1958 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner – Today’s Tempter

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 23.08.2018

The ultimate date-night car!

I don’t know if anyone else thinks about this, but bear with me.

Everyone has their fantasy garage, yes? Well in mine: next to the daily driver, and the racecar; and somewhere in between the adventure car/tow-rig – there’s what I call the ‘date-night’ car.

This car isn’t about speed, or necessarily even practicality. No, the ‘date-night’ car is all about an un-hurried cruiser that looks cool, and makes you feel even cooler!

This 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner – is the quintessential ‘date-night’ car for me.

Its wild styling exemplifies 50s post-war optimism and nostalgia – tail fins and bright colours, it was all about style!

The Fairlane 500 Skyliner was only produced for three years, 1957-1959. Its intricate electric-powered ‘hide-away’ roof mechanism was unique to Ford, and was shared by none of its siblings at Continental, Lincoln, Mercury or Edsel.

Just 14,713 were produced in total in 1958, and engine options for that year included: 292ci (4.8lt), 332ci (5.4lt), and 352ci (5.8lt) V8s.

Transmission options included two three-speed manual options, one with an overdrive gear and one without; as well as a three-speed Ford-O-Matic auto, with a Cruise-O-Matic introduced in 1958.

The seller reports that 1958 is the rarest of the retractable-roof Skyliners, claiming that just 1000 surviving cars are known worldwide.

They state that the Skyliner is in great – though not concours – condition, with a rust-free body and 352ci Pursuit motor in smooth running condition, as with the automatic transmission. The roof mechanism remains in fine working order. The car is numbers-matching.

The car has received a respray at some point, and the owner says it still presents well. As does the glorious white and blue interior, which looks incredibly hard to fault in photos.

The seller points out that the brakes "could do with some work", but has discs installed up front.

Overall, it looks to be a very strong and solid car, and will be sure to grab attention where ever you drive it.

Just imagine, cruising about town on a summer night in this thing. That’s almost worth the $49,300 right there…

The car is based in New South Wales, and you can check out the full listing here!

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