[0:00] Here
[0:03] we go. Water up ahead.
[0:13] >> You really can go anywhere with this
[0:15] thing.
[0:15] >> Oh man,
[0:17] this is awesome. I wanted it to
[0:19] mechanically be sound, mechanically be
[0:22] safe but
[0:23] >> I wanted the outside to tell the story
[0:25] of everything. Like even in the back
[0:26] passenger side quarter panel, you can
[0:29] tell where they stuck a skid steer fork
[0:31] through it just to lift it out of the
[0:33] mud to get it out. People are like, "Why
[0:34] would you hammer and dolly in and weld
[0:37] it?" I'm like, "Cuz that's part of the
[0:38] story."
[0:45] >> We probably should have had the windows
[0:46] up.
[0:47] >> Welcome to the episode of Jay Lo's
[0:49] Garage. As you may have figured out, we
[0:50] have eclectic tastes here at the show.
[0:52] You never know what it's going to be.
[0:54] this particular vehicle, 1966
[0:56] Canadianbuilt Mercury M250 truck. Now,
[1:00] if you're surprised that Mercury made a
[1:02] truck, well, they didn't make one in the
[1:04] United States. This is Canadian market
[1:06] only, apparently. The Mercury name
[1:08] plate. Why it was put on trucks up
[1:09] there, I don't know. Maybe we'll find
[1:11] out. You know, this is what I like. I
[1:13] like something that looks like a truck,
[1:15] does the work of a truck. It's not
[1:17] babyed. It doesn't look like something
[1:19] you're just going to park somewhere and
[1:20] and drive on dry days and never go on
[1:23] the stuff. This still looks like an
[1:25] extremely capable vehicle, but heavily
[1:27] modified cuz I look at this go Mercury 2
[1:30] supercharged. What? 196. Well, no, he
[1:33] made that badge, but it but it looks it
[1:35] looks correct. It looks period. The
[1:36] chassis we will discuss and you will see
[1:39] in a minute. Totally custom. The engine
[1:41] 5.8 L Ford. I guess it's out of the Ford
[1:44] GT500, I think, if I'm not mistaken.
[1:46] Yeah. Uh, so you've got plenty of
[1:48] horsepower. Let Let's meet the man who
[1:51] built this car, Jason Null. Jason, come
[1:53] on in here, my friend. Good. Beautiful
[1:54] job.
[1:55] >> Thank you. Thank you.
[1:56] >> Yeah, I I like the fact that it it's
[1:58] it's true to what its purpose is. It's
[2:01] meant to be something you can go
[2:03] off-road and and just beat the hell out
[2:05] of and it's going to take it without and
[2:08] you can't scratch it. And if somebody
[2:10] keys your car, you just go, "Thanks."
[2:11] You know? Yeah. I mean, yeah. It's it's
[2:14] it's really pretty pretty cool. Uh did
[2:17] did you sort of put the shellac or
[2:19] something over here to keep this rust
[2:20] sort of frozen in time?
[2:23] >> No, I mean it might have, you know, some
[2:25] wax on it, but really it really is going
[2:28] to continue to age, you know, left alone
[2:31] and it'll continue to, you know, they
[2:33] call it patina nowadays, right?
[2:34] Everybody patina. Yeah.
[2:36] >> Everybody likes to use the word patina,
[2:37] throw that around. But um but this is
[2:39] this is the real deal.
[2:40] >> Now, you have a shop. Is it Fat Friended
[2:42] Garage? Is that the name of the shop?
[2:44] >> It's FatFender Garage. Yes. in Gilbert,
[2:46] Arizona.
[2:46] >> Okay. And you do a lot of custom work,
[2:48] restoration, modify, whatever you need,
[2:50] I guess.
[2:51] >> Yeah, I you know, we just started buying
[2:53] some old trucks and fixing them and sold
[2:57] them and then that just kind of turned
[2:59] into
[2:59] >> Oh, okay.
[3:01] >> much larger.
[3:02] >> So, this was not a customer coming to
[3:04] you with his truck telling you what he
[3:05] wants. You find this, you do the
[3:07] modifications you want, and then you
[3:09] sell it to someone who's looking for
[3:10] that. We we used to that's how we began
[3:12] our business. But now everything's done,
[3:15] you know, with the customer in mind.
[3:17] They they bring their truck to us. And
[3:18] so the owner of this truck uh you know,
[3:21] had some ideas and thoughts and so we
[3:24] collaborated together because he wanted
[3:25] to like uh you know take something that
[3:28] was something he loved so much but make
[3:30] it better and that's what we did for
[3:32] him.
[3:32] >> Now would you prefer to do a restoration
[3:35] or have this sort of patina look as you
[3:39] say? So patina is not for everyone as
[3:41] you know. I guess for me it depends on
[3:44] the customer and what they want in the
[3:46] truck. I love painting and it and they
[3:48] look beautiful when they're done. But
[3:50] like you said in the very beginning they
[3:52] become like questionable whether they're
[3:55] going to drive it or not later because
[3:56] they're like like I don't know. It's so
[3:58] nice. I don't know if I can drive it
[4:00] now. That's what they'll say. And then
[4:01] then then you kind of feel like
[4:03] >> darn it, you know, I want them to drive
[4:05] it. And so, uh, but this was left, you
[4:08] know, um, to where it doesn't matter.
[4:11] >> I think we probably scratched it in our
[4:12] shop, but nobody knows.
[4:14] >> Now, how often do you have the case
[4:15] where an owner I always call it more
[4:19] money than brains club, they don't
[4:21] really know what they want. They have
[4:22] this vision and you go, I said, "No,
[4:25] it's not going to work. That's crazy.
[4:26] That's got to be a tricky situation
[4:28] explaining people. No, you got to be
[4:29] realistic in what you want here. that
[4:32] won't work. You can't turn it into a
[4:34] boat and a car, whatever. I mean, it
[4:36] must just just get crazy because, you
[4:38] know, people watch a lot of these stupid
[4:40] shows on YouTube where in a weekend you
[4:42] bring it on Friday, Monday, it's a full
[4:45] custom, you know, and they're Yeah.
