Mercury Turnpike Cruiser
Mercury Turnpike Cruiser
1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser

Making a conscious effort to stand out from GM, Ford mostly ignored tailfins, but its designs were equally awful in their own way. Chief among them on the Turnpike Cruiser were rear fender side channels, twin air intakes at the top of the windshield, a retractable rear window for "Breeze-way" ventilation, and a three-tone paint job.

The car remained in production for only two years. Troublesome electronics and poor assembly quality were partly to blame, but a bigger problem was the unmistakable air of poor taste. Wrote one reviewer: "As one of the great artifacts from the age of automotive excess, it was the wrong product with the wrong features, built at the wrong time and for all the wrong reasons."


Last updated June 21 2011: 2:05 PM ET
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