here is the pic of your Truck, got it from your Gallery. Hope you don't mind me putting it on here.
On the question of the Black Fenders and Running Boards, that was the Standard for the 2 Tone Paint.
Running Boards were always Black, but Body Color could have been one solid Color, or as another posted some Trucks came in primer for purpose of a Fleet Color.
If you can post the Paint Code I can tell you what the original Color was. Also the under Hood, Cowl, Interior, and underside were same.
My 50 Merc had never been painted until I decided to have it done. I was the Third owner of this Truck since new, and I knew both of the previous owners.
Just for what its worth to you M-1 never came into effect until 1951
My Merc also appeared in the Movie Moonshine Highway, with Kyle McGlaugin, & Randy Quaid.

 

Thanks for posting it, I like see pictures of it!! The color code is M-1722, its Vermilion Red.
When I was filling out the info for setting up my gallery it didnt have a M47 choice. It only had M100 so I used that and added M47 on the "Style". I've never heard of the movie"Moonshine Highway". But dont feel bad, I dont get out much. I will look for it.

I found a web site at google books Mercury trucks Windsor Canada. It shows a 1951 with the caption stating that had 2 tone paint unique to Canadian production. The very next picture is a 1954, all one color. I think they did it just to mess with me.

 

I contacted Ford Motor company of Canada archives. This is what they sent me. Most of this info is available on line. I was able to find the M-1722 paint color but I never found the other codes.

M-18005-C Not Found
M-1722 Not Found

 

Hey, another '49 M-47 owner. I've been away from the computer for a few days and was checking out the back logs. I have seen one '50 M-47 with body colour fenders so your fender colour could be right. This was on a very well done Merc. The owner stated that the original paint was like this so he just painted his truck as he saw it.
Welcome to the site,
Greg M-47

 

It is good to hear from another 49' owner. Do you have any pics of yours?
Someday I will do a complete restoration (someday) and when I do I will spend some time with the fenders. There may be some way to see if there is some black paint under the red. But in the end I think I will stick with the red. Its nice to hear that some of them were a solid color.