1956 Ford Crown Victoria

1956 Ford Customline Victoria 2 Door Hardtop For 1956, a two door version of the Customline was added to the fleet at Ford, which pumped out nearly 370,000 units in 1956. As the brochure pointed out, Whichever way you look at this new Customline, you see beauty, distinguished, debonair, and desirable! You see Customline's individuality in its gleaming, meshed grille, recessed hood ornament, new wraparound parking lamps and impressive, smart sweep of full wraparound windscreen. For consignment, a 1956 Ford Customline Victoria 2 door hardtop showing 19,099 miles, but the true miles are unknown due to exemption. Searching through all the Customlines we've had the honor of representing at the mall, it presents like a bag of Skittles with multiple colors used in conjunction with white to radiate the 50's two tone trend. This example represents a new color in the mix. Exterior Now in two stage coverage, the car's original color bursts forward as Mandarin Orange sandwiching Colonial White. It's every bit as authentically 50's as the stock colors and in striking two tone configuration. In profile, the features and dimensions are truly dramatic and front leaning headlight cylinders give way to top trim that dives onto the side panels and changing directions like a bouncing ball, trailing back to a lower and decidedly straighter rear section, elongated by the stretched bumper to accommodate a Continental kit. The roofline appears to dip downward as well and the raked rear window is more narrow than the windshield while fender skirts as the end of rocker trim tidy things up visually. Paint and trim are excellent on the car with imperfections noted as chips, scratches, cracking paint near gaps, bubbling on both doors, and peeling paint on the fender skirt. Interior Orange and white alternate on the patterns included on the door panels, lines, textures, and trim that flow through to the back side walls. The colors translate to the front split bench and rear bench, both presenting cleanly and armrests, window controls, and ashtrays are afforded to rear passengers. A body colored steering wheel and dash flow from the painted door tops and create a cohesive visual feast while simple gauges on a clean dash provide pertinent information to the driver and vent controls and an AM radio are positioned in the center. Orange loop carpet covers the floor and is contrasted by the white perforated headliner above, all in nice condition. A plaid mat covers the trunk which houses an orange wheel with a cover and white wall tire. Drivetrain The clean engine bay houses a 312ci V8, rated at 225 horsepower and fueled via a 4-barrel carburetor. It's mated to a 3-speed Ford-O-Matic transmission that routes power to the Ford 9 in back with 3.22 gears. Undercarriage Relatively clean with minimal surface rust and dry conditions, we find dual exhaust running through glasspack style mufflers with corrugated extensions and tailpipes that terminate in epic Thunderbird style through the rear bumper. Drum brakes are at all four corners and suspension consists of coil springs in front and leaf springs in the back. We note lowering blocks on the leaf springs and some light surface rust on the undersides of the doors. Drive-Ability We roll our chrome wheeled beauty onto the test loop where like the Thunderbird from which it gains inspiration, the car delivers spirited power even with the extra weight of a hardtop. Narrow pillars and a wrap around windshield make visibility excellent. We note the speedometer, odometer, clock, radio, and reverse lights are not working. All other functions on board to make this an enjoyable driving experience work as they should. While Classic Auto Mall represents that these functions were working at the time of our test drive, we cannot guarantee these functions will be working at the time of your purchase. Here was Ford offering the exotic power of the 312 but with room for the family. By removing th