Mercury Meteor

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The Mercury Meteor was a model of the full size class (upper middle class), later of the intermediate class (middle class), built from 1960 to 1963 by the American automobile manufacturer Mercury , which is part of the Ford group .

The Meteor served as the cheapest Mercury model in its segment in its first year. Above him was the Monterey . After that it was the Mercury version of the Ford Fairlane .

Model history

In the 1961 model year, Mercury introduced the Meteor as an affordable entry-level model in its large vehicle series. The equipment lines Meteor 600 and Meteor 800 were available as a two- and four-door sedan, and the 800 also as a postless hardtop coupé and sedan . The models were powered by a 3.65-liter in-line six-cylinder (137 SAE-PS / 101 kW) or a 4.8-liter V8 (177 SAE-PS / 130 kW); A three-speed and a four-speed manual gearbox and the automatic called Merc-O-Matic were available.

Mercury Meteor 1962

From 1962 Meteor designated the Mercury version of the new, medium-sized Ford Fairlane. On offer were the basic Meteor and a Meteor Custom as a coupé and sedan, as well as the Meteor S-33 as a sporty coupé variant. There was a 2.8-liter in-line six-cylinder (102 SAE-PS / 75 kW) or V8 engines of 3.6 liters (147 SAE-PS / 107 kW) and 4.3 liters displacement (166 SAE-PS / 122 kW) is used. In 1963 the model range was expanded to include a five-door station wagon and a convertible.

Quantity (model years):

  • 1961: 53.122
  • 1962: 51,862
  • 1963: 50.170

From model year 1964, the Meteor was discontinued due to low numbers. In fact, it was replaced by the Mercury Comet , which was actually the next smaller model, but in fact the Comet was almost as big as the Meteor, making it superfluous.

Meteor in Canada

Main article: Meteor (Canadian car brand)

Meteor Rideau MJ 1956 from Canada, a '56 Ford with different chrome trim

In Canada, from the summer of 1948 to 1961 and from 1964 to 1976, Mercury dealers sold special Ford models with Mercury trim parts built in the Group's Canadian plants under the Meteor brand in order to be able to occupy price regions below the Mercury. Often these hybrid models were powered by six-cylinder engines. By 1976 628,792 of these Meteor had been sold in Canada.

From 1976 to 1981 there was also a Mercury Meteor in Canada as an entry-level model in the large Mercury series, located below the Mercury Marquis .

swell

  • Gunnell, John (editor): Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975 , Krause Publication, Iola 2002, ISBN 0-87349-461-X , pp. 521-525.
  • Zavitz, Perry: Canadian Cars 1946-1984 . Motorbooks International, Baltimore 1985. ISBN 0-934780-43-9 , pp. 28-48; Number of items mentioned: p. 41.