Easy to be a Monday Morning Quarterback. The restyling is good but it also goes back to the Ford line with a bit of Thunderbird. It is hard to sell two similar vehicle lines when they look the same. Back then when it came to brand name opinions were strong like Politics, you were Republican or Democrat there were no Independent/Green/Tea/ parties. I might be wrong but this era was the start of the Corporate Design and gone were the wild*** kid designers that had new ideas. Round is out, slab is in.
No offense to lovers of these cars, they have a certain charm, but it was kind of a weird move to tack the name of Edsel Ford onto a car he didn't design. He was responsible for the Model A ,Linclon Zephyr etc and had been DEAD since the late 40's! When people say stuff like "original Henry"or "the way Henry intended it to be" I can't help but think about poor Edsel in the shadows. I'm pretty sure EDSEL was the guy we would have wanted to hang out with.
I think it possible the then powers at Ford wanted to offer a Tribute to Edsel. If that was the case, it is horribly ironic that the name is now synonymous with 'failure'. Interestingly, the Edsel was less a failure than generally believed. The USA was plunged into a serious recession in 1958, lasting into 1961. The Edsel was positioned in the lower medium/medium price range and did capture a reasonable market share of that segment. The problem was that total vehicles sales volume was so reduced that the unit sales of Edsel was inadequate to prevent losing money, in spite of market share percentages. I am not ignoring the controversial styling, of the grille in particular, that also caused some diminishment in appeal to buyers. Just pointing out there is more to the story than that. Ray
Arguably, the Edsel was one of the better-styled cars of 1958. That it was 'different' can't be denied, but if you look at some of it's contemporaries, it's a cleaner design than many other offerings that were it's direct compe***ion. Ford never jumped on the fins bandwagon as heavily as GM or especially Mopar, with many of the Edsel's styling cues stolen from proposed Packard designs that never materialized due to them going under (and Packard was always conservatively designed). Like Ray said, unexpected market forces had a lot to do with it coupled with new chairman Bob McNamara's (who thought Ford's future lay with the Falcon) bean-counter approach, and the inclusion of some gimmicky features that proved troublesome (the TeleTouch shifter in particular) all contributed to the Edsel's demise. Add in Ford's huge, somewhat over-the-top publicity campaign to launch the marque that failed to produce sales. This probably as much as anything sealed it's fate; Ford touted it as 'The Next Big Thing' and when sales failed to match the hype, Edsel was forever branded as a 'failure'.
Having owned a 58 pacer 2 door I do have a place in my heart for these cars. In reality it was a great car that ran like a scalded dog and in my opinion stood out from the sea of the same cars we always saw at the car shows or on sunday cruises. Mine had a mishap with a center divider in a rain storm and I had bought it real cheap because of this. that left my mind always wandering towards how I would restyle the front end and yet still honor the edsel styling. The *** end of that car was great and I loved the tail lights. my plan was a mix of 57-58 ford parts with a bit of Edsel in there. I started the collection and drove the car daily in high school as all this was going down. one fateful day as I was on a vacation I got a call that a tree had fallen. The car was crushed by a m***ive redwood and all that is left now is the ugly horseshoe grill that hangs on my wall. still a soft spot in my heart for that car.
Typo41 is correct,as is HnStray.The car did fairly well,but came out during a recession.New car sales took a sharp dive. Auto sales fell 31% over 1957, making 1958 the worst auto year since World War II .In just three short years, car sales fell from almost 8 million purchases in 1955 to 4.3 million purchases in 1958. Ford Motor Company’s failure of the Edsel was a major contribution to this problem within the industry . In an effort to overcome declining auto sales, one of the hardest hit sectors of the slump, the Beyer DeSoto dealership of St. Louis put its salesmen on duty for 64 hours straight, as part of a sell-a-thon that raised sales 73% My stepmothers family has had a number of Edsels in their collection for the last 40 plus years.I've always liked them and thought they were nice cars,but I've never thought about customizing one.
Edsel Ford was not treated well by Henry, they clashed on many items. The years 1958 and 1959 were weird for all car makers and some models were not well accepted by the public. The Edsel had that fugly front end treatment, mechanical woes plagued it as well.
