<VV> CANADIAN CARS

[Transman747 at aol.com]

Hi;  
 
    I was born in and lived in Toronto and lived most  of my life in the USA. 
 I am a Ford man but I love ALL Canadian cars.   OK, here we go:
 
GM   The Acadian was the CDN Chevy II.   The Beaumont  was the CDN Chevelle.  
The Laurentian and Parisienne were actually  Chevrolets with Pontiac sheet 
metal and the Parisiennes here in the US were  Canadian.
 
CHRYSLER   The Dodge Regent and Mayfair were Plymouths aft of the  windshield 
and Dodge from the cowl forward - both Plymouth-based.  They  made a De Soto 
at Chrysler Europe (Antwerp, Belgium, I believe)during the same  time which 
was Plymouth from the cowl back and De Soto Firesweep (single  headlights) from 
the cowl forward.
 
FORD   Because of the myriad European cars being brought into  CDN, FoMoCo 
CDN wanted indigenous  cars to call their (Canada's)  own.  In 1949, they made 
over the Ford and Mercury with unique side and  trunk trim and different 
grilles which became the Meteor and Monarch  respectively.  All cars available in 
the US were also available in CDN but  the Meteors and Monarchs became very 
popular in CDN because Canadians loved  having cars that were different than US 
cars but they never sold more than their  US counterparts.
 
When Ford introduced the Fairlane in 1955 and Mercury the Montclair, their  
CDN equivalents were the Rideau and Richelieu respectively.  The Ford  
Customline and Merc Monterey were Canada's Niagara and Lucerne  respectively.  In 
1959, when the Ford introduced the Galaxie, the Meteor  equivalent was the 
Montcalm.   The Monarch equivalent to the Park Lane  was the Sceptre.  This lasted 
until 1961 when the Monarch marque  ended.
 
In 1963, the Meteor became a Mercury based car but a less expensive Mercury  
as the Meteor was created to bridge the price gap between Ford and Mercury 
while  the Monarch (NOT to be confused with the later Mercury Monarch, a Ford  
Granada-based intermediate).  The Monarch was built to bridge the price gap  
between Mercury and Lincoln.
 
Meteor soldiered on as a downline Mercury until 1978 but from 1979 to 1981  
they became Mercury Meteors and production shifted from Oakville, Ontario to 
St.  Louis, Mo. with all output being shipped to Canada.
 
You can see some interesting CDN cars at _www.56meteor.com_ 
(http://www.56meteor.com) .   Also, my '56  Meteor Rideau is at  _www.classiccarart.us_ 
(http://www.classiccarart.us) .  Just click on  FORDS, scroll down to CANADIAN FORDS 
and the blue and white car is  mine.
 
Happy scrolling, Guys.
 
                                                                        Best, 
  Phil van Leeuwen



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