Ford's 1957 Skyliner was the world's first retracting hardtop convertible to be truly mass-produced by a car company from the factory, coming close to 50,000 sales.

It also marked the first time the hard roof featured a folding (front) section, to retract and fit inside the car's trunk.

The retractable roof mechanism, marketed as the "Hide-Away Hardtop",[2] was unique to Ford-branded products, and was not offered on any Continental, Lincoln, Mercury, or Edsel branded vehicles.

Offering the Skyliner Retractable in Ford's Fairlane (500) range, Ford was only the second car-maker in history to produce retractable hardtops in series (following the 1930s Georges Paulin designed Peugeot 401, 402, and 601 "Eclipse Decapotable" models, converted by Carrosserie Pourtout coachbuilders); and the world's first to reach four- and five-digit mass-production numbers.

[15] Though prescient, the concept ultimately attracted more attention than sales; it was expensive, thought to be unreliable, and consumed almost all trunk space when retracted.

[9] Although the actual mechanicals differed, the Skyliner's retractable roof design was later adopted for the Lincoln Continental fabric convertibles of 1961–67.