Hello, I recently inherited a 1963 M-500 grain truck, and will be looking at making it my water hauling/towing truck. My next acquisition was a 2001 F-450 4wd cab and chassis that had a fire gut everything.

My question is, would it be easier to mount the f-450 axles under the '63, and add a divorced transfer case, or swap the '63 cab onto the f-450 frame?


Thanks, Craig

 

Cab swap imo...

 

Cab swap is much, much easier, and you'll have a better truck as well. However, you'll need a lot of stuff that was burnt for that to ever work.

 

Well I'm not expecting it to be a quick swap, the 63 cab needs some love, as do the front fenders. Once I get the burnt cab off I'll be able to see just how everything on the frame works.

 

No such thing as an M Series. What are the first 3 digits of the VIN?

 

Vin: 111241D-1815074L

Canadian Mercury truck. Vin plate states series as M-F500

 

M-F500: M refers to Mercury, F refers to Ford, but there's still no such thing as a M Series truck (unless it's a 1941/48 Studebaker).

So, is it an F or N Series? 1963...it could be either. I cannot decode this Canadian VIN, except for L = Left Hand Drive.

Pic: 3rd entry, column left: F Series; column right: N Series.

 

According to you, it would be a F500, but it is in fact a M500.

The Mercury trucks of Canada all have VIN's like I posted, all Ford trucks of Canada, have the regular VIN. I have a 66 M-100 with the same style vin, and a 66 F-100 with the regular VIN, and a 68 Mercury with the regular vin.

When Mercury was making trucks, although extremely similar to Ford, they were their own, with M-series.

 

In canada the mercury trucks were almost the same as the fords except for badging . All mercury trucks had m in place of f as in m100 to m800 . We had a m700 1956 we used as a farm and log truck !

 

1966/68 Mercury Trucks use the same VIN & Warranty Plate codes as US trucks.

1965 Canadian VIN is slightly different than 1964 and earlier VIN