The Mercury Sun Valley debuted as 'America's First Transparent-Top Car', a Plexiglas dream machine put into regular production for 1954. That year, my dad Jerry was just another wide-eyed 13 year old drooling at these exciting new Mercs when they fir... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
a good friend of mine and older restorer type, has a completely restored 54 mercury Sun Valley.. Creamy Yellow with a Dark Green metllic top.. Absolutely gorgeous car...
I always wondered how well the tinting worked and if you would still get boiled out of the car under a direct sun after a while.
Cool story. The first car I got with a glass sunroof, I did the same thing. Sat in it during a rain storm to see what it looks like. It looks like....water hitting glass. Your dads adventure was much cooler!
Quite the story on you dad and his car. Those Mercs were reputed to get pretty warm inside on a hot summer day back when I was a ten year old kid drooling over them. My step father at the time had two or three 52/54 Mercs in the mid 50's but didn't want that model.
Hilarious. Not likely to forget that story. As a teenager I saw a crazy, fat-tired, fender flared, pearl white VW bug (I know, I know) with tinted plexi replacing the sunroof as I was riding my bicycle through a parking lot. Naturally I stopped and gawked. The lack of crown REALLY stood out, not to mention the GOBS of silicone around the perimeter. First time I saw cobwebbing, too. It was on the dashboard. Years later I saw it again as a friend drove up in it. He just bought it for $200 and I got a better look at it. What a pile it turned out to be.
there's one of these mint restored somewhere around Concord, Ca. they used to park it out in front of "rosies diner" when it was a diner...now it's a mexican disco place or something like it.....the car was the same yellow as the one above with a full glass top canopy....i mustve stopped to look at that car a dozen times....very cool.
J.B., what a great story. I drove from the time I was 12, small towns had some advantages. ~sololobo~
It seems like they are all yellow or the ones I see. My dad said when they were new it was always strange to see them riding around. He said the people in them always looked sick because of the green tint.
I had a '54 Sun Valley back in the late 80s,but mine was even more unique.It had a plexi-glass hood from the factory to display the all new V-8.There isn't a day that goes by that the Merc doesn't cross my mind
I remember being in the local Ford dealer with new transparent top "Skyliner". My dad was sitting in the drivers seat, while the salesman demonstrated how your hair stands on end as he rubs the outside of the top...........yep - try it !!
What a beautiful car! That would be neat on a custom too, with a pull shade underneath so you don't bake like a 7-11 hot dog. hmmmm....
Had one, light green bottom / dark green top. Found it on a Ford dealers lot in Yakima WA, (Buirrows motors) 1958,rear main was out. Got it for $200 and towed it home. Friend had wrecked his 49 Merc and had a built 312 / 3 speed available. A week of cussing and on the road. Body / interior was IMMACULATE. Not REAL fast, but adequate. dropped her down in the weeds, and I gaurantee she was a 100% pantie dropper. Oh how I wish......
When I was 12, I mowed the yard for a young divorcee two doors down. She owned one just like the one above, same yellow with green top. In my dreams, she was the first 'older woman' in my life. I got to ride in that car a couple of times that summer. I remember it would get damn warm in there if it was in the sun.
I have owned mine for over 40 years, its all white with green and white interior. I added air and still won't drive it on a sunny day.
That's hilarious. Would probably work even better if you use a cat to rub the top. I remember that from physics class...haha Just imagine if you had to scrape off the dandruff from inside the roof every day
There's no rest of the story, it's all in the title. Look at it like this, it was not clear (transparent) to the 13 year old that he had made a mistake (error) parking where he did.
Am I mistaken, or didn't these have a "zip out liner" made of leather? It seems to me that it came stock, and the liner was made of leather. Am I wrong? Won't be the first time!
The equivalent Mercury Sun Valley first appeared in 1954, and sold 9,761 copies. Little known is that there were also 1,787 Sun Valleys built with the Plexiglas roof for 1955. While the Merc carried the same body code as the 1955 and 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, the glass top was somewhat larger than Ford's, and there was no tiara. It has also been rumored that one or two 1956 Mercury Sun Valleys were produced, but none have ever surfaced. While not expensive -- only $70 more for a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria with the Plexiglas top -- it wasn't a very brilliant idea as it cooked the passengers on even mildly warm, sunny days, and was intolerable in the Southwest. The top had a neutral blue-green tint that theoretically filtered out 60 percent of the sun's heat rays and 72 percent of the glare, to further keep out heat and glare. Ford added a nylon headliner that zippered in place. While optional on the Skyliner late in 1954, it was standard on the 1955-1956 Crown Vics. But, of course, it made little sense to order the see-through top only to zipper it up.
Up here in the Pacific Northwest rainbelt, it would have bee a nice option. Till the rust took hold and it started to leak. Thats why most all the T-top trans ams around here are gone.