Today, thanks to the Cohort, we’re going to take a brief look at some north-of-the-border Curbside Classics. I think it’s safe to say that many of us here at CC are enamored of such “alternate universe” U.S. cars as the Valiant Chargers of Australia–and the Canadian Fords that live much closer to home. For many years, Canadian variants of Fords and Mercurys were quite different from their Dearborn cousins, and featured their own unique trim and equipment. Let’s take a closer look at the 1955-56 Meteor, which was better known in the States as the Customline/Fairlane.
For many years, both Meteors (re-trimmed Fords) and Monarchs (badge-engineered Mercurys) were sold in the Great White North. Today’s subject is the Meteor. Pictured above is a 1955 Meteor Rideau Crown Victoria. So similar, yet so different, eh? In place of the chrome “check mark” found on U.S. Fords, Canadian versions got a lightning bolt.
Even plain Meteors got a look all their own, thanks to a vertical-bar grille that featured a chrome star resting inside a prominent ‘V’. Of course, you missed out on the cool chrome lightning bolt trim if you cheaped out, but it seems the owner of this one doesn’t care.
Like its American counterpart, the 1956 Meteor was much the same car as the ’55, save the usual changes in chrome trim, grilles and taillights. Most noticeably, a gigantic chrome mustache had been added to the grille, which retained a chrome star (the Meteor’s meteor, and marque emblem). The star was a LOT bigger than in ’55, extending over the lower hood and spanning nearly the width of the grille.
As in ’55, the swanky Meteor Crown Vic was part of the lineup. Unlike the U.S. version, Meteor Rideaus wore three-tone exteriors. The accent panel above the lightning bolt side trim could be black or white.
image: 59FORD.COM
Some Canadian Meteors came in Mercury colors, like this ’56 Rideau convertible. According to the current owner of this beauty (his blog can be found here), it is one of only 479 built. What a sharp car!
Our featured mid-level Meteor Niagara sports the lightning bolt trim and a white contrasting band–just to add little pizazz to an otherwise simple two-door sedan.
I just love this grille. From the front, even a plain, de-chromed ’56 Meteor looks important. It has what appears to be standard U.S. ’56 Ford parking lights.
It was a treat to see these photos posted to the Cohort Sunday morning by CC regular BigOldChryslers. He took these pictures at the 2012 Watertown Santa Claus parade. Thanks for sharing, BOC!
I went on a family trip to Canada about 1973 or so. I immediately started spotting stuff that I never saw in the US. I recall the Meteor Montcalm and the Rideau 500 from Ford. There were probably others, but these seemed to be the most commonly seen.
These are indeed fascinating. I wonder: did the Canadians get more chrome on the grilles because Canadians liked more chrome, or because the stylists were asked to keep coming up with new variations, which was probably easiest to do by adding more trim. It would not surprise me that the second or third place proposal for a particular trim treatment wound up on the Canadian or export market cars.
The Meteor was due to the limited number of dealers in Canada due to the market size. Not every town had a Ford and a Mercury dealer and the Mercury dealers had a hard time selling the more expensive lines. Starting in the late 40’s they offered the Mercury 114 which was the Ford body shell with a Mercury grille and I think dash. Ford dealers complained that Mercury dealers were stealing low priced sales from them so Ford gave them the Monarch a Mercury body to be sold at Ford dealers. It was for those same reasons that there were Mercury trucks in Canada
I think you may be right that some of the trim details used on these cars may have been a second choice to what was offered on the US cars and the vehicles that were sold at their own dealers. I know I’ve read that in the Australian market instead of them getting the new car in a few years they slapped Meteor grilles and trim to make distinguish them from the previous model year.
Mercury 114 brochure.
More Mercury 114 brochure.
That Mercury guy is super cool. Hardhat with wings, and a friendly face. Looks like he’s wearing shades, too.
Yes I saw that third photo and immediately thought “so that’s where they got the star from!”. The 1958 Ford out here got that exact grille, sometimes known as the ‘star model’. The 1955-56 Ford ran through 57 & 58 out here with minor facelifts, eg to the chrome side flashes.