[4:46] Yeah. So, that's got to be frustrating
[4:48] for you as an owner.
[4:50] >> It is hard is because we get a lot of
[4:52] input from owners and and some owners
[4:55] are are easy to work with,
[4:57] >> right?
[4:57] >> And uh it's like show business.
[4:59] >> Yeah, they're easy. And then others are
[5:01] like, like you said, like how am I going
[5:03] how am I going to break this to them?
[5:05] They can't do that.
[5:06] >> And uh and you learn to say no. The more
[5:09] I learn to say no, the better it is for
[5:11] me right?
[5:11] >> And it's not always easy to do that
[5:13] because you want people to have what
[5:14] they want. But we've had plenty of
[5:16] projects come through the shop and we're
[5:18] redoing an interior right now as we
[5:21] speak because he picked the colors out
[5:22] and I was like, "All right, well, we'll
[5:23] just let him pick it, right?"
[5:25] >> And then after he saw it, he's like, "I
[5:26] don't think that looks good." And so I
[5:29] said, "Were you going to let me pick
[5:30] it?" And he goes, "Yeah." So you did.
[5:31] >> Well, I think because just looking at
[5:33] this, I can see you did it right. I
[5:34] mean, number of people I know, for
[5:36] example, get like a mid60s Barracuda. It
[5:40] had a six-cylinder.
[5:41] >> They put a big 440 Chrysler in it. And I
[5:44] look and it still got the the four lug
[5:46] nut wheels with drum brakes as opposed
[5:48] to, oh, I I don't want to upgrade. I
[5:50] couldn't afford the Oh, no. That's now
[5:52] you got a dangerous
[5:53] >> just terrible thing. I mean, this you
[5:56] you built it to do what's intended to
[5:57] do. I mean that looking at this chassis,
[5:59] it's just massively strong, isn't it?
[6:01] >> It is. And this was the first chassis we
[6:03] designed for this era of truck, uh, a
[6:05] crew cab. And of course, we we have
[6:08] options for people, you know, but
[6:09] anytime we get into like a 250, I I say
[6:12] it should be eight lug, you know,
[6:14] because that's what you're used to
[6:15] seeing today. And so we did eight lug
[6:18] Curry axles. And so it really provides
[6:21] that look that to be expected. Have you
[6:23] modified the original chassis a ars and
[6:25] all or or is it a brand new chassis?
[6:28] >> So this is all brand new.
[6:29] >> Okay. So and then you lay this sort of
[6:32] >> patina or ratty ass as you call it body
[6:35] on it.
[6:36] >> Yes. Yes. We
[6:37] >> I love it. I think it's fantastic.
[6:38] >> Well, it has its story, right? That's
[6:40] what's cool about it is it there's a
[6:41] story. If it was all painted, it'd be a
[6:43] different story. And now we get a lot of
[6:46] um uh we call it hate mail online where
[6:49] these guys want to go on I can't believe
[6:51] you didn't fill in the blank left rust
[6:53] didn't paint it you know we and I'm just
[6:55] like this is not our vehicle this is a
[6:58] customer's vehicle we're doing what he
[6:59] asked us to do and so a lot of people
[7:01] forget that but the only thing that is
[7:03] not new is the sheet metal
[7:05] >> right and I guess you save a fortune
[7:07] actually not doing paint and body work
[7:09] don't you I mean the customer does
[7:11] >> fair fair enough
[7:12] >> I mean to me I like the fact that any
[7:14] money that's gone into it has gone into
[7:16] it to make it more durable, stronger,
[7:18] reliable, faster, break better, handle,
[7:21] but whatever, you know. Although, I do
[7:22] like this. The fact I was so perplexed
[7:24] by the super ch I think it's 66. I can't
[7:27] think of maybe in Canada they but it
[7:30] looks like it was built for the car, but
[7:32] this was put on afterwards, right?
[7:33] >> Yeah, it was. Yeah, he the owner made
[7:35] it. It is a supercharged and but he
[7:37] wanted it to look original,
[7:39] >> which fooled both of us.
[7:41] >> Yeah. So, now let's see. I'm watching
[7:43] your face and I'm thinking you didn't
[7:44] like it cuz you
[7:45] >> Well, the owner wanted it so he put it
[7:47] on there that way. It seems like So
[7:49] that's a constant struggle, isn't it?
[7:51] Trying to get
[7:52] >> owner and builder together and something
[7:54] that's going to please everybody.
[7:56] >> Well, and I I worry about our brand.
[7:59] Yeah.
[7:59] >> And if we put something out there, it
[8:01] could is it good for us or, you know, so
[8:03] we have to be really careful. But but
[8:04] this this was a fun project for us.
[8:06] >> Yeah. And you have quite a big shop,
[8:08] right? I mean, it's a
[8:08] >> We do. We have a shop in Arizona. It's
[8:10] about 45,000 square ft, 75 employees.
[8:15] So it's
[8:15] >> okay.
[8:16] >> A lot of babysitting.
[8:17] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[8:18] >> And how long does a project like this
[8:20] take? Because most times when we talk to
[8:22] folks like yourself,
[8:24] >> it's a two or three man shop and it's 18
[8:26] months. I mean, what what does something
[8:29] like this? If I came in with one of
[8:31] these and I wanted it modified
[8:33] similarly, a year, six months. So
[8:36] generally about a year because
[8:37] oftentimes we'll have to order up a
[8:39] chassis,
[8:40] >> right?
[8:40] >> So that's got to get put in production,
[8:42] that's got to get made and and then that
[8:44] once that chassis is done, then we can
[8:46] kind of coordinate a schedule to get
[8:47] that in. But but generally uh you know,
[8:50] we'll try to do some of the waiting like
[8:52] you keep your vehicle, drive it, we'll
[8:54] let's get the chassis ordered and then
[8:55] when the chassis is ready, bring it in.
[8:57] So it can be anywhere from 6 months to
[9:00] two years depending upon what the build
[9:01] is.
