Ford’s marketing strategy for their 1959 models centered on an award that they [said they] won at the 1958 Brussels World Fair: the Comité Français de l’Elégance, given to the world’s “most beautifully proportioned cars.” While this award was clearly…dubious, the ’59 Fords were cleanly styled compared to their American competitors, but those in Brussels probably weren’t looking at the Skyliner “Hardtop Convertible” when judging those beautiful proportions.
This is the cover of Ford’s 1959 sales brochure, including that year’s tagline: “The world’s most beautifully proportioned cars.”
I’m not trying to be cynical or sarcastic, because I do like 1959 Fords, but this Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider is a 1959 model. Food for thought.
Ford’s television ads expanded upon the theme, with beautiful footage of the “Expo 58” centerpiece, the Atomium, which was not intended to survive the fair but is today Brussels’s most popular tourist attraction. Arguably, the most awkward part of the video is William Clay Ford’s acceptance of the “award,” in what was a bit of a hard-to-watch press event.
Back to the Fords. This 1959 Sunliner can genuinely claim the good proportions bestowed on the Ford line, and compared to the wild Batwing Chevy and the increasingly outlandish Forward Look Chryslers, contemporary Fords were downright clean. These days, they might be too clean, because the aforementioned Chevrolets and Chryslers seem to be more highly regarded in the collector market than their Blue Oval counterparts.
But proportions didn’t (and couldn’t) matter much when the short-lived Skyliner was introduced as a (quite handsome) 1957 model, shown above. Ford wanted to use the Skyliner’s “hardtop convertible” top on the Continental Mark II, but that car’s bloated price tag couldn’t support the extra complexity and cost of such a roof. Enter the Skyliner. It really was quite a scene, and if you’ve seen a Skyliner in operation, it’s a mesmerizing thing. No, it wasn’t the first hardtop convertible. Plus, it was gimmicky, the back seat was almost bolt upright, and it wasn’t very practical considering that trunk space was nearly wiped out with the top down; however, all that noise faded away the minute you pulled the stalk to lower and raise the top. Crowds gathered, and they still do.
Unfortunately, all that magic had to hide somewhere (see the video above), and Ford stylists and engineers were forced to stretch the rear end and raise it to allow the top to slide gracefully into the trunk. This clearly threw off the Skyliner’s proportions when compared to the Sunliner.
You can see in profile how the Sunliner’s “C-Pillar” guides the eye toward the rear wheelwell, making the greenhouse seem, well, proportional to the car. Meanwhile, the Skyliner’s C-Pillar is more abrupt, thinner, and pulled-forward from the decklid. It’s well forward of the rear wheelwell, making the rear half of the car look bulky. But there wasn’t much else that designers could do.
In an interesting twist, the new Galaxie was introduced in late 1958: Its only real difference from the Fairlane 500 was its Thunderbird-inspired roofline, a fact that Ford was not reticent to point out. In reality, the Galaxie’s roof was awfully similar to the 1957 Skyliner’s, a car that was introduced a year before the trendsetting 1958 Thunderbird with its influential roofline.
By the time that the 1959 models such as this one, posted on the CC Cohort by Hyperpack, came around, the hullabaloo surrounding the Skyliner had died down somewhat.
But sales remained fairly strong for a marketing exercise meant to bring people into the showroom (and to amortize the time and effort already sunk into the top mechanism). Sales didn’t drop off that precipitously for 1958 and 1959 after a fairly strong showing in 1957, especially considering that a Skyliner was roughly 15 percent more expensive than an already not-cheap Sunliner.
Nevertheless, sales weren’t strong enough to transfer the technology over to the completely redesigned 1960 models, so Ford let it drop, although they did copy some of the Skyliner’s tricks for use on subsequent Lincoln Continental and Ford Thunderbird convertibles, so the exercise most likely paid for itself and then some.
