This 1962 Mercury Meteor S-33 is the first year of the second-generation, which only lasted for two model years. That’s a short run, but the 1961 Meteor was a one-year-only car. They went away after 1963, unfortunately. This example is listed on eBay with an unmet opening bid of $1,962. It’s located in Huntington Beach, California and the seller says that you can fly in and drive this one home. Unless you live in Hawaii. Or, some other island..
In 1961, Mercury used the Meteor name for their entry-level full-sized cars and for 1962 and 1963 they moved down a notch to the mid-sized Ford Fairlane platform. For you history buffs, this is the era that the US was involved in the space race and Mercury took advantage of their model names to reflect that. In 1964, the Meteor was gone as a stand-alone model, being replaced by the smaller Comet.
The seller took quite a few photos, but they’re all grainy and it’s hard to see the details. They say that it has “Original paint with og bumpers. This car is a daily driver and trust it to driver anywhere and is very fast.” Unless it’s been modified I don’t know if it would necessarily be very fast, but I’m sure it has more than enough power to keep up with modern traffic. They go on to say “vehicle is in great shape for being 55 years old and there is no major rust at all it’s all surface patina rust made by motor nature.” I like that Freudian slip: motor nature.
The S-33 trim had bucket seats with a console and other niceties. The carpet is new but everything else inside is original. There’s a fair amount of surface rust on the underside of the trunk lid. The seller has a line in the description saying “$9,800 or make me an offer I can’t refuse.” Hagerty lists a #2 excellent car as being valued at $9,200. I wouldn’t peg this example at anywhere near a #2 car, but I could be wrong.
The engine and engine compartment both have a fair bit of surface rust, if not a lot of surface rust. It must be from the salt air near the beach or something. This 145 hp 221 cubic-inch V8 has a rebuilt carb and is said to run great and be trustworthy. Is this a car that you would fly in and drive it home?
Had me going until they opened the hood. Nice little car, I like the colors inside and out. Maybe half the asking?
Flew out to Boise Idaho from Ohio last summer to pick up a sweet Mercury I won on an auction from this site. I had a blast all the way there, while I was there, and all the way back. No problems at all. Still driving and loving that Merc.
The advertisement says it’s a two door hard top. Looks more like a two door sedan to me.
Anyway, I think it’s a nice looking little buggy. I’m thinking around 3500 clams in west central Ohio.
That looks exactly like my old car. I traded it on a 1971 Country Squire in SOCAL as I was getting out of the USMC!
I’ve seen S-22s and S-55s but S-33s are very rare it seems to me.
Mr & Mrs. Laurence who owned the ice skating place we went here in abq bought a new one of these same colors as this one. Very Nice car.
Most of the “rust” in the engine compartment isn’t nearly as bad as it looks, what’s seen is mainly on the brake booster, valve covers and generator, plus the redish and dirty wiper fluid bag doesn’t help matters. He would be well served if he had taken a few better pictures of the structural part of the engine bay.
Anyways, I don’t see this auction going the distance. The car is listed as 1962 Ford Galaxie trim. With no reserve and an asking price of $9,800, its bound to be cancelled at some point.
Steve R
Meteor in Canada was a Mercury body on a Ford chassis with a Ford interior. The marque around from the late 1940s to around 1979. Some interesting Canada only names ie Meteor Niagara, Meteor Montcalm, Meteor Rideau 500, Meteor Lemoyne. in the late 50s early 60s Meteor was usually a top selling brand, right up there with Ford, Chevy, and Pontiac. Canadian Pontiacs in some years finished first in overall sales. Anyone remember the one year only Frontenac, a Falcon clone sold by Lincoln Mercury dealers? Or the GM Beaumont and Acadian? The Mercury and Fargo trucks?
They also had the Pontiac trucks(1959 El Catalina) that used the Dual-coupling Hydramatic 4-speed(like a small Allison) with 1st gear so low you could pull a house down with it. And Australia had their GMC Utes in 1940.
I would drive it very conservatively/cautiously until replacing the valves. The 221/260 motors used under-cut valve stems to improve flow for the high-winding little small block…..worked great except for a propensity to dropping valve heads through pistons. I was tuning my ’62 Fairlane on a Friday evening waiting for midnight to sign-out on a 30-day leave, after putting heads, fresh out of a (very crappy, I found – ALL they did was bead blast the heads, install valve seals and paint them-never even disassembled) machine shop that I had paid for a 3-angle valve job had the throttle set at 2200 rpm to adjust the second set of points when I heard the unmistakable sound of a valve passing through a piston. A buddy helped me throw the destroyed engine through the closed machine shop’s window and then swapped in a 289 so I could sign out only 24-hrs late.
Forget the previous Mo-Par, I would take this instead!
Nice car. More Dice, Yikes.
Engine air cleaner rust looks like rusty water blowing out of the radiator cuz it was wiped off in the pic. Drive anywhere around town until that old looking radiator and cooling system get some attention. Otherwise might be a decent car. Nice new paint with proper prep and sealer will cost u as much as the price paid in the end.
Under the hood is a BIG red flag.
I can’t imagine this car being all that fast with that little motor, stock looking too. That’s got me laughing. Fix it up and make it a cruiser, maybe get some ice cream with it, it ain’t all that bad🐢
Did many valve jobs on those 221s. Nice car ,if you could buy cheap, replace the 221 with a 289 and sanitize the engine compartment you would have a nice driver. You don’t see any of these here in the rust belt.
Listed as a Ford Galaxie in the eBay ad.
IIRC, Mercury sold the Comet & Meteor side by side for 62 & 63. The reason was that the Meteor was intended to be an Edsel and all the work was completed on the small chassis. The Fairlane & Comet were also “in the chamber”, so the Meteor was made into a Mercury.