All our ‘North American’ imports of the era (including GM & Chrysler) came from Canada due to less import duty because it was another Commonwealth country.
The reason the Ford products were imported from Canada is because Ford Canada was a separate company and the negotiated the rights to sell cars under the Ford name in other countries too.
It was not a subsidiary or a branch plant of Ford Motor Company – rather, it was a separate organization and had its own distinct group of shareholders. The Company had gained all Ford patent rights and selling privileges to all parts of the British Empire, except Great Britain and Ireland. It eventually established and managed the following subsidiaries:
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa
Ford India Private Limited
Ford Motor Company of Australia
Ford Motor Company of New Zealand
It was not a subsidiary or a branch plant of Ford Motor Company – rather, it was a separate organization and had its own distinct group of shareholders.
It was, but Ford bought a controlling share of Ford of Canada shortly after WWII. From that point forward, it was effectively run as a subsidiary. The last minority shares were bought by Ford in 2003.
Undoubtedly, Fords were exported to Australia from Canada because of the Commonwealth, which made it more favorable in terms of import duties.
Undoubtedly, Fords were exported to Australia from Canada because of the Commonwealth, which made it more favorable in terms of import duties.
Yes, which is why I suspect that Ford of Canada was given the rights to that market in the first place.
Interesting – it seems that there were some very opportunistic guys with their finger on the pulse back in 1904! No doubt they came along at a time when Henry Ford was looking for capital, if it was a few years later when the company was stronger you’d have to imagine such an outcome would not have happened.
Fascinating. The front end of 1958 Mainline ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_Mainline_Utility.jpg ) appears to be identical to the 1955 Meteor ( http://ensign.ftlcomm.com/carfolder/meteor/meteor55.html).
Waste not, want not… 🙂
These were generally a more expensive, upmarket car from the Ford. Thus more chrome to make them look more expensive. They are very often seen in two tone and even tri-tone colour schemes.
I don’t know about exact pricing but if you compare the trim by comparable models the Meteor didn’t have more chrome than the Ford. If you click on the brochure above or go over to the Canadian section of oldcarbrochure.org you’ll see that the Meteor is referenced as being in “the low price field” and “within reach of anyone who can afford buying a new car”.
I’d love to see some original pricing like model for like model for example Country Sedan Vs Country Sedan. Rideau 500 Crown Victoria vs Farilane 500 Crown Victoria.
I think Meteor was priced car-for-car with Ford. It was considered a low-priced make, not a step up – it was strictly a matter of giving the two dealer bodies a full-line of both low and medium price cars. It was the same situation at GM between Chev and Pontiac. Pontiac in Canada was a low-priced make, not a medium priced car as in the U.S. The added presitge carried over from the U.S. though – for several years in the ’60s, Pontiac was number 1 in Canada – buyers felt they were getting a “better” car for the same price as a Chevy.
I’ve heard of these before but I always wondered were “regular” Fords and Mercuries sold in Canada alongside these? If so, why buy one of these over an equivalent Ford or Mercury?
Yes Meteors were sold along side of higher price regular Mercuries while the Monarchs were sold along side lower price regular Fords.
The Monarch
That’s facinating that Ford Canada would have a more GM like range of makes, than Ford US. So a Monarch was like a Oldsmobile/Buick and a Meteor was like a Pontiac?
I’m not sure, but I don’t think so, it seems they were more of an alternate universe version of the brand they were based on. I would love to see some pricing details, comparable Ford vs Meteor and Mercury vs Monarch. It does seem like in most of the years the Meteor was fitted with the Mercury engine, presumably so the dealer needed to stock less parts.
Maybe one of our Canadian readers can did up some pricing info, I’ve never been able too.
I wasn’t born yet during the heydays of the Meteor and Monarch as well as GM’s Beaumont and Acadian (a nameplate who’ll return as a Pontiac Chevette-badged). ^^;
Sometimes, I ponder if the Ford staff at Dearborn should had checked an eye on the Great White North for a new mid-price division instead of call it Edsel, I wonder if using Meteor or Monarch instead of Edsel would had been more lucky for Ford if it was launched one year earlier as well?
