President Eisenhower signed into law the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act on June 29th of 1956. This piece of legislation appropriated $25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles of freeways throughout America. This new highway system inspired Mercury to create a concept car for 1956 called the XM Turnpike Cruiser, which soon led to a similar production car that appeared in the brand’s all-new 1957 model line.

The production Mercury Turnpike Cruiser was powered by a new 368 cubic-inch V8 engine that offered 290 horsepower. It came as a two-door or four-door hardtop. The body style had design cues from the jet age, including the first compound-curve windscreen, streamlined and angular tailfins that were referred to as ‘projectiles,’ and ‘Breezaway Ventilation,’ a cabin cooling innovation in which air passed through intakes at the front of the roofline and out of a rear opening left by a retractable rear glass piece, canopied by an extended roof overhang.

Inside, there was a flat-topped elliptical steering wheel, an instrument panel dubbed the ‘Monitor Control Panel’ featuring an unusual speed-averaging computer clock.

Production of the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser would last for only two years, as consumers began to take a greater interest in smaller, more compact vehicles being offered by other marques.