New to me 1968 Meteor Rideau 500

Howdy,

Just picked up this 1968 Meteor Rideau 500 wagon and I've be searching the net for info. Came across this site and thought I'd say hi. I live in BC Canada and bought the car on Vancouver Island from the second owner. I've been wanting an nice survivor wagon for quite a while and couldn't pass up on this one. Never even heard of a Meteor before and now I have one. It basically a full size Ford with different trim . The mice made a house in the air cleaner and the starter is junk but the engine turns freely and the brakes are somewhat operational. Hoping to have it running shortly, parts are on order. I will not be doing a full restoration, just fix what is broken and drive it. I'll be looking through the forums to see if there are any other Meteor owners on here.

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

Wow! What a beaut! She cleaned up real nice.

 

Jeez that thing looks nice for sitting in a field! What a score!

 

I agree 100%

 

Nice wagon! Welcome to the forum!

Although very similar to a Ford, your wagon is basically identical to the U.S. Mercury Commuter wagon - identical sheet metal. Only differences would be your grill, and the nameplates. In the states here, Mercury mostly sold the 'wood' paneled 'Colony Park' model. The Commuter was just a non wood-paneled version of that wagon.

 

Very nice survivor indeed.
Welcome aboard from the coast.

 

I agree, it is somewhere in between. There is a mash-up of Ford and Mercury parts so ordering things has been interesting to say the least. Thanks for the info.

 

Man, that's a neat wagon. Great color too. I had a '68 Commuter back in the day.

Take a look at this low-mileage '68 Meteor...

 

Basically, I think it boils down to the exterior being a Mercury, and interior being a Ford. As to the mechanicals, by the 1968 model year, there wasn't much left that was specifically 'Mercury'. Engines were going to be 'corporate' from this point on..... The last year that Mercury had an engine that Ford didn't offer was 1966 - a 410 cubic-inch V8.

 

'67 also Marshall - I had one of those in a first year Marquis too.

 

Yup, you are correct on all accounts.

 

You are correct. When reviewing the '67 Mercury brochure, I missed the mention of the 410 V8. They had lumped it in with the 428 on a chart, and all my eyes saw at that time was '428'......... A second look found my error.

 

After having this conversation at home, my wife calls it a Fercury.