Edsel, 50 Years After Its Demise

By Richard S. Chang

It was 50 years ago Thursday that Ford announced it was ending production of the Edsel. Insert joke here.

The Edsel was the original Yugo. The first Aztec Aztek. It was the colossal failure to which all future failures would be compared.

But the car wasn’t just a lemon. It was also a catastrophe of marketing. “Despite several features that were not necessarily innovations — a vertical grille, self-adjusting brakes, Teletouch transmission buttons on the steering wheel and a floating speedometer that glowed when a preset speed was reached — the Edsel was panned by the public,” wrote Dave Kinney in The New York Times two years ago.

“Among other things, it was derided for having a grille that looked like a toilet seat. Time magazine popularized the wisecrack that it looked like an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon.” That distinguishing feature was more affectionately known as the horse collar grille.

The Edsel was introduced on Sept. 4, 1957, or E-Day. Based on the standard Ford body, the Edsel was a big car that could seat six people in comfort and guzzle gas with similar ease. The Edsel was styled to portray more of an upscale look. “They’ll know you’ve arrived when you drive up in a 1958 Edsel,” declared the narrator in the first Edsel television commercial. Yes, there was truth to that advertising.

Ford originally intended to create a standalone Edsel division with 1,300 independent dealers, and the company promoted the car with a television special, “The Edsel Show,” hosted by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

The problem, according to historians, was that the United States was entering a recession, and the public’s appetite for conspicuous luxury was on the wane. The Edsel was a failure from the start, and Ford knew it. After the first year, the automaker drastically reduced its marketing budget for the car. By 1959, the Edsel was on its last legs. Ford made fewer than 3,000 1960 models, including about 70 convertibles, before the final Edsel came off the assembly line in November.

The last Edsel to be built, a tan station wagon, rolls off the Ford Motor Company assembly line in Louisville. Associated Press The last Edsel to be built, a tan station wagon, rolls off the Ford Motor Company assembly line in Louisville, Ky.

Ford was said to have lost $125 million on the car, and its failure has only grown in stature since then. Just as Cadillac is synonymous with luxury, Edsel equates spectacular failure.

But as James Barron wrote in The Times two years ago, the Edsel still has its followers, including Steve Wyckoff, who owned 24 Edsels at the time.

“I never tell people how many I have,” Mr. Wyckoff said then. “If they suspect I’m crazy, I don’t want to confirm it.”

Comments are no longer being accepted.

Blurting Ernie November 19, 2009 · 4:02 pm

The Edsel grill did not die. Look at the Bugati Veyron– Long Lost Italian Step-Child twice removed.

I wonder if Edsel are more collectible than its competitive contemporaries? Ugly cars do have an infamy and reputation that marketing can’t buy– or sell.

DW November 19, 2009 · 4:43 pm

Have fun with this link:

//www.ev1.pair.com/edsel/edselshow1.html

The story of how a broadcast editor searched, found and transferred to modern media what is considered by experts to be the oldest surviving professional black-and-white videotape. It’s “The Edsel Show” of all things – and better yet, the editor has at least one Edsel convertible in his beautiful collection of vintage cars!

stevenz November 19, 2009 · 4:52 pm

Interesting, though, to be reminded of the day when advertising actually said something about the product rather than promoting an artificial image that people are supposed to relate to.

This ad shows what the car looks like, that it’s driven on streets and driveways (not dusty desert tracks, or up Mt McKinley), and what its features are. So quaint.

JPS November 19, 2009 · 5:07 pm

I’ve always been intrigued with, altho have never driven a car with push-button automatic transmission.

Ford & Chrysler toyed with this … did GM ever offer it?
The Prius “by-wire” transmission is pretty nifty ….

If the Edsel had lived on, how would it have evolved among the jellybeans & roller skates on wheels that we are now offered?

Larry November 19, 2009 · 5:10 pm

I think the original Edsel grille looked too much like something else, other than a toilet seat.

Janice M November 19, 2009 · 5:18 pm

My aunt and uncle bought the first Edsel off the line. Then they sold it to their son, my cousin. I bought one of the first Mustangs off the line, a 1965 convertible which I bought for $3,400 in November 1965. Both cars are treasured today. They don’t make cars like that any more!

Charles Hoyenski November 19, 2009 · 6:03 pm

I remember a guy tearing down the block on an edsel, once, the exhaust and intake ports were VERY small, this engine, despite it’s large displacement, most likely did not churn up the high rpms, so it was not even that powerful for a V8.

Mello Yellow November 19, 2009 · 6:20 pm

Valuable Lesson Learned: Never name a car line after your beloved eldest son…..Unless his name is 911.

Chris November 19, 2009 · 7:07 pm

The Edsel was not a lemon, it was no worse or better than any other mass production care of it’s time. It was a collosial marketing failure despite the millions of dollars spent on marketing research. I’m surprised the author of this article did not state this quote, “The aim was right, but the target moved”. As far as design goes, the Edsel is a beauty and a paragon of good design compared to the lifeless, over-designed, monotonous hunks of metal that pollute the roadways of America and the world today!!!

Jay in Pa November 19, 2009 · 7:16 pm

“Ford made less than 3,000 1960 models, including about 70 convertibles, before the final Edsel came off the assembly line in November.”
Fewer, you grammatical sloths, not less. If you can count it, use fewer.

FS November 19, 2009 · 7:36 pm

No, Jay, you’re overstretching (#10). If the phrase were “less models than” it would be objectionable, yes, but “less than 3,000″ is perfectly acceptable.