The Canadian Meteor and Monarch really make one wonder why they did Edsel the way they did. Slotting in a mid price model and Ford and Mercury dealers certainly would have been cheaper and avoided have two levels of Edsel with one getting the Ford-Edsel engine and Ford body shell and the other getting the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln engine and Mercury shell.
Check out websites http://1956-ford.com/1956-meteor-niagara-rideau-brochure.html and http://1955-ford.com/1955-meteor-niagara-rideau.html . No company info but lots of info on the cars–models, colors, prices, and production numbers. Cheers . .
Since most towns in Canada could not support both a Ford-Monarch AND a Mercury-Lincoln-Meteor dealership, corporate assured that a low and medium priced car were both sold by either dealership setup. Also, since European cars were selling well there, Canadians wanted distinctively Canadian cars to sell alongside American cars, whereupon the Meteor (low priced) and Monarch (medium priced) were created. These Canadian variations sold for about $50 more than the less tarted out Fords and Mercurys. Since no Ford trucks could be sold from M-L-M dealerships, rebadged Ford trucks were sold as Mercury trucks. All Lincolns were imported from the USA.
Here is a shot of a Mercury-Lincoln-Meteor dealer in the 50’s http://www.flickr.com/photos/50312897@N02/4955330302/ note the fact that the front line is all Meteor and a Mercury truck, likely the dealerships bread and butter.
Grew up in a small town just south of the border. We would see lots of these and other Canadian versions, during visits by our BC neighbors on Canadian Holidays.
I can only comment from the perspective of a 6 year old boy in 1950’s Canada (now there’s a perspective…), but I’m surprised to hear Meteors referred to as a step up from Fords. My sense at the time was that they were a downmarket version! It may have had something to do with the ‘star’ trim thing, which seemed a little frumpy next to the more elegant ‘American’ Fords.
Meteors were big sellers though. I remember many TV & radio commercials encouraging a visit to ‘your local Mercury Lincoln Meteor dealer’.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unclegal/3171780056/
That is funny my googling turned up that same photo. Which brings up the other Canadian Ford anomaly the Frontenac, the initial version of the Falcon for Canadian Mercury Meteor dealers.
The other interesting thing is that when the intermediate Meteor showed up the full size Canadian Meteors went on Hiatus. I wonder if that has anything to do with moving the Comet badge to the intermediate lines. Did the Canadian dealers throw a fit since they lost their “low price” line?
They did – for ’63 there was a low-trim “Mercury 400” based on the Monterey, and then in ’64 Meteor returned, based on the Mercury rather than the Ford body, as was the case previously.
The reason for the Frontenac was to give the Meteor-Mercury dealers a compact. The then Ford-Edsel-Monarch dealers were getting the Falcon, of course, but were also expected to get the Edsel Comet. The Comet instead went to Mercury, hence the Frontenac being one-year only.
That makes sense as I’m sure the Canadian Mercury Meteor dealers wouldn’t have been too happy if they weren’t going to get a Compact while the Ford Edsel Monarch dealers were scheduled to get two. Presumably like the Comet the tooling was already done when Ford decided to pull the plug on the Edsels so they just ran with the Frontenac. I’m sort of surprised that they didn’t continue to offer the Frontenac instead of giving them the larger and presumably more expensive Comet. I know in the US the Mercury dealers got the Comet since it the tooling for it was ready to go.
Thanks for filling in some of the gaps in the Canadian Ford branding and marketing.
In 1960 and 1961, “Comet” was a standalone marque. It didn’t become a Mercury until 1962. 1961 and 1962 Comets are not Mercurys.
The other question that photo brings to my mind is did the Monarch go away for 1958 with the introduction of the Edsel and since it was a flop it came back for 1959?
Indeed it did – there was no ’58 Monarch. When it returned for ’59, it was called “Monarch II” for the first year. The Ford-Monarch dealers became Ford-Edsel dealers and then Ford-Edsel-Monarch dealers.
