Hi Everyone, New here and first post. Just bought a 1950 Meteor. I had thought the Meteor was the Canadian version of the Ford Custom Deluxe. When I registered the car, the VIN shows up as a 1950 Mercury Meteor. Anyone know if this is really considered a Mercury or a Ford? Thanks.
Canadian Mercury and not sure if export or built in Canada? Ford parts i would think. Ford chassis and body but mercury trim. Were they CKD cars???
According to Wikipedia..... "Meteor was a marque of automobiles offered by Ford in Canada from 1949 to 1976. The make was retired for the 1962 and 1963 model years, when the name was used for the Mercury Meteor sold in the United States. It succeeded the Mercury 114, a Canadian-market Mercury based on the Ford, the "114" name being taken from the car's wheelbase. It complemented the Mercury, and gave Canadian Mercury-Lincoln dealers a car to sell in the low-price market, against the Canadian Pontiac. Similarly, Canadian Ford dealers offered the Monarch, a car based on the Mercury, to compete against the Oldsmobile. This was due to the dealer structure in Canada, where smaller communities might have only a single dealer that was expected to carry a full line of models in both the low- and mid-price classes. From 1949-59, Meteor typically ran fourth in overall sales, behind Chevrolet, Ford, and Pontiac."
Simple way to figure it out: 1950 Mercury Meteor is based off the 1950 Ford 1950 Mercury Monarch is based off the 1950 Mercury In Canada Ford rebranded some Ford's as Mercurys
bluesixty I would like to see a picture of it. The Canadian versions had some very cool designs, And there is a big difference in a American 50 Ford and Merc. So I would love to see yours. Some of them have that custom look, even though they are bone stock. So sounds like yours is based on the Ford. Thanks Ron...
You kind of need to know what the car was made from (a Ford) so you can find parts for it. You also kind of need to know what the car was officially called (Mercury) so you can have the paperwork for it. It doesn't really matter if they are two different things, does it? sounds neat, pics!
The make of vehicle is Meteor. It's not a Ford Meteor or a Mercury Meteor, even though Ford was the parent company. It's like when people call an Edsel a Ford Edsel. It's an honest mistake but it's wrong. Where are you located? My guess is your local DMV didn't have Meteor in the system to put on your title. I had a hell of a time convincing the girl at my local DMV that Packard is the name of the car company that made my car, she wanted to call it a Studebaker. The Meteor is based on the US Ford shell but does use some pieces very similar to the US Mercury including the grille and grille surround.
I've had that same experience, where the local County Clerk had to bring a programmer in to add a maker to their list so the clerk could click SOMETHING on her computer to select a make and model to finish my registration. The frustrated little girl who was helping me tried to convince me that I had to choose one of the makes/models that was already in her computer. I had to take her boss outside and show her the motorcycle I had imported, to convince her that it really wasn't made by any of the manufacturers in her computer. That was the most difficult part of the entire self-import process. We ran into the same problem when they tried to look up the factory price in their NADA price guide, for a motorcycle that simply wasn't in their book. (I had imported a Chinese Chang Jiang CJ750, a motorcycle that is at least related, historically, to both Ural and BMW, but only because all three companies owned the same assembly line equipment at different times.)
The 1950 Meteor is a 1950 Ford body, not a 1950 Mercury body. Canadian Mercury "Monarch" version. http://www.brewtowncruisers.com/CanadianMercurys.htm
Squablo its like an Imperial then. Many call am Imperial a Chrysler Imperial and eventually I think that it became a Chrysler but in the era that we adhere to it was not a Chrysler at all it was an Imperial. There are a few marks like that, we think of them as a Ford or a whatever but they were their own deal.
Correct. Imperial, Continental, and even Clipper (in 1956 0nly) were their own makes under a parent company. Dodge made pickup trucks under the Fargo name and Ford made Mercury branded trucks in Canada as well. Mopar made some US Plymouth based Dodges in Canada and GM made some US Chevy based Pontiacs in Canada as well, but Ford was the only one to have their own make names for those models. A Canadian Pontiac Beaumont is not a Chevy Pontiac Beaumont, that would sound awkward.
Back in '77, I bought a '61 Mercury Meteor to drive in high school. The car said Mercury on it somewhere. I don't recall a whole lot of my high school days but I certainly remember the spacious back seat of the Meteor.
I think like the other makes mentioned the Meteor eventually became the Mercury Meteor. I was checking yesterday I was thinking that Nash made Meteor at one time but I could not substantiate that so it must have just been bad information running around in my head.
I had a 56 Meteor Crown Vic back in '68. Car was based on a 56 Ford. 1st in line of the cars I'd like to have back.
It's like the Canadian Pontolet/Cheviacs. A little from this parts bin, a little from that parts bin. Can't help but wonder why they do these weird hybrids for different markets.
Since it's running off a little anyways, about the Chevy based Pontiac. There was that 59 El Camino that was fitted with the Canadian Pontiac sheet metal. What a ballin badass build that was. It pops up every now and then.
I remember the first time I went to Canada (in 1957). There were all of these Plymouths running around with Dodge front sheet metal, We called them "Plodges".
Didn't they do the same thing stateside? Like take a Dodge Dart nose and put it on a Plymouth Duster and call it a Demon?
Hi Everyone, thanks for all the great information. It seems the answer is that there is no Make...it is simply a 1950 meteor. I happened to call Hagerty to get insurance yesterday and they confirmed it is just a Meteor, not ford or mercury. I had seen the Wikipedia article and misread it to mean the make was a Ford. What I have been able to discern so far is you take a Ford Custom Deluxe and put on some Mercury style trim and you end up with the Meteor. I will get some pics in the next couple days and post. bobgl951chevy thanks for the vid. That is the car minus convertible top. Thanks again for all the help.
Nope, those were essentially the same car, with minor trim differences for each make. The ones I saw were actual '55 and '56 Plymouths with Dodge front sheet metal and grilles.
The Jalopy Journal