[9:02] >> Right. Well, very nice. So now these
[9:04] were here. You didn't put these patina.
[9:08] >> No. Well, and it was originally a blue
[9:09] truck.
[9:10] >> Oh, okay.
[9:10] >> And so it was originally blue. If you
[9:11] look underneath, you can see the blue
[9:12] and then it was painted orange.
[9:14] >> Okay.
[9:15] >> Yeah. Yeah. You can see.
[9:16] >> Okay. So, but you didn't paint it
[9:17] orange.
[9:17] >> No. No. We didn't do any of that.
[9:19] >> So, you haven't really touched the body
[9:20] other than
[9:21] >> this came out of Canada just like you
[9:23] see it.
[9:23] >> Okay.
[9:23] >> And as you walk around it, it gets, you
[9:25] know, as a bed would be expected to be
[9:28] in, you know, Canada, beat up and used.
[9:30] But yeah,
[9:31] >> because Mercury as a name plate, at
[9:32] least in America,
[9:34] >> it was a higherend Ford. It was sort of
[9:36] like uh old and Buick to Chevrolet,
[9:39] right? Ford using that GM model. Like
[9:41] the Cougar was a Mustang. So people had
[9:44] a few more bucks that had electric
[9:46] windows and and more
[9:48] sound deadening and you know, all that
[9:50] kind of stuff. And maybe the Canadians
[9:52] didn't want anything to do with Ford and
[9:55] so this was their way of getting
[9:56] something that was a little special for
[9:58] them, but uh only sold in Canada.
[10:00] >> Yeah. Well, it was probably built by
[10:02] Ford but in Canada.
[10:03] >> Yes. Yeah. They just put a different uh
[10:06] grill on it. Yeah, they did.
[10:07] >> And a different hood and then put some
[10:08] badges.
[10:09] >> Well, they had the Bowmont and they had
[10:10] all these other cars with Canadian names
[10:12] on it. Really cool. And of course the
[10:14] aftermarket mirrors. How How about the
[10:16] interior? Is the interior pretty? Oh,
[10:18] no. Look at that. Okay.
[10:19] >> Yeah. So, we didn't go with the original
[10:21] interior.
[10:22] >> No, we didn't. It would have been a
[10:24] bench seat and it was pretty tired. So,
[10:27] owner wanted to maintain that. You see
[10:30] how nice that shut?
[10:31] >> Very, of course, you have the uh the
[10:33] running board that comes out. And of
[10:35] course, when this was built, the idea of
[10:36] a luxury truck was ridiculous. I mean,
[10:38] there's no such thing.
[10:39] >> There's no such thing. Uh that came
[10:42] about because in America, there was a 5%
[10:45] tax on any vehicle more than $30,000. It
[10:47] was a luxury tax. But if it was a truck,
[10:50] well then they take that 5% and they
[10:53] just make a luxury truck and you So the
[10:56] money normally go to tax just goes to
[10:58] giving you a better vehicle. That's
[10:59] that's how it started. You had the
[11:01] Lincoln Blackwood and then the idea of
[11:03] having trucks with air conditioning and
[11:05] fancy stereo cuz when this came out it's
[11:07] a bench seat with a big stick here and
[11:10] it's a manly vehicle, you know,
[11:11] >> right? And and fit and finish was
[11:13] something that was Yeah. only save for
[11:15] the cars,
[11:16] >> right? Yeah. Because as soon as you got
[11:18] it, you loading cement in it and it was
[11:20] going to work.
[11:21] >> Going to work on the farm, whatever.
[11:22] >> But very nice. Four-wheel discs all the
[11:25] way around. I
[11:25] >> four-wheel disc all the way around. Yep.
[11:27] >> And what do you use for disc? What
[11:28] aftermarket do you use?
[11:29] >> These are actually uh F250 disc brakes
[11:32] on here. Out of a newer truck.
[11:34] >> What is a differential since you brought
[11:35] it up?
[11:36] >> Curry 9 in.
[11:37] >> Oh, okay.
[11:37] >> Front and rear.
[11:38] >> Okay. So, that's an aftermarket
[11:40] >> Well, the Ford 9 in. You know, the Ford
[11:42] 9 in that they used. And so, we just use
[11:44] that front and rear. Keep it simple.
[11:45] Well, I mean, honestly, he's probably
[11:47] never taking this off-road if we, you
[11:49] know.
[11:49] >> Let's open the hood and see.
[11:50] >> Let's do it.
[11:51] >> Do I have to open it from inside or
[11:53] >> No, but we got a we got a trick here.
[11:55] >> Oh,
[11:56] >> right here. We hit a little latch,
[11:58] >> right?
[12:00] So that people wouldn't
[12:02] >> Yeah. So now only 4 million people will
[12:05] know that that is there.
[12:07] That's our number of subscribers.
[12:09] >> Yes. Number of subscribers. So
[12:11] >> Well, look at this. Wow. This is Yeah,
[12:13] this is We need a step ladder to see
[12:15] everything in here. Okay, that's a 5.8
[12:18] L correct?
[12:19] >> 5.8 supercharged.
[12:21] >> Yeah. What What are you looking at? 650
[12:23] 700 horse
[12:24] >> about 650.
[12:25] >> Oh, it's 650. Yeah. Okay.
[12:27] >> We actually painted the motor. We cerak
[12:29] coated it
[12:29] >> so it would kind of tie in with the rest
[12:31] of the color theme of the truck.
[12:33] >> Right.
[12:33] >> Because it was a motor he had and it was
[12:36] a little bit greasy.
[12:37] >> Yeah.
[12:38] >> You know, we wanted to clean it up so it
[12:39] looked a little nicer when we gave it
[12:40] back to him. Oh, so this is a motor he
[12:41] had sitting around somewhere. Okay.
[12:44] >> And I like this airbox with the plastic
[12:45] in it. Look at that. That's something
[12:47] >> 3D printed.
[12:48] >> Yeah. You know, it's amazing how
[12:50] effective the airboxes are cuz I was
[12:52] always like, you really need it. I've
[12:53] got a 66 47 L. We put a 427 in it.
