1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner Retractable Hardtop

Singer Stevie Wonder said it best, when he sang " Isn't She Lovely?" (...of course, HE was talking about a person, and in this case, I'm referring to a car. Those who know me completely understand my unusual affection for the four wheel wonders...and Stevie's very cool too. Haha). Ford Motor Company's new for '57 Fairlane featured a wider body and improved suspension, and gained more power under the hood from it's 312 V8 engine. And, as with most American cars of the era, it sported tail fins . Along with this new body style, Ford also introduced the first American production car that featured a "retractable hardtop", (something that took the rest of the automobile world a mere 40 years to finally produce).

Ford offered two convertibles for the 1957 model year. The usual cloth roofed Sunliner, and the Skyliner. They were longer, and had dream car styling that made it look like something from a more expensive, luxurious brand. Because of this, Ford Motor Company exceeded it's prior 1955 sales record, and outproduced rival Chevrolet for the first time in a few decades.

The name "Skyliner" was borrowed from Ford's 1954 through 1956 Plexi- Roofed Hardtop, and was offered in the Fairlane 500 series. It was the type of technology that consumers expected as the "Space Age" began to unfold .

Built at a completely separate assembly line by skilled technicians, the Hartop would neatly tuck and fold into the trunk at the touch of a button, and was completely hidden from sight, giving it a sleeker top down look. A slew of motors, relays and wires raised  a rear hinged panel from the Fairlanes new longer rear deck, and the top would slide into a deep well. The deck then closed over it. Gone.

Contrary to what some would say about problems with "less than foolproof" operation (no doubt from "haters" or from the competition..same thing), it was pretty reliable , and quite a crowd pleaser. At around a 30% price difference from the regular convertible, it catered to the affluent buyer, and only made up about 2% of Ford Fairlane's 1957 sales.

It's trunk space was limited to a small box due to the storage of the retractable top, and the added hardware necessary to make it all happen made the Skyliner a bit pricey at $2,942...about $437 more than the cloth topped Sunliner, but still sold pretty good at 20,766 units, although shadowed by the Sunliner sales total of 77,726 units.

Sales eventually tapered off, spelling doom for the Skyliner, and it was dropped from the production ranks in 1959. Today, a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner Retractable Hardtop can sell anywhere from $40 K and up in good to mint condition. It's notoriety did see a spike in the early 1990's due to the Andrew "Dice" Clay movie , "Ford Fairlane", when his  namesake movie character "Rock & Roll Detective" drove a red and white Skyliner in the flick. As the Diceman would say...the 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner Retractable Hardtop is.."UN...( expletive)...be-lieve-a-ble!"