1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner
Joannie and I are excited to share a beautiful 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner light painting project with you! We had the privilege of creating not one, but two, light paintings of this wonderful car on the southern shores of Lake Superior in Washburn, Wisconsin.
Photo of a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner (front 3/4 view) at the 2025 Motorhead Madness in Duluth, MN.
I met the car’s owner, Jim, at this year’s Motorhead Madness in Duluth, Minnesota. After looking the car over (multiple times!) and talking to Jim about it, I decided to award him our Photographer’s Choice Award. I really wanted to create a light painting of his unique automobile.
Photo of a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner (rear 3/4 view) at the 2025 Motorhead Madness in Duluth, MN.
Light Painting Photography On The Road
In early June, Joannie and I hit the road for five projects in less than one week. All of them were in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Incredibly, Mother Nature cooperated (although her behavior was questionable at times, especially on this project), and we created an amazing stretch of light painting photography projects!
On the first night, Joannie and I light-painted Sandra’s red-hot 2018 ZL1 1LE Camaro in Jay Cooke State Park in Carlton, Minnesota.
Please click on this link to see that amazing Camaro project!
On the second night, our two subjects were Kim’s 1915 Ford Model T and Judy’s 2008 Ford Shelby Mustang in Superior, Wisconsin!
The link to view that pretty Model T and Shelby Mustang light painting can be found here.
Then, on the third night, we traveled north to Meadowlands, Minnesota, to create a fantastic light-painted photograph of nine Muscle Cars for Chris and Karen!
Please click on this link to view that stunning nine-Muscle Car light painting.
On the fourth night, we were in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. There, we created a 3-vehicle light painting of three amazing one-of-a-kind vehicles! That unique light painting project is still coming (soon).
This beautiful car was our final light painting project of the trip, so to close it out in style, we created two versions that night! All told, Joannie and I created six light paintings in five nights!
Here’s the behind-the-scenes look at the setup for Jim’s cool light painting.
Interesting Facts About the 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner
The 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner was the world’s first factory-produced retractable hardtop convertible! The Skyliner’s most distinctive feature is its power-operated, retractable hardtop that folds into the trunk! This allows it to transform from a coupe to a convertible with the push of a button.
The 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner was offered in a variety of colors, including single-tone and two-tone options. Two-tone combinations often featured a contrasting color along the side trim.
- Single-tone colors:
Colonial White, Flame Red, Starmist Blue, Willow Green, Gunmetal Gray Poly, Thunderbird Bronze Poly, and others.
Here’s the 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner all set up and waiting to be light painted (and for the rain showers to stop!).
- Two-tone combinations:
Black and white was a popular choice, with the side trim acting as a dividing line for the two colors. Other combinations included various shades of blue (like this one), green, and bronze, often with a contrasting roof or lower body color.
- Unique combinations:
Some Skyliners featured a gold steel wheel with a matching gold insert in the side trim.
A Rare, “F-Code” 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner
This is a very rare automobile!
Jim’s Skyliner is Starmist Blue on the top and Dresden Blue on the lower body. It also features striking gold accents on the side panels. Very few of these cars were made in this color combination!
The “F-Code” signifies the presence of a 312 cubic inch V8 engine equipped with a McCulloch-Paxton supercharger, which boosts its power to 245 horsepower!
Here’s the finished light painting of “Blue Velvet”!
More Cool Fairlane 500 Skyliner Tibits
- The full extension Continental Kit.
- Dual exhaust with chrome tips.
- Rare factory two-tone Starmist Blue and Dresden Blue paint.
- The rare factory “F-Code” 312 CI, 245 horsepower motor
- Ford-O-Matic transmission
The World’s First “Transformer”!
Back in 1957, the engineering required to mass-produce a car that could transform from a coupe to a convertible was kind of a big deal! Here are some of the things that it took to make that happen:
- 7 reversible electric motors
- 4 lift jacks
- A series of relays
- 10 limit switches
- 10 selenoids (remember, this is 1957!)
- 4 locking mechanisms (2 for the roof, and 2 more for the trunk)
- 510 feet of wiring!
