’57 Ford Skyliner

You probably thought the Chevy SSR’s folding hardtop was a nifty little piece of technology when it first came out in 2004.  You maybe even thought it was a great idea stolen from those wacky Germans over at Mercedes-Benz, whose 1998 retractable-hardtop SLK coupe rocked our idea of what a convertible was supposed to be.

And you’d be way off the target.  Almost seventy-five years off the target, to be exact.  The first time someone thought of folding up the roof and tucking it away in the trunk was in 1922 for the Hudson coupe.