Greetings. My name is Roger Currie, AKA roger628. As a result of some correspondence with Paul last week, I’d like to introduce what I hope will be at least a semi-regular feature. While residing in South Korea limits cars I can shoot for features (I’m still after that elusive Hyundai Pony pickup), I have something to share that most of you will find equally compelling. Since I was an avid brochure and literature collector in my old life, I had a policy of saving anything of this nature I ran across on the web. A number of years ago, I augmented my web finds by scanning a lot of own stuff during my last extended stay in Canada. Well, topsy sure has grown , and as a result of this obsession hobby I now have nearly 150,000 well cataloged images. We’ll start with one many of you probably have never heard of, the 1967 full-size Mercury Montego.
Imagine, if you will, a digitized version of the well known “Standard Catalog of (insert brand here)” that have been compiled and published by one Tad Burness. My project has turned into a “Standard Catalog of Everything on 4 Wheels Built in the Last 100 Years”. At Paul’s behest, I will be selecting some of the more obscure models in my digital inventory to write features on. Being from Canada, and growing up in a FoMoCo household, my first post quite naturally is about one of the nicest Canadian Fords you have never heard of, the 1967 Montego. A 1967 Montego, huh?! Well, it’s like this.
1967 was a great year for Canada. For one thing, it was Canada’s Centennial. The esteemed, late, great Canadian author and social critic Pierre Burton wrote a book called 1967, The Last Good Year, published in 1997. Maybe he was right!
After decades of residing in the shadow of the great power to the south, it was time for the country to let it’s collective hair down and have a party. And what a party it was! Expo ’67 in Montreal was our announcement to the world that Canada had arrived. The economy was great, incomes were up, and after decades of relative frugality, Canadians were in the mood for a little conspicuous consumption.
Quite naturally, when people become more well-off, procuring a fancy automobile is usually near the top of the to-do list. A year earlier, GM of Canada launched the Pontiac Grand Parisienne, a mix of Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevy Caprice trim components. The Maple Leaf GP was quite successful, prompting the boys at FoMoCo Canada to come up with something to counter it. The arch rival to the Canadian Pontiac, AKA GM 7000 series, was Ford’s Meteor. The Meteor had been rebooted in 1964 as a Mercury body with a Ford dash and soft trims, as opposed to the Ford bodied incarnation that had existed from 1949 to 1961.
The initial 1964 version had been quite austere. This shortcoming was partially addressed by the 1965 introduction of the Montcalm, which featured the interior of the 1965 Galaxie 500, lifted almost unchanged from it’s donor, save for badging.
This was a step in the right direction, and the Meteor in this guise proved immensely popular. For about $50 CDN over the price of a Galaxie, you could have a Mercury, by gum, or at least something that closely resembled one. Evidently, noting the demographic trend to greater affluence in Canada, the marketing boys had even loftier aspirations for the Meteor. Enter the 1967 Montego.
Available in 2-door hardtop or flossy convertible, the Montego was the “luxury” Meteor.
The car was created by again expediently utilizing trim parts from a US model donor, in this case, the Ford LTD and XL. The interior came in a choice of bench or bucket seats. The bench interior was straight out of the 1967 LTD coupe, save for some small badging differences.
The bucket seat version owed its existence to the in itself very rare XL Luxury Trim option. When Galaxie XL buyers checked this box, they got upgraded seats with LTD-style embroidery, carpeted LTD-style door panels with courtesy lamps, cut-pile carpeting, a rear seat center armrest, additional “wood-tone appliques” and “Comfort-Stream Ventilation”, a powered, flow-thru ventilation system employing 2 dash vents.
One key engineering area where Meteors differed from their Ford brethren was engine availability. Whereas the high performance 427 CID units weren’t available, the 410 CID mill usually seen in US Mercury models was. Another key item not available, surprisingly enough, was Air Conditioning. While AC was of course available on Fords, any customer wanting it had to source his or her car from a US plant, since Oakville assembly wasn’t set up to install it until 1968. Since Oakville was the only facility putting Meteors together, it was a no-go.
The Montego wasn’t particularly successful. As a result, they are seldom seen extinct today, even at car shows, especially the convertible. While production figures have so far eluded me, suffice to say they are very rare. Actually, my father played a small part in the culling of Montegos, too. In the autumn of 1968, he and and a friend embarked on a business trip to Regina. Of course, it was in his friend’s red Montego hardtop, which just happened to be leased through the Ford Leasing System as per the above ad. Feeling tired, the friend entrusted wheel duties to my dad on the return trip.
