Meteor (Canadian car brand)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
meteor
Owner / user Ford Motor Company of Canada

owner Ford Motor Company of Canada
Introductory year 1948
Products Automobiles
Markets Canada
meteor

Meteor was a Canadian car brand. The Ford Motor Company of Canada from Oakville sold vehicles of this brand exclusively in Canada from 1948 to 1961 and from 1963 to 1976.

description

In order to give the Canadian Mercury dealers the opportunity to also offer cheaper models, Ford Canada launched the Meteor brand in the summer of 1948, which was sold through these dealers. These cars were initially Ford versions, which usually had Mercury-specific chrome trim and design elements in the style of the brand. Conversely, the Ford dealers there also sold modified Mercury cars under the Monarch brand from 1946 to 1961 .

Model years 1948–1961

Since the Canadian Ford dealerships had been selling the Mercury-priced Monarch since 1946, the Mercury dealers asked for a cheaper Ford-class car for themselves.

Meteor Rideau Crown Victoria 1956, derived from the Ford Crown Victoria
For comparison: US Ford Crown Victoria 1956

They received this from the summer of 1948 in the form of the meteor. It was a modification of the new Ford of the 1949 model year with a Mercury grill, powered by a 3.9-liter V8 and available as a coupé and sedan in the DeLuxe and Custom equipment levels. In the first year, 23,027 Meteors were sold (accounting for 41% of total Ford Canada production).

As a result, the Meteor was retained up to and including model year 1961, whereby the models were always based on the current Ford cars and differed slightly from them in terms of optics, model graduation, partly also in engine and interior design. The model names were:

  • DeLuxe and Custom (model years 1949–1951)
  • Mainline, Customline and Victoria (1952–1953)
  • Meteor, Niagara (300) (until 1959), Rideau (500) (1954–1961)
  • Montcalm (1958-1961)
Model year Production number annotation
1949 23,027
1950 26,075
1951 23,138
1952 24,246
1953 37,073
1954 25,885
1955 36,643
1956 32,000 about
1957 29,379
1958 26,543
1959 33,000 about
1960 32,000 about
1961 29,919
total 378.463

Model years 1962/63

Mercury Meteor 1963

In these two years there was the Mercury Meteor based on the new Ford Fairlane in the USA , which was also sold in Canada. This eliminated the need to keep the Meteor in its previous form and its production was discontinued.

Model years 1964–1976

The 1964 Meteor is based on the large Mercury model

After the discontinuation of the Mercury Meteor, which was deleted without replacement, Ford Canada again started building its own Meteor, which from now on was based on the American Mercury models of the full size class. Differences to the Mercury models were mostly limited to the grill and chrome parts, the interior and, until 1969, the use of a six-cylinder as the base engine. The models had the following names:

  • Meteor and Custom (1964)
  • Rideau, Rideau 500 and Montcalm (1965–1976)
  • Montego (1967)
  • LeMoyne (1968-1970)
Model year Production number annotation
1964 26,066
1965 37,637
1966 31,500 about
1967 25,896
1968 28,924
1969 20,474
1970 16,249
1971 16,150 New registrations
1972 14,459 New registrations
1973 14,514 New registrations
1974 11,164
1975 12,200 about
1976 4,632
total 255,000 about

Model years 1977–1981

After the 1976 model year, Meteor was given up as an independent brand. For this, from the fall of 1976 to the summer of 1981, Canada’s own Mercury Meteor was sold as a scaled-down version of the Mercury Marquis , to which there was no counterpart in the USA.

literature

  • R. Perry Zavitz: Canadian Cars 1946-1984. Motorbooks International, Baltimore 1985, ISBN 0-934780-43-9 , pp. 28-48.
  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter Meteor (X).
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 1: A – F. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 570. (English)
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 2: G – O. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 1018. (English)

Web links

Commons : Meteor  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter Meteor (X).
  2. ↑ George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 570 and p. 1018. (English)
  3. ^ R. Perry Zavitz: Canadian Cars 1946-1984. Motorbooks International, Baltimore 1985, ISBN 0-934780-43-9 , p. 28.