Fewer Than 10 Ever Built: The $200,000 "Patina" Sleeper Mercury M250 | Jay Leno’s Garage

[00:00] Here

[00:03] we go. Water up ahead.

[00:13] >> You really can go anywhere with this

[00:15] thing.

[00:15] >> Oh man,

[00:17] this is awesome. I wanted it to

[00:19] mechanically be sound, mechanically be

[00:22] safe but

[00:23] >> I wanted the outside to tell the story

[00:25] of everything. Like even in the back

[00:26] passenger side quarter panel, you can

[00:29] tell where they stuck a skid steer fork

[00:31] through it just to lift it out of the

[00:33] mud to get it out. People are like, "Why

[00:34] would you hammer and dolly in and weld

[00:37] it?" I'm like, "Cuz that's part of the

[00:38] story."

[00:45] >> We probably should have had the windows

[00:46] up.

[00:47] >> Welcome to the episode of Jay Lo's

[00:49] Garage. As you may have figured out, we

[00:50] have eclectic tastes here at the show.

[00:52] You never know what it's going to be.

[00:54] this particular vehicle, 1966

[00:56] Canadianbuilt Mercury M250 truck. Now,

[01:00] if you're surprised that Mercury made a

[01:02] truck, well, they didn't make one in the

[01:04] United States. This is Canadian market

[01:06] only, apparently. The Mercury name

[01:08] plate. Why it was put on trucks up

[01:09] there, I don't know. Maybe we'll find

[01:11] out. You know, this is what I like. I

[01:13] like something that looks like a truck,

[01:15] does the work of a truck. It's not

[01:17] babyed. It doesn't look like something

[01:19] you're just going to park somewhere and

[01:20] and drive on dry days and never go on

[01:23] the stuff. This still looks like an

[01:25] extremely capable vehicle, but heavily

[01:27] modified cuz I look at this go Mercury 2

[01:30] supercharged. What? 196. Well, no, he

[01:33] made that badge, but it but it looks it

[01:35] looks correct. It looks period. The

[01:36] chassis we will discuss and you will see

[01:39] in a minute. Totally custom. The engine

[01:41] 5.8 L Ford. I guess it's out of the Ford

[01:44] GT500, I think, if I'm not mistaken.

[01:46] Yeah. Uh, so you've got plenty of

[01:48] horsepower. Let Let's meet the man who

[01:51] built this car, Jason Null. Jason, come

[01:53] on in here, my friend. Good. Beautiful

[01:54] job.

[01:55] >> Thank you. Thank you.

[01:56] >> Yeah, I I like the fact that it it's

[01:58] it's true to what its purpose is. It's

[02:01] meant to be something you can go

[02:03] off-road and and just beat the hell out

[02:05] of and it's going to take it without and

[02:08] you can't scratch it. And if somebody

[02:10] keys your car, you just go, "Thanks."

[02:11] You know? Yeah. I mean, yeah. It's it's

[02:14] it's really pretty pretty cool. Uh did

[02:17] did you sort of put the shellac or

[02:19] something over here to keep this rust

[02:20] sort of frozen in time?

[02:23] >> No, I mean it might have, you know, some

[02:25] wax on it, but really it really is going

[02:28] to continue to age, you know, left alone

[02:31] and it'll continue to, you know, they

[02:33] call it patina nowadays, right?

[02:34] Everybody patina. Yeah.

[02:36] >> Everybody likes to use the word patina,

[02:37] throw that around. But um but this is

[02:39] this is the real deal.

[02:40] >> Now, you have a shop. Is it Fat Friended

[02:42] Garage? Is that the name of the shop?

[02:44] >> It's FatFender Garage. Yes. in Gilbert,

[02:46] Arizona.

[02:46] >> Okay. And you do a lot of custom work,

[02:48] restoration, modify, whatever you need,

[02:50] I guess.

[02:51] >> Yeah, I you know, we just started buying

[02:53] some old trucks and fixing them and sold

[02:57] them and then that just kind of turned

[02:59] into

[02:59] >> Oh, okay.

[03:01] >> much larger.

[03:02] >> So, this was not a customer coming to

[03:04] you with his truck telling you what he

[03:05] wants. You find this, you do the

[03:07] modifications you want, and then you

[03:09] sell it to someone who's looking for

[03:10] that. We we used to that's how we began

[03:12] our business. But now everything's done,

[03:15] you know, with the customer in mind.

[03:17] They they bring their truck to us. And

[03:18] so the owner of this truck uh you know,

[03:21] had some ideas and thoughts and so we

[03:24] collaborated together because he wanted

[03:25] to like uh you know take something that

[03:28] was something he loved so much but make

[03:30] it better and that's what we did for

[03:32] him.

