The Hierarchy was Lincoln competed with Cadillac big Edsel ( Citation and Corsair) competed with Buick Mercury competed with Oldsmobile small Edsel (Ranger and Pacer) competed with Pontiac Ford competed with Chevrolet
Those were Canada only due to the old Auto Pact which kept some cool American cars out of Canada during the 50s and 60s. yes, Mercury did have a Canada only truck, which apparently are somewhat sought after south of the border.
Living in Alabama, I don't see too many of those cars sold above the 48th parallel.... So, the Monarch slipped my mind. And I don't know where it lands in the hierarchy ....
I've never been able to sort out the Canadian thing too well (I do have a book called "Canadian Cars" by Perry Zavitz, which explains it), but I never had the impression the hierarchy was existent in Canada. Instead, they offered home-grown cars to appeal to Canadian patriotism. That's why we have the Monarch and Meteor, and why Pontiac was built on Chevy chassis and used Canadian-specific names. If you wanted an LTD or Bonneville, you'd have to spend more because those cars incurred import duties. Again, this is my impression and can't vouch for its accuracy.
My Father has 2 Merc trucks a 61 style side and a 61 M100 econoline pick up ( 1 of 3 made in 61:eek2 I gave Him a call to learn about the Monarch:TU:
I'm talking about makes, not models. GM had 5 makes and Ford and Chrysler had 4 each until the Edsel and DeSoto were discontinued early in the 1960 and 1961 model years respectively. (And yes, I know that the Imperial was a separate make for a short time so there's no need for you to mention it.) :TU:
I think James is right with the "bumper" Edsels so it's not so much names as much as marketing structure. Anyway, here's an ugly Canadian.
If you want to get into "makes" Continental was a make, '56-59(?) to compete with the separate Imperial line.... But, What I'm referring to is the marketing hierarchy, The Edsel's marketing was aimed at two separate GM brands, Buick and Pontiac. The Citation and Corsair aimed at Buick The Pacer and Ranger aimed at Pontiac
I forgot about the "Frontenac", which was Ford Canada's equivalent of the already hideous Falcon. The Monarch was a Ford Chassis with Mercury trim and a Mercury V-8. That's what made them special; - they were a little faster than the regular Merc because they were smaller and lighter. They were only available for sale in Canada. They would not be sold in the US at all. GM Canada equivalents are the Acadian, a warmed over Nova with better trim, the Beaumont, a Chevelle with GTO trim, Parisiene, a Chevy chassis with Catalina trim and a Chev motor. I can't remember what the Chrysler ones were. Mercury trucks were just that little bit better than the Ford offerings here; - they had a Ford body and chassis with slightly modified trim but got the Mercury engine. Dodge used a Fargo up here, an anemic 6 cylinder rust bucket that was pretty fragile. GM did sell GMC and Chevy up here, but only with 6 cylinder engines until about 1967. I think (not sure) they started offering a 283 in 1968 in response to Ford's big FE block trucks. All of these models were gone by 1972, mostly as a result of changes to the laws and dismal sales, but also complaints. Why would anyone want a gussied-up Chevy called a "Pontiac" when south of the border you could get the real thing with a real V-8 in it?
The Parisiene (which I probably can't spell) was a big heavy Catalina/GP type body with a small block Chev 283/327. The US version had a 389/421=I never understood it either. I think they brought the name back for a while in the 80's as a trim level of the Bonneville maybe.
