Ford did a proverbial mic drop when it added the retractable hardtop “Skyliner” option to the top-of-the-line Fairlane 500 in 1957.
Let’s say that again:
1957. Retractable. Hardtop.
At its debut, the 1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner was the only mass-produced car in the world to have one—an engineering marvel to make Rube Goldberg smile.
The mechanism to lower the hardtop consisted of seven individual electric motors, all operating in a precise sequence. The system incorporated levers, folding sections, and articulating arms, and the whole raising/lowering process took about a minute to complete.
You can watch Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo demonstrate it here:
When stowed, the massive hardtop hid under an equally-massive decklid. In lieu of a now-absent trunk, there was a small compartment in the boot that could store some luggage.
Suffice it to say, early Skyliners are rare. We practically tripped over ourselves scrambling to grab pictures of this one after we saw it roll in to the Summit Racing retail store parking lot in Tallmadge, OH.
It’s easy to tell the year for this one. (We didn’t even have to check the license plate this time, Bart.)
First things first, we know Ford only made Fairlane 500 Skyliners from 1957-59.
This Lot Shots Fairlane sports single front headlights which is a dead giveaway that it’s a 1957 edition. In 1958, Ford Fairlanes adopted a quad-headlight arrangement which carried over into 1959 as well.
1957 Fairlanes also had several other distinguishing features, including a much different rear end than later models, so we’re pretty dang confident that this is indeed a ’57.
Unfortunately, the hardtop mechanism proved to be too maintenance-intensive and expensive to catch on, and Ford abandoned the retractable hardtop after 1959.
It would be almost 50 years later before retractable hardtops became mainstream, making it easy to describe the Skyliner as ahead of its time.
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God ain’t she pretty you just about here Dion the Belmonts in the background I did a 57 Sunliner like that that’s the ragtop candy apple red and white with a continental kit they’re sure pretty aren’t they there beautiful car too bad things aren’t cool like that now at least back then we knew whose cars they were and they had one hell of a personality and also defined who our personalities were bye what we drove and who we were thanks for sharing
I have a rare 1957 Fairlane convertible with a VR 57 supercharger on it, wire wheels, T89, 3speed Manuel
Transmission, it’s just about ready to go to a
Carlisle PA, to join the real Ford officianado and my be have several skykiners to keep her company!
I presently own a 1957 Ford Custom 2-Door Car with a 312 cu.in.V-8 Engine with a 4-speed Manual Transmission.
I would love to have one. But they cost money.
I just got one 1959 retractable hardtop
Wow,congratulations to all, the cars are one of a kind in my book!!. My dream car is 58 retractable. Found one in Del., but chickens out and now regret it. Dream on and ever forward, frank