The Monarch was last made in 1961, then it ceased production. This was also the last year for the Ford based Meteor. It returned in 1964 now based on the Mercury (and the 1964 Meteor was virtually identical), essentially being a Mercury 400 (which was a bargin priced Mercury). From then on there were the same minpr trim changes as before when based on the Ford, but it was always based on the Merc body.The Meteor lasted unitl 1976. It remained as model for Mercury until 1981.
There was also the 1974 Bobcat, for Mercury dealers in Canada.
THERE WERE MANY SMALL TOWNS IN CANADA THAT WERE TOO SMALL FOR BOTH A FORD-MONARCH AND MERCURY-LINCOLN-METEOR DEALER SO PEOPLE COULD BUY THE LOW PRICED FORD OR METEOR AND MEDIUM PRICED MERCURY OR MONARCH IN EITHER DESIGNATED DEALERSHIP. MERCURY TRUCKS WERE SOLD BY MLM DEALERSHIPS WHILE FORD TRUCKS WERE SOLD ONLY IN FORD DEALERSHIPS. LINCOLNS WERE ALL IMPORTED FROM THE USA AND SOLD ONLY IN MLM DEALERSHIPS. THE PRICE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FORDS AND METEORS WAS SMALL, LIKE ABOUT $50 -150 DEPENDING ON MODEL AS WITH THE MERCURY V/S MONARCH. ALL BASE METEORS WERE EQUIPPED WITH Y-BLOCK V-8’S WHILE FORDS CAME WITH 6 CYLINDERS IN THE BASE FORM. FROM ABOUT JANUARY 1956, METEORS COULD BE HAD WITH A 6. I’M IN NEW JERSEY AND HAVE A ’56 RIDEAU SEDAN AND CONSIDER MYSELF VERY LUCKY TO HAVE IT AS THERE ARE VERY FEW METEORS IN THE US.
Thanks; but just a friendly suggestion: don’t write in all-caps, It actually is much harder to read, and tends to turn folks off.
Hello There:
I need some help, I bought a Meteor long time ago and my title states that the car its ford 1957 because according to the States vin number the second digit its the year of the car, I know the car its NOT 57, can you help me and guide me, where can I find VIN number information so I can show the DMV that my car its not 57 this is my vin number 270BK-191XXX.
Thank you in advance.
Ben Gutz
562-824-0014
it s a canadian car… that probably why it s not working this way …
owning my self a 1955 meteor niagara i could tell you my vin number also begin with 270bk
I have a fairly well-publicised ’56 Meteor Rideau. Do you need any tech info on these cars?
Benjamin Gutz this number 270bk56-191xxx 2= meteor serie 70b= meteor niagara 2dr sedan 115.5″ wheel base 223ci L6 1bbl 137hp production 819 unites this way K=Oakville assembly plant (left hand drive) 56= 1956 model year
Does anybody know WHY Detroit did this? What was supposed to be the point of different trim, names, etc, for the Canadian market? What were they trying to accomplish?
If there were some consistent theme to the Canadian versions — shiner/ frumpier, lower/taller, longer/shorter, whatever, because “that’s how Canadians like their cars” — then going to the trouble of a separate edition might be understandable. But if there’s any such pattern, I’ve never been able to spot it. In fact, the only pattern I can see is the use of names derived from Canadian history (Acadian, Montcalm) and/or which sound French and therefore “classy” (Rideau, Parisienne).
But does a Pontiac Parisienne actually look or behave any more “French” or “European” than a Pontiac Bonneville? Of course not. So why did ALL the Big Three continue this strange practice for so many years? To me it just seems like extra work for no good reason. It’s not like McDonald’s sends Canada different hamburgers. The Coke recipe is identical on both sides of the 49th Parallel.
