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Up for auction is a rare 1958 Ford Skyliner Fairlane 500 convertible with the famous Retractable Hardtop! This was the first regular production convertible with an automatically retracting fold away hardtop ever made, was manufactured by Ford for only three years 1957-1959, and each year sported it's own distinctive body style. Only 14,713 of these retractables were made in 1958, (which was also the first year for quad headlights) considered a milestone car, and with less than a 10 percent survival rate these Skyliners are very rare indeed! Here's a chance to own a very restorable survivor at a very reasonable price.
I purchased this car out of northern CT a couple of years ago with the intention of fully restoring it, but as the old story goes, I have 5 other projects in line ahead of her, and won't have the chance to get working on her anytime soon, so it's time to pass her on to someone else. I love late 50's convertibles, and the look of these Skyliners, so it hurts to let her go. The car has been stored indoors in a classic car garage in Shenandoah Pennsylvania since I purchased her, and will need to be picked up there, or you can leave her where she is, and just take over the monthly storage payments-which are a very reasonable $55 per month, and she'll sit safe until you are ready to come get her! They take good care of the cars where she is, and they have a loading area for large trailers and trucks, the tires hold air, so access for pick up is not an issue.
The car is mostly solid, but like all 50 year old classic cars, project or other-wise, you will need to deal with some rust issues, mostly the rear floor pans behind the seats, and a spot or two in the usual places, deck lid edge, wheel wells, etc. At least here you can see what you're dealing with, this is the original paint, and problems are not hidden under layers of bondo and shiny new enamel that might look nice now, but you'd be paying for in the purchase price and eventually have to strip off anyway. Why pay thousands for somebody else's paint job? All in all, she's in very good shape sheet metal wise, with a solid frame, good glass, and not a rust bucket.
The car is missing it's engine, trans and original seats (someone placed some 60's era buckets in her, worth $ to someone out there, or use them, they come with the car), and much of the trim. It appears that someone previously dis-assembled this in preparation to start a resto. Those parts did not come with the car when I purchased it, I bought it as you see it. The good news is that Ford FE engines are all over eBay for very reasonable prices, usually about $400 for re-buildable examples, same for the trannys, which are cheaper. And unlike GM, Ford did not stamp their engines, trannys, etc. with the cars' serial number, so if you replace them with ones with the correct date code for 1958, you are good to go originality and show-wise. But I think the way to go here is to just get a donor Hardtop or sedan once you finish off the body. It's way cheaper than buying individual parts.
Think about it- this actually will save you a ton of time and effort, since you would have had to pull out the engine anyway to paint and detail the engine compartment correctly, pull the trim, bumpers and interior out for body work, paint, re-chrome, etc., which is always a pain and takes forever. Find a place to put and store it all without tripping over it while you work on the car, then figure out where everything is and how it goes back together a few years later. At least here, the major dis-assembly work is out of the way,(somebody else has done it) so you are starting at a stage where you can just get to work on the car, have easy access to everything and gather what you need for re-assembly down the road at your own pace as you need it. All the important stuff is still here, which is all of the retractable stuff, switches, pumps, mechanicals, glass,etc.. As for the trim, 99% will inter-change with any Ford 500 level trim series car, and Ford made lots of them. There are a few pieces like the rear quarter moulding which are Skyliner specific, but I've seen everything that's needed listed on ebay many times. Any other missing parts will interchange out of just about any 1958 Ford car, so that's the easy part. My plan was to pick up a cheap beater sedan or hardtop donor eventually (you see several every week on eBay) swap over what was needed when was I was ready and store the rest for spares or list them on ebay probaby recover the cost of the whole car. With a donor car, your parts are on the hoof, you can just pull off what you need, when you need it, clean it up and swap it over. You can see how it's assembled on the donor, so you're not scratching your head looking at a bag of nuts, screws, and bolts you pulled three years ago wondering how they go back on the car.You can always find tons hardtops and sedans cheap, but you can't build a convertible with a retractable hardtop unless you have one, and very few of them remain in existance. Ford made over 960! Thousand (that's almost a million in a recession year!) hardtops and sedans in 1958, but less than 15 thousand of these convertibles. What you see in the pictures is what you get in this auction, which is exactly how I purchased this car originally (and I considered myself very lucky to find one in this price range in as good shape!). The starting price is less than a replacement bumper for a new Honda!
The car did not come with a title, but there are several companies listed in Hemmings that will provide you one for a reasonable fee when you are ready. I can provide the buyer with a bill of sale. Basically this car will need a through restoration, but as Tim Allen once said at a car show; "restorations all cost about the same amount of $, so restore a car that means something." You could use this Skyliner for parts (and I have started the listing well below what just the parts here would cost from a dealer on eBay)-that would be up to the buyer, but I think that would be a shame, since this is a very restorable example, and they are not making any more of them. It would also make a cool custom-and you can be sure you'll be the only guy at the show with one of these.
Drive up with a cool late 50's two toned hardtop, flip the switch, and everyone will marvel for 60 seconds as the gigantic metal top lifts straight up into the air, folds in two, your deck lid opens and the top draws back and disappears into the trunk, which closes over it automatically! Now you are sitting pretty behind the wheel of a late 50's super big-long- and wide convertible! Awesome. Flip the switch again, and the process reverses.Toggle it, and the top will stop and sit folded in mid-air! You can do your Transformer thing sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to change! Picture the face of the kid in the lowrider next to you, looking over and reving his engine while his sub-woofer is blaring! Think of those guys who paid 40K or more just to get a 58' Chevy Belaire convertible body shell in this kind of condition. They have to get out and pull up the vinyl top! The last picture is an example of what this car will look like finished.
I have described this car to the best of my ability, please consider that you are bidding on a project car that will need a full restoration, and that this car is being sold as is, where is. All in all, this is your chance to own a fantastic and distinctive late 1950's full size convertible, and the only one that ever came with a retractable hardtop, in a price range that will allow you take your time and re-build it right. When done, you will have an awesome car, like no other on the road, and she will be worth a ton of $. Good luck enjoy!
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