[12:57] >> Okay.
[12:58] >> And it's LA and it's 95° 100 degree. I'm
[13:01] on the freeway and I just stop. I go,
[13:05] what? What is this? So, I opened the
[13:07] hood and the wave of heat, it didn't
[13:10] knock me over. I was like, "Oh my Oh my
[13:11] god." I mean, I could just feel it, you
[13:13] know? I was like, "What am I on fire?
[13:15] What's happen?" No, the engine just
[13:18] generates so much heat.
[13:19] >> It It's boiling the gasoline and the air
[13:22] it was just it couldn't take it anymore.
[13:24] It's like it was choking on the hot air.
[13:26] We put the airbox in. It's like a brand
[13:28] new car. It It all we did was move it up
[13:30] here and you're pulling it here instead
[13:32] of pulling it from right near the
[13:34] exhaust, you know? So, same thing. dual
[13:36] masters and that's all modern stuff.
[13:37] >> Yep.
[13:38] >> So, this I guess this was sort of the
[13:40] original blue of the car.
[13:41] >> This that would have been the original
[13:43] blue color, but we repainted it to
[13:46] match. That was a question that he's
[13:49] like, "What do we do? What color should
[13:51] we do?" And I said, "Well, let's paint
[13:52] this." Because when you pop the hood,
[13:54] you know, you expect to
[13:55] >> We thought it would be a little bit of a
[13:57] conflict if we didn't, you know, if this
[13:59] looked really bad under here. So, we
[14:00] painted the bottom of the hood. We
[14:02] painted the firewall and then these
[14:04] inner fenders. and the core support and
[14:06] then everything else was left.
[14:07] >> Now, was this a driving truck when it
[14:09] did it drive into your shop? What motor
[14:11] was in it?
[14:12] >> This motor.
[14:12] >> Oh, this motor was already in it.
[14:14] >> This was in it. Yes.
[14:14] >> Oh, that's Oh. Oh, that's interesting.
[14:17] >> So, this motor was in it and a running
[14:19] driving, but you could imagine it was
[14:21] just, you know, it's 1966 technology
[14:23] under there. And it's old, it's tire,
[14:25] there's leaf springs, there's, you know,
[14:26] all that.
[14:27] >> So, you had the drum brakes on it. You
[14:29] had exactly what I was talking about
[14:31] being a dangerous
[14:33] >> supercharged on top. That's the greatest
[14:35] thing about modern supercars because in
[14:37] the 60s they were dangerous. I've got a
[14:39] 66 Hemi coronet drum brakes. It's just a
[14:43] whole I mean you're on you're on the
[14:45] brakes with both feet trying to stop
[14:47] this thing. It just won't do it. No
[14:49] power steering. Nothing is up. The only
[14:51] thing huge is is the motor, you know. So
[14:54] you finally have muscle cars now that
[14:56] handle and stop and go around corners.
[14:58] It it's really because the trick is
[15:00] really not to get cars to go fast.
[15:02] They've always gone fast. It's making
[15:03] them stop and go around corners and be
[15:05] reliable and get some semblance of
[15:07] mileage, you know. Very cool. Very
[15:09] nicely done. Okay. So, so this motor is
[15:11] already in it. How about the
[15:13] transmission?
[15:13] >> So, same transmission, same motor. We we
[15:16] did swap out the transfer case and uh
[15:18] and then one of the big things that we
[15:20] were really concerned about was, you
[15:22] know, when you're when you're pitching a
[15:23] a new chassis to someone and they want
[15:26] to go that route, is it really going to
[15:28] be better? you know, there's always that
[15:30] question, you know, and so we spent a
[15:32] lot of time dialing in suspension,
[15:34] tuning suspension, so before we hand it
[15:37] over to them, like we we know it's good.
[15:38] So, we must have changed the springs out
[15:40] three times. And then right at the last,
[15:42] we um uh put on Icon active suspension.
[15:48] So, he's got full, you know, dynamic
[15:50] active suspension on his phone that he
[15:52] can change the suspension on it. So, and
[15:55] in a 1966, that's not something
[15:57] >> no that you expect. What transmission is
[15:59] it? Is it manual or I didn't look?
[16:01] >> Yeah, it's a it's a TMIC and it's a
[16:04] manual transmission. Sequential.
[16:06] >> Okay. Oh, it's a sequential. Manual.
[16:09] Okay. Five-speed.
[16:11] >> Six.
[16:12] >> Oh, six-speed. Okay. Yeah. I mean, this
[16:14] really looks like the Brooklyn Bridge
[16:16] under here. These massive suspension
[16:17] pieces. It's
[16:18] >> Well, it's all bare metal, too.
[16:19] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[16:20] >> There's no paint. It hasn't been powder
[16:22] coated or anything.
[16:23] >> Is that deliberate wise?
[16:24] >> I was deliberate. But if you if you
[16:26] think about the whole truck as a whole,
[16:28] >> yeah,
[16:28] >> that the idea for the owner was to say,
[16:31] "Hey, I want it to be like more
[16:34] authentic and raw and show off the the
[16:36] welding and everything on the
[16:38] >> I would think just for the sake of
[16:39] preventing rust."
[16:41] >> That's what I said. Yeah,
[16:42] >> I actually didn't want to do it.
[16:43] >> Oh, it's funny. All right.
[16:45] >> But he convinced me and we did it. And
[16:47] we did put a clear coat on it. Like we
[16:48] cleared it just to help. But I said,
[16:50] "You're going to have to wipe this down
[16:51] every time you drive it." Well, we're
[16:53] going to talk to the owner, Roman, in
[16:54] just a little bit. In fact, he's going
[16:56] to ride with us. So, we'll find out
[16:57] which one of you won out here. Okay. I
[17:00] love this grill in the front. This looks
[17:01] like a Canadian piece. This looks like
[17:04] something that didn't come from Ford.
[17:06] >> No, but it but it was very common for
[17:08] the era in time for for these uh trucks
[17:11] to purchase those.
[17:12] >> Just shutting this hood is a massive
[17:14] thing.
