24k Mile Survivor: 1955 Ford Crown Victoria
For 1955, Ford debuted the Fairlane as its top-of-the-line car. While the Fairlane Victoria used the regular hardtop roofline, the Crown Victoria was fitted with a B-pillared roofline with a wide stainless- steel band that “crowned” the roof. Optional, but seldom ordered, was the glass top that was available from the band forward to the windshield. Those Skyliners were problematic as they were known to fry the front seat occupants during the summertime. This 1955 Crown Vic (with a full steel roof) was owned by the same party for 41 years and has seen less than 24,000 miles of use. Located in Boonville, North Carolina, this time capsule is available here on craigslist for $42,500. Kudos to MattR for finding this one for us!
Neither the original Crown Victoria nor its Skyliner derivative had a long life at Ford. The former was retired from the Fairlane series in after 1956 with no successor appointed. And the Skyliner name would be transferred over to the new retractable hardtop convertible for 1957-59. For 1955, the model year of the seller’s car, Ford built 33,165 of the steel-roof Crown Vic’s while the glass-top Skyliner saw only 1,999 copies roll off the assembly line.
We gather this ’55 Crown Victoria has become available due to old age or an estate sale as the party who owned it for more than four decades was 88 years old. The odometer reading is 23,375 miles which sounds almost unbelievable but will be substantiated with a notarized document. A collection of paperwork has been assembled for the Ford that dates to when it was new. The Vic is said to wear its original black paint and red/white interior, neither of which appears to show any use. The seller says it has a T-Bird V8 under the hood, which would make it the 292 cubic inch variety rather that the 272 Y-Block. It’s paired with an automatic transmission and we’re told the machine runs and drives great.
Some interesting features of the car include its big, wrap-around bumper guards, rare chrome exhaust tips, and optional wire wheel covers, said to be unique to 1955 models. Everything looks nice and tidy, although the upholstery on the front bench seat looks a tad stretched. The undercarriage is extremely clean, looking as though it has been detailed while the gas tank appears brand new. The tires look like the ones that would have been used in ‘55 and I hope those are reproductions and not 66-year-old-doughnuts.
What I find interesting is that most of these cars I’ve seen have two-tone paint jobs and yet this one is just a single color, but it looks sharp in black. This Crown Vic comes with the requisite fender skirts and thankfully no Continental Kit on the back, which I always thought were a waste. Reaching around it to get anything in and out of the trunk had to be a royal pain. The seller says the Black Book price on this car is $63,000, which is a chunk of change above what NADA suggests. And we couldn’t find anything specific from Hagerty to compare to.
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Comments
It appears a poor attempt was made to dress up the engine and undercarriage with spray cans. Just knocked serious coin off the price. I have a friend restoring one of these. Very good examples out there for $30K. IMO $40K is about tops, before the spray cans.
I don’t know what you’re looking at but there’s no spray can painting I’m 64 years old and my brother had a mint green 4 door sedan so I’m familiar with these car my opinion this is a jewel if I had the money I would have it in my garage
Phaboulous! Even if it doesn’t have a phlathead.
Here’s my answer
Ford never called the ’55 glasstop Crown Vic a Skyliner. There was no Skyliner badging anywhere on it and in the brochures it was simply the “Fairlane Crown Victoria with transparent top.”
Ford did call the ’56 Crown Vic glasstop a Skyliner, but only in the sales literature.
A “notarized document” is useless in this case. A notary only verifies the identity of the signer; not what is contained in the document. The seller can say “xyz” miles on the form and have it notarized, but it does not prove what he is stating…buyer beware.
Correct–I am a Notary Public in NY. A notary verifies the identity of the signer only, not document contents.
The only one that I ever saw was with the glass top. I fell in love with it then and always wanted one from then on.
Clever marketing. Tart up a two door sedan with some tinsel, and pretend that hardtops don’t exist. Me? I’d rather a real pillarless design.
The true Victoria pillarless hard top is a much cleaner design, especially with the windows down in true hardtop form.
After all, isn’t the Crown Victoria a Tudor post (not that there’s anything wrong with that!😁) with special trim with the factory 2″ chop?
my brother owned a 1054 half glass top. it was salmon color. I called it pink. I drove it when I turned 16; do not know of the crown vic being called skylander. Ford did have a convertible called starliner or sunliner in the 1961 model.
First thing on the agenda would be removing those awful bumper guards!!
You are so right Bob.
I love the car but I can’t believe I didn’t fixate on those before. They look like something on a Vespa from the The Who’s Quadrophenia.
I sort of like the ugly bumper guards. You could use it to push start another car. And if the car has a Borg Warner automatic, it should be possible to push start the 55 without any damage. With or without the bumper guards, it’s a very nice Crown Vic.