[03:32] >> Now would you prefer to do a restoration

[03:35] or have this sort of patina look as you

[03:39] say? So patina is not for everyone as

[03:41] you know. I guess for me it depends on

[03:44] the customer and what they want in the

[03:46] truck. I love painting and it and they

[03:48] look beautiful when they're done. But

[03:50] like you said in the very beginning they

[03:52] become like questionable whether they're

[03:55] going to drive it or not later because

[03:56] they're like like I don't know. It's so

[03:58] nice. I don't know if I can drive it

[04:00] now. That's what they'll say. And then

[04:01] then then you kind of feel like

[04:03] >> darn it, you know, I want them to drive

[04:05] it. And so, uh, but this was left, you

[04:08] know, um, to where it doesn't matter.

[04:11] >> I think we probably scratched it in our

[04:12] shop, but nobody knows.

[04:14] >> Now, how often do you have the case

[04:15] where an owner I always call it more

[04:19] money than brains club, they don't

[04:21] really know what they want. They have

[04:22] this vision and you go, I said, "No,

[04:25] it's not going to work. That's crazy.

[04:26] That's got to be a tricky situation

[04:28] explaining people. No, you got to be

[04:29] realistic in what you want here. that

[04:32] won't work. You can't turn it into a

[04:34] boat and a car, whatever. I mean, it

[04:36] must just just get crazy because, you

[04:38] know, people watch a lot of these stupid

[04:40] shows on YouTube where in a weekend you

[04:42] bring it on Friday, Monday, it's a full

[04:45] custom, you know, and they're Yeah.

[04:46] Yeah. So, that's got to be frustrating

[04:48] for you as an owner.

[04:50] >> It is hard is because we get a lot of

[04:52] input from owners and and some owners

[04:55] are are easy to work with,

[04:57] >> right?

[04:57] >> And uh it's like show business.

[04:59] >> Yeah, they're easy. And then others are

[05:01] like, like you said, like how am I going

[05:03] how am I going to break this to them?

[05:05] They can't do that.

[05:06] >> And uh and you learn to say no. The more

[05:09] I learn to say no, the better it is for

[05:11] me right?

[05:11] >> And it's not always easy to do that

[05:13] because you want people to have what

[05:14] they want. But we've had plenty of

[05:16] projects come through the shop and we're

[05:18] redoing an interior right now as we

[05:21] speak because he picked the colors out

[05:22] and I was like, "All right, well, we'll

[05:23] just let him pick it, right?"

[05:25] >> And then after he saw it, he's like, "I

[05:26] don't think that looks good." And so I

[05:29] said, "Were you going to let me pick

[05:30] it?" And he goes, "Yeah." So you did.

[05:31] >> Well, I think because just looking at

[05:33] this, I can see you did it right. I

[05:34] mean, number of people I know, for

[05:36] example, get like a mid60s Barracuda. It

[05:40] had a six-cylinder.

[05:41] >> They put a big 440 Chrysler in it. And I

[05:44] look and it still got the the four lug

[05:46] nut wheels with drum brakes as opposed

[05:48] to, oh, I I don't want to upgrade. I

[05:50] couldn't afford the Oh, no. That's now

[05:52] you got a dangerous

[05:53] >> just terrible thing. I mean, this you

[05:56] you built it to do what's intended to

[05:57] do. I mean that looking at this chassis,

[05:59] it's just massively strong, isn't it?

[06:01] >> It is. And this was the first chassis we

[06:03] designed for this era of truck, uh, a

[06:05] crew cab. And of course, we we have

[06:08] options for people, you know, but

[06:09] anytime we get into like a 250, I I say

[06:12] it should be eight lug, you know,

[06:14] because that's what you're used to

[06:15] seeing today. And so we did eight lug

[06:18] Curry axles. And so it really provides

[06:21] that look that to be expected. Have you

[06:23] modified the original chassis a ars and

[06:25] all or or is it a brand new chassis?

[06:28] >> So this is all brand new.

[06:29] >> Okay. So and then you lay this sort of

[06:32] >> patina or ratty ass as you call it body

[06:35] on it.

[06:36] >> Yes. Yes. We

[06:37] >> I love it. I think it's fantastic.

