The Mercury XM-800 is a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

created by

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

and first introduced at the 1954

Chicago Auto Show The Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center. It is the largest auto show in North America. History Samuel Miles, formerly a promoter of bicycle shows, produced the first "official" Chic ...

. In newspaper publicity at its 1954 debut, in Chicago and elsewhere, it was presented with its full name, Mercury Monterey XM-800. The XM, or experimental Mercury, "push car" (meaning that it was not drivable) went the 1954 US auto show circuit season. Although it was promoted by Ford as an "advanced design, engineered to go into volume production,” the XM 800 never passed the concept phase.

Background

The show car was designed by

John Najjar John Najjar ( ar, جون نجار; – ) was an American designer and executive stylist at Ford Motor Company. He is credited for having co-designed the first prototype of the Ford Mustang known as Ford Mustang I with Philip T. Clark. Caree ...

. He was also responsible for the 1955

Lincoln Futura The Lincoln Futura is a concept car promoted by Ford's Lincoln brand, designed by Ford's lead stylists Bill Schmidt and John Najjar, and hand-built by Ghia in Turin, Italy — at a cost of $250,000 (equivalent to $ in ). Displayed on the a ...

show car and the mid-engine

Ford Mustang I The Ford Mustang I is a small, mid-engined (4-cylinder), open two-seater concept car with aluminium body work that was built by Ford in 1962. Although it shared few design elements with the final production vehicle, it did lend its name to the l ...

experimental sports car of 1962. Much of the car's appearance and styling cues were later used on the

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Lincoln Capri The Lincoln Capri is an automobile that was sold by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1952 until 1959. A full-size luxury car, the Lincoln Capri derives its name from an Italian island in the Gulf of Naples. Introduced as a premi ...

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, and other Ford and Mercury products during the mid-1950s. The concept model was built by Creative Industries of Detroit on a modified Mercury frame with a 1954 Mercury V8 engine with dual exhausts. It features a low fiberglass body with much of its trim was also made out of chrome plated fiberglass and an interior with four bucket seats. In early 1957 Ford donated the XM 800 to the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

's Automotive Engineering Lab for use in training "future" automotive engineers. A March 1957 article in the campus's student newspaper gives details of the then-recent donation, stating that the vehicle "was styled by William Schmidt of Mercury." After the automotive school closed, the show car was auctioned to a private individual who stored in a barn, but never returned. It was sold again and stored for almost 30 years before being sold on 2008. The car was restored and made operational and finally drove under its own power in 2009. Subsequently, the car was auctioned in 2010 for $429,000. It was shown at the 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercury Xm-800 Concept cars XM-800 University of Michigan