Our subject car didn’t quite reach the $616k high sale of that 2008 RM Auctions sale. RM kicked off the Art Astor Collection’s dissolution in June 2008, offering 200 cars and almost 800 pieces of radio and automotive memorabilia. Russo and Steele auctioned off the 14 remaining Art Astor Devotion Collection cars this year in Monterey. Art Astor and his collectionĪrt Astor was a Southern California owner of radio stations, and he had a passion for cars. That idea was abandoned after only two years. The Skyliner’s smoked acrylic glass roof was impressive, but it tended to bake the passengers like ants under a magnifying glass.
The only higher step on Ford’s production line was the Crown Victoria Skyliner. Ford had used the name “Victoria” since the 1930s. This model was Ford’s first use of the Crown Victoria name, which would later go on to be the standard of police vehicles for two decades, starting in the 1990s. Ford borrowed the look from the Mercury XM-800 concept car, designed by John Najjar, Ford’s longtime lead designer and co-designer of the Ford Mustang 1 prototype.
Some people call it a basket handle, but Ford’s official designation was Bright Metal Roof Transverse Molding. The stainless-steel tiara used to separate, at least externally, the front and rear passenger’s sections garnered huge praise and media attention. These cars didn’t need to sell many units to make a statement. Of the 626,250 Fairlanes produced in 1955, just 33,165 (barely over 5%) were the highly stylized Crown Vics. However, the Crown Victoria, which was the top of the Fairlane line, did not set sales records. In 1955, the Fairlane lineup replaced the Crestline as the top-trim-level Blue Oval - and it sold and sold. Consumers flocked to the V8 Shoebox Chevys and ate up the “100 Million Dollar Look” (updated to Forward Look in 1956) of Virgil Exner’s Chrysler designs.
When buyers went shopping for a new car in 1955, the options were worlds ahead of the recycled designs that bookended World War II.Įach manufacturer displayed major engineering advancements and styling upgrades across their lines. This car, Lot 1055, sold for $28,050, including buyer’s premium, at Russo and Steele’s August 17–19 auction in Monterey, CA. Tag on left front body pillar below upper hingeġ955 Chevrolet Bel Air, 1955 Chrysler Newport, 1955 Dodge Custom Royal
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