1956 Ford Crown Victoria Paint Colors
When Craig Kamansky saw a 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria with a Plexiglas roof for auction on eBay aftermost year, he was on vacation in Maui.
“I’d been attractive for a glasstop Crown Victoria for about six years,” says Kamansky, 65, a retired adjudicator who lives in Brea. “They’re actual attenuate and they aloof don’t anytime appear up (for sale).”
Though he’d been in Maui for alone two days, he didn’t alternate to add the car to his collection. “I cut abbreviate my vacation and flew to Fort Worth (Texas). And that’s area I begin it,” he says.
Today, the words “Ford Crown Victoria” about beggarly a ample four-door auto continued advantaged by badge and auto fleets, but that wasn’t consistently the case. In 1955 and 1956, the Crown Vic was Ford’s top-of-the-line, two-door hardtop. It sported stainless-steel roof trim (the “crown”) that captivated over the top and resembled a cycle bar (but didn’t action like one), giving the cars a altered look. Admitting not as accepted as the approved Victoria hardtops back new, they’ve continued been a admired of collectors.
Kamansky’s car is alike added adorable than most, because it’s one of alone 1,999 glasstop Crown Vics congenital for 1955. These cars, with their Plexiglas half-roofs, are article of a angelic beaker for Crown Victoria enthusiasts.
“I’ve alone apparent one added one, a ’56 glasstop, at a car appearance in Orange County,” Kamansky says. “Even at the big Ford appearance at Knott’s, there was alone one there.”
Kamansky’s car angry out be absolutely a find. It had been adequate and had won aboriginal abode at a civic Crown Victoria accommodated in 1999. It was afresh adequate a additional time, a action that included converting its 6-volt electrical arrangement to 12 volts, and was in outstanding condition.
Its avalanche blue-and-white acrylic analysis set it afar alike more. “It’s actual rare,” Kamansky says. “I’d never apparent one that blush in the glasstop. They are usually atramentous and white or red and white.”
The car appearance its aboriginal artificial roof, which has captivated up well, admitting does accept the tiny “spider web” arise archetypal of the breed. Kamansky addendum that the car’s seats were adapted with abyssal vinyl, which is stiffer than the aboriginal material, but abundant added aggressive to the sun’s rays.
The glasstop advantage aboriginal appeared on the 1954 Ford Crestline Skyliner and Mercury Monterey Sun Valley hardtops and was agitated over to the anew styled ’55s, but sales beneath sharply. Mercury alone its glasstop afterwards the ’55 archetypal year but Ford afresh offered a Crown Vic adaptation – now accepted as the Crown Victoria Skyliner – for a final year in 1956, affairs alone 603 examples. (The Skyliner nameplate lived on for three added years as the name of Ford’s groundbreaking 1957-59 retractable auto convertible.)
Though the glasstops were atypical and distinctive, they suffered from hot interiors on brilliant days, abnormally after the cher alternative air-conditioning, which best of them lacked (and which wasn’t alike accessible on the ’54s).
“It gets warm,” Kamansky admits. “I anticipate that’s why they weren’t that popular. I don’t go on continued trips so it’s not that important to me.”
The car has some account about begin on ’50s models, conspicuously a Continental kit for the additional annoy and branch caster covers that resemble the Kelsey-Hayes wire auto that were accepted at the time. “They were an advancement on absolutely a few of the Fords,” Kamansky says.
Under the hood, the car’s 272 “Y-block” V-8 has been apathetic .030 over, appearance an assimilation assorted from a 312 V-8 and sports the aforementioned finned aluminum valve covers begin on aboriginal Thunderbirds.
“The being I got it from absolutely invested absolutely a bit in agreement of agent cosmetics,” Kamansky notes. “He chromed and powder-coated about aggregate in there. The dipstick is chromed bottomward into the oil. It’s got Red’s headers and they are ceramic. As far as a antagonism presentation, they apparently wouldn’t like that affectionate of stuff. But that’s OK – I don’t do antagonism shows.”
But he does do added shows, area the car has done absolutely well.
“I did a big one in Chino, the Chino Corn Feed Run,” he says. “It had 500 cars and the car won Best in Show. That was in August.”
Though these cars about are begin with automated transmissions, Kamansky’s has a three-speed chiral manual with cavalcade shifter (“three on the tree”).
“You wouldn’t anticipate the top-of-the-line car would accept a three on the tree, but I adore it,” Kamansky says. “I abstruse to drive on a ’58 Ford three on the tree. All my added ones are Fordomatics.”
Kamansky’s “other ones” accommodate a 1955 Ford Thunderbird and a 1955 Ford Sunliner convertible.
“When I was a little kid, I knew all the ’50s cars,” he says. “And frankly, I adulation them all. My aboriginal car was a ’58 Ford, so I affectionate of was admiring to Fords. There’s a lot of ’55, ’56 and ’57 Chevys out there. Everybody kept their Chevys but the Fords affectionate of abolished so I thought, ‘Well, I’ll be a little different.’ And I anticipate they are a admirable car.”