[17:15] >> You got to be
[17:18] There you go. All right.
[17:22] Well, let's meet the owner, Roman
[17:24] Taherin. Come on in, Roman. How you
[17:25] doing?
[17:26] >> Doing well.
[17:26] >> Oh, this is a guy I'm fighting later
[17:27] after the show. Yeah. Yeah, that's
[17:29] right. That's right. Good to see you.
[17:31] >> Well, I'm going to go for a So, you
[17:33] pleased with what you got here? Looks
[17:34] pretty good.
[17:35] >> It's always looked the same, actually,
[17:37] in all honesty. But the functionality of
[17:40] it,
[17:40] >> that's a compliment, huh?
[17:41] >> It is. It's a total compliment to Fin.
[17:44] But um
[17:45] >> it actually functions completely
[17:46] different now.
[17:47] >> Yeah.
[17:47] >> Yeah.
[17:48] >> But it feels more complete, doesn't it?
[17:50] >> 100% complete. Yeah.
[17:51] >> Like now I feel safe. It's not like a
[17:53] still death trap so much.
[17:55] >> Could you stop it before with these
[17:57] stock brakes that were
[17:58] >> I could, but I I was very mindful of
[18:01] >> downshifting and you you
[18:03] progress.
[18:04] >> Exactly.
[18:05] >> This you actually
[18:06] stop. Well, let's go for Ryan Roman.
[18:08] We'll get his side of the story inside
[18:10] the truck. Jason, thank you my friend.
[18:12] >> You bet.
[18:12] >> Hop in. Can I drive? Let's do it. Okay.
[18:35] Oh, steering is nice.
[18:38] >> I'm telling you, this thing drives great
[18:40] compared to what it was like. Oh,
[18:42] >> I could imagine.
[18:44] >> I was pretty nervous driving through
[18:45] your shop here.
[18:48] Oh yeah.
[18:48] >> I didn't want to hit anything.
[18:50] >> Come on. Everything.
[18:51] >> Yeah. I'm spectating too as I'm driving
[18:53] in. I'm like, h
[19:11] >> good.
[19:11] >> It's totally classic, right?
[19:13] >> Yeah. Totally classic.
[19:16] I like how you roasted me. My son would
[19:18] have liked that.
[19:18] >> That's it.
[19:19] >> There's nothing classic about this
[19:21] truck.
[19:21] >> Yeah, that's it.
[19:26] >> Yeah. So, just punch it off. So, that's
[19:28] like a partial neutral between second
[19:30] and first. So, if you go further more,
[19:32] you're going to be in first.
[19:33] >> So, push it forward.
[19:34] >> Yeah. If you go, you'll be in first if
[19:36] you go forward.
[19:37] >> All right.
[19:38] >> Is that easier than a regular
[19:41] >> H pattern? Cuz you always got to go. say
[19:44] for racing like it it's you're not going
[19:46] to miss shift, right?
[19:47] >> You know, that's the big thing is you're
[19:48] not going to miss shift.
[19:50] >> I think where I dislike it very much cuz
[19:53] this is like a daily driver for me.
[19:55] >> Yeah, it's a lot of work.
[19:56] >> It's a lot of work.
[19:57] >> Yeah.
[19:57] >> And especially being in LA, you know, or
[19:59] or county, Southern California, you're
[20:02] >> truck it here or drive it here?
[20:04] >> I drove it.
[20:04] >> Yeah.
[20:05] >> Yeah. This thing's built to
[20:07] >> I built this thing to drive. I only did
[20:09] I did the leather for the wife because
[20:11] she likes the smell of the interior.
[20:14] >> So there you go first.
[20:24] So you go there. Uh go forward just a
[20:27] tad.
[20:29] >> There you go. First and then when you go
[20:31] through clutch and and commit to second.
[20:34] >> Come back or back.
[20:36] >> Commit to second. There you go. And then
[20:38] every gears like that, slamming through.
[20:41] >> There you go.
[20:43] >> It's kind of more aggressive.
[20:45] >> Seems a lot more work than an H pattern.
[20:48] >> Yeah.
[20:48] >> I mean, it does seem It doesn't seem any
[20:50] quicker. I mean, it seems
[20:53] >> once you get used to it, I think you get
[20:55] another
[20:56] >> 15 minutes into this thing, you're going
[20:58] to you'll get the hang of it. You
[21:00] already got the hang of the clutch. The
[21:01] clutch is the trickiest part on this
[21:03] truck.
[21:03] >> Clutch is easy on this thing. I know you
[21:05] asked a lot about some of that history.
[21:07] The M series market was from 1947 to
[21:11] 1968.
[21:13] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[21:13] >> The Ford Motor Company was Ford Lincoln
[21:15] Mercury.
[21:16] >> Beautiful truck.
[21:17] >> Thank you, my friend. Have a good day.
[21:21] >> So, it was a Ford Lincoln Mercury
[21:23] obviously. And then they had district
[21:25] sales offices. DSOs is what the Ford
[21:28] gurus tend to call them. But out of
[21:31] those district sales offices in Canada,
[21:33] they had around six of them. And these
[21:36] crew cabs at the time were special
[21:38] orders, every single one of them.
[21:41] So the indicative thing, there's a lot
[21:43] of these people trying to make these
[21:45] trucks and clone them as Mercuries.
[21:47] Basically, your DSO number needs to line
[21:50] up with one of those special numbers,
[21:53] special codes from one of those district
[21:54] sales offices. And then all of them are
[21:57] basically special ordered. So all these
[21:59] crew cabs, like nobody really needed
[22:01] crew cabs. Like you look nowadays,
[22:03] >> everybody has a four-door truck in their
[22:05] family. It seems like in 1965,
[22:08] that's when Ford started making their
[22:10] crew cabs in house.
[22:11] >> Yeah.
