(rock music intro)
- Well, this is a shock.
A Ford Skyliner, a retractible, in a junkyard.
Now these were built between 1957 and 1959,
and this one is, of course, a 59,
the third and final year for these things.
These were priced about $350 more
than a regular Sunliner convertible
but are absolutely a very different car.
Now for decades before the arrival of these cars in 1957,
Detroit automakers struggled to combine
the benefits of an open aired convertible,
the sportiness of that, and the weather
tight features of a hardtop.
Well, Ford finally delivered in 1957
with the Skyliner.
With the push of a button inside,
you get a series of electric motors
and hydraulic rams which then raise this roof
which is articulated in two components.
It then folds down underneath the deck lid
which then closes,
and you go from the convenience of a hardtop
to the fun of a convertible.
It's a pretty cool piece.
Now this is an absolute landmark post war automobile.
What a shock it is to see this thing in a junkyard.
Now they're not particularly rare,
but up to three years these were built,
this is by far the most scarce.
The thing with this is that this is Ford's
new one year 1959 body.
It's kind of square, kind of clunky,
but it's also the final application of this,
the forward hinged hood which kind of takes
its cues from the Ford Thunderbird.
In the late 50s, Ford did have an overhead valve
in line six, but it was never available
in the Skyliner in 57, eight, and nine.
The reason is these cars are pretty heavy
with all that mechanism.
And I think Ford figured that the power to weight ratio
would be pretty lame, so as a result,
all Skyliners came with one of three engines.
The 292 y block with 200 horsepower,
the 332 two barrel with 225 horsepower,
or the big dog, the 300 horsepower 352 four barrel.
Which one do we have here?
Let's take a look.
Okay, alright, this looks to be an FE big block.
This is either the 332 or the 352.
And again, 1958 was the first year
for Ford's FE family big block,
and here in 59 is the second application.
Now this engine actually has a lot of legacy.
These actually became big Nascar race engines
in the early 60s at 427 cubic inches,
but here in this car, we see it
in a pretty humble state of tune.
Let's take a closer look at the retractible roof.
Now there's a hinge right here, a seam,
so that when the roof rises up,
it can articulate and fold down underneath
this panel right here.
Now when this goes up, there are rams and hinges
that allow all that to tuck down inside,
and then this closes down quietly and gently.
And wah-la, you go from a hardtop to a convertible
in about one minute's time.
It all happens from the driver's seat.
You just push a button.
Motor has to be running because it takes
a fair amount of electricity to run
all these relays and motors,
but one minute later, you've made the transition.
The Skyliner shared the same basic dash
and instrument cluster as Fairlanes except for one thing.
There's a hole right there where the switch
to actuate the roof used to be.
Now it's specific to these cars,
and it always goes missing.
People grab them for their restorations.
Now keep in mind, this whole system is electric,
but there are no computers involved.
This all happened years before micro processes,
but the same basic idea has been emulated
by Mercedes Benz, BMW, and even Chrysler.
But it happened right here first.
Ford Skyliner.
Cool.
Now if this was mine, well, I got to say,
over 12000 of these cars were built,
so they're not particularly rare.
Trouble is, this one is so rusty
that it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars
to do this thing back to square one,
so I think I would let it go.
I'd part it out as they're doing
so the parts and pieces can allow
other Skyliners to live on.
Speaking of living on, let's move on
and see what else we can find here
at the bone yard.
(rock music)
Oh (laughs), this is that 69 Z28 they're talking about.
(rock music)