Mercury restyled their lineup for 1955, making them longer with lower styling themes. The top-of-the-line Mercury was the Montclair. It had a modern overhead valve V8 engine, glamorous two-tone paint treatments, and multiple standard and optional amenities. The top of the Mercury line in 1956, the full-size Mercury Montclair was created under the Mercury Marque. The Montclair was introduced to be included in Mercury's premium automobile line.The vehicle name was introduced in 1955 and applied to Mercury's premium automobile line. Ford historians are at a loss as to where the name originated; the consensus is that it's taken from the upper class community of Montclair, New Jersey. For 1955 and 1956, Montclair's featured Mercury's best appointments, extra chrome trim, and different two-tone paint combinations to set them apart from other Mercury products. 1956 was the year that Ford introduced its Lifeguard safety program, and the Mercury Montclair came standard with a deep-dish steering wheel to help protect the driver from the steering column, safety door locks, a breakaway rear view mirror, and optional seat belts and padded dashboards. The dash was redesigned with a new three-tier instrument panel.With a distinct design feature that set it apart and designated it a part of the Montclair series, the vehicle had contrasting color panels that ran beneath the side windows. The Montclair showcased some of Mercury's best features including the two-tone paint combinations and the additional chrome trim. The '56 Mercury Montclair you see here comes from the state of California and is finished in a beautiful two tone blue paint job with matching interior. This appears to us that this is a mostly all original car. From the paint to the seats, the car appears to have never seen any kind of significant restoration. The seats appear to be original for the car and still have the original seat covers on them! We were debating on whether to take the covers off the seats but decided to leave them on to show the originality of the car. The two tone blue paint looks great and does appear to be original for the car. It does show some small dings, nicks and imperfection but overall it retains a good shine and condition. The front and rear bumpers are in good condition with no damage to be found on either. They show a small bit of pitting which is expected from a car of this age but doesn't take away from the beauty of the car. All of the stainless and bright work surrounding the car is in very good condition with no major imperfections to note. The fender skirts are in the trunk and fit with no problems. Inside, the interior appears to be all original with the exception of the carpet. The seats still have the original seat covers on them and appear to be perfect underneath! The carpet is new but the headliner, door panels and kick panels all appear to be original for the car. This is a power bench seat car with period A/C. The steering wheel shows some age as you can see in the photos but nothing major. The car's interior dome light still works between the rear seat. Under the hood, the 312 Cu In V8 runs great and is connected to the Merc-O-Matic automatic transmission. The car starts with no problems and goes down the road with ease. The engine compartment is very clean and original with no damage to be found. In the trunk you will find the original spare and jack along with the original matting. The wheels are all in good condition and are painted to match the body. They are covered with correct Mercury hubcaps with brand new wide white bias ply tires. The underside of the car is very solid and original. The current mileage on the car shows 50,622 and is believed to be original but we have no documentation to prove this. VIN number is 56SL112657M and the car is being sold on a clean California title.