Mercury Meteors

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Maine Pilot
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Mercury Meteors

Post by Maine Pilot »

The other day I saw what appeared to be a '62 or'63 Meteor parked on a street in Portland, ME. It got me to thinking where the Meteor fit into the Mercury lineup, so I did a search on Wikipedia and found out the Meteor started out as a Canadian full-size car, but in 1961-63 reverted back to a U.S. midsized Mercury. Wiki went out to say:
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 (despite the fact that the Meteor outsold the Monterey), and instead assigned the Meteor name to a new line of mid-sized cars based on the Ford Fairlane which, in turn, was based on a long-wheelbase version of the Ford Falcon chassis. This smaller, mid-sized Meteor filled the product gap between the full-sized Monterey and the compact, Ford Falcon-based Mercury Comet.

Riding the Fairlane’s 116.5 inch wheelbase, the 1962 Meteors wore unique rear quarter panels that mimicked the Monterey's jet-pod tail lights. The base Meteor and better-trimmed Meteor Custom were available as two- and four-door sedans. The Meteor S-33 was a specially appointed two-door sedan featuring premium exterior trim and interior ameneties including bucket seats, and a center console. Its styling and features were similar to the Fairlane 500 sports coupe.

For 1963, Meteors received a trim update and the addition of two body styles, a four-door station wagon and a two-door hardtop coupe. The four-door station wagon was added to both the Meteor and Meteor Custom series. In the Meteor Custom series the station wagon was referred to as the Mercury Country Cruise and featured simulated wood-grain trim on the exterior. The hardtop coupe was added to the Meteor Custom and Meteor S-33 series. The hardtop coupe replaced the two-door sedan in the Meteor S-33 series, as had the Fairlane sports coupe.

The base Meteor engine was a 170 cubic inch, inline six-cylinder engine with a one-barrel carburetor 101 horsepower (75 kW) @ 4000 rpm. Optional engines included a 221 cubic inch V-8 with a two-barrel carburetor that generated 145 horsepower (108 kW) and a 260 cubic inch V-8 with a two-barrel carburetor that generated 164 horsepower (122 kW). A three-speed manual transmission was standard. Overdrive and Merc-O-Matic automatic transmissions were options. A four-speed manual transmission became an option for 1963.

Sales of the mid-sized Mercury Meteor were less than expected and the model was discontinued at the end of the 1963 model year.
Fine, but how did it fit into the Comet line? The Meteor I saw looked more like a compact rather than a mid-sized car.
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lavron
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Re: Mercury Meteors

Post by lavron »

Well they were Meteors not Comets so they really don't fit into the Comet line, like the relationship of Falcons and Fairlanes.

Comets and Falcons were compact cars (I know that seems funny today) I guess the closer relationship happened in 1966 when the Comet became a mid-sized car sharing the same platform as the Fairlane, and Falcons remained compact cars until ? ('68-69??) when I think they became Torinos, at least I know my dad had a Torino based Falcon, just can't remember the year but it was a pea green color :roll:

Someone will correct me if I am wrong, I am sure :P

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popscomet
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Re: Mercury Meteors

Post by popscomet »

I had a 62 meteor,4dr 221 v8,,was gave to me just to get it out of the yard,in fact when I 1st got my comet,the rockers were so worn out that I used the ones off the 221 on it,,,then a old boy came by and ask what would I take for the meteor,,I said ..it was gave to me and I'll just give it to you,,they were the answer to the ford fairlane from mercury,,,,seems to me a couple of yrs ago ,a meteor 2drht showed up at the PF gathering,,was white and green ,,looked good ,they were fancier then a fairlane,,more trim and chrome...jmo pop
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vicegrip
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Re: Mercury Meteors

Post by vicegrip »

First car I ever drove was a 61 Meteor 600, 6 banger,3 on the tree,rubber carpet, absolutely no options except AM radio. Mom used to ride share to work with another woman and on her off days,the neighbor kid and I would hot wire the car and drive it around the country side. It all ended when I hit the ice house at the local Skelly station. I was 12 or 13 yrs old at the time. Cost me $150 and Mom drove every day after that. Took me less than a year to completely destroy the piece of crap when I finally got my license.

b.guggenmos
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Re: Mercury Meteors

Post by b.guggenmos »

My first car was a 63 Mercury Meteor S22 with a 260 and a 4 speed. I think it was actually fairly rare to be a Meteor with a 4 speed? I had it a couple years and sold it to buy a 70 Torino with a 351C 4V 4 speed car. I wish I still had both of them. The Meteor had a great bucket seat and console interior but honestly it was a pretty ugly car on the outside. Brian
1965 Comet Cyclone Drag Car Aquamarine, 351C, 4 speed, 5:14, ladder bars, 10.50@129mph
1965 Falcon Tube Chassis Drag Car, 347, Jerico, 4 Link 9.?
1970 Boss 302 Yellow, Deluxe Interior, Shaker, Slats, 4:30 Drag Pac
1932 Ford 5 Window Coupe

comethead
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Re: Mercury Meteors

Post by comethead »

b.guggenmos wrote:My first car was a 63 Mercury Meteor S22 with a 260 and a 4 speed. I think it was actually fairly rare to be a Meteor with a 4 speed? I had it a couple years and sold it to buy a 70 Torino with a 351C 4V 4 speed car. I wish I still had both of them. The Meteor had a great bucket seat and console interior but honestly it was a pretty ugly car on the outside. Brian
The deluxe Comet was an S-22, the deluxe Meteor was S-33 and the top dog full size was S-55.
I don't know...to my eyes she's a pretty car! https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi ... _S33-2.jpg

Joe
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popscomet
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Re: Mercury Meteors

Post by popscomet »

it is a good looking car to me also.,! always amazed me that that outside mirrior was so far out of the driver's reach on so many of the cars back when......pop
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b.guggenmos
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Re: Mercury Meteors

Post by b.guggenmos »

comethead wrote:
b.guggenmos wrote:My first car was a 63 Mercury Meteor S22 with a 260 and a 4 speed. I think it was actually fairly rare to be a Meteor with a 4 speed? I had it a couple years and sold it to buy a 70 Torino with a 351C 4V 4 speed car. I wish I still had both of them. The Meteor had a great bucket seat and console interior but honestly it was a pretty ugly car on the outside. Brian
The deluxe Comet was an S-22, the deluxe Meteor was S-33 and the top dog full size was S-55.
I don't know...to my eyes she's a pretty car! https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi ... _S33-2.jpg

Joe
You are right. S33 is correct. Man that was almost 40 years ago! My memory is not what it used to be.

Brian
1965 Comet Cyclone Drag Car Aquamarine, 351C, 4 speed, 5:14, ladder bars, 10.50@129mph
1965 Falcon Tube Chassis Drag Car, 347, Jerico, 4 Link 9.?
1970 Boss 302 Yellow, Deluxe Interior, Shaker, Slats, 4:30 Drag Pac
1932 Ford 5 Window Coupe

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