Frontenac (marque)

In 1960, Ford Canada introduced the Frontenac to give Mercury-Meteor dealers a compact vehicle to sell. It was a separate marque, as Lincoln was to Ford, and was marketed as such. Produced for the 1960 model year only, the Frontenac was essentially a 1960 Ford Falcon with its own unique grille, tail lights, and external trim, including red maple-leaf insignia. It was the second-best selling compact in Canada during its one year (5% of Ford's total Canadian output).^[1]

ManufacturerFord of Canada

Production1960

AssemblyOakville, Ontario, Canada

ClassCompact

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Frontenac
1960 Frontenac 2-door sedan (with non-standard wheel covers)
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford of Canada
Production	1960
Assembly	Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Body and chassis
Class	Compact
Body style	2-door sedan 4-door sedan 2-door station wagon 4-door station wagon
Layout	FR layout
Related	Ford Falcon (US) Comet
Powertrain
Engine	144 cu in (2.4 L) Thriftpower I6
Chronology
Successor	Comet

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A total of 9,536 Frontenacs were built at its Oakville, Ontario, plant.^[1] In August 1960 a prototype 1961 Frontenac was driven from Halifax to Vancouver for a photo shoot only for the crew to learn that the Canadian model was discontinued from the domestic market and replaced by the Comet for the 1961 model year.^[2]

At launch the Frontenac was available in 2-door and 4-door sedan body styles with 2-door and 4-door station wagons added later.^[3]

The Frontenac is one example of U.S. automakers' attempts to market slight variations of U.S. models as unique Canadian makes.^[4] Like the Monarch and Meteor brands marketed by the Ford Motor Company of Canada, the Frontenac was not part of the Ford or Mercury lines.

The Frontenac was named after a late 17th-century governor of New France. The name had been used previously, from 1931 to 1933, on a car assembled in Toronto by Dominion Motors.^[1]

Model Information^[5]