In 1960, Ford Canada introduced the Frontenac in order to give Mercury

Mercury (automobile)

Mercury was an automobile marque of the Ford Motor Company launched in 1938 by Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, to market entry-level luxury cars slotted between Ford-branded regular models and Lincoln-branded luxury vehicles, similar to General Motors' Buick brand, and Chrysler's namesake brand...

-Meteor dealers a compact to sell. Produced for the 1960 model year only, the Frontenac was essentially a 1960 Falcon with its own unique grille, tail lights and external trim including red maple leaf insignias. It was the second-best selling compact in Canada during its one year (5% of Ford's total Canadian output), but the Frontenac was discontinued and replaced by the Mercury Comet

Mercury Comet

The Mercury Comet is an automobile produced by the Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company from 1960–1969 and 1971-1977 — variously as either a compact or an intermediate car.The Comet was based on the compact Ford Falcon and later the Ford Maverick...

 for 1961. A total of 9,536 Frontenacs were built at its Oakville, Ontario

Oakville, Ontario

Oakville is a town in Halton Region, on Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. As of the 2006 census the population was 165,613.-History:In 1793, Dundas Street was surveyed for a military road...

 plant

The Frontenac is another example of U.S. automakers' attempts to market slight variations of U.S. models as unique Canadian makes. Like Ford's Monarch and Meteor brands, and GM's Acadian

Acadian (automobile)

Acadian was a make of automobile produced by General Motors of Canada from 1962 to 1971. The Acadian was introduced so that Canadian Pontiac-Buick dealers would have a compact model to sell, since the Pontiac Tempest was unavailable in Canada...

, the Frontenac was not part of the Ford or Meteor line. It was its own marque, and was marketed as such. The Frontenac was named after a late 17th century governor of New France

Louis de Buade de Frontenac

Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France from 1672 to 1682 and from 1689 to his death in 1698...

.

Model Info

Name	Engine	HP	Voltage	Transmission	Wheelbase	Length	Width
Frontenac	144CID I6 I6 I6 or I-6 may refer to:* Polikarpov I-6, a Soviet fighter prototype of the 1930s* Straight-six engine, six cylinder internal combustion engine...	90	12	3-speed manual; 2-speed automatic	109.5 in (2,781 mm)	181.2 in (4,602 mm)	70 in (1,778 mm)

Sources

• Zavitz, Perry R. Canadian Cars, 1946-1984, Bookman Publishing, Baltimore, Maryland, 1985, ISBN 0-934780-43-9
• Canadian Automotive Information Handbook, Canadian Automotive Information Service, Oakville, Ontario : 1939 edition

External links

• Frontenac - Ford Motor Company of Canada