Jim November 19, 2009 · 8:10 pm

I just drove my ’58 Edsel from NC to Louisville, KY to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Edsel. The 361 cu. in. V8 is plenty powerful, and everyone these days seems to love the car. The pushbutton transmission has worked flawlessly for 20 years now and I can draw a crowd away from all the 1957 Chevys at the local car show, so I am well satisfied with my Pacer.

Robert Harper November 19, 2009 · 8:20 pm

Two weeks before the Edsel was to be announced publicly the small daily paper I was working for in California received its hold for release photos of the Edsel and I thought it was some kind of joke. I could not believe it was a car that Ford actually was going to put on the market. This was the least attractive US automobile I had seen since my father bought a Chrysler Airflow in the mid-thirties and I hid my head in shame. To me the Edsel was ugly then and it is ugly now. … and so by the way is the Airflow. Some things do not change with either time or familiarity.

Carl LaFong November 19, 2009 · 8:20 pm

Edsel? Nonsense. The Chevette. Now there was a car!

Paul November 19, 2009 · 8:21 pm

I’m always amused by the general public’s impression of the Edsel as a “bad” car, when it was in reality no better and no worse than its Ford and Mercury brethren. It was however both a marketing and styling disaster. But even in styling, it was not alone in being distasteful, as several of GM’s divisions brought out equally atrocious 1958 models. Thank goodness there were some fantastically styled Chrysler products that year to balance the Edsel and various GM monstrosities.

Another factor in the Edsel’s demise was the growing fascination with smaller cars in that era, first with European imports, and then with the Big Three’s trio of Falcon, Corvair and Valiant. It’s not a complete coincidence that the first Falcons came out the same year as the last Edsels.

Peter Ruden November 19, 2009 · 8:40 pm

I remember as a pretty young kid visiting my Uncle John in Colorado and riding in his 1958 Edsel with that cool speedometer and push buttons for selecting the gears of the automatic transmission on the steering wheel. In my expert opinion at the time (being about 6 years old) I thought t

hat his Edsel was just about the best car I had ever ridden in! Ford of course didn’t make very good cars at the time but the Edsel was more of a marketing failure doomed by the economic contraction that began just as it was released. Had the times been better perhaps things would have been different. But, we’ll never know. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the memory of Uncle John and his Edsel.

adub November 19, 2009 · 8:42 pm

I learned how to drive (in the late 80’s) on a 1960 Plymouth Valiant with a push button transmission – every few years, the buttons would slip behind the frame holding them in place, and you couldn’t put the car in gear (or out of gear!!) until you fixed the problem. Car was so ugly it looked like a frog going backwards, but it got a ton of compliments and was built like a tank. Man, I loved that thing – cried when my dad totaled it.

Ben November 19, 2009 · 8:44 pm

The funny thing – people made fun of my father’s 59 Edsel.
But…when he bought the 68 Catalina – wow everybody liked that look. Now compare the big fang in the front of the Edsel with – the big fang on the Catalina – and the dual headlights – and the interior of the grille sideways. There was a lot more similarity in those two cars than Pontiac owners would care to admit. Maybe a car with the name “Edsel” just never stood a chance.

Ben November 19, 2009 · 8:48 pm

To Chris (#8) – What’s Rudy Giuliani’s favorite car?
Why of course – it’s the 911 !

H.A. November 19, 2009 · 8:48 pm

Larry @ #5:

I think I know what you’re talking about. I agree.

That is one ugly car – ugly name, too. Edsel. Yecchh.

Lewis B. Sckolnick November 19, 2009 · 8:59 pm

Edsel was death at first sight.

Jacquie November 19, 2009 · 9:01 pm

My claim to fame is that I learned to drive on an Edsel. The local driving instructor that my parents engaged to teach me to drive had an Edsel. So I learned and took my license test on that car. This was probably 1959-60. Then the fun started — our car was a Ford ranch wagon with a standard shift. So my mom and dad worked with me until I could drive the standard.

I didn’t realize until many years later what a neat thing it was to have learned to drive on an Edsel!

Bill November 19, 2009 · 9:01 pm

I owned a 1958 Edsel Citation Convertible for 4 years – the top of the line model during the first year of its existence. The 410 cubic inch engine was a rocket, the best aspect of the whole car. The gear shift selector in the steering wheel NEVER worked right; I ended up installing a floor shift. The front suspension A frame actually broke while I was driving – I have never before or since seen that happen. The car was so heavy, I wore out 3 scissors jacks in 4 years just working on repairs and maintenance. The convertible top mechanism worked sometimes. But EVERYONE in town knew where I was when I was out and about in it. In a perverse sort of way, I got a kick out of driving that car, and 40 years later, I get a kick out of telling all my stories about it.

mark November 19, 2009 · 9:03 pm

I think mass consensus can be an issue, then or now. If certain well known people make catchy criticisms, the thing can snowball and the product can have a black eye. The reverse is also true, a product can have a lot more positive buzz than it deserves. Other than the gas consumption issue, I would take any Detroit made vehicle of that era over the any American made vehicle of this era. Simple, solid, reliable, smooth, so what that they did not all look the same, at least you could tell em apart. Nowadays, I have no clue.

Catdancer November 19, 2009 · 9:11 pm

My father had an Edsel and really liked it. He enjoyed unusual gadgets like the push-button transmission, and he said it was peppy and fun to drive. Styling never meant that much to him. He got a good buy on a used Edsel because the original owner was embarrassed to drive a car that had proven unpopular.