THE LARGEST FIBERGLASS CAR BY FORD | MERCURY D528
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- The D-528 was built to test advanced concepts in seating, lighting, air conditioning, and front frame design. The hinged rear fender bulges were functional, concealing a spare tire on one side and a gas tank on the other. Such a design gave the car adequate luggage capacity despite the need to accommodate a large air conditioning system. Although it boasted design features such as a pillarless windshield and Ford’s first reverse-sloping retractable rear window, it was an in-house research vehicle that was never shown publicly. “Beldone” was a stage name selected by Paramount Pictures for the car’s appearance in the 1964 Jerry Lewis movie, The Patsy, not an official Ford designation.
when you think you know everything and then Petersen teaches you something new ... priceless !
Hi guys,
I am the chap who bought this car from Bob Butts and restored it. My company, The Guild of Automotive Restorers spent two years researching and restoring the car.
We actually removed all the rigging and wiring from the spfx on the Patsy and corrected a lot of the damage done during its time as a film prop.
By the way it was also in Back to the Future.
The interior is almost original in that we found the original under several different layers. It was in very poor shape so we did actually replicate it so what you see is what they did exactly matched with period fabrics.
The colour was also a challenge. There was not one part that had not been attacked and painted and it required us to completely strip the car down. We finally found the original copper colour under a plate on the firewall.
It’s first appearance after we restored it was at The Concours of the United States in Bethlehem. It did not make the field.
Despite our protests a parking marshal demanded we unload it on a very steep bit of road despite the fact the car only had operational rear brakes.
As it was rolling off the trailer the throttle link jammed in the firewall and she ran away. I just missed a Pierce Arrow right behind us but swung it onto the verge. Then it went over the cliff. Fortunately there was a large tree 15 feet down and I managed to steer into it stopping the car from an 80 foot drop.
It wad loaded and headed home for a lot more work as it was pretty heavily damaged.
It finally made the Concours at Meadowbrook Hall in Detroit where executives including Chairman Jack Nassar became very excited that it still existed.
We were asked to show with their modern concepts which was quite an honour. They also presented us with a wonderful silver Ford Design department car cover and a huge dossier on the car’s development, courtesy of Mr. Nasser.
On a final note, when we stripped the car down there were penciled sketches and assembly instructions under panels and other areas. Those all still exist.
It was a pleasant surprise seeing it, glad the paint is holding up so well. Just don’t try driving it on the road. At about 30mph it starts to dart all over the road and becomes unmanageable.
Cheers,
David Grainger,
The Guild, Restoration Garage.
Hi David. I watched all your episodes on TV in Australia. Really enjoyed the builds you guys did and the actual show. You and your guys made some beautiful cars, and the skills your team had were out of this world. Have you considered doing another show? I would watch it no problems. Cheers from Australia.
That was very interesting,I’m glad you fixed after that close call ! I always enjoyed watching your shows
This is a brilliant story.
Wow, heck of a story there with the steep hill incident! I've seen this car at The Pete but not the history behind it. Great to see the ideas that made it to production years later. The gas tank and spare were like that on the station wagons with folding third seats.
I'm Tom Maruska, I owned and restored the 1963 Thunderbird Italien concept car, the 1954 Mercury XM-800 concept car and am currently restoring the 1956 Mercury XM-Turnpike Cruiser Concept car.
The XM-800 was Fords first venture into fiberglass cars, even the bumpers and most of the britework on the car were fiberglass and chrome plated, something else that was new for the day. Is the D528 REALLY the biggest fiberglass car built by Ford? Not that it really makes any difference but I think the XM-800 would rival that claim. BTW, beautiful restoration! Thanks for saving it!
www.tommaruskacars.us
What a fantastic example of artistry and innovation.
Wow! Another historical car that I've never heard of. Thankfully, Barris didn't chop it all up and it was able to be restored to original specification.
This thing is a mess, Barris wouldn't want to touch it, the Batmobile is art. 🚗
What a truly interesting car and story! Thanks for showing us this cool car from automotive history.
