Chad’s opinion on the “Tonka” themed truck is honest but completely wrong. THIS is the truck you should be buying today on Black Friday. Why? The workmanship is super well done and we can guarantee that you’ll have the only one at the cruise night. How can we say that? Because when’s the last time you saw the body of a 1961 Ford F100 body lowered down over top of a complete Mercedes 300D drivetrain? That’s right. When you look at this truck and the photos from the eBay ad you’ll see what they did. The engine and stuff was not swapped into the truck. Instead, the truck was swapped over the engine and drivetrain. It was done so professionally and with some serious talent as well. Don’t get us wrong, this is a freak to the highest order, but it is a well constructed one at that. There’s a bunch of metalwork that went into making this whole situation look right and it is done about as seamlessly as it could have been done. The photos tell the tale.
The natural question that arises though is, “Why?!” Of all the stuff to swap the iconic unibody truck skin over, why a flipping diesel Mercedes? The ride is probably sweet, the fuel economy is probably stellar, but the performance cannot be anything more than tepid, right? We dig the stance and the look. The Mercedes wheels are awesome looking all tucked up into the wheel wells to boot, but is it too wrong an engine and drivetrain for the rest of the thing? Hey at least the engine has a turbo so that means there is some slim hope of wrenching at least a little more power out of it, right? No? Someone with Mercedes experience can fill us in there.
BangShifty or just too weird?
TOO COOL OR TOO WEIRD? THIS 1961 FORD IS UNLIKE ANY OTHERS WE HAVE SEEN IN SWAPSVILLE –
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE EBAY AD FOR THIS WEIRDLY AWESOME 1961 FORD F100 TURBO DIESEL TRUCK
Power and performance isn’t everything!
A least there isn’t a stinking LS under the hood. This is a really good idea – swap body and chassis – I invite suggestions from BS freaks for what they’d swap with what
My thoughts exactly. At least it doesn’t have anything chevy in it. Christ, a Yugo powertrain would be more desireable than another boring chevy. I’d love to have this thing…
Hmmmn … lets see now .
Drives like a Mercedes …. Looks and functions like a pickup … with none of the negative stigma attached to Mercedes Benz ownership [ I know .. I own one ]… then factor in the very cool stance and …
…..Damn ! I mean really ! What not to love about this ?
And heck … if down the road the owner decided he does need a boost in power ? AMG still offers the period correct V8 and kit to replace the diesel . But really … why ?
Freaking brilliant as is if you ask me . And like others are saying… no goram Bow Tie under the hood !!!!
Heck … if I were in the market … 😉
Good looking truck, however I would have put in a late model Ford driveline from a Crown Victoria.
I kinda like it, although the hybrid Mercedes/Ford badge is not cool. As for these Mercedes diesels, they can be made to run hard. Check out Black Smoke Racing, a drift team from Scandinavia. They run a Mercedes wagon with a diesel I5 that has a big Holset turbo feeding into an Eaton M60 supercharger with a helping of nitrous on top.
The only real gripe I would have is why didn’t the dress up the engine compartment some??
Chrome the valve and timing belt covers.
Braided hoses and lines
Match painted the inner fenders.
And that MB steering wheel just does not fit the look.
Otherwise it’s 100% cool.
Absolutely awesome. A great chocolate / peanut butter scenario. I’ve owned three different iterations of this drivetrain, two 300SD’s and one 300D and I can assure you that when this engine is properly tuned it has sufficient grunt to run with modern traffic all day long. The muted clatter of the Mercedes OM617 turbodiesel is a cherished sound to me, and I know instantly the health of these engines after a moment of listening. Someone got a great mash-up. Well bought.