This particular Skyliner, as well- or ill-proportioned as it may be, brings up a more salient question to today’s collector car atmosphere: Is it worth restoring? Professional rechroming, rust repair, and bodywork will immediately exceed the value of the finished product, and that doesn’t include the costs of retrimming the interior, repairing any woes with the top mechanism, or rehabilitating the driveline.
Regarding drivelines, the 1959 Skyliner came standard with V8 power, so this car could have any of the following engine choices:
- a 200-horsepower, two-barrel 292 Y-Block
- a 225-horsepower, two-barrel “Thunderbird 332 Special,” which was based on the FE architecture
- a 300-horsepower, four-barrel “Thunderbird 352 Special,” which was also based on the FE architecture
Ford’s 300-horsepower rating for the Galaxie’s hottest engine, the 352, was suspicious for a few reasons. First, the 390 four-barrel was introduced for 1961 with exactly the same horsepower rating. Second, Hot Rod Magazine tested a 1958 Thunderbird with its new 300-horsepower 352 in their June 1958 issue; although the car had only 300 miles on it, they set the timing and tied the T-Bird down to a Clayton chassis dynamometer. This is what they had to say:
At 2500 rpm, the 300 hp engine put out 110 horsepower at the rear wheels. At 3000 rpm is registered 130 hp; at 3500 it put out 136; and at its peak—4000 rpm—it put out 144 horsepower. [With some tuning and break-in miles], an increase from 144 hp to 150 should be average and possibly a great deal more with the change of carburetion and ignition.
They continued:
By way of comparison, last year’s T-Bird engine, with its 312 cubic inches, put out 133 horsepower on the same chassis dyno. So, with an increase of 40 cubic inches over last year and an increase in advertised horsepower of 55 hp, the new 352 cubic inch T-Bird Special showed an increase of only eleven horsepower.
Writer Bob Russo goes on to say that the same horsepower-inflating shenanigans happened throughout the industry, and that marketing numbers could never be emulated except under “ideal laboratory conditions”; even then, there was no guarantee that the numbers were based on fact anyway. Buyer beware, but if everyone was doing it, everyone was going to do it.
Zero-to-sixty times of 352-equipped Fords hovered around ten seconds in most road tests, not bad, but certainly not indicative of a 300-horsepower engine. Chevrolets and Plymouths with their hottest engines tended to be somewhat quicker.
Looking back, I feel bad that some of my remarks sound like Skyliner bashing, but that is certainly not my intention. I’ve loved these cars since I was a teenager; I’ve bought books about them, I’ve ogled them at car shows, and I’ve dreamed of owning one of my own more than once. Regardless, no car is perfect, despite what the folks at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair said, but if anything, that makes this footnote in engineering even more interesting. Imperfections add variety to our world, and this example looks like an opportunity for someone to have the wildest beater at the next cars and coffee event. And they’d better find a reproduction “Expo 58” bumper sticker to slap on that slightly-out-of-proportion rear end.
Related Reading
Raising the Roof: The Ford Skyliner ‘Retrac’ (at Ate Up With Motor)
Cohort Outtake: 1959 Ford Galaxie Skyliner – Would Have Made a Great Extended-Cab Ranchero (by Paul N)
Like many things in life, looking back using today’s perspective to view yesterdays fashions is not fair to yesterdays conventional wisdom. Long trunks were a “look” back then, I think it started with Pontiac in the early 50s.
We had a neighbor with a ’58 Skyliner and when he moved the new tenant had a ’57 Skyliner. My brothers and I were in awe of these cars and still are. The squared off roof was a great novelty as well and the Thunderbird took that and ran with it.
Belated comment but I agree. Just from today’s vantage where sedans are largely viewed as “eew, old fashioned” in their low 3 box proportions I could absolutely see this at its peak being fashionable. I don’t think it’s fair to compare to Italian sports car style, they’re functionally beautiful cars but fashion seldom parallels practical and trying to put myself mentally in 1957 I think the Skyliner makes the bolder statement.