flamingokid said: "In an effort to overcome declining auto sales, one of the hardest hit sectors of the slump, the Beyer DeSoto dealership of St. Louis put its salesmen on duty for 64 hours straight, as part of a sell-a-thon that raised sales 73%. flamingokid is right. But let me take this a lot further. I live in St. Louis, was in school back in those days, and my family as well as many others in this city were impacted by the '58 Recession. Most businesses were too, but the local economy - or lack of it- DID hit all of the automobile dealerships in the area very hard. So, for the Spring of '58, the St. Louis Automobile Dealers ***ociation came up with the "You Auto-Buy Now !" Campaign, slashed prices on their existing inventories, and, brought out some specially equipped models to add to the mix. Usually these were lower-line models with special paint jobs, a few add-ons, and, were given a "campaign name" for instance: they gussied-up a Plymouth Savoy, painted it a special Blue with White trim, but keeping it a 3-on-the-tree, 6 cylinder ride (so they could focus on the "economy" factor), called it "The St. Louis Blues Special"...selling it at a special price. This is just one example...there were many more. A few year's back at a local car show, I had my '53 Buick there on a Sunday afternoon when one of those '58 Plymouth "St. Louis Blues" models showed up. I went over to talk to the owner who was a bit younger than me, told him that it was a nice looking MoPar, and asked him if he new anything about its history. He said he'd gotten it from an older gentleman, liked the color, but didn't know much else. When I told him what it REALLY was he was floored. Thought it was just a "nice, old, blue Plymouth" ! Didn't know what a special "survivor" it was. In any event, ALL the manufacturers suffered in '58 & early-'59, didn't move much iron. Detroit had to cut production, that's why so many '58's have become rarities ! And, that's another reason that the debut of the Edsel - no matter what it would have looked like - was ill-timed. But no "crystal ball" was gazed-into, or, consulted...and, that probably wouldn't have made any difference anyway. The economy was due for a "downturn" then, just as ours is having one right now...but by the time it leveled-out, the poor Edsel was long gone. Jonnie www.legends.thewwbc.net
The story was that the Ford marketing department considered thousands of names for the new car and even hired poet Marianne Moore to come up with ideas. They narrowed it down to the four best, the finalists being Ranger, Pacer, Corsair and Citation. When they asked Henry Ford II who was president of the company which one he liked, he said "we're calling it Edsel" after his father. Ranger, Pacer, Corsair and Citation became model names. All the marketing guys got another ulcer. The name 'Edsel' meant nothing to the car buying public. No one outside the Detroit auto industry ever heard of him. When they tested the name it brought out ***ociations like 'red cell' and 'dead cell'. But, when your name is on the door, you get to call things whatever you like.
Interesting Rusty. I was a kid growing up in Detroit and the story that I always heard was that Hank the Deuce hated the idea of using the name Edsel but was overridden by the Ford "Brain Trust" as they were called. Hanks comment was something to the effect of not wanting to see his fathers name spinning around on hub caps. The truth is most likely somewhere in between........ There are 2 interesting books about the whole Edsel project called "The Edsel Affair" and a follow up Book called "The Rest of the Edsel Affair"that goes into detail about it. Torchie
Somebody made a decision. Maybe they didn't want to own up to it after the Edsel flopped but they didn't pull the name out of a hat. Edsel is not the kind of name marketing would come up with but I can see Henry II wanting to memorialize his father. There is no doubt he was a hands on manager and the naming of a new car would have to meet his approval.
Jonnie King.......I feel compelled to comment on the 'St Louis Blues' Plymouth promotion. It originated in 1956....not 1958, though they may have offered that beyond 1956. My grandparents bought one of those (a '56) and, I believe from Beyer Motors. I remember the car well from when I was a kid. I also remember the promotional ads in the St Louis Post Dispatch. I was both a car crazy kid, and a paperboy in those days, and lived in a northwest suburb of St Louis, close to the 'Mercury Plant'. My Grandmother drove that car until about 1969/'70 when my uncle bought her a new car. Ray
Ray, Yes, you're right they did ! It was neat that your Grandparents had one. One of my Uncles had a '56, but it wasn't the "St. Louis Blues" version...it was a mild-Green, and it was a real stripper: 6cyl., manual ******, blackwalls, no radio, just a heater. But, I mentioned the '58 version, because they were pushing it harder during the "You Auto-Buy Now" blitz in that recession time. (I think someone in St. Charles had one of those SLB '56's at one time too...saw it once or twice.) I remember the Mercury Plant well...used to p*** it when I was driving up that way on Lindbergh. Sadly, they bulldozed that whole property...will try to use it for something else. Thanks for bringing up the '56's though...it's a shame the Plymouths are gone too. My Dad had a Maroon '49 Club Coupe, and, a beautiful, Powder Blue & White '54 Belvedere 4 door...that's the one I learned to drive in, and got my license with it. JK www.legends.thewwbc.net
The really sad part of this is the proposed 'restyle' illustration more than anything reminds me of those 'generic' car drawings you used to see in adverti*****ts, where the artist was told 'We need a car in this, but it shouldn't look like any particular make'.
I an my 8 year old playmates were all ga-ga for the '58 Edsel's we saw on TV every afternoon. We were all going to own an Edsel when we grew up. Wonder if any of us ever did? I came pretty close once, but was $50 short
All of the Edsels by me as a kid were 4-doors and rust buckets by the time they got my attention. I would love to own one some day.
I have a 58 Citation and a 58 Corsair, and want a couple dozen more. Citation is a two owner low production loaded car, and is being restored stock. The Corsair is being built into a mild custom with a 351W/FMX, and subtle smoothing. Would never consider dumping any of the cool styling features that always draw crowds - just the troublesome TeleTouch. You either live them or hate them, no middle ground.
I may be odd, but I think the 60 was the best looking Edsel. By the time they got the styling right, they killed it. I'd love to have a 60 two door with the Sunliner fastback style roof. Have only seen a couple, they are pretty rare now.
I had a '58 Pacer 4 door HT, not too long ago, but the former owner let it sit and rot too far to save so it got sold as a parts car. Loved the styling of the old girl.
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