Thank you so much! I wasn't even remotely aware of this prototype! It's so gorgeous!
You are so welcome!
This is what I love about classic cars. The styling cues, body contours, chrome, character and unique. Today's car's almost look the same, over priced plastic on wheels.
Very interesting. I love it when I find a car that I've never seen before. I go a while thinking I've seen them all. And then this Merc happens.
❤ the copper color with the black roof . And the roof & rear roof with the sloping rear glass & the way the roof line eventually meets the rear lid / fender is sweet . The smooth contours of the inner door lining also caught my eye . Thx 4 sharing.
How amazing. It is fifteen years ahead. Lightly chromed and sits low and it is wide like a sixties or seventies car. Mind blowing.
Amazing history of an unknown experimental concept car
Wow, this is sure a new one I wasn't aware of. Great coverage of the good and the bad. One point: the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser had a reverse sloping rear window in 1957. Thanks for an interesting look at a behind-the-scenes study.
Great episode. Lot's of FUN learning about this car.
Thank you very much. That back window reminds me exactly of the Lincoln Continental In which it did go up-and-down
Fascinating. Really enjoyed this.
Trunk volume is always measured in bodies. I'd say this was an eight body trunk
That car was in a Jerry Lewis movie called The Patsy
Very cool, really enjoyed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gotta love that car thank you it was awesome
Nice, video, I would also love to see more of the interior
A fairly clean design for the mid 50's. You can see a little of the first Continental in the front end.
Some reminders of the Loewy 1953 Studebaker Starliner coupe on the side silohette and the rear trucklid design as well as the front windshield area. The interior looks a bit like Raymond Loewy or the Jetson. Overall, a very dreamy and slick design.
It has almost no fifties gimmicks. Incredibly clean design. Vague resemblance to the mark it.
That was pretty damn good
Wooow, simplemente hermoso e impresionantes, gracias por tan maravilloso material
Very Interesting Video... I'm a Big Jerry Lewis Fan and Never Saw the movie or Heard of this Car. Thanks for Sharing
This proved to be VERY interesting! Thank you.
I have thought about the diffused heat and AC for years. Wish it was offered today.
Most interesting design. The front end is ten years ahead in styling. I can't deal with the big 'butt cheek' rear fenders.
Butt cheek lol amazing hubcaps perfect for the trash can, why has it taken so long for manufacturing to come up with some thing in wheel design (useless wheel covers, made of stainless steel what a waste)
I Wish today's cars were Half as Stylish as the cars from the 50-60's! Today it's hard to tell apart any midsize or crossover!
The Mercury XM-800 is another car of this era. It was predominately fiberglass also right down to its "chromed" fiberglass bumpers.
Love it.... although, that grill.. Only its mother could love.
That particular car says "Studebaker Concept" to me, more than it says "Mercury Concept"...
The doors and roofline have a distinct Stude vibe... It has Raymond Lowey written all over it.
Didn't the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser of 1958 have the back window that went down between the back seat and trunk ?
Even in 57, and also English Fords like the "Harry Potter" type Anglias and the Consul Classic. On those small cars the idea made for a larger trunk/boot lid.
Nice video thanks
1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser I believe had a back window like that, and I think that it went down like the '65's.
Grill straight up looks like a harmonica.
music to our ears
@@PetersenMuseum 😆
In the second-season Outer LImits episode "The Duplicate Man," the car was one of two "futuristic" cars (the other was a Barris-customized Buick Riviera).
He said B pillars when he meant A pillars
No, "B pillars" is correct. The car didn't have A pillars (windshield posts).
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Very very interesting. Looking forward to your next car. 😏 🚘
I’ll have a pint of what that designer was drinking!
Used in the Outer Limits episode "The Duplicate." It was supposed to reflect a car from the year 2025.
As a current owner of 2 Ford cars, and of several other Ford cars, Mercury cars, and a Ford truck, who has been driving for nearly 55 years, I am a bit surprised that this is a Ford/Mercury design as it looks somewhat GM-ish to me. Well, except for that reverse slant rear window. Did any other car company besides Ford and Citroen ever use that in a production car?
