Nick Semeniuk's 1953 Mercury

1953 Mercury M100 truck owned by Nick Semeniuk of Ontario, Canada. Restyled by Nick, all of the work was performed at home, in his garage. "First time trying anything like this," he told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in March of 2020. "Learned and messed stuff up as I went." Nick had a good group of friends that helped teach and push him, giving him the confidence to cut the truck up. "It's only metal, they said..." Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

The desire for a custom grill started Nick's project. "It snowballed from there," Nick told Kustomrama. He started the build in 2018 by making a grille from a stock 53 truck grille, replacing the middle section with a section from a 1954 Chevrolet grille. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Nick hadn't seen too many different grille treatments on these trucks that he felt suited him. "I wanted to build something very period correct and that could have been built in the late 50’s but I didn’t want to just apply the typical/traditional treatment. I wanted to find my own style and do it my own way." Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Wanting all the pieces to look as they belonged there, Nick had to reshape and extend the leading edge of the hood in order to make it match the shape of the new grille. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

The peak was made by hammering into a leather bag. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Nick reshaped the lower valence and added 1949 Plymouth bumpers. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

The rear bumper is a front 1949 Plymouth bumper that was pie cut and reprofiled to fit the back of the truck. "For taillights, I just knew I didn’t want to use 1950 Mercury car taillights." A friend showed Nick an old article that has used 1947 - 49 Studebaker Champion taillights on a Ford truck, so he found some to try out and loved it. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

"For license plates, I wanted some kind of frame. I had two Plymouth bumperettes. I cut them in half and made boxes between the halves. Front one the top was sectioned to be a little smaller." Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Almost ready for paint. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Nick laying out the scallop design on the front of the truck. Nick's 1929 Ford Model A roadster can be seen next to the truck in the photo. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Once the bodywork was completed, Nick gave the car a beautiful Gold scallop paint job. "Most of the red paint is pretty old, I’ve traced back through as many owners that are still alive and no one knows who painted the red. It’s about 20 years or so. The only red I’ve painted is the tailgate and splash pan area." Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

The bed was dressed up with a vinyl padded tonneau cover that Nick decorated with a padded gold diamond. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Completed in March of 2020, Nick nailed the period-correct 1958 Long Beach, California custom car look with his first build. "The actual work is not perfect," he claims. "I made plenty of mistakes, there are things I would do differently next time, my paint has blemishes. But I’m very happy with the overall look I ended up with, I think all the pieces look natural together, that was the real goal and that’s what was important to me. Now I’m gonna drive wheels off it," he adds. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Nick has no idea about where the exhaust pipes come from. He found them on Kijii and he love them. Photo courtesy of Nick Semeniuk.

Kustomland: The Custom Car Photography of James Potter, 1955-1959 - A unique glimpse into the Sothern California custom car scene of the late 1950s. A book loaded with inspiration and good ideas. Click here to check availability on Amazon.com.

Featured Story - Custom Truck

1953 Mercury M100 truck owned and restyled by Nick Semeniuk of Courtice, Ontario, Canada. Nick bought the truck in the fall of 2013. It was a mess back then. Not safe, so he began the build by taking the box off and rebuilding the entire rear of the truck from scratch. The following winter he re-wired the whole truck and redid the interior. Next winter he rebuilt the automatic transmission himself.

It's only metal, they said...

In the fall of 2018, Nick decided to start customizing the truck. "First time trying anything like this," he told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in March of 2020. "Learned and messed stuff up as I went." Nick had a good group of friends that helped teach and push him, giving him the confidence to cut the truck up. "It's only metal, they said..."

Late 1950s inspiration

The door handles were already shaved when Nick bought the truck, and a desire for a custom grill started the restyling project. "It snowballed from there," Nick told Kustomrama. "I wanted to build something very period correct and that could have been built in the late 50’s but I didn’t want to just apply the typical/traditional treatment. I wanted to find my own style and do it my own way."

Custom grille

Nick started the build by making a grille from a stock 53 truck grille, replacing the middle section with a section from a 1954 Chevrolet grille. Wanting all the pieces to look as they belonged there, Nick had to reshape and extend the leading edge of the hood in order to make it match the shape of the new grille. The modified hood was shaved for chrome before Nick reshaped the lower valence and added 1949 Plymouth bumpers. "The front is made from a rear Plymouth bumper in 3 pieces, the rear bumper is a front Plymouth bumper that was pie cut and reprofiled to fit the back of the truck." The splash pans and door handles were handmade before Nick started altering the rear end of the truck.

Scallop paint job

"For taillights, I just knew I didn’t want to use 1950 Mercury car taillights." A friend showed Nick an old article that has used 1947 Studebaker - 49 Studebaker Champion taillights on a Ford truck, so he found some to try out and loved it. "For license plates, I wanted some kind of frame. I had two Plymouth bumperettes. I cut them in half and made boxes between the halves. Front one the top was sectioned to be a little smaller." The bed was dressed up with a vinyl padded tonneau cover that Nick decorated with a padded gold diamond. Once the bodywork was completed, Nick gave the car a beautiful Gold scallop paint job. "Most of the red paint is pretty old, I’ve traced back through as many owners that are still alive and no one knows who painted the red. It’s about 20 years or so. The only red I’ve painted is the tailgate and splash pan area." Completing the build in March of 2020, the truck was dressed up with dual dummy spotlights, 1955 Mercury hubcaps, and wide whitewall tires. The dummy spotlights were in a box full of stuff that came with the truck.

The Long Beach 1958 look

Nick nailed the period-correct 1958 Long Beach, California custom car look with his first build. "The actual work is not perfect," he claimed. "I made plenty of mistakes, there are things I would do differently next time, my paint has blemishes. But I’m very happy with the overall look I ended up with, I think all the pieces look natural together, that was the real goal and that’s what was important to me. Now I’m gonna drive wheels off it," he added.

Nick's Custom Parts List

• Grille Bar: 1954 Chevrolet | Other cars using 1954 Chevrolet grille bars | Check availability on eBay
• Bumpers: 1949 Plymouth | Other cars using 1949 Plymouth bumpers | Check availability on eBay
• Taillights: 1947-49 Studebaker Champion | Other cars using 1947-49 Studebaker Champion taillighs | Check availability on eBay
• Hubcaps: 1955 Mercury | Other cars using 1955 Mercury hubcaps | Check availability on eBay