Fiesta Red ’56 Crown Vic fulfills a dream delayed

“I was really looking for a Victoria, but I settled for a Crown Victoria,” says Del Wharton, describing his quest to recapture some of his high school days.

“When I was in high school in Bell Plaine, there was this guy who had a black ’56 straight Victoria. That car would go by and it had Walkers or Smittys on it. It was one beautiful machine. I used to sit in class and doodle pictures of that car,” he said.

He dreamed of owning such a car … someday.

After raising five children and retiring from a career as a real estate appraiser, Wharton decided it was finally time to make that dream come true. He started searching for a black 1956 Ford Fairlane Victoria.

“I researched and searched for months. I went out of state looking for them. But the things I’ve seen, I wouldn’t want parked in my driveway. Most of them were all rusted out,” he said.

“Having been an appraiser, I know my stuff and none of this was my kind of quality.”

Finally, in March, he saw something that caught his eye, and held it.

It was a beautifully restored Fiesta Red 1956 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria located in Silverthorn, Colo.

The car was well-documented, having been originally assembled at a Ford plant in Dallas.

“It was way priced high,” Wharton said, but he knew it was the quality that he was after.

“It had been rebuilt 10 years ago after the guy bought it, but he drove it very little. It has only 1,500 miles on the engine and transmission . He put a leather and cloth interior in it, over $7,000 worth of leather.

“But then the old boy got sickly and wasn’t able to drive it for a long time and he passed away. I bought it off of his son. I had been looking for over a year at that point.”

The white leather and orange brocade interior replaced the factory vinyl material, but maintained the factory upholstery pattern and looks as good as the day it was installed.

“It’s rust-free underneath … there’s even original paint under there,” Wharton notes.

The restoration done 10 years ago was what Wharton refers to as a “chrome-off” restoration, with a complete repaint in a color most see as orange, but is a correct Ford red. And there is an abundance of chrome on a ’56 Crown Vic, as the cars are lovingly referred to by enthusiasts.

A straight Victoria hardtop has plenty of brightwork, but the Crown went them one better, adding a sculpted stainless steel band that runs across the top of the car, extending down into swoopy roof pillars that flow back into the upper body line of the car. An upscale interior and distinctive badging centered above the side spears also set it off as top-of-the-line.

The shiny roof band is replicated inside the car, running across the headliner and down the pillars, for a truly distinctive look. Many car lovers consider the 1956 Crown Victoria the best-looking Ford of the 1950s.

The car is powered by its original 292 cubic inch Y-block V-8 engine, with Thunderbird valve covers and a 4-barrel carburetor. The rebuilt factory Fordomatic transmission remains in place, as well.

After trailering the Crown Victoria home from Colorado, Wharton turned the car over to a nephew, Keith Scott of Pride Auto Plaza in Derby, a restoration shop. A Wilwood master cylinder and front disc brakes were added for a bit more stopping power and seat belts were recently installed as a safety measure.

“I try to keep it as period-correct as possible. The only upgrades are basically for safety,” Wharton said. Well, although the original AM radio remains in the dash, there is a modern AM/FM control head stashed in the glove box and a multi-disc CD player mounted in the trunk.

Wharton believes the factory-correct Continental kit was added during the restoration process. He wasn’t sure about keeping it in place, but it has begun to grow on him, so he may settle for removing the exhaust tips that protrude through the rear bumper and replace them with turn-down pipes, so as not to eventually mar the bumper’s chrome finish.

If he has one regret, it’s that he didn’t find the car of his dreams years before, when he could have worked on it himself instead of spending so much money on bass boats and motorcycles.

He and his wife Jo Ann plan to drive the Crown Vic to area car shows and maybe out for ice cream once in a while, although there will be no food or drink allowed inside the car.

“I’ve got a lot of pride in it. I love that car,” he said.

This story was originally published July 27, 2017 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Fiesta Red ’56 Crown Vic fulfills a dream delayed."