Packard did the "Predictor" concept with reverse slant but not in production.
He should refer to the Mercury Monterrey which had the reverse sloping rear window that went down.
The Color reminds me of the Chrysler Turbine Car.
A Hofmeister Kink before BMW started using them in 61.
So this is the Mercury D-528, just imagne the 527 previous ''Dreams'' they had!. lol
.....as someone who's been designing cars out of love, it is very hard to come up with a design a bit different than the contemprorary and turn out well, and considering the designs present in it's time, the D-528 is a good attempt to bring out a new style without been a blatent copy of an existing model, not bad when you think of early-mid '50's.
Safety wasn't the issue because skill at driving was paramount now we have cars that drive themselves because the drivers are neglecting their cars and looking at their phones or screens, or couldn't drive anyways if those didn't exist.
You can say you are "The" Jerry Lewis Fan because I don't think there are two
Check out the 1954 film "Woman's World" featuring several Ford dream cars of the 50's.
It's a good thing Mercury or Ford didn't show it because, what the hell: gas tank on the left top? Yeah, what happen if an auto accident hits it? That would've been the first car that the Pinto got the inspiration to put the tank way back for its collision. Hell no i wouldn't put that out on the showroom if safety wasn't on the designer's mind...
I'm surprised the gaps weren't fixed.
With the tv connections Ford had that resulted in the Futura/Batmobile tie-in, this would have been an interesting basis for a Green Hornet tie-in, had Chrysler not been tapped for that show. (BTW, in the original Green Hornet movie serials the Green Hornet drove a " supposedly " modified Lincoln Zephyr capable of speeds near 200 MPH.)
I would have enjoyed the video more if more of the engine specs were covered.
And this car is a better vehicle than most of the crap that actually gets put on the raod each year now.
A Ford vehicle with an iffy fuel tank placement? No! They'd never do that, certainly not on a production car.
I see several makes in that design. Cadillac roof,
Lol, you could fit a golfball through some of those panel gaps!
Looks like it could have been made in the 2020's
When futer cars were exciting and not depressing souless ipads on wheel that you have to charge for 8 hours.
Nice looking car except for the rear fender bulges that ruin the lines.
Cool...
P.A.M. ..............my uncle who was rear turret gunner in the B-25 had a 64 mercury monterey with the breeze way back window
What if the Edsel had resembled this?
I believe that would be the( A piller) they replaced..oops
I bet it creaks in the sunlight...
🤔
I love how these millionaire guys horde the cool cars and think that they are doing a great service to give you the opportunity to look at them!
Thank goodness for the rich guys doing this great service otherwise they wouldnt have survived. Who is going to save them? Not us everyday working Joes.
LOL, so you'd rather have someone using it as a winter beater for a few years, then turning it in to the scrap-it program for a credit on a new electric car?
Bagie resemblance to the mark ii.
I think the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser had the slanted rear window which also could be lowered in 1957. One year earlier than the Lincoln.
This car was also a badly-abused "prop" in a Jerry Lewis movie from the early Sixties (I may have the years wrong). Ford DID let the car get away from the corporation at least for a dumb movie.
Sorry, just saw the reference to the very bad Barris/Lewis era and movie.
Mercury thunderbird.
But will it do a burn out?
WW2? We had just ended the Korean war.
Cobra XCL
427 CAMMER
FIBERGLASS BODY.
?
Interesting car but the video doesn't show much of it other than the exterior, really nothing of the interior, trunk showed nothing, would have liked to have seen more of where the gas tank was and spare tire, and only a brief flash of the engine!,,,
they should have put this one out and hid the Edsel
Mercury same FG body.
They didn't show this to the public because its utterly hideous!
Funny car lift off body.?
Good job it never made it to production, I know that thing would drive like a bag of shit, Its a floppy piece of plastic that would never work, It would have scuttle shake equal to an earthquake LOL
That thing is incredibly ugly.
I bet you drive a Japanese car🤡🤡🤡