The CC Effect™ is hard at work. After yesterday’s 1961 Meteor brochure shots, what should appear at the top of the Cohort today? A 1964 Meteor, posted by William Oliver. That’s very auspicious, as the Meteor brand line disappeared in 1962 for two years, because the new mid-sized Mercury Meteor effectively replaced it as a lower-price Mercury, which is of course what the Meteor brand had been: a similar-priced alternative to Fords, due to the thin density of Ford and Mercury dealers in Canada.
But the Mercury Meteor was a flop, on both sides of the border, so when it disappeared after 1963, dealers put pressure on Mercury to bring back the real Meteor for 1964. Canadians could now get a Breezeway-style (non opening rear window) Meteor for the price of a big Ford. Everyone was happy, once again, as long as you were happy with a Ford interior too.
Since William wasn’t able to get a shot of the interior, here’s one from the web. And it makes me wonder if it’s not the same car, with different wheel color and hub caps?
There was even a convertible, which makes it easy to see the Ford interior in these, which was of course cheaper to produce.
Here’s a parting shot of the featured ’64. And I’ve got a parting shot for you too, a 1965 Meteor.
Here’s a 1965 Meteor, showing off its Ford wheel covers to go along with the Ford interior.
Here’s a ’66. It’s the same basic formula that would be used until the end of the Meteor in 1981. The 240 six was the base engine, and not uncommon, in thrifty Canada.
One of these days we need to do a comprehensive post on all of these cars, with their wonderful trim-level names: Rideau, Montcalm, Niagara and my favorite, LeMoyne.
“In 1965, the Meteor became a Ford with a Mercury-style front end. What a love child.”
No, the 1965 was a true Mercury body, a formula
that would ensure to the last true Meteor in 1976.
Oops; bad info. Text amended now.
Yeah, the Meteor in 1978 was demoted to a sub-series of the Marquis.
http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/May%202021/1978%20Mercury%20Marquis%20-%20Canada/slides/1978%20Mercury%20Marquis%20Brochure%20%28Cdn%29%2016.html
http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/May%202021/1978%20Mercury%20Marquis%20-%20Canada/slides/1978%20Mercury%20Marquis%20Brochure%20%28Cdn%29%20%2012-13.html
OUCH! A car that reached meteoric heights and then was lost in a black hole. (Sniff, sniff!). It went the way of mercurochrome. Sorry, but isn’t today “International Bad Pun Day?”
Too bad about using the Ford dashboard. The Mercury dash used integrated AC vents while the Ford dash still hung them below until 1965. Considering the rate at which Canadians probably ordered factory AC, few people probably cared. Makes me wonder why I even mentioned it.
My family’s first car with AC was Dad’s 1979 Impala. It was an $800 option, too, almost 10% of the price of the car. That’s like $2900 today.
That, the 350, F-41, split bench seat, defogger and radio were the only other options. Dad was no spendthrift, except for the three packs of cigarettes he smoked every day until they killed him.
Looks like they gave up the stars and switched to an Edselish theme. Too bad; the horizontal star was the Meteor icon and formed the center of Meteor styling in the ’50s.
Ford never did figure out branding.
I didn’t know the Meteor was available in Canada through 1981; I did an image search to see what a Panther-era Meteor looked like, but all I can find was a pic of a 1980 Chevy Malibu that was hit by an actual meteor.
From 1977-’81 it was known as the “Marquis Meteor” and was just a low trim Marquis with no styling differences.
The Meteor returned in spirit midway through the ’63 model year. Dealer pressure resulted in the “Mercury 400” which sat in the Meteor’s old price range.
Meteor moved from a marque to a model name in the early 1970s. Something like 1972-1974 on it was a Mercury Meteor rather than a Meteor something. Rare to see one from that period.
The 1968 brochure was titled “Meteor by Mercury” and then in 1970 it became “Mercury Meteor”. Before ’68, it was always treated as a separate marque. The Rideau 500 and Montcalm model names survived through 1976.
