This is an installment in a series of posts looking back on show cars that we feel deserved a little more attention than they got. If you have a suggestion for a Forgotten Concept topic, please shoot us a line or leave a comment below.
Mercury XM
First Shown: 1979 Chicago Auto Show
Description: Two-seat sports car with rumble seats
Sales Pitch: “While most concept cars look forward to the future, Mercury went backward in time.
Details:
First seen at the 1979 Chicago Auto Show, the Mercury XM Concept was purely a styling exercise. Penned by Italian design house Ghia, the XM was a 2-door, 2-seat sporty car featuring a pair of second-row rumble seats which were accessibleand usableonly when the hatch was open.
Literally no additional information about the concept was made available. That said, the XM arguably helped established Ford/Mercury design moving into the Eighties. The XMs rear pillar can be seen, to some degree, on the 1980 Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar, and the 1982-1988 Ford EXP and Mercury LN7 sports cars.
A 1954 Mercury concept, the XM-800, marked the first time Mercury had used the XM moniker. The XM-800 did not employ rumble seats. Note that the 1939 Ford was among the last U.S.-market cars available with rumble seats. Established in 1916, coachbuilder and design firm Ghia was acquired by Ford in 1970.
Forgotten Concept: Dodge Super8 Hemi
CG Says:
The most interesting thing about the mostly forgotten XM concept might not be the design, but the wheels. Seen here on a concept car, these same wheels made the rounds at Ford and Mercury, appearing on the Ford Thunderbird and Grenada, and the Mercury Cougar coupe, sedan, and XR-7, and a number of other corporate models, here in the U.S. and abroad. The questions is, which do you remember better, the XM Concept, or these once ubiquitous wheels?
Forgotten Concept: Plymouth Pronto
Listen to the Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast
XM Concept Gallery
(Click below for enlarged images)
