![Post image for Seb’s -real- 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria [1]](http://blog.modeljunkyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/1955-Ford-Fairlane-Crown-Victoria.png)
Some people say you’ll never forget your first love… and I must admit, that’s right! My favorite car was -and still is- the ’57 Chevy Bel Air BUT… the ’55 Vicky was my first car.
I’ll never forget that hot summer. It was just a few days after my 15th birthday. My uncle had bought a pair of Fairlanes, a ’55 and a ’57. He had decided to keep and restore the ’57 Ford as it was in better condition and wanted to sell the ’55.
I was saving money since I was 8 years old. I wanted to buy my first classic car as soon as I had a driver’s license. I made my uncle an offer. I would pay him double as much as he paid for the old ’55 Ford. He asked me: “Are you really sure you want this car?” I said: “YES!! OF COURSE!!”, he said: “you have to give me your word that you’ll overhaul it”. I agreed. He then said: “in that case you can have it as birthday present”.
I couldn’t believe my luck! Now I could use the money I had saved for restoring the car. But life almost always goes different than planned. Two years later (1994) I was heading to Germany and was planning to stay there for a few years… I had to put my Vicky project on hold.
So I parked the car in a small barn at my grandmother’s house (see picture below). It’s 2011 and the car is still there waiting for me. As I said, it’s my first love and I’ll never forget it.
Now the question is… when, where, how?… we’ll see.
The car is in Argentina. I’m living in The Netherlands and I’ll need many parts from the US. That’s what I call a challenge! What do you think?
Hi Seb, that’s a great car! what are you gonna do with it?
well… I’m thinking about making a rat rod out of it. The challenge is the car is in Argentina, and I’m in Europe… we’ll see.
Nice car; it looks fairly rust free (unless the floor and trunk is shot,) and most importantly, the trim looks fairly complete. Ford built 33,165 Crown Victoria coupes (non transparent roof) in 1955, so even if one is to be optimistic and say 10% still exist, that’s about 3300 left worldwide. Definitely worth restoring to stock condition. Mechanical parts should be fairly easy to come by, and there are many reproduction parts available such as the Ford badge inserts on the front and rear. Tail lights are likely reproduced, too, as T-Birds shared the same parts, and are available. I had a ’56 Fairlane Town Sedan 4dr in the late ’70s with the 312 V8, 4bbl carb, and dual exhausts. It was a pretty fast car in its day!
I recently purchased a Danbury Mint 1/25 ’55 Crown Vic on Ebay for a bargain price. It’s black and white two tone, and beautifully done. I like the ’55 a bit better than the ’56, plus it has that great “Astra Dial” see through speedometer. My first car was a ’54 Ford Customline that had it, too, and it was cool beyond words. I still have the horn button center from that car, and one of the Ford crests from the front hood, though it is cracked from age. The only drawback to the ’55 vs. the ’56 was 6 volt electrics in ’55. Cold weather starting in my ’54 could be dicey, but if one worked the manual choke with the gas pedal properly, it would always start for me. Good luck; I think you should explore having it shipped from Argentina if it doesn’t bankrupt you. It is worth keeping!
Hi Jim, thank you for the detailed comment. I totally agree, the ’55 Vicky is a great and very special car. I want to keep it. I already found online stores selling lots of parts for it. And yes, the floor and trunk are almost non existent
Anyway I think it’s still worth restoring it, though I’m considering making a ratrod out of it. About the electrics I was thinking about a 12 volt conversion. I’m investigating now the possibilities for shipping it to the Netherlands. We’ll see.
Hello Seb, that cool car you have. If this car were mine I would leave anyway as it is, just put the parts needed to be able to move normally in traffic, and new taillights, headlights, bumpers, etc, etc.. I would be very cool and with a very low cost. When you’ve used enough can think of doing a complete restoration.
I commented to YggY on a car I have, is a 46 Ford Coupe with 302 V8 engine, the Rat Rod style I use this car everyday to go to work, is very good.
I’ve had many old cars and really like it since I was a kid, like you.
I hope you can send this car to the Netherlands soon.
Hi Gilson, Yes, That’s what I had in mind. A cool rat rod to use every day and then we’ll see. Iggy already forwarded your email with your 46 Ford, Just a great cool car!! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Seb, Great looking Ford, as a kid my Father had one, and I use to burn up the road, it had a Big V8 with three on the tree, A car I could never forget.
Good luck what ever you do to it.
Mike
Hi Mike, Thanks for the feedback. You must have had a lot of fun with it. Great!
Yo pienso, que ese amor tiene que ser restaurado. Muchos años con ese sueño van a revivir con la restauración. Recuerdo ese tiempo como si fuera hoy, tenias tanto entusiasmo con ese auto como el día de hoy (y su acumulación a través del tiempo la hace una pila grande). Además, crees que no quiero salir a pasear en ese auto desde los quince años? Contá conmigo, que algo puedo hacer. Tal vez puedo conseguir ayuda acá en Buenos Aires de personas en el tema.
Que hacés Fede! Que sorpresa! La verdad es que la cosa se complicó mas de lo que yo me imaginaba. Tantos años dando vueltas de un país a otro y el coche allá, yo qué se. Ya le encontraré la vuelta, si necesito una mano para algo contaré con vos. Un abrazo!
Hi Seb– Your find is pretty fascinating and that model is worth the struggle to restore. But one person commented about how to go about doing a resto that I like. Think it was Gilson .
Take your time after you get it back to Netherlands and do only what’s necessary to make it road worthy. Gradually, you’ll be inspired to search out the parts. Don’t know if rust is an issue and maybe expenses will add up to have ie panels replaced and tons of unforeseen stuff.
It’s been done before and I’d bet by restorers going full out to achieve complete authenticity
Hi Rick, thank you a lot for your feedback. That’s exactly my idea. Daily driver keeping the original look with updates brakes, tires, ignition, etc. In other words, road safe keeping it’s look.
We have a ’55 Crown Vic. It is a real beauty – tropical rose and white. I imagine your car was the same color. This car is a real head-turner. It is all original. My suggestion would be to restore it. No rat rod. I will be happy to send you a picture, if you would like.
HI Cheryl, thanks for the feedback! Yes, I also would like to restore it to it’s original condition some day but I have two problems with that. Right now I don’t have the time and money. And the second one, if I make a frame off restoration, I will have to pay a lot of attention to the car and I would like to enjoy the car a few years first, driving with it around without having to care about where I park it, it it gets a new dent or scratch… you know what I mean?
Yes, of course I would love to see pics of your Crown Victoria! Please send me an email to: info (at) modeljunkyard (dot) com
Take care,
Seb
hello guys im looking for a 1955 ford car hood and some other parts ,please send an email ,,thank
Hi Felix, I’m sorry, we have no parts to sell.