Recently in the 1960 Lincoln CC, there was some talk in the comments about how wild the 1957 Mercury was, especially the Turnpike Cruiser. Well guys, unfortunately there aren’t any daily driver ’57 Mercs around here (maybe Laurence Jones could find one in his neck of the woods?) but here’s the next best thing – mini Turnpike Cruisers!
The 1957 Mercury was totally different from the 1957 Fords, it was one of those rare Mercurys with its own identity. And what an identity! Space race gadgetry and chrome doodads were everywhere, but the top of the line Turnpike Cruiser really took the cake. It is perhaps the only production car with hood and trunk ornaments. It also featured the “Breezeway” retractable backlight one year before Lincoln, and a squared off steering wheel that was several years ahead of Chrysler’s rectangular tillers.
The 1/64 scale hardtop is a new release by M2 Machines, and it has great detail for its size. It also has opening doors and hood, a rarity in this scale. I don’t want to shill for any particular retailers, but these are not too hard to find. The red and white is the first version, but a blue and white one is due to be released in the near future. I’ll probably have to get one of those, too.
The convertible was released in about 2001 by Ertl, they also made a ’57 Chevy and ’57 Chrysler 300. They were available in a 3-car set or individually. They also made an Indy 500 pace car version of the Mercury, though I never got one of those. There are no opening features, but it has a lot of detail and nice paint. Mine came with its own plastic display case, but I took it out long enough to get these pics.
As for the 1957 Mercurys, they didn’t do too bad, though sales were down by about 42,000 from 1956. The Turnpike Cruiser was a flop, with less than 17,000 built out of 286,000 1957 Mercurys. The convertible was by far the rarest, with only 1,265 made. They are very collectible today however, with their multiple gadgets, gold anodized trim in the rear coves, and air ducts built into the windshield, complete with fake antennas sticking out.
As with so many memorable Fifties cars, many are available in diecast form. There are many more Turnpike Cruisers available than these two, of that I’m sure!
This would go nicely with the 59 Galaxies i found In Amsterdam 1990.
As a child one of the 1-18 cars i played with was a promo 1960 Mercury Coupe… Top line then Was What a Park Lane Montclair? Well we lived in Montclair and I Dont remember any talk of this car named for the place, though a neighbor had a 65 breezeaway in Aqua. I May have asked Why Not a Montclair?! even.
But I played with That red Mercury with fender skirts forever. it rolled nice on the upstairs carpet, where i kept her hidden under the night table, next to a 64 chrysler turbine car w ith similar quality rolling suspended wheels
in emberglow///where is that now?
If i were to guess, I’d estimate that they remained parked after being played with for the last time under that table till the movers came upon them in 1977 when my parents moved on.
Yeah, the ’57 Turnpike Cruiser was a step too far. And it should have given somebody some second thoughts about the soon-to-be released Edsel, although the TC was (I believe) a mid-year model so there wasn’t too much lead time between it and the Edsel. There was a ’58 TC, but I believe it had been dropped to the bottom or near-bottom of the Mercury line, and wasn’t nearly so festooned with gew-gaws.
In ’58 the Turnpike Cruiser was still near the top of the line, but a “super Mercury” called the Park Lane was introduced as the most expensive Mercury.
My father made a career change into real estate and bought one of these for taking clients around. I was five and even I knew it was awful. Thankfully real estate didn’t last long and neither did the Turnpike Cruiser.
My uncle Charlie bought a Cruiser new, white roof and sides with red hood and trunk. Had the gold trim on the side back, no continental kit, though. I thought it was the greatest car ever. I can remember riding with him, with his snap brim cap and sunglasses, smoking his ever present pipe. Cruising at 70 MPH was effortless, I had never been in a car going so fast. My Dad had a dull, drab lime green 51 Chevy at the time; he never drove over 50.
The interior was deluxe. A leather padded dash with 2 tone seats. He had the car till about 1965, when he traded it on a mundane 63 4 door Newport. I remember asking him why he got rid of the Merc. He said it was worn out.
That Merc was the prettiest car anyone in my family ever had.
My Danbury Mint Turnpike Cruiser is Red and White and gorgeous!
One reason sales on the 1957 models sank so much from 1956 was that Mercury raised its prices A LOT. Where the 56 had been battling Pontiac and Dodge, the 57 was moving way upmarket to fight Chryslers and Buicks at the upper end. The plan was for Edsel to slot into the DeSoto/Oldsmobile price range. But we all know how that plan went. Mercury never took root in the new price range, and by 1961 it was advertising itself as just a few bucks above the low priced 3. Oh well.
I suspect that McNamara’s ascendency at Ford put the kibosh on the grand mid-50s plan to go head to head with GM. It eventually turned out to have been a good thing.
To me, the continental kits seem like 1950s equivalents of today’s “vinyl roof treatment w/gold trim package and rear wing spoiler”. Meaning: A tacky trim option which is offered simply because there are people (with bad taste) who will pay for it. Yuck!
These are so cool! Gotta show them to Lily, b-day’s coming up!
So, I’m looking at pictures of ’57 Turnpike Cruisers in another tab and I have a question. The photos show both dual and quad headlight versions of these cars. It looks like these toys have the quad headlights. I knew I had seen both before. Is this because the quads were not legal in all states? Or, are the quad versions really 58’s?
Automakers hadn’t yet cleared the quad headlights with all states until later in CY1957, so I think some cars had provision for either single or dual headlights installations. (I don’t know if the TC was one of them.) By the time the ’58 models went on sale, I believe they’d worked it out with state lighting laws.
All ’57 Turnpike Cruisers had 4 headlights. The Canadian Monarch Turnpike Cruiser, however, had 2 headlights.
I admit that I absolutely LOVE these cars because they are so garish, kitschy, caricaturial, wrong, and extravagant.
There was a 57 Mercury in my home town years ago not a Turnpike cruiser but a lesser model privately imported and RHD converted using a chaindrive system its still in NZ as a friend looked at buying recently but its the ONLY 57 Merc here you cant mistake those tailamps.
Very cool – I have the Ertl convertible (same colour) as well as their 57 Chrysler. Also have a very similar Edsel convertible. Nice. I do enjoy these miniature CCs!
Would you be interested in selling the M2 Turnpike Red/White R16? I would appreciate a response by email. Thank you!
I have a 1/64 ’57 Turnpike Cruiser but I can’t remember what brand it is.