ABSOLUTELY!!! Those awful appendages appear on many 55/56 Fairlane restorations, however I don’t recall ever seeing them “back in the day” (and I was there!). I can’t see one thing about those that would encourage anyone to add them, even tho’ they were an original Ford accy.
This is weird.
I follow a You Tube channel and that guy is selling his dads car and it is almost the exact same car as this one.
The only difference I can see is one has power windows and power brakes.
If you want to see the video, the channel is Coastal Auto Reaction / The C.A.R. Guys
This guy is in Canada.
If these cars are so rare, how odd is it to see two for sale at the same time in the same colors inside and out?
This is an absolutely beautiful Crown Vic. Even though I prefer the ’56s to the ’55s, this is still a car I would be proud to own. And it looks so goooooood in black!
My Mother had a brand new 1955 Victoria. The 292 was never available with a 1955 Ford. A 272 was available with an optional 4 bbl. carb which raised the horsepower to 182. Only the thunderbird came with a 292, rated at 198 horse,
with a 4 bbl. carb.
The red and white interior is suspect. As I recall, only a black and white interior was available with an all black car.
The 292 was available on the regular 1955 Ford cars and station wagons.
The 1955 Ford V8 engine was a 272 c. in.
The ’55 292 Tbird engine was available as an option in all of the top end models.
In 61 The Sunliner was the convertible. The Starliner was the 2 door hardtop. Studebaker first used the name Starliner in 52.
Nice….not far away either…
That is right, Tom. I am a notary as well.
The Crown Victoria name had a longer life ; it was resurrected as a replacement name for the LTD in the mid 1980s and lasted until the last of the RWD full size fords
Pictured is my 1959 Ford Zephyr Zodiac built in UK showing the similarity of the interior upholstery between this fantastic Crown Vic and my humble Zodiac. Sorry about the quality as it’s a photo of a photo in my album.
The 1955 OEM engine was 272 c. i.
It also was a 6-volt electrical system….!
And the 292 was optional.
Yep, Fords had 6-volt, +ground thru 1955. 1956 they went to 12-volt -ground. I had a ’55 Ford, put a ’56 Mercury 312 engine that I took to my Voc. Auto shop class and completely rebuilt, including re-boring, refacing the rocker arms, and re-camming. In January, it got down below 0 for a week. I couldn’t get it to turn over fast enough to start. I converted it to a 12 volt sys….outdoors, changed all but the starter. One could hardly let go of the key fast enough. The car ran several years like that.
My ’51 Buick straight 8 was terrible as a 6v but once I dropped in an 8v battery it would start in less than one revolution. I didn’t have to change a thing other than adjust the charging rate through an alternator instead of the generator, not even the guages, bulbs, headlights etc.
’55 Ford & a Two Dollar Bill, the way she took that, gave me a thrill. Maybeline why can’t you be true!
Thank You Chuck Berry
Love that Chuck Berry song!
My sister had a ’55 Ford Convertible.
What is it with Ford and left hand ignition?
They anticipated Porsche.
A lot of cars hand the ignition on the left back then.
I remember seeing old cars with the key ignition on the right and the starter button on the left, like a ’51 Chevy, but it just seems like Ford was the only one with left hand ignition. My ex had a ’67 Ford wagon and that had the ignition on the left.
@Angel Cadillac Diva
Nope, Ford had moved the ignition to the right side by 1967. I had a ’65 Mustang for 18 years and it was on the right. Here is a link that pictures a ’67 Ford Station Wagon and the ignition switch is on the right side of the steering wheel.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/544935623638663248/
If my memory is good, my 65 GTO had the key on the left.
My 64 and 65 GTO’s have the ignition on the left side also, there are others I can’t remember at the moment.
I found this on the internet.
1964
In 1964, Ford relocated the ignition to the right of the steering column, which is where it had been for most other cars for some time.
Well, LarryD I am not a Ford aficionado by any means. Cadillac yes, not Ford. I had thought they moved it to the right when locking steering wheels were mandatory. Thanks for setting me straight.
1955 crown vic did have 6volt system, gm upgraded to 12 volt due to demand for power accessories,market valuein the mid thirties, however if more than 1 person bidding at auction, you can discard the price books, glass roof cars get extremely hot in sun, nice at nite time, bumper over rides were good to push on!……..tom collins certified appraisal, Florida
A high school buddy got one in ’64, also black…but changed interior to black/white. No fancy bumpers nor skirts. Auto shop worked wonders. He dropped in a high performance 390 and 4 speed, and did 12V conversion. Also reworked suspension and brakes. Nice street/strip car. Lost track of him and car during Army….