It’s been six and a half decades since the 1956 Mercury XM-Turnpike Cruiser concept car wowed crowds and stopped traffic, and it’s ready to do it again. In fact, the recently restored concept car has already begun to do so, even from its isolated home in the northwoods of Minnesota.
When owner Tom Maruska pulled the Mercury concept car from his garage on his heavily wooded property, one passing motorist driving down the dirt road at the end of Maruska’s driveway stopped. He had caught a glimpse through the trees of the car’s pearlescent orange paint and glimmering chrome, got out of his car, and walked down Maruska’s driveway for a closer look, almost in a trance. Maruska had to explain to the stranger what he was looking at, but you have to wonder if he heard Maruska’s words as he gazed with amazement at the concept car, seemingly mesmerized by its flash and vintage futurism.
To say the has come. It would be a project unlike any other, but Maruska is a restorer unlike any other.
