THE 1955 METEOR PAGE



www.56meteor.com

The 1955 Meteor along with all other Ford of Canada lines appeared with new styling for the 1955 model year. Below the Meteor's futuristic sting ray style hood ornament, the grill was vastly changed from that of the 1954. It had many small vertical bars in a band stretching from one parking light to the other. This was split at the centre by a big "V" with a Meteor star in it.
If this was not distinctive enough, then the side trim certainly was. The base series being the exception, had no chrome on the sides at all save the no-draft window frames, the Meteor script and a small V-8 emblem on the upper rear of the front fenders. The Niagara had a chrome strip that ran back from the headlight trim ring. On the leading edge of the door it began a gentle downward curve toward the rear wheel. It ended at the bottom of a wide, forward slanting, chrome plate. At the top of this plate another strip ran straight back to the bottom of the backup light. The effect was a chrome "Z" running the full length of the car.
The Rideau had the same trim, with an interesting addition. At the leading edge of the front door was a narrower chrome strip that ran back to about the mid point of the broad chrome plate. This formed a triangle, and small Meteor crest was placed in the lower corner. This triangle was usually painted a contrasting colour. Three tone paint combinations were used, having the area below the chrome the same colour as the roof, the area between the chrome and the roof a second colour and the triangular flash a third colour.
The hub caps had a new design on the centre black disc. There was a gold meteor star inside a gold circle. Full wheel covers, standard on the Rideau, had a fancier version of the same design. These wheel covers were made of stamped chromed brass, unlike the US covers that were made of stainless steel. They also had a more gentle sloping outer edge.
A chrome Meteor star set in the angle of a "V" decorated the trunk lid. The "V" had horizontal outward extensions at the top. The Rideau series used the same trim as the Ford Fairlane at the bottom edge of the trunk lid. The Meteor name was stamped in the rear bumper and painted black. Gone were the Mercury dash and engine. Meteor now came with the overhead valve, short stroke, Y-Block V-8 introduced in the 1954 US Ford. The 272 cid engines were available in 2 barrel (162 HP) and 4 barrel (175 HP) versions. The Merc-O-Matic transmission and overdrive were still an option.
At the end of the 1954 model year, a strike shut down the Oakville, Ontario assembly plant. There was no production from October 10, 1954 untill January 30, 1955. This caused a delay in the introduction of all 1955 Ford of Canada cars. Despite this lengthy strike production at the end of the six-month model run was only down 11% from the previous year.

	Sedan	Wagon
Overall Length (ins.)	197.8	197.8
Wheelbase (ins.)	115.0	115.0
Overall Width (ins.)	73.2	73.9
Overall Height (ins.)	64.1	64.1