Now I won’t lie the proportions are weird for my sensibilities, but they are in their own way the way they are because of packaging that top design, there have been many retractable top cars in my lifetime but none really look like convincing coupes with minimal seam lines the way the skyliner did.
I have seen one of these in similar condition for years, though from a distance of maybe 75 yards off of a rural highway. It was closer to the main road with a for sale sign last summer, but I did not have the chance to stop.
I agree completely that the proportions on these Skyliners are a disaster, and ever since I first noticed that I have not been able to un-see it. Give me a regular hardtop or convertible version of a 59 (or 58 or 57) Ford every time. One time it dawned on me that the car’s only really good view is the one you see every time one is at a car show or in a museum – with the roof halfway between up and down. That view in the middle of the car’s one party trick is the only one that distracts you from the car’s visual flaws.
I would LOVE to know the backstory on that award. And if it was ever given to another car either before or since. Absent proof to the contrary, I have to believe that money changed hands.
I think it’s kind of like the “Tiffany Award for Excellence in American Design” given to the Mustang in 1964, nothing but a marketing campaign. I looked for other cars that might have been given the Brussels award but came up with nothing (although I didn’t exactly beat the rugs looking for it). Given that the fair lasted one season, it stands to reason that the “award” was a one-time thing and, like you said, some money might have changed hands.
Perhaps there is hope for this forlorn example, there are genuine Skyliner fanatics out there and maybe one will take on another rough example. I see rough 1930’s to 1950’s cars in FBM all the time and there’s no hope if they haven’t already been restored.
Frankly the proportions of the Skyliner don’t bother me because CC already ruined the 1959 Ford for me by pointing out that the front clip should have been angled slightly down. Now I can’t unsee it and they all look like they have bent frames.
Great. Now I see it, too. 🙂
AHEM! Rosemary Clooney touted this for the 1959 Ford: “The World’s Most Beautifully Proportioned Car…” and so on with the car. I BELIEVE HER! I have read that these Skyliners had rather reliable mechanisms for the roof to open and close, which is a credit to Ford Motor Company. Sing it again, Rosie!
I tend to agree with you on the top mechanism. Writers tend to bring up the hundreds of feet of wiring, servos, motors, etc. when talking about Skyliners, but nothing I’ve ever read or heard suggests that they didn’t work pretty well most of the time.
There is a book written by the lead project engineer of the Skyliner Ben J. Smith. He was only around 30 years old when he left GM and took a pay cut to head it up. The actuators were screw jacks that had only recently been introduced on aircraft (invented by Bill Lear of Learjet fame). Convertibles used hydraulic actuators.
Lot’s of good stories in the book, pops up on the auction site from time to time. Very clever use of links to fold the front portion of the top.
And it was reliable as long as the limit switches were adjusted correctly. I think the problem was not too many Ford dealers paid to have their mechanics trained.
No copies currently available online…too bad! I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
I agree–I really like the ’59 Fords, but the retractable looks very ill-proportioned. Never liked it. Never really understood why hobbyists would prefer this gimmicky, complex, trouble-prone model over the good-looking regular Galaxies, Fairlanes, and Custom 300s. Keeping a 60+ year old car working and running is daunting enough; then add all that “Rube Goldberg” machinery to operate the top–no thank you.
There have been later cars with the folding retractable steel roof feature, but to my knowledge none of them are particularly famous or collectable.
Below: The sharp looking ’59 Ford Galaxie in sedan and hardtop form.
This is my favorite style for “59”.
The sedan in black:
Several years ago, I made a modification to my 1957 Skyliner that made a huge difference in the appearance from the rear. The Skyliners have a very large truck which is very noticeable from the rear – in particular on the 1957s and 1958s.
