Vehicle Description
Mostly original car with one repaint. Gorgeous Aquamarine finish, original tri-tone interior, smooth 292 cubic inch V8. Straight, clean, ready to enjoy and an unusual entry into the “big fin” club.
If you’re going to head out in something this flashy, you may as well run period-correct pastel colors that stop everyone in their tracks. The color is somewhere between light green and light blue, and it was hard to capture it exactly in our studio, but it’s quite lovely in person. We have no reason to doubt that the 70,678 miles shown are authentic, although there’s no proof, but looking at the overall condition of the car, there’s no doubt that it’s led an easy life. It does not appear that the car has ever been fully disassembled, so the doors fit nicely, the hood opens and closes easily, and even that cool sloping trunk lid with special Sunliner script doesn’t require a huge slam.
The 1960 Fords were also exquisitely detailed, with an all-new and very ornate grille, a great hood ornament with a lion icon embedded inside, and twin gunsight ornaments atop the front fenders. There’s a sweeping line of chrome reaching from the tips of the front fenders all the way back to the tail fins, and that’s chrome, not stainless trim, so it’s brilliant. This car is equipped with accessory headlight visors, which were a popular period styling upgrade, front and rear bumper guards, as well as a pair of fender skirts and blue dots in the taillights, again keeping with the period look.
The handsome tri-tone green and white interior is almost entirely original, and its condition should tell you all you need to know about the good life this car has led. The AM radio powers up but we haven’t been able to tune in a station with it, but everything is else fully functional, including the lights and heater. The carpets are protected with simple rubber mats and seat belts have been added for front seat passengers’ safety. The rear seat looks almost completely unused, and in this giant car, everyone has plenty of legroom. Obviously the trunk is massive, carrying a correct set of plaid mats and a full-sized spare tire and a few extra parts. The white power convertible top levers itself up and down effortlessly and locks down without any major effort, another sign of a car that hasn’t been abused.
You could get a fairly wide variety of engines in your Sunliner convertible, with this one carrying a 292 V8, which makes 185 horsepower. We don’t believe the engine has ever been out of the car, but it has been recently detailed with bright Ford Red paint on the block, valve covers, and air cleaner. There are other signs of freshening throughout, including recent belts and hoses, nicely refinished exhaust manifolds, and the expansion tank for the cooling system, which is in excellent condition. You’ll note that the original paint is still visible on the firewall, and there’s zero rust visible in these critical areas. It starts easily, with an electric fuel pump to help prime the carburetor for starting, and it pulls the big ragtop around with ease. A dual exhaust system uses glasspack-style mufflers to give it a period burble that’s perhaps a little more aggressive than stock but never annoying, the perfect complement to a warm day and your favorite road.
The transmission is a Cruise-O-Matic 3-speed automatic driving a set of 3.10 gears in the 9-inch rear end, so it’s just a fantastic highway cruiser that never works very hard. The undercarriage is a good example of what you should expect from an original 56-year-old car, with everything in good working condition but not shiny and perfectly detailed. It appears to have been undercoated when it was new, and the important parts—the floors, the rockers, and the frame itself—are in excellent condition. There’s a new gas tank out back, and it looks like someone cleaned up the trunk pan while the tank was off. It’s possible that it was replaced, but there’s no evidence of welding, grinding, or other patching, so we’re guessing that the undercoating was simply scraped off and the area was cleaned up before the new tank was installed. There are recent shocks at all four corners, including rear shocks with built-in helper springs as original, and it sits on a fresh set of 215/75/14 Coker Classic wide whitewall radials.
Striking and ideally suited to its mission of effortless top-down cruising, this big Ford is a unique entry into the big fin club. You see a lot of ‘59s, you see a lot of ‘61s, but when was the last time you saw one of these? Call today!
For more details and photos, please visit www.HarwoodMotors.com
