Ford Motor Company’s world-famous Ghia Studio of Turin, Italy, designed the Mercury XM concept car. The one-of-a-kind prototype’s unique feature was a rumble seat-mounted beneath the rear decklid. The car became a four-passenger vehicle by raising the rear hatch window and flipping back the decklid. It had a wheelbase of 94 inches, an overall length of 13 feet, four inches, and a height of four feet.
While most concept cars looked forward to the future, Mercury went backward in time with the bright yellow XM, a two-door concept that re-introduced the rumble seat, an open-air design from the 1930s. Though a two-seat vehicle, the rear hatch could lift upward into the deck, and a rumble seat would emerge, transforming the car into a four-passenger car, with the rear occupants receiving fresh air. It was displayed at the 1979 Chicago Auto Show.
Source: www.chicagoautoshow.com; Concept Car Central
Images: Concept Car Central; Lincoln-Mercury Public Relations Photograph via www.carsandracingstuff.com
