Mike Hayes found a ’59 Ford Skyliner lurking in a parking lot. I thought it might make a nice bit of contrast to the Facel-Vega posted a while back. Talk about different approaches to end up with a coupe. Well, a coupe-cabriolet, in this case, as the Skyliner was the US pioneer in retractable hardtops.
But I always thought Ford missed a niche opportunity: turn the slow-selling Skyliner into an extended-cab Ranchero.
Who needs a 7′ bed on a passenger car utility? Imagine an almost 5′ bed behind the cozy cabin of the Skyliner instead. Still plenty of room to haul a few bales of hay or those big milk cans used back then. Or whatever Rancheros did (or didn’t) haul back then.
More like firewood and coolers. This is the first time I’ve stumbled into this ad, and it says a lot. Beautiful young adults having fun on the beach, thanks to the Rancheros, “America’s first work or play truck”. All the more reason to have a 5-6 seater version.
–My CC on the original ’57 Ranchero is here
Note: A rerun of an older post.
In the late 1970’s these tank like Rancheros were often used to haul dirt bikes to the Desert .
Easy enough to stiffen up the suspension they rode well when loaded .
-Nate
Theres a local guy with a blue n white retractable that displays at all the shows with the mechanism displayed partway through the motions – pretty amazing tech for back then.
As it happens, I was reading an old Collectible Auto article on Ranchero vs Camino. When Ford started planning the ’52 Ranch Wagon they planned a ute version in parallel for the Aussie market. But the ’57 to ’59 were not parallel to the Aussie, because Australia continued making ’56 Fords in those years. So the ’57 to ’59 were only US.
Yes, confusingly New Zealand got Mainline 56/7/8 utes from Aussie and actual 57/8/9 cars from North America.
This was at Cadillac Jacks about 6 years ago
Skyliner, Sunliner, Starliner. Always understood the openness to the air first part and (eventually) learned the Ford vehicle application, but “liner” implies vessel or ship, as if being on a cruise? Whatever it means, even if slightly confusing for some, the names certainly are catchy, and you have to give Ford credit for some interesting branding in those days.
These are known these days as land yachts, so the name aged well. Ocean liners were a lavish and luxurious experience, so the nomenclature evokes that. Ford focused on the open sky, and the step-up Mercury line focused on space travel (Meteor, Comet) in the following years.
Can’t believe all the new crew cab trucks with the short beds. Can’t believe people actually buy them.
You and me both, but they’re selling like the proverbial hotcakes.
I’d say more but I’d probably get in trouble.
Yes, kind of difficult to haul a ton of hay or a full cord of wood! Or a piece of plywood. And for giggles I checked out a Cybertruck last Dec. and asked the salesguy if I could do those things with it, plus haul my gooseneck horse trailer. Of course the answer was no, so why do they call it a truck? And for clarification, a real truck is a commercial vehicle. I used to drive dump trucks.
No Ford got it right the first time. The Skyliners are beautiful cars with nothing that needs to be taken away from them.
Sadly, I once saw a Skyliner being used as a Ranchero back in the late 1960s. By that time, no many people knew how to repair the top mechanism, and the retractable hardtops were just considered old used cars. One complaint about these cars was that they had no trunk space. Of course, that was not true even with the top down – albeit a small trunk space in the preverbal “Tub”. However, with the top down, it almost had the trunk space of a Ranchero. Usually the next phase of those Skyliners that were used as a trunk, was the junk yard and then the crusher.
The Skyliner with the retractable top in the ‘up’ position has an exagerated almost cartoonish look to t. This out of proportion look makes it look like a ‘scale’car model made by (you guessed it) Palmer.
I don’t know how old you are, but at the time the extended trunk was popular with Pontiac and others. The squared off roof was a real novelty in the era of the bubbletop and of course it became the preferred look in the 60s. So what I’m saying is at the time the look was considered classy and current. I guess you had to be there.
I understand you could say that and Palmer model kits were always cartoonish.
A tangent: 1959 raised-roof ‘ambulance conversion’ wagon, but Ford itself is helping it to market as a stylish commercial vehicle for caterers and such: https://www.facebook.com/groups/386263337230622/permalink/719842367206049/
I agree. Why are people paying 75k for a 5 ft bed truck.?
A cheap US sourced moredoor pickup starts at 110K here a cheap Chinese pickup is 48k, a best selling Ranger is 75K and they are literally everywhere.
Yea, I was gonna say, 75K sounds like a Small truck or something.
It’s Crazy. Just Crazy.
Considering the 5.5′ bed behind the F-150 Crew Cab is probably Ford’s highest volume bed, the idea has certainly makes sense.
Looks like the Fella in the Yellow Ranchero is there to ruin the beach party with his TNT ‘Plunger Box’.. (That’s what it looks like anyway).