Glass Roof Project: 1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner
Stored away for 49 years, these Ford Skyliners are really cool and unique cars with their glass roof feature. This particular car is in original condition and isn’t too shabby from the test of time. Very complete, and with an included parts car, this Skyliner duo is available for the opening bid of $2,500. Check them out here on eBay out of Herriman, Utah.
In very reasonable condition, the interior offers a lot after 49 years of storage. Dirty and maybe even a little moldy, the front seat has its original plastic covers, and the door panels and carpeting are also in nice shape. With a bit of deep cleaning this interior would likely be good enough as is for a driver. Under the hood the original 239 V8 is still in place but its condition is unknown. This particular car is neat as it has a 3 on the tree, making for a fun driver. The parts car comes with a complete frame, shell, 292 engine, and some decent sheet metal to use towards the blue car.
Appearing to be original paint, this Skyliner is really rather charming in its appearance. There is some visible rot in the rocker sections into the front fenders. The quarters and the remainder of the body look solid, and the exterior trim all appears to be in its place minus the trunk lid badge. Although a bit tired, the chrome bumpers and trim seem fair enough to clean up and re-plate if you wanted to. Certainly an uncommon car to see out and about, it would be great to see this Skyliner revived and running once again. Would you take on this Skyliner project?
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Comments
I think these glass topped Ford are cool. this would be a nice restoration project and a great car to summer drive ( up in Alberta we get way less days a year above 30c ) but I think I’d still want a vintage air kit installed. I’m not a Ford guy but I like these. I’m glad to see there are still a few of them around.
I’d just like to say that the BF staff have really been displaying a nice variety of car the last few days, keep them coming thanks.
This is quite a rarity and worthy of a body-off restoration. Hope it finds a loving home…
It’s got OVERDRIVE!!! I bet this car could really roll. Starting with a good price and a decent solid car. There’s hope for the hobby yet!
I would love it! try to get the engine up and running I do question the originality of the paint tho.. yes, it is old.. but is it the original color ? would be a looker left stock but… mild upgrades may be in order
Yes, Mike, that is a factory color. It is the same color combination as the one my neighbor bought new in 1954 although it looled better in his driceweay than it does on this ad. But Enough $ and woek it could be brought. Air conditioning is a necessity as the interior got hotter than a centerfold Bunny even in Alaska’s summer days.
Mike, I’m pretty sure that it’s an original colour. I remember seeing ’54s in that hue when I was a kid in SoCal
I sure wouldn’t kick this one out of my shop. But then, ’52 – ’54 is my favorite of the shoebox cars. That blue is a correct color; I’ve seen lots of them with that. There’s also a metallic green that is common. I’ve seen some in yellow that are really neat….
I rode in one at night back in 1959, and it was a real experience to look up and see the night sky in a hardtop car. I love the car, but I have too many projects to even consider taking this one on.
Bob
I really like these cars and have always wanted one. I had a 54 Victoria but not with plexi-glass roof. Too replate those bumpers will cost almost as much as the car. I have looked into replating bumpers, about $1000.00 per bumper. That’s just a start on the restoration, so think about the overall cost involved, you might want to buy one that someone else restored, you can usually save a bunch of money.
Nice find.
Question. Were the roof inserts glass or Plexiglas? I thought there were plexi.
The roof inserts were plexiglas. This was needed for two reasons: cost and roll-over protection. Glass would shatter whereas the plexiglas stands a better chance of staying together in a rollover.
My parents had a 54 Green Monarch – A Canadian version of Mercury. It had the clear roof and full options. Too bad my mother had an accident and totalled it!
I would like to put the 292 in there over the 239. Parts are easier to come by. As I said before, the 239 is an orphan engine.
It is worth saving but not at 55oo purchase price unless you can do 100% of the work yourself. That is pretty much true with any old car in this condition.I have done many over the years and prices are not kind right now and I have a couple I will not recover my money on. Yo u can truly buy most anything today cheaper than restore. As stated plating is unbelievable and this car will need it all unless you are happy with just a driver and painted bumpers and grille etc. You can make it what you want but be prepared to pay the price. Depends on what you want. I don’t know what he is talking about having original front seat covers, it does appear to have the old clear plastic covers but they are covering a non original front upholstery. It does not match the back which is the original. Yes it could be cleaned and used but you still have a very used up 54 Ford. The original 239 engines were no good even when new. They were a poor designed redo of the old flathead converted to overhead valve and did not last long and were one year. Most got replaced short order in the life of these cars. Possibly one of Fords poorest engines ever. As for the supposed 292 and parts car, I would have to be proven to it is a 292 since the parts car appears to be a 54 as well and if not replaced it would be a 239 as well and they are not identifiable just by appearance.This is a big if when buying any y block as so many so called experts want to shout their 55 up Fords have 312’s and it is not easy to tell what they are if you don’t know y blocks and they did not appear until 56 and not a lot of 56’s even had them, the 272 and 292’s being the common ones except optional on many of these years. The other cons are the 6 volt systems on the electrics poor options for power and this did not change til 56 unless done by the owner. Expensive do do if you want it right and want 12 volt starting as you will have to step all the motors down on the power options. Still can be done back original if you want that but still expensive. It all can be done but just figure a labor of love and not getting your money back. As I said usually cheaper to buy one unless you can do it all yourself. I am 73 and have done it both ways and today not being able anymore you can’t come out. As for the paint it is a near color but not the correct factory hue, I am not sure looking at the firewall that it is even the correct hue but these metallic in those years faded bad and never held up. There were several metallic blues near this. Still money aside it would be a very beautiful car restored to whatever level you chooseand most of us never do these cars for the total investment but the love. Hope someone rescues it and enjoys it. All my comments aside would love to have it at a reasonable price but alas BJ Gas Monkey shows and the likes have ruined and misinterpreted the hobby to ruination for the Hobbist anymore guess it is over at 73 for me and these same guys may have become rich but not at their skills of restoring cars but gullibility of the Public and TV
Even though the trunk lid has an Overdrive badge, there’s no Overdrive pull-out T handle; it should be right beside the handbrake handle.Back in the day my family had a ’54 Country Squire with Overdrive,and I remember using the pull handle to activate the overdrive function.
AMEN my friend 75 here and the likes of TV and these jerks on the shows have totally destroyed the hobby for the average hobbyist. Would love to see those jerks and the Pickers in the courtroom where they belong