A few days ago, our Pick of the Day was a Pontiac Parisienne, a Poncho unique to the Canadian market. This time, the Pick of the Day is another unique Canadian, a Monarch six-passenger coupe listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a private seller in Pasadena, California. (Click the link to view the listing)
As mentioned in the story of the Parisienne, Canada had tariffs on cars imported from the U.S., so several interesting vehicles developed that were only available to Canadians. Additionally, in the case of Monarch, Ford of Canada started a unique brand to give Ford dealerships more breadth of models, especially in a different price class. To you Yankees out there, Canada may seem an equivalent country today but, in the not-too-distant past, Canada was not as well developed as the U.S., and having one dealership with several brands was the norm because it could be miles and miles to the next dealership.
With the first Monarchs in 1946, they simply were Mercurys with trim unique to Canada. This lasted through 1957, until the advent of the Edsel. When it became clear that the Edsel was a marketing turkey, Monarch was revived for 1959-61 until Ford of Canada felt the brand was superfluous in the market.
As you can see from the pictures, the Monarch looks like a busier Mercury — almost Frazer-like in some respects. They all came with a 110-horsepower 255ci “Flathead” V8, just like its American brethren, with this one having “smooth and easy clutch and shifting through the gears” but “some oil leaks. [A] very solid car and fun to drive.”
Seller claims the 48,568 miles are original to the car and that he has repair receipts dating from the 1960s to today, with the last 11 years being in sunny California. The car “has been repainted at some point in its life” though there is a “little bit of rust in front part of rockers.” The interior is claimed to be original and in nice condition. Reliability has been improved by 12-volt and electric fuel pump updates.
The seller is asking $36,000 or best offer for this very unusual FoMoCo product.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day .