Two blocks from our home, he made a left turn in front of a kid in a speeding ’55 Chevy. The Chevy caught the front clip and tweaked it mightily as the big Merc spun around like a top, and that was the end of that car. Thankfully, dad was an early adopter of seat belts (lap only in this case) and arrived home with nothing more than facial contusions. Rather than have the car repaired (it was a near total) his thankfully uninjured friend simply turned the wreck back into Ford Leasing System and replaced it with a ’69 LTD coupe, which I was nonplussed to discover had an interior no better than my dad’s ’69 Galaxie 500 coupe.
I have little information on why this model failed in marketplace. Perhaps it suffered from the same stigma as the Plymouth VIP, which had to share showroom space with Chryslers, making a Newport Custom an easy upsell to a prospective buyer. A Montego intender may have been easily convinced by his salesperson to upgrade to a Mercury Park Lane for similar reasons. The nameplate may have ended ignominiously except for one thing. The L-M Division men in Dearborn unceremoniously filched the moniker from Ford of Canada, thinking it might be just the ticket for Mercury’s intermediate line, which was suffering from identity issues of it’s own in the marketplace. This act of larceny forced Ford of Canada to come up with a new name for the top end Meteor, LeMoyne, named after a storied 17th Century Quebec military man.
But that’s a story for another time.
Very handsome cars. The mix of Ford and Mercury parts with a few unique Canadian tweaks is very cool. Having owned a US spec ’67 Galaxie 500 for a time, the Montego dash is a handsome mix up of upgraded trim parts and a Mercury style steering wheel.
Hello.
I was just looking at some of the comments you are getting, and would like to comment on the 67 Meteor Montego. A few years ago I bought a 67 Meteor from a widow whose husband had died many years ago. He purchased the car new and shortly after he was killed and the car was put in storage until I found it was for sale . I bought the car and it is all original everything right down to the ford script headlights. It is a convertible with the 390 engine, power steering ,power brakes etc. It had 13000 miles when I purchased it and today it only has 14200 original miles. It is a great looking car.
Barry
I have found a totally original 67.
Need tail pipe and tires.
I am attracted to it because of its looks . It is rust free all orignal
Thoughts on price. They want 6500.
Thanks
Don ;
For that price I assume it runs and drives, if it drives well and when you put it on a hoist (this is a must do, muffler shops will usually charge very little) and ensure the frame / rocker panels are not full of rust holes / Bondo the price may well be good .
Don’t forget to come back here and let us know .
-Nate
Very nice! Before 1960 some Canadian models were seen in the northern tier of the US. For some reason the migration stopped after ’60, so these are completely unfamiliar to my eyes.
I lived in Niagara Falls ONT from 1968-70.
My 7th grade history teacher had a ’67 Rideau 500 4-door sedan. Don’t remember a Meteor Montego or a LeMoyne. I thought the Rideau 500 was their top-of-the-line…
The Rideau 500 was second from the bottom in ’67, the Rideau was the lowest, equivalent to a Ford Custom.
One odd thing about 1967-68 Rideau 500s is that they used US Monterey interiors to move them upmarket from Custom 500s.
This is the only deviation from the Ford interior formula.
Per the second ad, what is a “3-speed, dual-range automatic transmission”?
The CruiseOMatic had two D ranges: one would start the car in first gear, the other in second, for snow and ice. No big deal really, and hardly worth the “dual range” moniker.
Here’s how it looked.
Also known as the “green dot” transmissions. Though I disagree on the expected use. That green dot was for “normal use” that started in 2nd gear and the other D range was for towing or when quicker acceleration was desired.
Where do you get that from? From numerous sources, the green dot was for “normal” Drive, which started in first gear. The “white dot” was for starting in second gear.
If you’re right, you have a lot of folks on all kinds of Ford forums to educate, because they all think otherwise.
Anyway, why would Ford want it it start in 2nd for normal use? The whole point with the Cruise-O-Matic was that it started in first, unlike the more sluggish Fordomatic.
A lot of Ford transmissions did this, even the C6 and the AOD. It was a great feature on ice and snow. I was driving taxi in 1990 when we had a wicked snow storm. I was driving either a Ford Crown Vic cop car or a Chevy cop car on different days and both cars were in excellent condition as my boss was a former Mountie and a real stickler for details. The Ford was hands down better in snow because you could put it into “2” and just leave it here. Perfect for a snow storm. Do it for regular driving and the car is a total slug.
