The designer of the Edsel motor car- Roy Brown p***ed away today. He was 95. Like it or hate it it certainly left its mark in the automotive world. Gods speed Roy ! Oldmics
After having been made the scapegoat for the failure of the Edsel, he was sent to Ford of Britain, where he designed the big selling Ford Cortina Mk.I (this is mine, BTW): and the not so big selling Ford Zodiac/Zephyr (not mine unfortunately)
May he be remembered fondly. I was lucky enough to speak with him on the phone a few years ago. We'll miss you Roy!
I think that the 1960 Edsel is the best looking car in the FOMOCO line up for that year. The grill on that Ford Zodiac/Zephyr looks a little like what the Comet was supposed to have and the 60 had.
I always liked Edsels...knew a man who owned a '58 at one time, and he said it was one of the best cars he ever had. BTW: The twin grilles on this Zodiac/Zephyr Model remind you a little bit of a modified version of the Edsel grille turned sideways. Jonnie www.legends.thewwbc.net
Also he was head designer for 1963 econoline, & famous 1956 Lincoln Futura prototype which were later spoiled as batmobile.. RIP ROY, you will meet in heaven mr Edsel B Ford, and he will say to you: " Thanks for creating such an beautful 58 Edsel, it`s perfect!" http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1885590&d=1363006435
OK, test time guys. Does anyone here know the number one reason for the failure of the Edsel? Although there is many reasons thrown about here and there such as appearance, technical failures, maintenance, etc, there actualy one main reason attributed to it's demise. Can you guess?
I know the electric push-****on shift was plagued with all sorts of gremlins. I recall old timer mechanics talking about it when I got into the trade. Bob
1958 was a recession year.Nothing sold well. Now what was the top selling American auto in 1958. Oldmics
That icon of failure was followed soon by the most successful introduction of all time......the Ford Mustang.
Did you? The article at the top of the thread in the Sun Sentinal is from March 1985, but it doesn't say he is dead - it is just article on the guy. The NY Times link is working fine for me ... Roy Brown Jr., Edsel Designer, Dies at 96 By WILLIAM YARDLEY Published: March 5, 2013 Roy Brown Jr., a car designer for Ford Motor whose signature creation, the supposedly futuristic but ultimately ill-fated Edsel, became a synonym for bold, bad ideas not long after it was introduced in 1957, died on Feb. 24 in Michigan. He was 96.
Even from Google I couldn't get the NYT link to work, but got another one to. Looks like you were right.
63000 Edsels were sold in first year, that was 2nd best result for any car brand as it`s first year, only aim for 200.000 was unrealistic.
worked on the e I grew up in allen park Michigan about 2 miles away from the rouge plant one of the engineers that worked on the shift for the edsel was one of my neighbors he told me all kinds of stories about how they used to try to work out problems with it
In the early fifties medium priced cars and fancier low priced cars like the BelAir hardtop sold like crazy. This was something new, in previous years you could bet the cheapest stripped low priced sedan would be the best seller but in 1953 and 54, Buick actually outsold Plymouth and car makers made huge profits on deluxe, medium priced cars. Edsel was meant to take advantage of this and give Ford something to sell in between Ford and Mercury. GM had Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac in ascending order of costliness. Chrysler had Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial. Ford had Ford, Mercury and Lincoln. If a Ford man wanted to move up to something a little nicer, they could show him a Mercury, period. If he didn't happen to like the Mercury they had nothing except Lincoln which was way too expensive. Ford wound up losing a lot of customers to GM and Chrysler, just as they were getting set to spend some real money. Edsel was supposed to plug this gap and give them something new to sell against Pontiac, Olds, Dodge, DeSoto, and Buick. What they could not anticipate was that the bottom would fall out of the medium price cl*** the day they introduced the Edsel. Such well established makes as Buick and Olds saw their sales drop by almost half. DeSoto was mortally wounded and died 3 years later. The others survived but Edsel had only one chance to make a first impression. In 10 years from 1955 to 1965 Ford introduced 5 new brands of cars. Thunderbird, Edsel, Falcon, Fairlane and Mustang. Every one was a smash hit except Edsel. If a movie director or broadway impressario had 4 hits out of 5 shows in 10 years, or if a ball player hit a home run 4 times out of 5 at bat, would everyone go on about the one time he struck out?
I could be way off on this (often am).. But I was always under the impression that the Edsel ended up costing significantly more to manufacture than the mid-price market price it was set up to sell at. Ford execs were forced to shut the line down due to the dollars lost per unit. Someone will correct my thinking I'm sure, but that was the story I had been holding on to.. -Dave Damn! Too slow typing AGAIN!! Sorry Rusty!
In later models they did eliminate some of the more costly features of the Edsel, and start offering cheaper models with six cylinder engines. I believe this was the plan, to put their best foot forward with the most sensational car they could dream up the first year, then trim the fat in later years. It wasn't just the Edsel. They also made the Mercury much larger, heavier and more expensive then put the Edsel in between Ford and Mercury. The smaller Edsels used the Ford platform, the bigger ones were Mercuries under the skin. And, the Lincoln was a completely separate car. When Edsel died they chopped their lineup radically. Later Mercuries were built on the full size Ford platform and they added the new Falcon at the bottom end of the lineup. After 1959 you can see how different models shared more parts in common, an obvious cost cutting strategy.
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