I can, however, see some point in the blatant appeal to Canadian nationalism (or “patriotism” as it would have been called back then) found in the maple-leaf insignias that were sprinkled all over the 1960 Frontenac. This, at least, has some sort of comprehensible marketing strategy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d70w7/4830838650/
It was all about pricing and the fact that the Canadian market favored low price cars. It all started because Mercury dealers weren’t doing that well, they wanted a car with greater market appeal and volume. Thus the Mercury 114 shown above a Ford body with Merury-ish styling cues to give them something that was in the low price field but still fit in with the Mercury line. That evolved into the separate brand. GM then saw the success and moved Pontiac into the low priced field and to keep cost down they became badge engineered Chevies. So depending on where you lived your low price options might have been a Meteor or a Pontiac, while a couple towns over it could have been a Ford or Chevy. Because they were essentially one of the common low price cars they needed some way to diferentiate them in the areas where they might have had both brands available. As to choosing the names it was certainly done to both appeal to Canadian’s nationalism with the Canada’s own car advertising as well as distinguish them from the US versions such one cross the boarder either direction.
I think the Canada-US auto pact also played a role in differing models.
The auto-pact was what largely led to the end of the practice of those Canada only brands and models as cars could now be affordably imported from the US since it eliminated the duty. The few hold outs were the Parisienne name since it was a best seller and the Meteor becoming a model of Mercury, again because it was such a good seller.
I don’t think GM copied Ford on this one, Pontiac was a low priced car in Canada around the same time. I am pretty sure off the top of my head the post war (1946+) Pontiacs in Canada were unique to that market.
Also Pontiac’s weren’t badge engineered, but they used Chevrolet chassis and drivetrains. The bodies were basically identical to the American counterparts, just shrunk slightly to fit the Chevy chassis. Trim and interiors were more closely related to the American Pontiacs, model names were unique. So, a 1962 Pontiac in Canada looked basically identical to an American one, but it was maybe 7/8’s size, narrow track, and had a Chevy engine. Also, this meant the 61-64 Canadian Pontiacs still used the X-frame, while the American car had abondoned this for a perimeter style frame.
By the seventies they were a hodge podge of American and Canadian models with Chevy and Pontiac engines. But even in the lates 70’s there were Canadian Pontiac Catalina’s sold with Chevy 305’s, while American cars got 301’s.
While the full sizers weren’t badge engineered the intermediates, Beaumont, and compact, Acadian were.
Yes, the Beaumont and Acadian defintely were badge engineered. Don’t forget other Canadian badge engineered Pontiacs, the Astre (for 1973-74) and the later Acadian (Chevette based). There was also the Pontiac Tempest from the late 80’s, which was a badge engineered Corsica.
I believe that the Chevrolet-based Canadian Pontiacs began in the late 1930s, so they pre-date the Meteor.
“It was all about pricing and the fact that the Canadian market favored low price cars.”
Interesting stuff, Eric, tanx for info. If Canadian car-buyers were more price-driven (cheap bastids!), this whole business of Canada-only models now makes more sense to me.
Tanx also to alfasaab99 for McDonald’s info. I never knew Canada got smaller burgers. Because of the metric system, maybe? You know, like the whole “Royale with Cheese” thing?
I guess I should have used some other example, like “Bic doesn’t send Canada different ballpoints and disposable razors.”
At least I don’t THINK they do 🙂
they also have canadian designation name cause they were product in canada for canadian market , the name seem to be chose from well know canadian name , for sale purpose and marketing competition in the begining of it by mercury , some as niagara ,rideau frontenac even pontiac et laurentian… are area here , other like acadian are nick name of people living in the acadie area ,later other french and canadian sound like name were add as beaumont parisienne… name it’s all for marketing… that why , helping them to rise sale again competition targeting canadian buyer with names they already know again other not familiar to them. canadian nationalist or patriotist got nothing to do with that ,those compagny were rules and own by american
About the MickeyD’s hamburger thing, Canada actually does get different hamburgers than the USA technically, as long size/portion differences can be used as a mean to express difference. In short, Canuck MickeyD’s hamburgers are smaller and therefore different. It’s all about the perceived preferences of a market. Also, Coca-Cola has a different recipie (HFCS in America, sugar almost everywhere else).
For Coca-Cola, American Coke gets HFCS as the main sweetener while Canada and almost every other country in the world uses sugar as the main sweetener. This is the conclusion of your daily (multinational food) history lesson, brought to you by your one and only Alfasaab99.