[22:13] >> Prior to 1965, October of ' 65, what
[22:17] they were doing was sending their cabs,
[22:19] like a regular cab with a long bed or a
[22:22] short bed, and they throw an extra cab
[22:23] in the back, and then they send it to a
[22:25] third party company. Yeah. telling them,
[22:27] "Hey, just go ahead and make us what
[22:28] they call a coachu built truck." So,
[22:30] every crew cab was basically special
[22:32] ordered. But Ford didn't start making
[22:35] them until 1965. And then that's when
[22:37] everything kind of like the design
[22:39] started becoming more streamlined.
[22:41] Otherwise, like prior to 1965, you could
[22:43] get two different crew cabs from the
[22:45] same exact company, like let's just say
[22:47] Orville. Yeah.
[22:49] >> And depending on who was working that
[22:51] day, how they decided they wanted to
[22:52] weld the cab together,
[22:54] >> they're so different and so intricate.
[22:56] So, but this body style for the F series
[22:59] or M series,
[23:01] >> they say they had less than about 200 of
[23:03] them were special ordered for that
[23:05] 12-month calendar year.
[23:12] Now, this truck was originally like it
[23:14] was for it was special ordered by a
[23:16] company called Manitoba Hydro
[23:19] Engineering.
[23:19] >> Yeah.
[23:20] >> And that's out of Manitoba, Canada.
[23:22] >> They're like the Southern California
[23:24] Edison, if you will, like the power
[23:26] company.
[23:26] >> Right. Right.
[23:27] >> They started electricity in Canada. They
[23:30] went to Ford. They went to a Mercury DSO
[23:33] and ordered two crew cabs for a project
[23:37] called the Kettle Rapids project in
[23:39] 1966.
[23:41] And so when they ordered these trucks,
[23:43] they came back, their fleet color was
[23:46] light blue and dark blue, kind of like a
[23:49] police car. So when you look at the
[23:51] front quarter and the rear bedside
[23:53] panels, they're light blue and then the
[23:55] doors are dark blue. Well, the whole cap
[23:57] was light blue, just like the inside of
[23:59] the interior. And then after 10 years
[24:02] when that project was done, the truck
[24:04] was decommissioned and then auctioned
[24:06] off and it went to like a race car
[24:08] company or a race car team is what we're
[24:10] alluding to just because of all the
[24:12] decals and stuff that were on the truck.
[24:14] They were all kind of like race car
[24:15] stickers and
[24:17] >> but this thing originally came with a
[24:18] 240 inline 6 and a 3-speed T89.
[24:22] >> That's funny.
[24:22] >> Two wheel drive.
[24:25] So it's come a long way now.
[24:29] I love this motor.
[24:31] >> Yeah. This uh Yeah.
[24:34] >> So, it's that 2013 2014. I don't know
[24:36] why they stopped making this motor
[24:38] though. From 2013 to 14, they made the
[24:41] Trinity. That's a nickname. Trinity.
[24:43] It's SVT motor. 5.8 L 32 valve double
[24:47] overhead cam.
[24:48] >> Yeah.
[24:49] >> Stock came 661 horse with like 630
[24:53] foot-lb torque.
[24:56] So, this thing,
[24:57] >> it scoots.
[24:58] >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, it does.
[25:00] >> You know, but
[25:01] >> it just needed to be geared, right?
[25:03] >> Yeah.
[25:03] >> When I first got this truck, I mean, I
[25:05] think that the gearing was completely
[25:07] off, so I would never get into sixth
[25:09] gear
[25:10] >> in this truck. Jason and I always been
[25:12] friends. I've always actually been a
[25:14] very big fan of his whole production.
[25:15] >> Oh, I see. So, you knew him before?
[25:17] >> Yeah, I knew him before. And then Jason
[25:19] was I want to say they were always more
[25:22] keen to the lowered market, you know,
[25:24] like slammed F100s on full custom
[25:27] chassis or Chevy C10s. And
[25:30] >> um I was always a vintage 4x4 guy. I
[25:32] always have been. In 24, we were at the
[25:36] F100 Western Nationals
[25:39] and he uh
[25:42] he came up to me and I remember we were
[25:45] on the tailgate of the truck. He goes,
[25:47] "Hey." So he slaps on it and he goes,
[25:50] "So Hercules, huh?" He goes, "What's
[25:53] your thoughts on I go, don't even tell
[25:55] me." I go, "You guys are going to build
[25:57] custom 4x4 chassis now." Goes, "That's
[26:00] right." And he goes, "Would you be in?"
[26:02] I go, "Put me in." I go, "I'm I'm game,
[26:05] man." I go, "This truck," I go, "It's
[26:07] never going anywhere. It's like a family
[26:10] heirloom to me. This will go on to my
[26:12] son, so he already knows it's his
[26:14] truck." I said, I'd like to make it
[26:16] safer.
[26:17] You know, I go, it needs better braking
[26:19] power. I want it to be more comfortable
[26:22] for the kids, the family. I want air
[26:25] condition. I want better interior. I
[26:26] want the whole I want the whole gamut.
[26:29] >> Yeah.
[26:29] >> And so, we partnered up and and did
[26:32] that. And I tell you what, it was a
[26:34] pretty penny.
[26:35] >> Yeah, it is.
[26:36] >> To get it done, but
[26:37] >> it's not cheap.
[26:38] >> No,
[26:40] but you ask me now. Well, now that we're
[26:42] putting smile miles in, I tell you what,
[26:44] I don't even think about it. That's
[26:45] right.
[26:45] >> You know,
[26:46] >> well, it drives like a much smaller
[26:48] vehicle. You certainly get a commanding
[26:51] view of the road up here in the up in
[26:53] the second story.
[26:54] >> I know. And then this big windshield,
[26:55] too.
[26:56] >> Oh, yeah.
[26:56] >> It's nice.
[26:58] >> I imagine when you drop it in six, you
[27:00] get pretty good mileage.
[27:02] >> You know, I kind of got a heavy foot.
[27:04] >> Yeah.
[27:05] >> I'm a I'm a very big proponent of I
[27:08] think smiles per gallon. And what are
[27:10] you what are you average about 13 with
[27:12] this?
[27:13] >> I think the best I've ever done was like
[27:16] 14 miles per hour,
[27:21] >> but I'm usually doing street driving, so
[27:25] it's probably more like in that 11
[27:27] range.