These transmissions were not designed to be left in “2” and it was explicit in the owner’s manual that the “2” setting for for slippery conditions or engine braking. Cadillac had a similar thing for the THM selector in their 70’s cars.
Starting in 2nd all the time would overheat the torque converter, I would think.
Here’s the original Cruise-O-Matic quadrant from 1958. The later version with the green dot has the same pattern, just different markings, instead of D2 and D1.
Admittedly, it’s odd and counter-intuitive that the D2 position was to the left, and not between D1 and Low, where of course it later ended up when Ford changed to the D-2-1 pattern with the Select-Shift transmissions.
But contrary to what you might have us believe, Ford did do some less-than perfectly logical things from time to time 🙂
Actually, that configuration makes perfect sense given one of the uses of D2 was driving in snow. That way, D2 was in the right place for when you needed to rock the car between forward and reverse to get out of some snow.
The green dot was 1-2-3, the white dot was 2-3.
sorry no. The green dot was Drive, starts in 1st and shifted twice. Beside neutral, the first white dot, it started in 2nd.
Interesting article and a great idea for a regular feature. I don’t know how many Montego convertibles were sold either, but my uncle had one in the mid ’60s. Not sure what year it was but he bought a new Meteor every 2 years. He was a small town lawyer and liked his comforts, but didn’t want to appear too affluent. The convertible was a once only occurrence, and I vividly remember riding in it along with my cousins.
I’ve seen the odd hardtop over the years, but never another ragtop. We had some unique cars here in the great white north back then.
Same here, only it was my father and it was Israel – he had US (and Canadian – a 1957 Plodge) made cars for years but always sixes/4 door sedans. Appearing too affluent was not good for business.
If it was a Montego, it had to be a ’67, that was the only year for it.
This will make for a great regular feature… This illustration looks like it could have been done by Bruce McCall (who IIRC was Canadian):
Total 1967 Meteor production was 25,896. I’d hazard a guess that there were less than 500 Montego hardtops and less than 100 convertibles in that total. I’ve never come across one, but a Google image search brings up a surviving example of both bodystyles.
I don’t believe I have ever seen a Meteor Montego. I have seen a less trim level 1967 Meteor Montcalm Convertible however.
There is a lovely 1968 Meteor LeMoyne Convertible that I should do a write up on here in town. Has to be almost as rare.
By all means, do.
Yes please. I’ve seen a Montego, but never even heard of a LeMoyne.
This is certainly a surprise. I have never encountered a Meteor Montego in western Canada. No doubt in my mind very few of this model came out of the Oakville plant. As for air conditioning, that was an option few Canadian cars were equipped with as it was expensive and not many people would see the wisdom in having. (With six months of winter this is understandable)
By the late sixties the economy was rolling along and more Canadians were earning higher incomes and buying better equipped vehicles. My father however put off getting air conditioning until he bought an 80 Olds Cutlass.
Aircon was unobtanium in Canada of the 1960’s and right up to the end of the 1970’s it was very rare. The only car I ever saw with air before age 10 was probably that of a family friend, on a 1966 Cadillac Coupe deVille he lovingly pampered. It was simply too expensive, easily a quarter the cost of the car. Canada saw huge leaps in incomes all through this period, and my dad ordered his 1979 Impala with a/c, which I recall was $865 (a WHOPPING $2673 adjusted) and there was a $100 Federal a/c tax that is still with us all these years later. The real cost was $3000 in today’s money, a heck of a lot of dosh on one option.
That car was $26,000 in today’s terms and it didn’t have cruise, power windows, seat or even a stereo radio. But it did have a 350 under the hood and F-41. Guess who was responsible for that $240 expenditure?
On the prairies, AC was seen at least somewhat frequently by the early 70s. The LM dealer ordered it in all of their Marquis Broughams by this time, and was not unheard of in Meteors and Montegos. Even our ’72 Comet LDO had it.
Your Dad and mine were cut of the same cloth…he bought a custom ordered 1980 Olds 88 Royale Brougham..first car we had with ac as well…am radio and no power anything except brakes and steering. Those Canadian Meteors were interesting…our neighbours in Toronto had a 1973 Montcalm….by then I think Mercury Marquis was a more common marque.