Around here you can buy Coke imported from Mexico with good old Sugar and less carbonation that the “normal” US made Coke.
I know, it’s readily available where I live, I love it, but it’s problem is regional avaliability.
I bet they don’t sell a McOz over there?
What the heck is a “McOz”?
It is a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, onion, Cheddar cheese, ketchup, mustard and and the key ingredient beetroot. Had to do my homework on that one, and actually found out they dropped it back in 2008 and reintroduced it last year.
It is a reflection of the traditional “hamburger with the lot” you get in independent fast food/takeaway/fish & chip shops, except “the lot” also includes bacon and egg too.
The Pontiac Parisienne was, in fact, a Chevrolet with Pontiac sheet metal. All engines and transmissions were from the Chevy parts bin. The cars with the real visual difference were the “Plodges” – Plymouths with Dodge front clips with model names (top to bottom): Mayfair, Regent, and Crusader. They also made De Sotos for export (Diplomats) which were, like Plodges, Plymouths with De Soto front clips. As far as I know, they were made in the US but all were shipped to other countries. Some of them were also right-hand-drive for Australia, etc.
I love how the actual photo shows people crammed into the car, yet the drawings have people scaled like midgets. The Meteor Rideau looks to be the size of Mack truck in comparson to the 2 women.
My parents traded their Canadian 54 Ford Customline(with a flathead v8) for a 57 Meteor Rideau four door sedan in black. I loved that car. They did have the sense though to trade that for a 1960 Monarch Lucerne four door. It was two tone metalic beige with a white roof. If I could have one of my parents cars today that would be the one. Sadly, they are very rare. I have only seen one 1960 Monarch in the last 20 years.
That’s another difference, all 1954 Fords and Meteors still had flathead V8’s. The OHV V8’s didn’t come to Canada until 1955.
For Pontiac, at least until the early seventies or so, it was a matter of costs. A Canadian Pontiac was just a Chevrolet chassis and drivetrain with a usually slightly shortened Pontiac body on them. More commonality that way. We never did get the sixties wide-track Pontiac, we got a Chevrolet in drag.
Intermediate Pontiacs were Beaumonts, basically Chevelles with some grille and taillamp changes. Compacts were Acadians, Novas with similar changes. All that started to go away as the Autopact came into effect, though occasionally we’d have the smallest Chevrolet also badged as a Pontiac, like the Chevette-based Acadian and the Vega-based Astre.
Chrysler did similar things, Plymouth dashes in Dodges, for example, though they already seemed to have more commonality amongst their car lines, so that went away more quickly, perhaps, than at GM.
Im not a huge chrome guy BUT, taht convertable up there just pops with the chrome and black lightening bolt. Does anyone know ihow many of these cars where built in coupe form? I would like a coupe in silver with that black and chrome lightening bolt.
More on why the Big Three’s Canadian brands/dealer networks were set up the way they were in the ’50s (some repetition of material already covered):
Due to the much lower population density in many parts of Canada, it was not feasible to have as many dealer networks as in the U.S., or even to ensure that all areas would have good access to any one network. Each of the Big Three boiled things to two networks, and tried to make sure all areas had access to at least one of the two. GM had Chevrolet-Oldsmobile and Pontiac-Buick (in the U.S., these brands all managed their networks independently). FoMoCo had Ford and Lincoln-Mercury (same as in the U.S.). Chrysler had Chrysler-Plymouth and Dodge-DeSoto (prior to 1960 in the U.S., Chrysler, Dodge and DeSoto each had their own networks, and all three sold Plymouths).
Because any given area might have access to only one network, it was important that all networks have both a low-priced car and a middle-priced car available — because the Canadian market was slanted more towards lower priced cars than the U.S., it was especially important that each network have a low-priced car. To accomodate this, Pontiac in Canada was a low-priced brand from the late 1930s onward (based more heavily on Chevrolets than U.S. Pontiacs were; U.S. Pontiacs were not widely sold in Canada), Mercury dealers sold a line of lower-priced badge-engineered Fords, and Dodge-DeSoto dealers sold lines of lower-priced Plymouth-based Dodges and DeSotos (unlike Pontiac, the regular U.S. Mercurys, Dodges and DeSotos were also sold in Canada alongside these cheaper models). To give Ford dealers a middle-priced brand, they sold a line of badge-engineered Mercurys alongside the regular U.S. Fords.
