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 dashboard. The dash was redesigned with a new three tier instrument panel.This 1955 Mercury Montclair comes finished in its original two tone color combination of Alaska White with an Arbor Green top. This is a very original car with just a tasteful restoration being performed in the last few years. The interior has been reupholstered with just new carpet and seats, the rest being original. With a 292 Cu In V8 under the hood connected to the rarely seen automatic transmission, the car is a joy to drive. The correct colored Arbor Green / Alaska White paint looks very good and has been resprayed in the last few years. There are some minor imperfections but overall the paint has a great shine and luster. During the restoration, the chrome was replated and looks better then new now. All of the trim and glass is in very good, original condition and appears to be all original for the car. The stainless trim does show some pitting. Inside, the interior has been reupholstered in its original color and pattern of Arbor Green with White and looks great. The carpet, door panels and seats have all been replaced or reupholstered and look very good. The dash is original as well as the gauges. There is some scratching to the steering wheel and dash as you can see in the photos as well as some pitting to the trim.Under the hood, the 292 Cu In V8 runs very good and is connected to an automatic transmission. The car does have power steering and power brakes. The engine compartment is very clean and nicely detailed and shows no damage. The car is still on the original 6 volt system. The trunk is very clean and solid throughout. The steel wheels are covered with correct Mercury hubcaps and wrapped with wide white bias ply tires. Current mileage shows 48,000 miles and the VIN number is 55LA38533M.