When did these Canadian versions of the Ford and Mercury first come out? Ended as a separate line perhaps early 60's?
"Used by Ford for Canadian-built cars in the Canadian market starting in 1948 targeting auto buyers in the lower price range."
I think you are a little wrong in the lower price range idea. The Monarch and Meteor lines were actually a little upscale from the Ford and Mercury lines, the 1st Monarch was built in 1946, and they had a Ford 114 wheelbase as compared to the Mercury with its 118 wheel base, I think the last REAL Monarch was 1959. The Mercury trucks started in 1947. The Meteor cars started in 1949 and I think the last Meteor was around 1960.
Heres the grill in my 49 Meteor And this is out of my 50 parts car Roddin-Shack is right the Meteors were more expensive than the Fords,at least in 49 and 50
i just bought this 3 weeks ago from the original owners.they drove it till 72 and parked it till i got it.26000 miles and it still has the plastic on the seats.this monarch is one of only 1484 made in 57.notice the grill is different from the merc.the bars are horizontial instead of vertical.there is other differences also.i really thought i could grow to love this car and sell my poncho but i really love the pontiac so i'm going to sell this.it is still a really cool car but it's just not me.
The meteor used a Ford body and was one up from a Ford. The Monarch used a Mercury body and was one up from a Mercury. as stated above the Monarch came out in 1946, the meteor in 1949. I'm not sure when, but they eventually both become Mercury models. My dad had a 79 "Mercury Monarch" when I was a kid.
For the 1949 to 51 body styles Monarchs were Canadian versions of the US Mercury and the Meteors were Canadian versions of the "shoebox" Ford. The Canadian versions actually cost slightly more selling on the same Ford/Mercury dealership lots in Canada. They were more popular here in Canada cause they were "Canadian". some info here on Monarchs http://www3.sympatico.ca/guinnessd/dmcmerc/dmcmerc.html Cheers,
Can anyone post more pics of this model or tell me about it? I am in Canada and have never seen this car.
I had a '65 Mercury Meteor Montcalm. Not sure what the Montcalm meant. Not a real pretty car but that was one long ass 2dr. hardtop! The badge on the front quarters was pretty cool. It had the Mercury dude, below that red/white/blue stripes, below that the Canadian Maple leaf...
They used the Meteor name into the 70's http://www.canadiancar.technomuses.ca/eng/espace_dexposition-showroom/mercury_meteor_montcalm/
Jeez, 3 year old thread and nobody knew this? Meteors got their start, or rather their ancestors, right after WW2 when Mercury dealers sold a low priced Mercury based on the Ford, think 46-48 Ford with a Merc grille. See, not every town in Canada had a Ford dealer, some had Lincoln-Mercury agencies and some had Ford Agencies. So, starting in 1949, Ford of Canada brought out the Meteor, which was a low priced car, a Ford, with slightly different trim and a different name. This way your local Lincoln-Mercury dealer could sell a low priced car. Meteors were priced like Fords. Now, to keep the Ford dealers from getting their panties in a twist, Ford of Canada also brought out the Monarch, which was basically a Mercury in drag that Ford dealers sold. Now the Ford guys had a Medium priced car and the Lincoln-Mercury guys had a low priced one. This is also why you have Mercury trucks from Canada, even heavy duty ones. The whole logic behind Meteor, Monarch, Frontenac and Mercury Trucks was so that Ford of Canada's dealers could basically offer all of Ford's product line to their customers. Lincoln was exempted from this but then again, Lincolns didn't sell in huge numbers in Canada either. As we know, much of Canada is rather sparsely populated and the next town large enough to support a dealer could be quite some distance away, especially 60 years ago.
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