Whether U.S. or Canadian, Mercury marketing was a scrambled mess dependent upon what role the current management decided needed to be filled: dolled-up Ford or cut-rate Lincoln. Or, just an alternate choice for no particular good reason.
Were the misc. trim pcs., grilles, taillights, etc. used to produce the different models produced in Canada?
Maybe as a way to throw the Canadian suppliers a bone to help with local content?
There were, of course, numerous Canadian assembly plants, and Ford’s Windsor engine plant, but how much of these cars were actually local content back then?
I don’t ever remember hearing or reading anything about Canada’s tier one supplier industry.
Maybe they’re just too modest. 😉
Most, if not all, of the parts of the Canadian cars were produced domestically.
Before the Auto Pact of 1967, Canada had high tariffs on imported cars, which made it expedient to produce in Canada.
Agree except it was the Auto Pact of 1965.
Most parts were made in Canada, if not all, due to high import tariffs prior to the 1967 Auto Pact.
Thanks guys, that’s something I’ve wondered about since learning about the alternative world of Canadian models some years ago.
I know in northern Ohio in the ’70’s it was common to see cars with assembled in Canada stickers, as a result of the trade agreement.
Both my ’73 Lemans (Oshawa) and ’77 F-100 were Canadian built.
I got my first car while I was in high school. It was a ’64 Mercury Monterey with the Breezeway window. I had it all through high school and college and finally sold it to my neighbor after I graduated and was moving to another state for my new job. I needed something more dependable and that didn’t burn oil so bad that one of the spark plugs would get fouled enough to not fire. I loved that car!
These were common in Quebec when I was a little kid. My friend’s mom had one and my uncle also.
My uncle was in the RCAF and his 1963 Meteor was shipped to Germany for family use. It was a 240 six and three on the tree. He then took it on the autobahn and drove it as fast as it would go as long as it would go-and he blew up the engine. My aunt was so mad she came back to Canada, leaving her husband. Granny put an end to that and loaded her back on the RCAF Northstar to Lahr, Germany.
He got another uncle, his brother-in-law and also RCAF, ship him a used engine on a military flight, as no motors were available in Germany, obviously.
The same uncle, many years later, used an RCAF Buffalo aircraft to deliver an aircraft engine to a grass strip on one of the Gulf Islands, between BC’s mainland and Vancouver Island. It was for my brother in law’s Cessna 172 and completely at the expense of the taxpayer. The Buffalo pilot, in his log book, recorded the landing as a test of an emergency airfield, which in fact it was.
My family took a trip up into Canada in the summer of 1973 and I remember being fascinated by the unique cars there. The 1965 Meteor Montcalm must have sold pretty well because I remember it as the Canadian model we saw most often.
My dad had a 61 and a 67 Meteor. I don’t remember the trim level of the 61 but it had the 223 cu in 6 and 3 spd manual in the blue turquoise colour. The 67 was a Rideau, dark green with that black crinkle top finish. He never liked the crinkle top but he loved the 289 automatic.
Paul, let’s add the optional S33 trim level to the mix. Those were some nice cars, if not very common.
My mom had a ’64 Meteor in dark blue in the mid-1970s in the Toronto area. It was a 2-door sedan model, non-Breezeway. It was powered by a 352 V8, with a 3-on-the-tree, if I recall correctly.
She called it “The Tank” and everyone was amazed by the huge trunk and the fact the rear window never had frost in the winter. Both the rear window and the pointed front fenders and grille were fascinating styling touches to the younger me.
One of my 6th grade teachers was named Leo Coyne. What if he would have had a Mercury LeMoyne? “Hey, it’s Coyne’s LeMoyne!”
An 8th grade teacher had a ’64 Mercury, a 2-door hardtop if I recall correctly (so not a Breezeway).
I like this car and the standard Ford dashboard too…
I went to Canada after the world’s fair in 196? . and don’t remember many of the cars but Canada was very nice, clean and not crowded then, not even the big cities .
-Nate