1959 Ford Galaxie Skyliner Retractable Hardtop Coupe. With all the retractable hartops available, or soon to be available, on the market today from the likes of Mercedes, Lexus, and Pontiac, folks may not remember or know that this is not a new concept. Ford offered the first mass-produced retractable hardtop convertible over 48 years ago when it introduced the Ford Skyliner in 1957. I can still remember Tennessee Ernie Ford and a beautiful lady model demonstrating on his TV show...sponsored by Ford, of course... how easy it was to go from sun-loving convertible to formal hardtop in a matter of seconds with just a flck of the switch. Ford sold 20,766 of them in 1957 at a price of $ 2,942. Demand slowed in 1958 when 14,713 were produced in the Fairlane 500 series at a somewhat higher price of $ 3,163. 1959 would be the last year of production, and 12,915 Galaxie Skyliners would be produced, with prices escalating once again, this time to $ 3,346. Ken's photographs of this baby blue and white '59 shows the Skyliner in its transitional pose from hardtop to convertible. Did you know that Ford's idea for the retractable had first been intended and considered as a feature of the 1956 Continental Mark II?
