Here's another quirky Canadian/American hybrid...a 1949 Mercury half-ton pickup truck that was parked in front of the library as I was passing by one day.

Mercury trucks were made in Canada from the mid-1940s to the early-mid '70s, and they weren't sold in the U.S. It's basically an American Ford F-150 with Mercury-like trimmings.

As you can see, the gentleman who owns this truck still uses it as a working rig...witness the junk in the back.

And as you can surely see, this old fellow's pretty clapped out...there's a big wad of red sticky tape along the bottom of the front fender, for pity's sake! Goodness knows what that's holding together! Dull, rusty hubcaps. Scarred, pitted chrome. Faded old paintwork. The old glass windshield is slowly de-laminating. And I think it's absolutely beautiful. This is no fancy show pony.

It's a tribute to the men and women who built this truck and to it's succession of hard-working but caring owners that it's still on the road and doing its job 70-plus years on.

Still...somehow I doubt that James Dean would have looked nearly as cool in "Rebel Without A Cause" if this had been the '49 Mercury that he drove in that movie...that sleek, chopped coupe fit him a lot better!

A Crossfolf Camera Production...enjoy!
- 'Gus