If you've ever heard the phrase, you already know what this feature is going to focus on. As I see it, a "Needle in a Haystack" refers to finding something that seems impossible because it's either buried in a whole mess of other things or it Is extremely rare. In this case, it seems to be both. Kelyn Garcia of Sylmar, California found this 1963 Mercury M100 Unibody Long Bed hiding up in Quebec, Canada. This truck comes from a time when pickups were really used and abused so finding it in a workable condition is an amazing feat on its own. Kelyn found the truck, bought it for just $2,500 and had it shipped here with the complete intention of building a cool custom cruiser out of it. He is partof a truck club called Negative Camber. He knew when his fellow club members saw this new project, most of them would be absolutely drooling over it. They are widely known for building the coolest, craziest and most creative custom vehicles on the planet. Kelyn had to do something that would stand out amongst the sea of magazine cover-worthy creations.
The first step in making any old pickup cooler is lowering it closer to the road. Kelyn didn't just lower it though. This Mercury is hammered to the pavement using Conitech Air Bags, 1/2-inch valves to control height adjustment, Western Chassis Spindles, and IF Customs 2-Link in the rear, Mustang II Front Suspension and a 1-inch body-drop to lay out it completely when the air bags are emptied. As part of the Mustang II Kit, the front also received Disc Brakes, Rack and Pinion and Power Steering as well. The truck now rolls on 18x8 front, 18x10 rear Artillery custom wheels made by The Wheel Smith and Diamond Back 245/60/18 Tires with 2.5-inch Whitewall.
The exterior has remained unshaven. That is to say none of the factory items have been removed and have had their holes patched up. Kelyn wanted to keep the character of the truck so he cleaned it up and made a few additions. For a living, Kelyn builds some amazing creations out of wood with his company K and S Woodworks. So this truck was a perfect place for him to use his skill-set. The wood floor, bed rails and storage truck inside the bed are all custom-made, stained and very cool for this particular style of ride. The trunk, just like his back window, pays homage to his NC Truck Club as well as a sticker to pay respects to a founder of their club and great supporter of our website, Courtney "Tito" Halowell.
On the inside, he turned to fellow club member and metal artist Jamey Jordan at Hand Made Seat Co. to build a bench seat worthy of sitting in any amazing creation but this one is all Kelyn's. Jamey also built some custom riveted art for the transmission hump cover and the door panels for this '63 Mercury. The seat cushions were also made by an NC Member, Todd Jubert who owns The Interior Shop in Arizona. In the middle of the cab is a custom made 32-inch shifter with Howling Wolf shift knob. Many areas of the interior received pin striping by Tom McWeeney of Kustoms Inc. and they carried over some of that work on the outside as well.
Kelyn would like to thank to his loving and supportive wife Selene. his parents Jose and Celina. All of his Brothers Fabian, Adan, Noe, and Hans for their support. The helpers/friend Chris, Edgar and B-Fry. He would also like to thank Cary at IF Customs, Jamey Jordan at Hand Made Seat Co., Phil, Barney at Borrachos Clothing, Todd Jubert at The Interior Shop,Chris at The Wheel Smith and Tom at Kustoms Inc. To Courtney Halowell and Rudy Hernandez, thank you for the great times and support, miss you guys.
