Meteor (Ford of Canada marque)

Meteor was a marque of automobiles that Ford Motor Company of Canada offered from 1949 to 1961 and again from 1964 to 1976. It succeeded the Canadian-market Mercury 114 and was introduced on 25 June 1948 for the 1949 model year, to give Canadian Mercury-Lincoln dealers a car to sell in the low-price market against the Canadian Pontiac, just as Canadian Ford dealers sold the Monarch against Oldsmobile; small Canadian towns often had a single dealer who was expected to carry a full line in both the low and mid-price classes. The first Meteors shared the Ford Deluxe and Custom bodies and chassis with a Mercury grille and a 239 cubic inch flathead V8, and from 1954 the Niagara and Rideau names replaced the Ford model names. From 1949 to 1959 Meteor usually ran fourth in Canadian sales behind Chevrolet, Ford and Pontiac. The name was used for the Mercury Meteor in 1962 and 1963, relaunched as a separate make in 1964 on Galaxie bodies with Mercury styling, referred to as the Mercury Meteor from 1970, and continued as a Marquis-based model until 1981.