Just got another project - '58 Ford Skyliner

We had to sell my mother-in-law's house back in October. She and my late father-in-law were and are both chronic hoarders. The buyer was a friend's father and he gave us until the end of January to get the house cleaned out. My wife had told me before we were married that there was a Ford Skyliner in the second bay of the garage, but she had never seen it (in 43 years) because it was totally buried under all the junk in the garage. By mid November I had the garage cleaned out enough to see it. It's a '58, that, going by the license plates, was put in the garage in 1968 for a heater core replacement and never moved again. Indirectly, that's how I ended up on this forum. I found it as a link from Ranch Wagon's blog while I was researching '58 Fords.



After some searching, I found a garage I could put it in and begin working on it to get it running again. It's got some body rust and the passenger side door sill is completely gone, but it's in incredibly good shape overall.











It's in its new home now and I've already started fixing it up. I've redone the front brakes with new cylinders and shoes, replaced the front wheel bearings, put on new brake lines and power steering hoses and I've got front shocks and a master cylinder rebuild kit I still have to install once the ball joints and suspension bumpers come in off back order. The car only has 48,000 miles on it but it's been sitting so long, I'm replacing anything that might have seized or deteriorated. Once I get the steering and front and rear suspensions done, I'm taking out the engine and carefully unseizing it; then cleaning and lubricating it internally and putting it all back together with new gaskets and seals. It should run. I'll also need to rehab the gas tank and get a bunch of stuff to work (like the top), but I think I can have it running and tagged by summer. Here it is in its new home.













And here are my in-laws standing in front of it sometime in the early 60's at my mother-in-law's parents' house, the house my wife and I now live in. It was parked right where the V70 is in my avatar photo.

 

Very VERY C00L... indeed....

 

While '58 Skyliners are quite rare. This one will require a lot of work to get the body back.

Here is a crazy idea.
How about finding a '58 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser and converting your car over to a Phantom Mercury Skyliner?
Sure be a head turner!

 

One of my former managers where I worked (I'm still FB friends with him) restored one. Quite a lot of work getting the top to operate correctly.......

 

A lot of work ahead............but definitely doable, and worth the effort!

 

Since this was my late father-in-law's car, it's going to be eventually restored to stock, drivable condition. I'm not going anywhere near concourse, it will be repainted the correct Colonial White, but probably only what can be done without removing any body panels. Besides, it has some original dealer service stickers on the doorjambs, which I want to leave. It looks like it might have had some rust repairs done back in the 60's, but what's visible is mostly surface rust, except for a little on the front fender bottoms, a little on the door edges, the passenger sill and some around the rear fenders. The interior. other than the dash pad and the drivers seat is good enough that I want to keep it. The top begins to operate; then hangs up. I've got the factory service manual for the thing and it has the top operation sequence described in detail so that's going to be another project.

 

Great find. Restore it the best you can afford. Don't make changes in this low mileage original car. It's part of your family history and will make a great cruiser.
My brother bought one back when they were cheap and worthless. He tore it all apart thinking he could use the top parts for a hotrod. Ended up scraping the car.

 

Nice family story. You'll keep us posted on the progress?

 

That's a great story! Good luck with the rstoration. Pray tell what is the mileage, can't tell from the photo.

 

Mileage is only 46,xxx. There are some service stickers on the door. None have mileage listed over 40,000 and they only drove it for about 4 years before it was parked, so I think what's on the odometer is it. Ball joints and suspension bumpers were on my front porch when I came home this evening. Those are the next projects. I've also figured out that either the hinges for the trunk lid or the actuators are seized, which is why the top won't go down. I think there are directions in the service manual for opening the trunk manually.

 

... yeah, even tho it's NOT A WAGON!

(I give it a pass not because it was posted in the "lounge" but because I happen to like '58 Fords for some weird off the cuff reason.)

 

Maybe because they were the least popular of the 3 year run? (Although they outsold the now-classic Chevys) Besides, I think the front of the '57's look like Don Knotts.

 

Very Cool! And great story!

How'd that thing end up with so much rust on it?? You'd think after 10 years of use, then being stored inside for the next 40+ years, there wouldn't be so much. I guess exposure to salt, etc during the 10 years it was on the road?

 

The '57-'59 Fords are all notorious rusters, with the '58s being the worst for some reason. I'm absolutely shocked that the floors all seem to be solid. Every one I've seen online available for restoration, even the ones out west, have had floor issues. It's all pretty much surface rust. Other than the driver's side headlight surround, which seems to rust out on all of them, there aren't any actual holes above knee level. I think it was all the road salt here in MD, combined with the fact that every square inch of the underside is caked with mud. I have no idea where my in-laws could have taken it. It also seems to have had an oil leak. I know from experience with my Volvos that the engine spraying the entire underbody with oil is a really great rust inhibitor.