Vince Ciganik's 1954 Ford Sunliner Convertible - The Gypsy

A photo of the Gypsy that Donna took the day Vince bought it. "Whoever chopped the top did not know what they were doing, so you could not put the top down," Vince told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2020. Photo courtesy of Vince Ciganik.

Up front, the hood had been nosed, and it ran a 1956 Dodge grille. Photo courtesy of Vince Ciganik.

The deck lid was shaved for chrome, and the taillight had been replaced with 1956 Oldsmobile units. Photo courtesy of Vince Ciganik.

Photo courtesy of Vince Ciganik.

1954 Ford Sunliner owned by Vince Ciganik of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Restyled in the 1950s, the car is known as "The Gypsy."

The First Glimpse

In the summer of 1958, Vince was working for Skyline Motors, taking a boat down to the docks. "I passed a local upholstery shop," Vince told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in 2020, "and they were putting a white top on a customized green 54 Ford convertible. I almost wrecked the truck looking at it." Vince never saw the car around town again after that.

For Sale

"Our Rev-Masters car club, which we started in 1958, had a meeting every Wednesday night. In 1960 at a meeting, George Ray asked if anyone was interested in a customized 54 Ford convertible. I asked him what color it was and he said green. I said give me the number." The Ford was owned by a guy from Monaca. He was in the Army in Germany and was not sending garage money home to his mom. "He told her to sell it. I paid $300.00 for it."

Chopped Top

Modifications included a chopped convertible top. "Whoever chopped the top did not know what they were doing, so you could not put the top down," Vince recalled. Up front, the hood had been nosed, and it ran a 1956 Dodge grille. The deck lid was also shaved for chrome, and the taillights had been replaced with 1956 Oldsmobile taillights. It was covered with a dark Jade Green metallic paint job and dressed up with red wheels, Oldsmobile Fiesta hubcaps, and whitewall tires.

Sold

In 1962, Vince got married. Later the same year, he was enlisted into the Army. His wife Donna was too short to see when she backed it up, so he ended up selling the car for $500.00. "I bought her a 1953 Ford to drive while I was gone."

Never To Be Seen Again

Vince saw the Gypsy a couple of years later in Midland, parked with a couple of flat tires. He believes it went to East Liverpool after that, never to be seen again.

Gypsy 2 - The Recreation

In the early 1990s, Vince decided to start drag racing again. "As luck would have it, I found the four original pictures Donna had taken when I bought the car in 1960. I decided to build that car, but customize more." Known as "Gypsy 2," everything on the car is from the 1950s except for the rear speaker, which is from a 1965 Mercury. Vince designed the car and did all the mechanical. "I found all the right people in Pittsburgh to do what I could not. They all liked what I had designed and wanted to be a part of it. They all treated me so fair which helped a lot. It took a total of 10 years to get it done. Time, money, and finding all the parts takes time." The build was completed in 2004, "so that means I have 26 years of my 80 years of life invested in this car," Vince told Kustomrama. "Sometimes I look at "Gypsy" in the garage and think, I'm the luckiest guy in the whole wide world, I own that car."

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