A good, long time friend of mine, now in Oklahoma, but when I first came to know him, was in Alaska, used to own a 1959 Ford Skyliner Retractable. He has since sold it, and it has changed hands several times since then. It is still alive and is presently valued at about $55,000 after the full restoration my friend, Al Fromm did on it. Al just sent me a good number of pictures of it pre-restoration, during restoration and after restoration was completed. It is April Green in color and was a driven concourse show car when the restoration was complete. The restoration was done by Hutchens Auto Restoration & Detailing of Rolla, MO. They specialize in restoring rectractables' and other Full Sized Fords of that era. Al tells me that Lyle has a lot of Skyliner parts and even makes many of the parts that are no longer available. If you are looking for Full Size Ford parts, give him a try. He also makes the "Sunray" wheel centers. Al can also help you find parts.
Al bought this car out of Arkansas in 1994 by telephone from Alaska. When he got back to the states, he started the restoration over the winter of 1995-1996. Al was a member of the International Ford Rectractable CLub (IFRC) and took his '59 to Branson to show it. His car was selected as the 1998 1st Place winner of the 1959 Restored Driven Class! Some time after that, he sold it. I have forgotten how many points it was judged at, but I remember it was almost a perfect score.
I have some very good information on Ben Smith, who, I am told, is the man who engineered the design of the retractable hard top. I will post more about him later. Here are some pix Al sent me of his '59 Skyliner. There will be others to post later on. The first pic is what it looked like in 1994 when he bought it. The rest are a few pix of the restoration process. The final pic is what it looked like when they were done, restored back to full factory specs.
Al bought this car out of Arkansas in 1994 by telephone from Alaska. When he got back to the states, he started the restoration over the winter of 1995-1996. Al was a member of the International Ford Rectractable CLub (IFRC) and took his '59 to Branson to show it. His car was selected as the 1998 1st Place winner of the 1959 Restored Driven Class! Some time after that, he sold it. I have forgotten how many points it was judged at, but I remember it was almost a perfect score.
I have some very good information on Ben Smith, who, I am told, is the man who engineered the design of the retractable hard top. I will post more about him later. Here are some pix Al sent me of his '59 Skyliner. There will be others to post later on. The first pic is what it looked like in 1994 when he bought it. The rest are a few pix of the restoration process. The final pic is what it looked like when they were done, restored back to full factory specs.
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