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Topic starter
08/01/2024 9:58 pm
Here are some pictures of the really attractive Mercury Palomar station wagon show car at the 1962 Chicago Automobile Show. I probably saw this one for real in '62 but these are other images that were taken of this beauty. It seems to feature a retractable rear roof section and a raising third seat section. It certainly would make an interesting model in any scale.
08/01/2024 10:02 pm
Very interesting car Mike. I would have guessed it was 1961 Chevrolet based.
08/01/2024 11:36 pm
Interesting the Mercury had the retractable roof, which was then developed in the early 2000's Chevrolet Trailblazers and GMC Envoy.
Topic starter
09/01/2024 12:25 am
The retractable roof is an exceptionally neat feature. Our 1963 Studebaker Wagoneer station wagon had a manually retractable roof section over the rear part of the wagon. Very cool feature!
09/01/2024 6:00 am
Interesting concept, I see only a few extremely subtle design clues that suggests this is a Mercury. I agree with Jack; this wagon looks more like GM property.
09/01/2024 6:28 am
No, I don't see any obvious Mercury styling cues, but I don't see even the faintest hint of '61 Chevy either, and (to put it mildly) it's hard to imagine that FoMoCo would ever build a show car based on a GM design and display it on a Lincoln-Mercury stand??? It's hard to be sure but the windscreen/windshield could just be borrowed from a 1960 Ford. Even stranger, the roofline and roof pillars and those grab handles on the rear pillars look distinctly like those on the 1960-61 Chrysler wagons.
This post was modified 2 years ago by Graeme Ogg
Graeme.M. Ogg
London U.K.
09/01/2024 6:37 am
Interesting concept, I see only a few extremely subtle design clues that suggests this is a Mercury. I agree with Jack; this wagon looks more like GM property.
Make that three of us. The rear/side view really does show a Chevy-look. Overall, the car is super attractive!
09/01/2024 6:42 am
Good eye Graeme! A very close comparo there.
On the first of Mike's photos, the side, to me, resembles the side of a 61 Chevy; not the rear or front.
09/01/2024 7:09 am
@graeme-ogg The subtle-Mercury-design cues I see are these (grill layout & side spear contrast)  ...and yes, it's a stretch I know! 😯
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09/01/2024 7:19 am
It also struck me that the shallow grille with a continuous thin chrome line running right round it and around the close-set twin headlamps, and the general bonnet/hood shape are vaguely reminiscent of '63 Ford styling. Vaguely.
Graeme.M. Ogg
London U.K.
09/01/2024 8:22 am
Good eye Graeme! A very close comparo there.
On the first of Mike's photos, the side, to me, resembles the side of a 61 Chevy; not the rear or front.
+1Â That's how I see it as well Tony.
09/01/2024 9:32 am
Ford played with wagon designs in the early and mid-sixties. This Mercury design study predated the Aurora, which came out in '65. You can see some family resemblance with huge glassy areas, an overall smoother appearance, and fantasy interiors.
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John Kuvakas
Warrenton, VA
09/01/2024 9:40 am
WOW; that's futuristic. I like it. The front end, from a side view, looks like the T-Bird.
09/01/2024 9:46 am
@jkuvakas John, I see the front fender design as that of the 61/63 bullet Thunderbirds and the side trim of the 61 Pontiacs.