[27:32] You got the hang of it now.
[27:34] >> Yeah, you're clutching through gears
[27:36] now.
[27:38] Oh yeah.
[27:41] This is where we Now you can open this
[27:44] up. You know, it's a lot smoother too
[27:47] now.
[27:48] >> Yeah.
[27:49] >> Before when it was all leaf sprout. I
[27:52] mean, I had a Dana 44 open knuckle disc
[27:54] brake front end, but it was still just a
[27:57] rear spring leaf old school Ford truck
[28:01] rear end from literally like 1979.
[28:03] >> Yeah.
[28:05] And this thing rode like
[28:06] >> Yeah.
[28:08] >> But it was fun. You know what? I think
[28:10] more of the fun and the excitement came
[28:12] from the fact that we were like dancing
[28:15] with death. You know,
[28:17] >> dancing with death.
[28:18] >> I'm telling you, man. Like every time I
[28:20] got in it and we were whipping this
[28:22] thing, I was like, "Hell, we could wrap
[28:25] this thing around a pole. We're going to
[28:26] go rolling. I mean, we're going to go
[28:28] flipping down the road."
[28:29] >> I think you wrapped the pole around this
[28:31] thing. So now I now that the
[28:33] suspension's so plush, I'm still just
[28:35] trying to figure out all that suspension
[28:37] management stuff.
[28:56] >> Man, you got us down.
[28:58] >> That was nice.
[28:58] >> I I tried to get my wife to drive this
[29:00] thing. She's She gave up after probably
[29:05] 5 minutes. She like the hell with this
[29:07] truck.
[29:08] >> Put an automatic in it.
[29:09] >> Yeah.
[29:11] >> Yeah. Had to put the air condition in
[29:13] for us. We put resto mod air in this
[29:15] thing cuz my wife's the one. She always
[29:18] wants windows up.
[29:20] >> Yeah.
[29:20] >> Yeah. She's always cold. I'm always hot.
[29:22] She's always cold. I like windows.
[29:25] >> Well, you want a hot wife. That's what I
[29:26] say.
[29:26] >> I definitely got a hot wife.
[29:28] >> Yeah. There you go.
[29:29] I'm telling you, I don't feel like I'm
[29:31] in LA anymore.
[29:32] >> No, you're not. That's what's great
[29:33] about it.
[29:35] >> Might find some more old trucks to save.
[29:37] >> Yeah.
[29:39] >> I really wish you would have drove it
[29:40] the other way.
[29:42] >> What you mean when it was terrible? Why
[29:43] would I want it? Terrible.
[29:44] >> I thought the ride when it's good.
[29:46] >> So that way you could appreciate. But I
[29:47] tell
[29:48] >> you how many terrible
[29:49] >> If we made it to the end of the road,
[29:51] you would have seen that you you cheated
[29:53] death.
[29:54] >> So many people just do a half job. Just
[29:57] >> put the motor in. forget about
[29:58] everything.
[29:59] >> No, you got to have brakes. You got to
[30:01] have all that. I have when I ventured
[30:04] out to do this build, it was more
[30:07] keeping my family in mind. You know why
[30:09] I don't want pretty paint? Like cuz I'm
[30:12] in that season of life where my kids are
[30:14] going to f everything up. You know, the
[30:17] Hot Wheels you gave me, my son and
[30:19] daughter will be scratching down the
[30:20] side of the surface of the truck. Like,
[30:22] what's the point of painting it pretty?
[30:24] It's not going to last. And I didn't
[30:26] want to be that dad where my kids 30
[30:28] years from now say, "Screw that truck.
[30:32] Sell it. Dad's dead, but sell it." That
[30:34] I have nothing but bad memories in that
[30:36] thing,
[30:37] >> you know? So, I don't I didn't want to
[30:38] have that.
[30:40] >> So, it's a project somebody else started
[30:42] but didn't finish.
[30:43] >> So, it was a project that was already I
[30:46] want to say it was mechanically all put
[30:49] together. As far as the uh 2014 the
[30:53] GT500 motor, the funny thing is I at the
[30:56] time and his name's Kyle. Um Kyle
[30:59] originally he's the one who originally
[31:02] got the truck in 2018 and I kept barking
[31:05] up his tree and he finally he
[31:06] relinquished the title over to me. I at
[31:09] first was going to throw a Cumins in
[31:10] this thing.
[31:11] >> Oh yeah.
[31:11] >> Yeah.
[31:12] >> You know they're reliable, they're
[31:14] mechanical but
[31:15] >> I think he did the right thing
[31:16] >> once you get a taste of this
[31:18] >> Yeah. this raw modular power.
[31:21] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[31:22] >> And how it's just so snappy. You're
[31:25] like, "This is definitely something I
[31:28] could get used to." And I have four of
[31:30] those Cumins trucks and they're loud
[31:32] diesel smacking tractors, you know? But
[31:35] I have a lot of these old trucks. So,
[31:38] whenever I'm going through one, I always
[31:40] want to do them different. One's got
[31:42] this motor. I don't want that motor in
[31:44] my next truck. I want them all kind of
[31:46] different. If one's got a big single
[31:49] turbo, I want to compound my next one,
[31:51] you know? Like,
[31:52] >> yeah,
[31:53] >> I like them all different,
[31:55] >> but I gotta say Hercules is probably
[31:58] like out of all of them, my wife. This
[32:00] is the one that's not I could never part
[32:02] with this one. It's it's funny when we
[32:05] ventured down this project with Fat
[32:07] Bender Garage and then we started doing
[32:09] a lot of collaborations on Instagram and
[32:12] social media.