I played around with photo shopping pictures of the rear view of 1957 and 1958 Skyliners a few years before I bought my 1957 in 2018. I thought that I would be able to raise the rear bumper by only 1 1/2″ to give the rear of the car a much leaner and wider and less tall look. I fabricated 9 “bumper raiser brackets” and removed the rear bumper to install them, and then re-install the bumper. This can be done on the 1957s and 1958s. The difference was dramatic. I also fabricated a reproduction trim under and between the tail lights that was used on Skyliners that came in the Style-Tone two color paint scheme.
The modification looks even better in person than on the pictures.
What an amazing difference that made. Kudos
When Kindig did that ’57 Sunliner I think he made a mistake putting a Camaro bumper in the back. He complained the stock bumper looked like a guardrail (which it does), but putting a little sliver of a bumper out back is worse IMO.
Thanks. Also, my bumper lift gives a better roof to trunk proportion. The factory bumper location makes the top look small in comparison to the trunk.
Yes, the Fairlane bumper is a little bit on the big side. Some people install the Custom 300 bumper or one from a 1958 Fairlane.
What a great idea, Bill! Looks good.
Thanks. I also have a detachable (not completed yet) package tray extension for when the top is in the down position. It makes the deck lid seem shorter and the interior longer, as it makes the package tray area longer similar to the Sunliner large package tray (hole for the top to go down into). My package tray extension is not perfect in execution due to it needing to be removed and not modify the body shape, but it does give a nicer proportioned look when the top is down. It is, as of now, magnetic.
Thanks
For a long time, the collectible car market was largely about people reliving their youth. Anybody who bought a brand-new 1959 Ford would be in their mid 80s now. People who buy cars of the 1950s now are “reliving” a youth that wasn’t their own.
Outside a few standouts like the “tri-five” Chevrolet, I fear that the market is (or will be) dropping off soon, if it hasn’t already. I doubt this derelict 1959 Skyliner has a future, sadly.
I think that’s an oversimplification of the market, I’ve never been interested in classic cars based on my youth, and I can say this as someone who was interested in old cars IN my youth.
It’s very possible the money tossed around in the market will shrink as the generation personally nostalgic for the cars ages out, but people are into cars for all sorts of other reasons and a huge chunk of professionals and hobbiests are and always have been buying old cars to fix up some old piece of junk the rest of the world moved on from. The first time someone did a “frame off restoration” I’d bet they went to the trouble/expense just because they wanted to in their spare time. Maybe that’s the case here.
Having lived in winter salt bathed western NY state all it’s life, mom’s 59 retractable had a sag when the top was down. All it took was a couple of 20 somethings lifting firmly up on the substantial door handles to get the alignment correct and the roof back up. Sometimes it took a couple of tries to get the screws at the leading edge to align with their receptacles on the top of the windshield frame. Eventually the car frame’s condition prevented watching that intricate and marvelous top mechanism in action.
A driving bonus was that all that extra length and weight in the back caused the rear end to break loose in turns on snow covered roads, great drifting through the snow drifts!
My mom traded in our ’53 Buick Roadmaster for a new ’59 Galaxie 500 4dr sedan. We drove that until 1965 and went back to Buick in the form of a ’65 Skylark.
Our neighbors at the time had a ’57 Skyliner until 1963 and replaced it with an Oldsmobile 98.
A good friend in the navy drove a ’57 Sunliner. We called it “wonder wheels”. It was hammered cosmetically but ran great.
Its proportions make it look like a 1-1 scale model of the car if it was made by Palmer plastic models.
I’ve always thought the 1959 Ford was a good-looking car. But ‘Le Comité Français de l’Elégance’ sounds a little improbable…even for the French! I love thinking about what a typical day would be like in the office. 🙂
Pretty rough, I hope it gets saved rather than broken for parts .
Amazing what still turns up these days .
In 1971 I got a job working for “Junkyard Jim”, he loved these cars and ran down one of each year, nice unrestored cars back then were maybe $150 .
I was gobsmacked to learn the ’57 & ’58 front sheet metal could be swapped but -not- the ’59 .
-Nate