Great stuff, Roger. I look forward to more. I love oddities like these.
In the summer of 1973, my family took a trip up through Detroit, into Windsor, and across part of Canada, eventually crossing on a Ferry back to Sandusky, Ohio. I remember being fascinated by the Canadian-market cars that were so close yet so far from what I knew. The 1965 Meteor Montcalm seemed to be the most common at the time, as I saw several of those. The Rideau 500 also had a strong showing. Don’t recall a Montego or a LeMoyne, though I may have seen them too.
There were loads of Meteors in Canada at that time. Just like the Canadian Pontiac was considered a big step up from a Chevrolet, the Meteor was a big step up from a Ford and just like the Pontiac, it gave one dealership towns a wider line to sell. In many ways it was a bigger step up than the Pontiac was, since this was a real Mercury body. My aunt drove one for a while, until her 18 year old son totaled it. Like all the Meteors of the era I ever saw, it had a 289 2V and three speed automatic. These cars were hideous rust-buckets and by 1973 or so they were all gone.
I remember seeing Meteor and Monarch cars on holiday in Canada,it was a long time before I found out about their origin.An interesting read and some good looking cars,thank you.There’s another Canadian Ford in the UK,a Frontenac was undergoing restoration a few years ago,believed to be 1 of 1 in the UK though I’m sure a CCer will let us know otherwise if there’s another.
Frontenacs were Falcons rebadged with distinctive grills and trim sold by Mercury dealers in Canada. They were bare bone cars with few options, Auto trans, AM Radio, Whitewall tires and full wheel covers. I don’t think Power Steering was available. As I remember they were dependable vehicles.
My dad’s cheapskate cousin always drove a Frontenac or similar Ford oddity. He even had a Ford Prefect for a while. His Frontenac was a total stripper, only the (believe it not in Canada) optional heater being on the car. It was three on the tree and it commuted back to Ottawa every day and back, a good 100 km round trip. And in five years, like all cars then, it rusted to dust.
It was bad enough not having heaters in British misers specials.I remember car coats being sold,an overcoat loose enough to drive comfortably in and a school friend’s skinflint parent’s Austin A30(I think) with no heater and scraping the ice from inside the windows
I remember going to the 1967 World’s Fair ~ it was a total hoot .
I also am quite fond of the 1950’s Canadian Meteors .
-Nate
My Buddy had a 67 Meteor Rideau 4dr. 6 cyl auto. It was a gift from his Grandfather. I’m talking about 1970, so it was pretty nice car for a 17 year old kid. As I recall it was so under powered. We called it the” Meteorite”
Wow! A car nut from a very early age growing up in Vancouver and I’ve never heard of or seen a 67 Montego! I do remember the LeMoyne though.
Montego, how pray tell did British Leyland get permission to use the name on their creation if Ford already had it in use?
The last Ford version was 1976, the BL Montego didn’t come out until the early 80s. Ford found out the hard way that if you don’t use it, you lose it.
The Fusion was originally supposed to be the Futura, but in the ensuing years of non-use, Pep boys somehow laid claim to it for a line of tires.
Only Meteors I saw in the flesh were ’65 and older. Usually in my youth growing up in the S.F. Bay Area; tourists from B.C. and Alberta. I am a fan of the Canadian variants as they are ‘different but the same’ as our U.S. wheels of the day, however, the trim, engine/hardware mixtures (Ford/Mercury, Pontiac/Chevy, Plodge clips) make them interesting. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a big, torque 261 six in a ’61 Pontiac Laurentian . . . . . from what I understand, the 261 (Jimmy sourced in America) was to have been included on the ’55 Pontiac, but was axed at the 11th hour to concentrate marketing and sales on the new 287 V-8. . . . . .
I’ve seen a 55 Pontiac Pathfinder with a 6.Not sure if it was a Cheviac but the owner told me it was made in Canada
For sure it was. US ones were V8 only.
My gf and I just picked up a 67 meteor in Alberta that has 25 thousand documented miles on it. When we stripped the interior and trunk out, the floors were as solid as the day it left the factory and the body panels are perfect as well.It’s hard trying to get a handle on these Canadian only cars. It shares parts with Ford and Mercury,as we are just starting to find out. We are thinking that the little 289 will have to go though. I’d love to find a FE engine for it. Thanks for all the info in these threads. Interesting reading
I can understand the desire to go to a larger engine, but keep in mind your car is more valuable with the original powerplant. Of course you could always keep the original engine and transmission in case you changed your mind or for the next owner.