[32:13] I was starting to get a lot of recourse
[32:15] from folks asking like why are you not
[32:18] painting this truck? They're so used to
[32:20] seeing
[32:21] >> things come out of Fat Fender Garage
[32:23] like done to the tea. For me, it was
[32:25] just more of keeping the history of the
[32:28] truck alive, like the legacy. I didn't
[32:30] want to wipe out everything. I wanted it
[32:32] to mechanically be sound, mechanically
[32:34] be safe, but I wanted the outside to
[32:37] tell the story of everything. Like even
[32:39] in the back passenger side quarter
[32:41] panel, you can tell where they stuck a
[32:43] skid steer fork through it just to lift
[32:45] it out of the mud to get it out. People
[32:47] are like, "Why wouldn't you hammer and
[32:48] dolly in and weld it?" I'm like, "Cuz
[32:50] that's part of the story." You know, the
[32:52] tailgate, they're like, "Hey, why don't
[32:54] you just get a new tailgate and put that
[32:55] mercury panel in there so that way it's
[32:57] perfectly straight?" I go because this
[32:59] is like a piece of history. I'm like
[33:02] every little chipped piece of paint,
[33:04] every dent tells some sort of story. You
[33:09] saw the chassis wasn't powder coated
[33:12] either.
[33:13] >> Yeah.
[33:14] >> I got a lot of recourse from that, too.
[33:17] Jason and I actually got into a I don't
[33:19] want to say like a Jason likes things
[33:22] very Swiss. He likes things done very
[33:24] nicely. You can tell Jason rolls up with
[33:27] a collared polo shirt. Roman rolls up in
[33:29] a t-shirt. And I actually put pants on.
[33:31] I usually have my jeans. They're cut to
[33:33] shorts. So I look like discombobulated.
[33:36] Jason's very put together. When
[33:38] >> I told him I didn't want to powder coat
[33:40] this thing. He was about to
[33:43] >> just take your chassis and go go finish
[33:45] it yourself kind of thing. But I think
[33:48] he kind of got the sense for what I was
[33:50] going for, man. I really like the
[33:52] rawness of the of the chassis. I like
[33:55] all works for me.
[33:56] >> It It's very artistic to me and I didn't
[33:58] want to hide any of that.
[34:00] >> You really can't go anywhere with this
[34:01] thing.
[34:02] >> Oh man,
[34:04] this is awesome.
[34:14] We probably should have the windows up.
[34:22] >> Are we in two wheel drive now or
[34:23] fourwheel? Oh, you're two wheel. We have
[34:25] to manually This is still manually
[34:27] locking hubs.
[34:29] >> So, if you want, we can throw in.
[34:39] >> See, if you had nice paint, you'd have
[34:41] been like, "Oh we just scratched
[34:43] the truck."
[34:43] >> Well, nice thing is by the end of the
[34:44] day, you wouldn't have nice paint
[34:46] anymore. You'd be all right.
[34:47] >> I'm telling you, man. Every little mark.
[34:50] Like, it's funny. I'll I'll squeeze into
[34:52] parking spots. Like I'll go to a Costco
[34:55] >> and I will squeeze into a parking spot
[34:57] between two of the nicest cars. And I'm
[35:01] not being a jerk or nothing. That's
[35:03] that's the space I'm giving. I'm parked
[35:04] within my lot. Exactly.
[35:06] >> I could give two shits if I came out and
[35:08] somebody ran a shopping cart into my
[35:09] truck. I wouldn't care,
[35:11] >> you know.
[35:13] We're doing it today.
[35:18] >> Well, the chassis really works well.
[35:20] >> Yeah. So, the chassis works good, but
[35:22] it's also got
[35:25] >> Icon Vehicle Dynamics
[35:27] >> active suspension. So, like if you think
[35:29] it's pretty rough, like right now, I had
[35:31] it on like road drive settings. I'm
[35:33] still getting very used to it. We're
[35:35] probably like in mile 800 800 or so on
[35:39] this fresh build.
[35:41] >> So, I'm still myself trying to figure
[35:42] out the tuning of the suspension
[35:45] management. But I mean, you can adjust
[35:48] anything from they call it like your G
[35:51] boost and your corner boost. So you can
[35:54] adjust all that stuff on how it corners.
[35:56] You can adjust
[35:58] everything on the coilovers, which is
[36:00] cool on the fly. So if you feel like
[36:02] it's too stiff, like we can loosen it,
[36:04] too.
[36:04] >> No, it's all right. I don't mind at all.
[36:06] >> I think you're the first one to get this
[36:08] chassis dirty.
[36:11] But yeah, on the spectrum, as far as the
[36:14] suspension goes, it goes from like a
[36:16] zero to like a 12 and you can adjust all
[36:19] four corners individually. So, makes it
[36:22] pretty cool to have that on the fly. I
[36:25] know you mentioned something about that
[36:26] grill guard up front,
[36:28] >> right,
[36:28] >> where it's very Canadian. I think that's
[36:30] for
[36:31] >> they call them grill guards for deer and
[36:35] >> analopee and all kinds of like
[36:37] that,
[36:37] >> right?
[36:40] There you go. There you go. There you
[36:41] go.
[36:42] >> Let's turn it around.
[36:43] >> There you go.
[36:45] >> Nice.
[36:49] >> It's good turning radius, huh? Yeah.
[36:50] >> Not bad.
[36:52] >> Like I would See, I'm like you. I'd much
[36:54] rather just whip it like that.
[36:56] >> Yeah.
[36:57] >> Than to throw this freaking thing in a
[36:58] three-point turn. Because with that
[37:00] sequential shifter, like to do a like
[37:03] switch through and do a reverse lock
[37:05] out, it's a pain in the ass doing a
[37:07] three-point turn.
[37:08] >> Here we go. Water up ahead.
[37:17] >> Well, this is probably the first time in
[37:18] the show we spent more time in the dirt
[37:20] than we have on the road. But, uh,
[37:22] usually when I go off-road, it's
[37:23] accidental. The car just goes off the
[37:25] road. But, this is so much fun, Ron.
[37:28] Thank you, my friend.
[37:28] >> Thanks. Thanks, Jason. Tell me you did a
[37:30] terrific job.
[37:32] >> And uh we hope you like this little
[37:34] something different. We try to mix it up
[37:36] here on the show. And uh we'll see you
[37:38] guys next week with something else.
[37:39] Thanks for watching.
[37:43] That was cool.