Mother Nature Can Be Fickle at Times
After leaving our hotel in Hayward, Wisconsin, that morning, we headed to our next hotel in Ashland. That afternoon, we met with Jim to look at the location that he wanted to use for his light painting project. And, as you can see, what a beautiful location it was, too!
What he found was right by the boat harbor, and it featured a stunning view of the rugged Lake Superior shoreline as the backdrop! Jim even got permission to be there from the police department!
Now, we just need Mother Nature to behave. As we mentioned earlier, she wasn’t on her best behavior during this light painting trip!
We had moderate rain right up to, and just as we finished, the Ford Model T and Shelby Mustang project. Then, we hit the dew point during the nine-Muscle Car photography project. Amazingly, we were able to complete both of those cool projects!
For Jim’s project, there was rain forecast to happen off-and-on throughout the afternoon and evening. Not so good.
Here’s the front 3/4 view of Jim’s sweet 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner. Since we started this one after the rear 3/4 view, all we have is a single shot with light on the car to double-check focus.
Light Painting a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner
When we arrived that night, Mother Nature just couldn’t make up her mind! The rain forecast, unfortunately, was accurate. The good news, however, was that it was mostly just sprinkles, and those were of the very scattered variety. The other positive was that the constantly changing skies also gave us the potential for a pretty sunset!
We arrived and started setting up all of our light painting gear. Jim and his Skyliner arrived right after us. He started to prepare the car for her “portrait”. Unfortunately, it would not be the last time that he would do so that evening.
Shortly afterward, everything was ready to go. I was taking images of the changing sky when a rain shower came through. It only lasted a few minutes, but Jim had to run over and close the windows on the car, and I had to throw a blanket over the camera and place the lights back inside our vehicle to keep everything dry. Joannie also took cover inside our Honda Odyssey, “The Enterprise D”.
We had to repeat this crazy process a few more times that night! Jim was running out of dry towels, Joannie was less than thrilled about being both cold and wet, and I was more than skeptical as to whether we were going to even be successful that night.
As you can see, we were incredibly successful! This cool light painting turned out just beautiful!
“Blue Velvet” on the shores of Lake Superior.
Rinse (literally) and Repeat
Well, since everything was going so smoothly, why not do it again?
The front of Jim’s 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner is equally as cool as the rear view. Since it hadn’t rained in the last 10 minutes, although on radar, it wasn’t too far away. So I asked Jim if he was game to flip the car around and do a front version. Joannie was thrilled (and probably Jim too) to be out in this fun weather for a little longer (not really).
From my past experiences, I knew that if we didn’t move the camera, we could flip the Skyliner around and “only” have to light paint the car and the area right around it. The background would only need to be light painted once.
I placed my foot where the car was first positioned, and Jim turned it around and drove it right up to the spot. During all of the earlier rain showers, those parts of the car hadn’t been dried off yet, so Jim went at it while I made sure that the camera was indeed in focus for this second light painting.
Once all that was done, we were ready to proceed. The challenge would be the weather. Somehow, we made it through dry, as you can see in the photo above, we nailed this one too!
1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner – The Movies
As always, we’ve created a Build Video for both light paintings. They feature the images that we used to create each of Jim’s amazing light-painted artworks. Then, you’ll see the entire image come to life, one small piece at a time.
All told, we took 311 images that night, and almost 200 of them were used to create both beautiful light paintings. The link to view each of the Build Videos is at the links below on our YouTube channel.
Thank you, Jim, for the opportunity to create these beautiful artworks for you! Your wonderful Skyliner’s light painting project (and the challenges we overcame) is something that we’ll always remember. Thank you!
There’s More, Lots More!
If you think this double-project looks great, please check out our dedicated light painting website at MichaelAndersonLightPainting.com. There are many, many beautiful light-painted projects, including:
- Amazing light paintings of construction equipment.
- Police cars and fire trucks.
- Light painted photographs of aircraft, restaurants, and other unique items.
- Many light-painted Corvettes!
- Lots of light painting projects of other cool cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
- An entire page of unique, one-of-a-kind light paintings that we’ve created at weddings!
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read our story. We hope that you enjoyed it! – M&J