History C'mon! EDSELS as STOCK Cars???

Well I picked up that '59 I found for $500. Stole it. Now I have a matching pair.

 

Congrats, man! Another Edsel saved!!

 

Well another Edsel found anyway. We'll see about the saved.

 

Good luck, buddy! You obviously love the make. After that, it's all about time and money! LOL Cars can be both a blessing and a curse. But, for every time I busted a knuckle, a good day behind the wheel paid that investment back . . . and more!

 

Pictured left to right is Alan Batt #101, Jim Malloy #19, Paul Garrison #007, and ridding the rim is Harry McCool #18. This photo was taken between the back stretch and the apex of the north turn. The above photo is the only one I have seen so far.
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Jim Malloy drove a dark blue and white 1958 Edsel Pacer, #19 at Colorado National Speedway. The car was well built and a strong runner, and surrounded by quite a bit of controversy.

The combination - Jim Malloy a very talented driver, plus the #19 Edsel Pacer a fast car, equals a winning combination.

The car was built close to Holman-Moody specs, and ran with a E-475 (410 cu, 345 hp) V8. Somebody read the engines rule very carefully. The engine rule stated that the engine in the car could be no bigger than that year of car had regardless of model name.

Gene Hefley CNS track owner, owned the #19 Edsel. At the time the Edsel was raced in 1966, Colorado National Speedway was a half mile dirt track, the faster cars clocked 19-21 seconds in the time trials, Jim always timed in very well. All events were inverted starts, and most main event fields were 18-24 cars.

The controversy - In one main event, 50 laps, Jim lapped the field twice.

During the 1966 racing season there was eventually a protest to examine the car’s engine, for one thing it was thought that the cylinder size was illegal, the engine was legal by the rules, it is not clear what else the protest revealed, because after the 1966 racing season was over Jim went back to super-modified racing, then USAC "Big Car" racing and onto Indy for the 500 with a best finishing place of 4th in 1971. The #19 Edsel, well it was never seen again, although I‘m sure somebody else got a hold of it raced it elsewhere.

In 1969 the rules changed a bit, not so much the engine rule, but who could own a stock car at CNS, the track owner could no longer own a car, I’m not sure but I think the club president could not own a car either.

 

here is my edsel-

Under restoration, I will keep her as "stock :O)" , and try to
register her as "historic vechile". Tight regulations here !

Luckily all 59/59 edsels are factory customs.
No need for customization????

www.kuumakyyti.com/elli58

Greetings from Finland .
Mika E Aarnio

 

Pink and white, too! How more '50s can we get! THANKS for the post!

 

The Canadian E-475s are painted a different color to I believe mine are silver blocks with red valve covers with silver lettering

 

man id love to get a 58 edsel been lookin all the ones ive found are in a junkyard

last christmas my girlfriends brother whos not at all a car guy comes up and says hey i just bought a 58 edsel thats been sitting for about 25 years i said why? he said i dont know i just bought i said when are you bringing it home he says i dont know if i will probably just leaving sitting where i bought it .......forever

im gonna try to talk him out of it if possible hes one of those more money the sence types he has no intentions on making it road worthy or anything he litterally bought it just because..............

 

I got 2 and I want more so addictive and mine dont even run lol

 

Hiya, buddy and fellow Buckeye. Even though this is an Edsel "stock-car" thread, we've had a tremendous amount of info from Edsel fanatics -- hi-po and otherwise.

Is your future brother-in-law's Edsel a '58? And is it a runner, or at least a roller? What body style is it? I ask all this, since condition and body style make a ton of difference as to how much you should pay and/or be willing to sink into whatever you visualize doing with the project. Lots of possibilities, but let's start with those basic questions about just what you're dealing with there.

 

yeah i know this is about stock cars but i saw a few others posting about other edsels so i thought why not

its a 58 he doesnt even know what body style it is all he could tell me is it is red and white im half sure he said it runs it is a 2 door i know it needs a windshield if i remember right he said it has less then 60 k miles on it

 

Hey, man, it DEFINITELY sounds as though this could be THE Edsel you have been looking for! They didn't make any 2D sedan Edsels, SO you've got a hardtop -- a big plus. Runs -- another plus. Cracked windshield may work to your advantage when trying to get a price from him, and a windshild is no show-stopper, either. If he's a dollars guy, as you said, and got it for a song, he may flip it to you for a couple of hundred more than he paid.

Now Hamilton is in southweestern Ohio, isn't it? Is the car far from you? Would help to determine WAG ballpark worth if you could post some pix so HAMBers could factor in condition, especially rust, chrome condition, etc.

 

yes hamilton is in SW ohio the car is in missouri i asked him to send some pics of it but he hasnt sent any yet

depending on what body the edsel is i have a windshield from a 57 fairlane so its not that big of deal unless the edsel is the bigger body

 

I'm not a FoMoCo/MEL guy, so I can't answer off hand if the '57 Fairlane windshield is a dupe for the '58 Edsel's. I only know that Edsels were built on the same lines with Mercurys, in Kentucky, not in a Ford plant.

