skyliner - a photo on Flickriver

skyliner

Ford produced the Galaxie Skyliner with it's retractable hardtop for the 1957, '58 and '59 model years but, despite Ford's claims in their marketing material at the time, these were by no means the first production cars with this feature.

Ben B Ellerbeck is accredited with conceiving the retractable hardtop system in 1922 when it was fitted to a Hudson but this novelty never actually came into production and it took a further decade for the concept to reappear on the other side of the Atlantic.

In the early 1930s, French designer and engineer Georges Pauli developed the éclipse system, an electrically operated retractable hardtop that retracted into the trunk and (in 1933-35) was fitted to a small batch of Lancia Belnas, followed by a few cars based on Peugeot 301 and 601 chassis.

The most famous Peugeot éclipse was the 402 which was unveiled in late 1935. Modern, aerodynamic styling (dubbed "fuseau sochaux") perfectly matched the spectacular retractable hardtop device. It was only a 3-seater, as the rear seat had been abandoned to make the rear shape more fluid. The power retractable hardtop was dropped a year later and replaced by a manual one, which was cheaper, less complex and less cumbersome. This new version was built on a longer chassis to accommodate a rear seat so that car was less elegant but more convenient, and was built until the war broke. After the war, Peugeot focused on affordable cars and the flashy retractable hardtop was discontinued.

Information sourced and edited from: retractable.free.fr/uk/index.html

Taken on: May 26, 2019

Tags:

Ford

car

Skyliner

1959

retractable hardtop

classic

american

Minolta MD 35-70mm f3.5

shiny

reflections

chrome

50s

history of the retractable hardtop « less

Sets appears in: • Automobiles

Groups appears in: • American Luxury Cars - Nothing newer than 1990 NO MUSCLE CARS! • Flickr Automotive more » • Toned B+W • american classic cars « less

Camera: Sony ILCE-7M2, 1/100 sec, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony ILCE-7M2
Lens:	----
Exposure Time:	0.01 sec (1/100)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Shutter speed priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Daylight
Saturation:	Low
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 9.1 (Macintosh)
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