Given Canada’s more rural character, it was also important that every dealer network have a line of trucks. Pontiac-Buick dealers almost always had GMC light truck franchises. Mercury dealers sold Mercury trucks (badge-engineered Fords) while Chrysler-Plymouth dealers sold Fargo trucks (badge-engineered Dodges).
High tariffs on vehicles imported from the U.S. meant that, for the most part, vehicles sold in Canada by U.S.-based manufacturers were built in Canada. Against the backdrop of the small size of the Canadian market, this explains all the badge-engineering and shared components — they had to work with what already existed in the parts bin as much as possible, and couldn’t really develop totally unique vehicles. Low-volume models judged to be not economically feasible to build in Canada were sometimes imported from the U.S. (especially if they were higher-end models that could absorb the tariff) or simply not sold in Canada at all.
The Star version was the model built in OZ for several years NZ only got the 56 in 56 our cars mirrored what was in the US. all Australian models were unique to that market with limited Fords and no Chev V8 until 1960
My family went to Niagra Falls for vacation in 1973, and on the CDN side seemed like a Pontiac car club meet. Lots of 71-73 Parisiennes and Laurentans. And of course, 60’s Ponch’s mixed in.
In the Crown Victoria models of this series, I see a striking and almost shocking similarity in the roof lines of the two, particularly the B-pillar.
Well they were just badge engineered Fords and had to use the same sheet metal. So they were left with grille, taillights and side trim to differentiate the two brands. With the Crown Victoria models I’m not sure much could be done to make the basket handle distinctively different but still tasteful as well as keep in budget. .
More on FoMoCo products unique to Canada:
http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=18767
Canadian towns were pretty small so instead of there being a Ford as well as a Lincoln-Mercury dealer, FoMoCoCanada created Meteor from Ford and Monarch from Mercury and towns then had either a Ford-Monarch (low and medium priced cars) or Mercury-Lincoln-Meteor dealers so either/or dealer established could offer both low and medium priced cars. All Lincolns were imported from the U.S.
Mercury trucks were badge-engineered from Ford trucks (M-series instead of F-series and offered at MLM dealerships so all FoMoCo dealers could offer a full line of vehicles. In 1960 only when Ford brought out the Falcon, MLM dealerships sold their Frontenac, a badge-engineered Falcon.
GM did this with Pontiacs so a town would have either a Chev or a Pont dealership. Acadians were really Novas/Chev.II and Beaumonts were Chevelles.
Chrysler didn’t have any non-American brand names except for the Fargo trucks (badge-engineered Dodges) but their Dodge Crusaders, Regents, and Mayfairs were all Plymouths with Dodge front clips and selling in the low priced field. They imported Royal Lancers from the States and sold those as their medium priced models. All one has to do is to Google all these models for a clearer picture.
I hope this eliminates any confusion here, guys.
The last year for the Monarch (US Mercury equivalent) was 1961. Meteors were all Ford-based thru 1961 (really RADICAL) whereupon a 3 year hiatus in production ensued and they were reintroduced in 1965 as less opulent Mercurys. They kept the same model names (Lucerne – like Monterey, Richelieu – like Montclair, and Sceptre – like Park Lane). In 1977, the lowest priced Mercury had Meteor script as the model only and was built in St. Louis with the entire production being shipped to Canada. If you have ever seen a Frontenac, you are lucky as they were a low volume Canadian Ford Falcon. It had a pretty unattractive grille. Just Google any of these cars for the pictures which will help a lot in categorizing them.
Hello guys! I’m in Mexico. I bought one Ford Customline 1956. Could you tell me where can I find the VIN printed in the chassi?
Regards,
Marcelo