If Mercury Made a Ranger?

[Ram50Ron]

I've had a 1996 Mazda B3000 4x4 5sp manual Extended Cab for years now and Love it.
Posted my intoduction about its rough shape when I got it for $500 back then.
I barely go to the Mazda Specific Forum because most everything I'm interested in learning about is on one of the other forums here at TRS.
Back in the day, Canada got pickups labeled as Mercury or Monarch because in part, their dealership networks didn't support carrying all the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Monarch lines.
Canada had tons of Trucks produced as Mercury with corresponding labelling like Ford except instead of F-1 or F-100 they were M-1 M-100 etc with different trim, grill, head/tailight and options.
They are/were GORGEOUS!
I'm thinking about making my Mazda B3000 into a "What If?"
If FoMoCo had continued offering Trucks under their Mercury banner, what would the 2nd Gen Ranger platform have looked like?
What would a good name have been, fitting into the Mercury line of models?
Admins can move this to whatever forum they think it belongs in, but I'm hoping it generates some thought, research by others not familiar with Mercury Trucks, and discussion. I can use members opinions to help my decisions on moving ahead with maybe making a "Tribute" Mercury Model of our Rangers/B-Series.
Ram50Ron

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Compare the 96-01 Explorer and Mountaineer.

More plastic/trim different colors and more $$

 

[Ram50Ron]

Compare the 96-01 Explorer and Mountaineer.

More plastic/trim different colors and more $$

I did start looking at Mountaineer, Mariner, even Grand Marques models to see their grill/hood/headlight/tailights compared to Ford equivalents for syling ideas.
Thanks!
Ram50Ron

 

[racsan]

Ive seen one mercury 1/2 ton in person, cool truck! yeah as pricey as a ranger got Id hate to see the m.s.r.p. on a “mercury “ version, heck the “mazda” badged rangers seemed quite a bit more.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Look at the mercury trucks of the early sixties. Maybe some good styling ques there. Somewhere i have a pic of the hood ornament, its pretty cool looking.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Just an example... but grill swaps from early trucks/Broncos have been done. Maybe go full retro with the grill.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

A waterfall style grille and a fancier trim/electronics

 

[Ram50Ron]

Look at the mercury trucks of the early sixties. Maybe some good styling ques there. Somewhere i have a pic of the hood ornament, its pretty cool looking.

Ebay has some cool Mercury hood ornaments from back when hood ornaments were just that COOL! But even googling images has given me limited versions so far. If you can find that pic I'd appreciate seeing it!
Ram50Ron

 

[19Walt93]

Know anybody with a 95-01 Mountaineer? If you park beside one you may be able to figure out if the hood, fenders, and grill would swap onto your truck. I've seen 91-94 Explorer noses on 89-92 Rangers that look like they were bolt ons. 58 Edsel noses fit on 57-8 Rancheros and look cool too.

 

[racsan]

Id like to scale down a 76-77 front grille for my ranger, the nose of mine is the only thing that doesnt look “70’s-ish”.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Look at the mercury trucks of the early sixties. Maybe some good styling ques there. Somewhere i have a pic of the hood ornament, its pretty cool looking.

You mean, like this?

Sure, it's the whole truck, but so what....

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Know anybody with a 95-01 Mountaineer? If you park beside one you may be able to figure out if the hood, fenders, and grill would swap onto your truck. I've seen 91-94 Explorer noses on 89-92 Rangers that look like they were bolt ons. 58 Edsel noses fit on 57-8 Rancheros and look cool too.

Rumour has it that a Gen1 Explorer is wider than a Gen2 Ranger by 3 to 6 inches. I've no idea where that width is (mirrors?), but Explorer hood and grille may not fit a Ranger, if that's the case.

 

[Snoranger]

Rumour has it that a Gen1 Explorer is wider than a Gen2 Ranger by 3 to 6 inches. I've no idea where that width is (mirrors?), but Explorer hood and grille may not fit a Ranger, if that's the case.

I took the cowl hood off my ‘89 Ranger and bolted it onto my ‘94 Explorer... they’re the same. Any width difference would be in the flare of the fenders.

 

[scotts90ranger]

On the first gen Explorers the grille, headlights and hood are the same but the fenders and the rest of the body are different... there's people that have swapped the second gen Explorer front end onto Rangers and they seem to split the fenders at the wheel wells to blend... yes all of the extra width in the Explorers is the door flare and whatever they did with the windshield and such...

 

[Ranger850]

There is a guy in town, I see all the time, has a V8 Ranger with a Mercury "nose". He just looped off about 3 inches of the front fender and welded on the Mercury front to the fenders, swapped all the Mercury stuff over to the Ranger. Last I talked to him, everything was working great and it was still primer gray.
Fount this pic on the web, pretty close to what I'm talking about