I have a 1968 Meteor LeMoyne convertible, and a 1968 Mercury Parklane convertible – looking to sell both
Have an NOS front grille (C8YB-8150-A) for 1968 Meteor LeMoyne or S33 if anyone interested. Contact is djjsc@juno.com
Just received my dads 1967 Meteor Montcalm Convertible and I am looking for a top and both replacement quarter panels if anybody has a line on where a guy could start looking.
My dad bought it new in 1967 and it’s been sitting since 1985 so she needs some work…
Thanks,
Edwin
If you’re in Canada, one potential source could be AMP Body Panels in Edmonton. At the very least they may suggest a source for body panels to your your car. You should also check with restoration shops in your area.
As for convertible top, you should have no problem finding someone who could supply that. The top I’m assuming would be the same as for a full-size Ford or Mercury of the same year. Again, a professional restoration shop could help with that or just go on the Internet and do a search.
Thanks for your response Garry… I will call AMP, as I live just outside of Edmonton, today and see.
I found a place down in the USA that sells the tops. I also did source out some quarter panels for the car in the USA as well.
I am excited to get started on this project and I am sure that there will be more parts needed as we dig in further into the car.
I will keep you posted if you want.
Thanks again,
Edwin
I have 2 1967’s. A hardtop and a convert. Where did you find the panels?
HI there i also have a 1967 montego and need some parts a gas tank and rear panels where did you get yours from
Jim happy to learn you still have the old Montego can I stop by for a look someday?
Yes you can randy not much to look at yet Im putting together a 1968 camaro now this is a 427 big block car but come on down buddy any time
jim
Glad to hear your project is moving forward. It is a car worth restoring. I appraised a 66 last year. One-owner in pretty good condition as it was always garaged and driven very little since he bought it new from Waterloo Motors.
When the time comes to get it appraised and insured you can contact me through Appreciated Vechicle Appraisal Group.
Good Luck!
love the ride from my meteor my father bought it brand new still original paint
I’m headed to Stavely, AB to pick up my new 1967 Montego. 351 under the hood and it is running. I plan on bring it back to Texas and restoring it.
While you’re up here, carry on to Edmonton. I have a 1978 Córdoba for sale. One owner and in very good condition. Too big for me, so it needs to go to a real Mopar fan.
Sorry, not a ’67. Has to be at least a ’68 (has side marker lamps) & probably a ’69. 1969 was the first year for the 351W.
Andrew, you’ve got a 1969 Montego MX 2dr HT.
My dad bought a new 67 Meteor Rideau, 289 automatic and a radio. It was a good car but mom wanted a wagon and the next car was a 1970 Ranch Wagon. But in that 1967 meteor mom and dad and us 6 kids all rode across the prairies towing a trailer. It amazes me to this day that a little 289 could power all that load through the mountains in the summer heat without a whimper.
My dad was not restricted to black top only when he wanted to sight see. I recall going up a mountain road switch back road and every time the car would bounce the tires would spin on the gravel towing all that up the mountain.
That was a 3 week trip and not a single problem, though a couple years later at 75,000 miles it needed a valve job. I sometimes wondered if that hard trip on that little engine may have been the start of that.
When I lived in Vancouver in the early ’70’s I owned a ’67 Meteor Montego with a 390 for a couple of years. At the time I didn’t think it was anything special. Wish I had it now. Sigh! As it is, I can’t remember what I ended up doing with it.
Does anyone hear know if there an anniversary edition of the 1967 Meteor Montego? I heard there was but cannot find any concrete information.
I’ve never heard of such a model. My immediate question is it would be commemorating what?
So… was a 1967 Meteor a Ford or a Mercury? I have always understood the Meteor to be a Mercury, sold at Mercury dealers. 68 as before 67 had Mercury badging. Someone is telling me that Meteor was its own line which I do not agree with.
Meteors were off the Ford assembly lines and built for people who wanted a Mercury but could not afford one. Mercurys in Canada were a lot more expensive than the Canadian Fords. Ford didn’t want to lose out on the sales so they built a look-alike a whole lot cheaper. I still have a ’67 Meteor Montego convertible, 390-4v. I love the ole cruiser!
Anyone Looking to buy a 67 Meteor Convertible needs quarters and has not ran since 1986