Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
"1957 Mercury Commuter at Hialeah Park racetrack, Miami." The rear vent wing in this 1956 photo of a prototype station wagon never made it to production. Color transparency from the Ford Motor Co. media archive. View full size.
This is a rather plain photo, except for the most likely intended red/green color contrast, so I guess this is only a testshot for a series that sees this car "in action" at the actual racetrack or with a human model/models positioned next to it???
For the car experts here:
The license plate is only a decoy and MX stands for Mercury eXperimental??
Why Miami? Were specific models/variants like this one with the rear went wing aimed at dedicated regions, in this case hot & humid Florida??
And were these showcars usually fully functional and roadworthy or only hulls without an (expensive) engine, serving as eye-candy for photographers / PR events??
Finally, the red-roofed building in the background might be seen here, too:
[The red roof in the photo covers the horse stables. The car is a plaster model (note the non-existent gaps around the doors and gas filler) and doesn't have a dashboard. - Dave]
... that the rear vent wing in this 1956 photo of a prototype station wagon never made it to production. It is really cool!
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5