The interior is black and white. The cord piping is gold and the black part of the seats and back have gold flicks in it. Its a pretty cool look! I believe this is the original interior which does not match up with the data plate. Thanks

"Pack up your Woodie, grab your board, and let's go surfin'"

Really COOL!!

I just recently got a set of those tail lights.  I'll probably try them on the Bird but really got them for the Mainline.

Jim
Norfolk, VA

"MABLE"
1956 Thunderbird Green / Brown Interior (ZE-XG)

"MEAN GREEN"
1956 Mainline (FG-BE)

Nice  looking car.Is the interior in fact Blue?You mentioned something about the code being wrong.

  

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Its nice to know history. Here are a couple of pictures that are not very good but I had on file. This wagon has the original 312 with the WCFB carb for the wagon. It also has the Mercomatic transmission. Thanks again.

Are you sure the M is for Mercury and not the engine code? the Fords put the code first in line in those years, U=272, M=292 and P=312. If the M stands for Mercury then you have no engine code in the serial number.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

I got hold of John Rotella at Lovefords. This is his information.  15 as you know is the color. 684 is Blue interior. 7L is scheduled production date-Nov. 7.  And 213 is the assembly line rotation-whatever that means. I was not aware that the last 2 numbers which indicate transmission and axle code did not start until 1958 except T-Bird which started in 1957 until John mentioned it.Hope this info helps.If the interior does not match the code I would say it is an error in the data plate.Interesting that yours is an early production.Mine was built Nov 22 1955 using several leftover 55 parts like the steering box and air cooled Fordomatic.Perhaps you could post a couple of pics of your wagon.Always interesting to see what other members are driving. John just emailed me back.He would like to get a pic of this car for the Lovefords website.

  

Hi Guys,

I have a Mercury Body Book and this is what it says:

56= year; LA= City Made; 17053= production number (leave the number 1 out)M= Mercury.

BU-79C = Monterey Station Wagon

15= Ext Color; 684 = Interior Trim ; 7= ??? ; L= November;  213= ???

I am stump at what the 7 represents. The book shows the month hyphen then the date. Not 7L. Since nothing is perfect maybe this means November 7th. Not sure

The 213 is the production number for that day. I think.

Maybe I am close enough. If anyone can add anything that would be great.  On a side note the 684 interior is Not whats in the car. The interior thats in the car is original. Not sure how the mix up could have happened. Any thoughts?

I just tried Lovefords.Not as whole lot on Mercury vins.

  

Try Love Fords http://www.lovefords.org/tech/production/default.htm. Lotsa info there.

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

I am guessing this is a Mercury? The 7L is 7 November.The last 3 are transmission and rear axle ratio.In the Ford line 2 is O/D standard trans and the last are only shown in the Ford parts book as a single digit not 2.In Ford the  "1" is a 3.10-1 axle ratio.I am guessing that in Mercury the rear axle is 2 digits.Anyone have a 56 Mercury parts catalogue?