DREAMCAR DREAMS DO COME TRUE: I felt like the luckiest guy in the world to be among the first to see Mercury’s oneofakind 1956 XM Turnpike Cruiser, freshly restored to divine perfection. After all, for decades I’d been dreaming of the day Detroit’s ultimate concept/dream would be brought back from the dead.

Finally, after 60 years of decay and deterioration the ravishing resurrection of this ultra highfashion cosmic carriage has triumphantly happened, all thanks to automotive restoration artist extraordinaire, Tom Maruska who heroically rescued and painstakingly restored the “eXperimentalMercury.” The result is intoxicating. Someone, please give this man a superhero cape!

Make no mistake about it, this is the space age show car that outdid and upstaged every other prototype of its era. Unapologetically, the XM Turnpike Cruiser epitomizes, like no other, the extravagance, exuberance, and outofthisworld optimism that defined the skiesthelimit automotive design and style guide of the late 1950s.

We might as well just get it out in the open, the Mercury XM Cruiser is more than a midcentury modern masterpiece, it’s a worldclass national treasure of the absolute highest order to behold!

I’ve celebrated many a midcentury motor car but this one is my absolute FAVORITE CAR OF ALL TIME.