Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

[McGuire]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

Interesting cars and mechanisms. "Screw pins", I don't know what else to call them, came together into sockets which, when turned by speedometer cable-type drives, pulled the stuff together to seal the weather out... The huge trunk had a rectangular fence in the middle of it where you needed to reach over to put your luggage into as all of the perimeter area needed to be kept clear for the top to go...

When Cadillac came out with a retractible hard top a few years ago we were amused to see it demonstrated at a car show...it malfunctioned and 3 or 4 people fiddled with it for a half-hour to get it fixed. We weren't left with the belief that we should have one.

There was a clay artist at GM styling named Francis Scott who rebuilt an almost-new '58 Corvette total. Didn't have a garage so he removed the body and passed it sideways through the front door of his house. While he was at it he converted the car into a retractable hardtop using two of the motors and drive cables from a Ford Skyliner. (Scotty played standup bass in a jazz combo, needed to put down the top to carry his ax.) Really clever setup -- he was awarded a patent on the folding track mechanism, which as a GM employee he had to assign to the company for $1. He showed the car to Bill Mitchell once, who essentially said BFD and walked away. But the thing was so well built it led to stories of a factory Corvette retractable, especially since it was seen around the tech center every day.

Folding hardtops are old news anymore. The current Pontiac G6 version was done by Karman. An international design firm was pitching a Mustang S197 retractable hardtop to Ford not too long ago. (Irony.) For a while the prototype was sitting in the showroom of George Huisman's shop in Novi, Classic Design Concepts. He was giving me a demo of it and sure enough, when the top got to halfway the battery went dead, rrr-rrr-rrr.

[squirrel]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

No hydraulics at all, it was all done with motors and lead screws

[Monk]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

I too remember these as a kid.......it was a treat just to watch the
owner put the top up or take it down

Car had more hydraulics that most machine shops

[squirrel]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

there's a little metal box about 30" square and a foot deep. Not much room! and the trunk is about 8 feet long

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

I was showing Chad and Daphne's kids one of those at Force's show. They were amazed how little usable trunk space they had under that massive deck lid.

[Loren]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

no worries about software glitches!!!!

lol ;D Maybe I'd be able to fix one then...

[mlcraven]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

Gimmicky...I'm always amazed on those very rare occasions I see one in action at a car show that it even works.

But hey, no worries about software glitches!!!!

[Loren]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

Interesting cars and mechanisms. "Screw pins", I don't know what else to call them, came together into sockets which, when turned by speedometer cable-type drives, pulled the stuff together to seal the weather out... The huge trunk had a rectangular fence in the middle of it where you needed to reach over to put your luggage into as all of the perimeter area needed to be kept clear for the top to go...

When Cadillac came out with a retractible hard top a few years ago we were amused to see it demonstrated at a car show...it malfunctioned and 3 or 4 people fiddled with it for a half-hour to get it fixed. We weren't left with the belief that we should have one.

[squirrel]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

Nice cars....pain to fix

The 59 lincoln marks had a similar mechanism on the convertibles, a panel in front of the trunk opened up and the top went down into it, then the panel closed.

I've got to work on a couple, the one that kicked my butt had nothing wrong with it except the repop battery was getting old and didn't have enough reserve capacity to keep the voltage to the relays high enough to hold them closed when the "down" motors engaged.

[58yeoman]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

Since, i don't have you.......

[Turbo Regal]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

I have a friend with a 58 retractable. He wows the kids when he puts the top down!

[Boog]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

I remember one of these being for sale a used car lot in my hometown way back when....If we only knew....

[JRoberts]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

There was one of these for sale at an estate auction near here not long ago. Full of bondo and rust and still went for 10K from what I was told.

Once a nice red and white one was parked near where I was at a car show and the guy was putting the top down and it got stuck. They spent most of the afternoon trying to track down where the problem was. One of those relays, switches or what have you shorted out. They finally got it fixed and the top back up. I know how heavy they are, how much trouble they can be, and really that they are not the best looking examples of a '57 Ford, but boy do they attract my attention whenever they are around.

[Andamo]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

I can remember walking home from school and stopping into the Ford dealer showroom and watching them put the top up and down on a retractable. It was sort of a pink and gray colored car and later someone in town bought it. Even now when I see one at a car show or cruise, I have to walk over and look at them. The 57's are one of my favorite Fords.

[nesabo]

Re: Cool Old Press Photos: '57 Ford Skyliner

My dad always wanted one of those. He bought a crown vic instead when he was in the navy in the late 50's.