BUT, I'm SURE there's a HAMBer who can tell you quick. One of the things I love about the HAMB is that guys and gals WANT TO HELP other HAMBers!

 

It was EARLY this morn when I posted, so MAYBE if we bump it back to the top somebody will see the Q who knows his/her FoMoCo stuff.

Does a '57 Fairlane windshield fit the frame of a '58 Edsel???

THANKS!!!

 

Judging from the looks of this '58 Edsel and the '57 Fairlane at bottom, it seems
a safe bet the wind shields interchange. Any HAMBer swapped from a Ford into
an Edsel, or vice versa???





Photo THANKS to SeriousWheels!

 

----------------------
Another phrase popular with Edsel detractors
'back in the day' about the grill shape was that
"It looks like an Oldsmobile ****ing a lemon!".

Mart3406 ('Who now that you
mention it, does find the Edsel
grill shape to be somewhat ******
and possibly obscene!' LOL)
========================

 

Mart, you have WAY too much fun! The HAMB should charge you a fee to be here! LOL

Several HAMBers, myself included, like the look of the '58 Edsel. Though people like to bring up the troublesome center-hub gear shift, the REAL reasons for the Edsel's failure lay mostly in faulty planning/timing by the Ford folk AND the long-lasting recession NOBODY saw coming for '58!

I've got my own gripes about Edsel style DETAILS. This is to say, it COULD have looked nicer -- maybe even trend-setting -- with a few tweaks. But the designers were aparently saddled in the end with having to pull a LOT of elements from the stock Ford and Mercury parts bins.

That's all bad news for a new "make" the was, unfortunately, overhyped AND overpriced, JUST as a major recession hit!

ALL things being equal, I still wonder how Edsel would have done if it could have bowed in fall 1956 for the '57 model year! Was Edsel's ultimate stake-through-the-heart lay in debuting just ONE YEAR too late!!!

 

The windshields will swap with the 57 and also the doors. Also they did make 58 sedans and hardtop Edsel Pacers and Rangers.I have one of each. Later, Herb.

 

thanks herb65

 

================================

Actually, my '****** Edsel grill fetish' aside
(LOL), I really like Edsels....even the somewhat
"different" but not actually unattractive styling.
If I had the money, my top ten 'must have'
dream car list would definitely include at least
one, loaded, top of the line '58 Citation or
Corsair! I agree too, that the failure of the Edsel
was mostly due to timing - launching a whole
new upscale car line at the height of a recession
- and poor market planning - ie - building a car
for an already overcrowded, highly compe***ive
- and by the 1958 recession , rapidly shrinking
- market niche that was already occupied, 'in
house' by Mercury and the also new 4-seater
Ford Thunderbird - and externally by Buick,
Oldsmobile, Chrysler and DeSoto.

By the way here's some of YouTube videos I
found.The first one, "The Edsel Story ," a 26
minute long promotional film intended for
dealers, that was released several months
before the car was shown and introduced to
the general public - and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th
videos, a series of short, one and half to two
and half minute-long, circa-1958 'made for
TV' Edsel promotional films and commercials.
Enjoy!

Mart3406
------------------
1) The Edsel Story (1957)
(http://youtu.be/ziKiSW8BTJQ)
"The Edsel division of the Ford motor company sent copies of this film to the new Edsel dealers across the United States in order to introduce the new car before anyone else had seen it."
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ziKiSW8BTJQ" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>

2) TV Commercial - "The Edsel"
(http://youtu.be/Dk6bPU9ZejQ)
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dk6bPU9ZejQ" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>

3) 1958 Edsel Wagon Train Sponsor Commercial
(http://youtu.be/ROrG6pfxZvo)
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ROrG6pfxZvo" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>

4) 50's TV: An Edsel commercial from 1957
(http://youtu.be/hbbJmsRYrnc)
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hbbJmsRYrnc" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>

===============================

 

I love my 58 Pacer..

 

now my Elli Edsel got some babies, you may get one when ordering parts from rockauto.com

 

Actually , there were 2 main series of 58 edsels, junior and senior series.
Juniors (Pacers, Rangers, STW`s ) were cousins of Fords, and Seniors (Ranger / Citations) were cousins of Mercuries.
So Juniors were built with same lines as Fords and Seniors with merc lines.

 

And I thought it was just a matter of two different wheelbases. (But, all these windshields interchange, right???)

 

all the windshields in the 58 edsel will interchange with the 57 fords. This is based on FACT.

 

Many THANKS, ShainerMan!

 

Edsel stock cars exist in current day times also. Below are a few of mine from 2007-2008 and 2009. The first one is at Milwaukee Mile in 2008, the second is myself and Edsel designer Roy Brown in Dearborn MI, the third is at Madison Speedway in WI. The fourth is Rockford IL and the last one is at Dells Speedway in WI.