[06:38] >> Well, it has its story, right? That's

[06:40] what's cool about it is it there's a

[06:41] story. If it was all painted, it'd be a

[06:43] different story. And now we get a lot of

[06:46] um uh we call it hate mail online where

[06:49] these guys want to go on I can't believe

[06:51] you didn't fill in the blank left rust

[06:53] didn't paint it you know we and I'm just

[06:55] like this is not our vehicle this is a

[06:58] customer's vehicle we're doing what he

[06:59] asked us to do and so a lot of people

[07:01] forget that but the only thing that is

[07:03] not new is the sheet metal

[07:05] >> right and I guess you save a fortune

[07:07] actually not doing paint and body work

[07:09] don't you I mean the customer does

[07:11] >> fair fair enough

[07:12] >> I mean to me I like the fact that any

[07:14] money that's gone into it has gone into

[07:16] it to make it more durable, stronger,

[07:18] reliable, faster, break better, handle,

[07:21] but whatever, you know. Although, I do

[07:22] like this. The fact I was so perplexed

[07:24] by the super ch I think it's 66. I can't

[07:27] think of maybe in Canada they but it

[07:30] looks like it was built for the car, but

[07:32] this was put on afterwards, right?

[07:33] >> Yeah, it was. Yeah, he the owner made

[07:35] it. It is a supercharged and but he

[07:37] wanted it to look original,

[07:39] >> which fooled both of us.

[07:41] >> Yeah. So, now let's see. I'm watching

[07:43] your face and I'm thinking you didn't

[07:44] like it cuz you

[07:45] >> Well, the owner wanted it so he put it

[07:47] on there that way. It seems like So

[07:49] that's a constant struggle, isn't it?

[07:51] Trying to get

[07:52] >> owner and builder together and something

[07:54] that's going to please everybody.

[07:56] >> Well, and I I worry about our brand.

[07:59] Yeah.

[07:59] >> And if we put something out there, it

[08:01] could is it good for us or, you know, so

[08:03] we have to be really careful. But but

[08:04] this this was a fun project for us.

[08:06] >> Yeah. And you have quite a big shop,

[08:08] right? I mean, it's a

[08:08] >> We do. We have a shop in Arizona. It's

[08:10] about 45,000 square ft, 75 employees.

[08:15] So it's

[08:15] >> okay.

[08:16] >> A lot of babysitting.

[08:17] >> Yeah. Yeah.

[08:18] >> And how long does a project like this

[08:20] take? Because most times when we talk to

[08:22] folks like yourself,

[08:24] >> it's a two or three man shop and it's 18

[08:26] months. I mean, what what does something

[08:29] like this? If I came in with one of

[08:31] these and I wanted it modified

[08:33] similarly, a year, six months. So

[08:36] generally about a year because

[08:37] oftentimes we'll have to order up a

[08:39] chassis,

[08:40] >> right?

[08:40] >> So that's got to get put in production,

[08:42] that's got to get made and and then that

[08:44] once that chassis is done, then we can

[08:46] kind of coordinate a schedule to get

[08:47] that in. But but generally uh you know,

[08:50] we'll try to do some of the waiting like

[08:52] you keep your vehicle, drive it, we'll

[08:54] let's get the chassis ordered and then

[08:55] when the chassis is ready, bring it in.

[08:57] So it can be anywhere from 6 months to

[09:00] two years depending upon what the build

[09:01] is.

[09:02] >> Right. Well, very nice. So now these

[09:04] were here. You didn't put these patina.

[09:08] >> No. Well, and it was originally a blue

[09:09] truck.

[09:10] >> Oh, okay.

[09:10] >> And so it was originally blue. If you

[09:11] look underneath, you can see the blue

[09:12] and then it was painted orange.

[09:14] >> Okay.

[09:15] >> Yeah. Yeah. You can see.

[09:16] >> Okay. So, but you didn't paint it

[09:17] orange.

[09:17] >> No. No. We didn't do any of that.

[09:19] >> So, you haven't really touched the body

[09:20] other than

[09:21] >> this came out of Canada just like you

[09:23] see it.

[09:23] >> Okay.

[09:23] >> And as you walk around it, it gets, you

[09:25] know, as a bed would be expected to be

[09:28] in, you know, Canada, beat up and used.

[09:30] But yeah,

[09:31] >> because Mercury as a name plate, at

[09:32] least in America,

[09:34] >> it was a higherend Ford. It was sort of

[09:36] like uh old and Buick to Chevrolet,

[09:39] right? Ford using that GM model. Like

[09:41] the Cougar was a Mustang. So people had

[09:44] a few more bucks that had electric

[09:46] windows and and more

[09:48] sound deadening and you know, all that

[09:50] kind of stuff. And maybe the Canadians

[09:52] didn't want anything to do with Ford and

[09:55] so this was their way of getting

[09:56] something that was a little special for

[09:58] 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.