Mercury XM-800

The Mercury XM-800 is a concept car created by Mercury and first introduced at the 1954 Chicago Auto Show, presented in newspaper publicity at its debut with the full name Mercury Monterey XM-800. The XM, or experimental Mercury, was a push car that was not drivable and went the 1954 United States auto show circuit; although Ford promoted it as an advanced design engineered to go into volume production, it never passed the concept phase. John Najjar, who also designed the 1955 Lincoln Futura and the 1962 Ford Mustang I, designed it, and much of its styling was later used on the Lincoln Premiere, Lincoln Capri, Mercury Montclair and Ford Crown Victoria. Creative Industries of Detroit built it on a modified Mercury frame with a 1954 Mercury 312 cubic inch V8 engine with dual exhausts, a low fiberglass body with chrome plated fiberglass trim and four bucket seats. Ford donated it to the University of Michigan in 1957; it was restored, drove under its own power in 2009, was auctioned in 2010 for 429,000 dollars and was shown at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show.