Famed 1956 Mercury concept sold
The XM-Turnpike Cruiser is heading south and finding its new home in a Florida museum.
Tom Maruska, the man who miraculously brought back Mercury’s one-of-a-kind 1956 XM-Turnpike Cruiser show car from the brink (or beyond) confirmed the concept car has been sold to the American Muscle Car Museum in Melbourne, Florida.
The sale comes after the Mercury concept car was bid to $350,000 at the Mecum Kissimmee sale in Florida last January and did not meet Maruska’s reserve. Maruska had previously restored the 1954 Mercury XM-800 concept car and sold it at a 2010 RM Sotheby’s auction for $390,000 ($429,000 with buyer’s commission factored in) and expected a fair amount more for the XM-Turnpike Cruiser.
While buyer and seller of the XM-Turnpike Cruiser have agreed to not disclose its sale price, Maruska said of the figure, “It’s quite a bit more than the XM-800, and it’s a lot more than the closing bid at Mecum.”
So, after ping-ponging from Maruska’s Minnesota home to the auction in Florida and back to Minnesota again, the XM-Turnpike Cruiser will return to Florida to a new, permanent home.
“It’s going to a good home, and I am glad it’s going to a museum even though it isn’t open on a daily basis,” Maruska said, “but they do open for tours and events. Over 20,000 people a year go through the place. He has 300-some cars in there so it will be well taken care of.”
Maruska said that the car won’t be shipped to its new home in Florida until the snow in Northern Minnesota melts. He expects the car will be shipped to Florida sometime in March.
Learn more about the XM-Turnpike Cruiser’s new home at https://www.americanmusclecarmuseum.com
Review Old Cars’ extensive coverage of the XM-Turnpike Cruiser restoration at https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/search?query=XM-Turnpike+Cruiser
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