Ford was hitting its styling stride in the mid 1950s, with George Walker and Frank Hersey heading its design teams. Walker, fresh off introducing the 1949 “shoebox” Ford and the Thunderbird, took up his pen to restyle the ’55 Ford, giving the cars a wider, lower stance. A broad stainless trim piece divided the body lengthwise, inviting two-tone paint creativity. Several body styles were offered, under the Fairlane, Mainline and Customline names; only the Fairlane was offered in a convertible style, called the Sunliner. This 1955 Sunliner project is offered here on craigslist for $5500. It’s waiting for a trailer to take it home from Lynchburg, Virginia. Thanks to Chuck Foster for sending us this tip!
The top-shelf Fairlane was offered with three engines. Buyers could opt for the economy option – a 223 cu. in. inline six-cylinder – or one of two V8s – Ford’s 272 cu. in. Y-block, or the 292 cu. in. Thunderbird engine. The 272 was ordinarily decked with a two-barrel carburetor to generate 162 hp, but a “Power Pack” option served up a four-barrel and over 180 hp. This engine is the 272, paired with a two-barrel and a three-speed manual. I’ll hazard a guess that this engine hasn’t run in some time. Now, we could view the missing front clip as a bad thing, but if your aim is a restomod, maybe it’s a good thing – access is certainly enhanced. Besides, it’s not really completely missing – the panels are hanging around the seller’s shop.
The ’55 Fairlane has a unique instrument panel, with the switches arrayed in a line, and a round radio – missing from this dash. Also benchmarking ’55 as a special year was the availability of Ford’s first factory-installed air conditioner, called Select-Aire. Wrap-around “panorama” windshields were just earning a berth in the styling idiom of the day. Even this vantage point makes the car look impressively large – and that was the point. George Walker believed Americans would want larger cars along with larger houses as they grew more prosperous, justifying ever-increasing wheelbases and curb weight.
Virtually every inch of this car needs work, and it’s likely parts are missing, like the one-year only radio. The seller indicates he has too many projects and not enough time – owning just one more project of this ilk would be overwhelming! While ’50s Sunliners remain attractive to collectors today, $80k looks like the high water mark for prices recently, and many examples cost half that. The sheer volume of work required to restore this car will pay off if you’re a talented DYI-er, but this is the kind of project that can bury even the most earnest of owners.
Looks to be far South of 80k…
Ha! Indeed. That $80k price appeared to be an outlier, too.
Looks like a pile of junk to me.
“Sunliner” is the only reason this hasn’t already been shredded and introduced into a steel melt. Maybe there’s parts that could be sold…top mechanism, maybe?…but I don’t see much worth rebuilding otherwise. Good luck with the sale, but I’d be willing to bet the rent that it ends up at the scrapper.
If I had to have one I’d prefer the 80K option to this one. Puts the nice little 51 from a couple weeks ago in perspective.
These are problematic under the best of circumstances. What I’m seeing here is a mess, and it would take years to revive and MANY thousands of dollars. Enter at your own risk!
This will be a beautiful car when finished. It looks terrible. Smart people buy ugly- and sell pretty.
This thing would not be for the faint of heart, and I’m afraid I just don’t see a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow here.
’55 was a pretty year, for Ford. But a Sunliner is not for me — I don’t want a drop-top. But a nice ’55 Ford Fairlane hardtop survivor might tempt me… IF the hood is low enough for me to see the road in front of me (which I can’t do, with a ’53).
I have owned two of these fine automobiles during my lifetime. The first one was brand new purchased from Mendenhall Motors in St. Louis and driven to California while in the AF. Three speed manual ran like a top and good gas mileage. The second I purchased for my wife as a 25th Anniversary present. lt was a Ford-O-Matic and ran very well also. Only problem was the 6 volt electrical system as it aged. Loved both Fords!
To lloyd riggs: I owned and drove a 1946 Ford Super Deluxe flathead V-8 for 27 years — used it daily — it had ridiculous mileage on it — I had the motor re-built at 270,000 miles, then kept right on going with it. But I never had a problem with the six volt system — even in below zero weather. And I didn’t shut the clock off, either. But maybe the Y-block Thunderbird OHV V-8 was too much for six volts?? — I don’t know — I never had a ’55.
When I grew up everything on the farm was 6 volt. The trucks would sit for weeks/months and always start up when needed. I own 2 6 volt cars now, a 40 Plymouth business coupe and a 50 Coronet 4 door. The 50 can sit for months and start on its own, fairly quickly too. It hardly ever sits that long but occasionally will. The 40 I pour a little gas in the carb but never have to jump it. If I drove it more I’d add a 6V electric primer pump.
The biggest problems with 6-volt systems are corrosion at connections which causes lower voltage due to electrical resistance and people replacing battery cables with off the shelf auto parts store replacements. The parts store replacements are lighter gage wire designed for 12 volts and cannot carry the required current for a 6-volt system therefore causes a voltage drop. My 1950 car has a 6-volt system and the battery cables or rated at either 0 or 00 (forget which). Another downfall is most add-on accessories are rated at 12 volts. There are converters, but they can opnly supply up to about 10amps
That’s the best argument for converting (accessories) I never drove mine enough to justify it. Now, I stream everything. I just take a Bluetooth speaker and a couple of batteries.