I am looking at a 55 Vic to buy and customize.I like the profile but not the crown,can you cut that metal out and find windows to fit? BTW,It's in pieces but real solid for $4000.Is that a decent price?
Let me know if you want to get rid of the roof trim. Hopefully you can get it off without destroying it.
Honestly, if its a crown, why not just get a plain jane Victoria? Crowns are somewhat harder to come by obviously.
The crown has somewhat of a b post while the regular Vic hardtop doesn't. The Crown also had a different interior trim. For the life of me I can't comprehend why any anyone would want to buy a Crown and then go to the trouble an work to convert it to a plane Jane hardtop. I know guys around here who have hunted for Crown Vics for years. It can be done but it makes about as much sense as buying a show quality Deuce hiboy and making a ratrod out of it. Screwing up a very desirable car.
Although neither is plentiful there are probably more 55 Crown Vics around to buy than regular Victoria Hardtops. Go ahead and look. The regular Vic hardtops are hard to come by anymore. The Crowns have a different roofline and share windshields with the convertibles. They also have a B-pillar which makes them a coupe.
The '55 Crown Vic has the same windshield and roofline as a '56 hardtop/crown vic, which IS lower than a regular '55 hardtop. (2 inches, I think) and much more sleek. It is no big deal to take the "crown" off, and you would have the only unchopped '55 Ford hardtop in the world with the lower, '56 roofline. Just take it off very carefully and then sell it all on e-Bay, where some restorer will give you plenty of dough for it! (Or use it to turn a '56 hardtop into a Crown Victoria.) Once the trim is off, it's a pretty simple process to make everything else the same. Just use '56 Ford hardtop glass, trim, etc.
Be a lot easier and make more sense to just get a 56 Vicky which has the lower roof and put a 55 front end on it if you like the 55 look.
Actually, that would not be easier: the '55 Crown Vic basically IS the '56 hardtop body. Under all that stainless it's the same roof, etc. Removing the stainless is 99% of the job. Puting a '55 front clip on a '56 body, however, is not quite a simple bolt-on. First you have to find a clean '56 Ford hardtop, then you have to find a complete and clean '55 front clip, then you have to change over just about everything because there are a lot of hidden and very minor differences between the two. (It's not just the grille.) This guy has already found a nice '55 Crown Vic. And best of all, if you keep the stainless you can always put it all back on at a later date. Personally, I'd leave it a Crown, but I can understand wanting to get rid of it, too. It would look the way the '55 Fairlane should have looked in the first place.
Ever looked under a Crown Vic to see how all that special trim and windows are attached? A front end swap would be just swapping parts,not cutting and filling in roof material and finding windows to match.I once had a 55 Crown glasstop and they are not just added trim.Like Mr48chev says, they are made different.
Good point. I'm going by 25 year-old memories of a guy who made a '56 into a Crown Vic. I still think the best way to go is to leave the '55 crowned. I've only seen one '55 Crown Vic in the past 10 years, and it is a sharp, sharp car. Better than '56 (nicer trim) or the standard '55 hardtop in my opinion. To make a '56 really look like a '55, though, would require changing the entire front clip, the side trim, and various other doodads. And the dash is different (although I don't remember if it's the whole dash or just the instrument panel.) I think the entire interior is slightly different, too, from '55 to '56 isn't it? And maybe even the steering wheel? Just depends on what 56Kustom has in mind. But we all agree that he can un-crown the '55 if he really wants to, by using standard '56 Ford hardtop pieces, right?
Why don't you just trade it for a regular Victoria? I'm sure you could do that and if your Crown is in any shape at all you should draw boot. Crown Vics are more valuable than regular Vics I would think .. ??
I believe that the '55 Victoria roof (non-Crown) is basically the same top stamping that started 'way back in '51, and later modified at the front for the '52-'54 models: The '55 Crown roof is much different; not only lower, but with a much longer taper to the C-pillar. Compare with the pictures below. Wouldn't be the first/only '55 with a '56 roof, though: This car, built by Larry Cerny several years ago, actually IS a '55 with a '56 roof; This one, which is mine, is a '56 with a '55 grille and side trim. You don't need a whole '55 clip. The hood and front fenders are basically the same, and the '55 parts fit without really difficult work. I thought that the "Crown" was actually structural, a real B-pillar. I know that '56 Vics have a chronic failure, where the quarter panel cracks directly below the front edge of the C-pillar. I thought that this was a weakness caused by the deletion of the crown from the body with the lower roof. There are also a few scarce parts for this body that are commonly broken and hard to find. The driver's side windwing frame is typically broken, and the stainless flippers over the door windows on both sides are often bent or dented, and expensive to replace. I, too, think that to un-crown a '55 would be a lot of work for little reward, even though I obviously like the idea. I'd wait to find a nice '56. PS: ...although $4000 is an excellent buy for a solid car. You probably won't find a nice '56 for twice that.
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