Mercury Meteor
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The Mercury Meteor was an automobile model produced by the Lincoln Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company from 1961 to 1963. For 1961, the name was applied to low end full sized vehicles; for 1962 and 1963, the name was applied to Mercury's mid-sized sedans before being discontinued. Introduced while Mercury as a marque was in flux, and never a solid marketplace performer in consumer sales, the Meteor remains more an "asterisk" than as a well known Mercury product.
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[edit] Canadian Meteor
Initially, Ford used the Meteor nameplate in 1949 when it created a stand alone brand of vehicles that used Ford bodies trimmed using Mercury parts for sale specifically in the Canadian marketplace. Meteors were produced and sold in Canada until 1961, and then reintroduced again from 1964-76, after the US model using the name was discontinued.
See Also:Meteor (car)
[edit] Factors Affecting the Creation of the Mercury Meteor
In the mid 1950s, Ford Executives were convinced by Ernest Breech that in order to compete with General Motors, the automaker had to meet each sales segment with unique product. The plan impacted Mercury by calling for the marques completely new platform and body design since World War II in order to differentiate it from the Ford beginning with the 1957 model year.
While Breech’s plan could have succeeded in the early 1950’s, by the late 1950s the bottom was beginning to drop out of the middle price car market; the 1958 recession effectively rendered Breech’s plan obsolete. Sales of Ford’s Edsel marque were a complete disaster.
Sales of Mercury products failed to reach expected sale levels leading to cost cutting decisions beginning in the 1961 model year. had Robert S. McNamara (one of Henry Ford II closest advisors and Chief of the Ford division) had his way, Lincoln, Edsel and Mercury would have been regulated to the dust bin of history. Beginning in 1961 Ford and Mercury would use the basic Ford body shells, and rely upon unique trim elements to differentiate the marques one from another. Edsel had been discontinued after a short run of 1960 models; what emerged as the 1961 Mercury was really initially intended as the 1961 Edsel.
[edit] 1961 Mercury Meteors
The first step taken to make Mercury cost effective within Ford, Mercury shed its higher priced Montclair and Park Lane models, and instead replaced them with the Meteor 600, Meteor 800 and Mercury Monterey models, all of which rode on a 120” wheelbase.
For 1961 the Meteor was a full-sized Mercury, differentiated from the Monterey through its trim and taillights. Meteor taillights were oblong while the up market Monterey used six circular tail lights, three on each side. Meteor 600’s, available only as two and four-door sedans featured chrome spears from the taillights to the front wheels. Meteor 800’s, available in two and four door sedan and hardtop body styles, featured the spear and three chrome bars on the front fenders, chrome fender fin trim, rocker panel trim and back-up lights.
[edit] 1962 - 1963 Mercury Meteor
For 1962, Mercury marketing decided that the Monterey nameplate had better consumer recognition than the Meteor moniker as far as full-sized vehicles were concerned, and instead assigned the Meteor name to a new line of mid-sized cars based on the Ford Fairlane. This smaller Meteor filled the product gap between the full-sized Monterey and the compact, Ford Falcon based Mercury Comet.
Riding the Fairlane’s 116.5 wheelbase, the 1962 Meteors wore unique rear quarters styles to mimic the senior Mercury’s jet pod tail lights. The base Meteor and better trimmed Meteor Custom were available in two and four door sedans. The Meteor S-33 was a specially trimmed two door sedan featuring premium exterior trim and interior appointments including bucket seats.
For 1963 Meteors received an annual trim update and the addition of two body styles, a four door station wagon and a two-door hardtop.
[edit] A name without a purpose
Mercury product planning underwent another shift with the departure of fiscal conservative Robert McNamara from the Ford Corporation. What had been McNamara’s attempts to remake Mercury as a senior Ford were discarded, and instead for 1965 Mercury would be marketed as being "built in the Lincoln tradition."
The first step towards this goal was the elimination of the compact bodied Comet. Because the Comet name had better consumer recognition than Meteor, the Comet name was transferred to Mercury's mid-size car based on the Ford Fairlane, and the Meteor name was dropped.
[edit] References
- Gunnell, John, Editor (1987). The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975. Kraus Publications. ISBN 0-87341-096-3.
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