1954 XM-800 was presented at Detroit Automobile show. The body was made of fiberglass, and the car was 5 inch wider than the regular 1954 production model. The interior offered four bucket seats, separated with stationary armrests.
A Ford Motor concept car. Designed in the Mercury pre-production studio by John Najjar (studio manager) and Elwood Engle (consultant assigned to Ford by George Walker"s design firm). Built for Ford by Creative Industries, Detroit, it was first shown to the public at the 1954 Detroit Auto Show.
Promoted as an "advanced design, engineered to go into volume production" , Benson Ford proposed building the XM 800 as a second Mercury car line, something to compete with Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac offerings. Plans were scrapped when the Davis committee recommended making Mercury into a distinct mid-sized car produced by a separate Mercury division and when a second new division was set up producing what became the Edsel.
The XM 800 traveled the auto show circuit through out the 1954 season. It made a brief appearance in the 1954 20th Century Fox film - Woman"s World, starring Clifton Webb, Van Heflin, Cornel Wilde, Fred MacMurray, June Allyson and Lauren Bacall. The car was also immortalized as what has become one of the most sought after automotive cereal box premiums from the 1950's. A small scale model of the car, produced by the F & F Mold Company, was offered in boxes of Post"s Grape Nuts Flakes.
In 1957 Ford Motor Company gifted the XM 800 to the University of Michigan"s Automotive Engineering Lab for use in training "future" automotive engineers. Later sold at auction, its whereabouts were unknown for many years. In the early 1980's Dan Brooks discovered the XM 800 in a farmer"s barnyard in a small rural town about 50 miles west of Detroit. The car is currently in the Bortz Dream Car Collection.
Source: Internet
1954 XM-800 was presented at Detroit Automobile show. The body was made of fiberglass, and the car was 5 inch wider than the regular 1954 production model. The interior offered four bucket seats, separated with stationary armrests.
A Ford Motor concept car. Designed in the Mercury pre-production studio by John Najjar (studio manager) and Elwood Engle (consultant assigned to Ford by George Walker"s design firm). Built for Ford by Creative Industries, Detroit, it was first shown to the public at the 1954 Detroit Auto Show.
Promoted as an "advanced design, engineered to go into volume production" , Benson Ford proposed building the XM 800 as a second Mercury car line, something to compete with Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac offerings. Plans were scrapped when the Davis committee recommended making Mercury into a distinct mid-sized car produced by a separate Mercury division and when a second new division was set up producing what became the Edsel.
The XM 800 traveled the auto show circuit through out the 1954 season. It made a brief appearance in the 1954 20th Century Fox film - Woman"s World, starring Clifton Webb, Van Heflin, Cornel Wilde, Fred MacMurray, June Allyson and Lauren Bacall. The car was also immortalized as what has become one of the most sought after automotive cereal box premiums from the 1950's. A small scale model of the car, produced by the F & F Mold Company, was offered in boxes of Post"s Grape Nuts Flakes.
In 1957 Ford Motor Company gifted the XM 800 to the University of Michigan"s Automotive Engineering Lab for use in training "future" automotive engineers. Later sold at auction, its whereabouts were unknown for many years. In the early 1980's Dan Brooks discovered the XM 800 in a farmer"s barnyard in a small rural town about 50 miles west of Detroit. The car is currently in the Bortz Dream Car Collection.
Source: Internet
