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Background
Launch The Edsel was introduced amidst a considerable amount of publicity on "E Day" — September 4, 1957. It was promoted by a top-rated television special, The Edsel Show on October 13, but it was not enough to counter the adverse public reaction to the car's styling and conventional build; the rumors that Ford had circulated led consumers to expect an entirely new kind of car when in reality the Edsel shared its bodywork with other Ford models. The Edsel was to be sold through a new Ford division. It existed from November 1956 until January 1958, after which Edsels were made by the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division (referred to as M-E-L). Edsel was sold through a new network of 1,500 dealers. This briefly brought total dealers of all Ford products to 10,000. Ford saw this as a way to come closer to parity with the other two companies of the Big Three: Chrysler had 10,000 dealers and General Motors had 16,000. As soon as it became apparent that the Edsels were not selling, many of these dealers added Lincoln-Mercury, English Ford and/or Taunus dealerships to their lines with the encouragement of Ford Motor Company. Some dealers, however, closed. For the 1958 model year, Edsel produced four models, including the larger Mercury-based Citation and Corsair, and the smaller, more affordable Ford-based Pacer and Ranger. The Citation came in two-door and four-door hardtops, and two-door convertible versions. The Corsair came in two-door and four-door hardtop versions. The Pacer came in two-door and four-door hardtops, four-door sedan, and two-door convertible. The Ranger came in two-door and four-door hardtop or sedan versions. The four-door Bermuda and Villager wagons, and the two-door Roundup wagon were based on the 116" wheelbase Ford station wagon platform and shared the trim and features of the Ranger and Pacer models. It included several features that were, at the time, cutting-edge innovations, among which were its "rolling dome" speedometer and its Teletouch transmission shifting system, on the center of the steering wheel. Other less-touted but more enduring design innovations included a primitive attempt at ergonomically-designed controls for the driver, and self-adjusting brakes (often claimed as a first for the industry, although this was not so -- Studebaker had pioneered them earlier in the decade). 63,110 Edsels sold the first year. Though this was below expectations, it was still the second largest car launch for any brand to date, second only to the Plymouth introduction in 1928. For the 1959 model year there were only two Edsels: the Ranger and the Corsair which was really a relabeled Pacer. The two larger cars were not produced. The new Corsair came in two-door and four-door hardtops, four-door sedan, and two-door convertible. The Ranger came in two-door and four-door hardtops, two-door and four-door sedans, and the Villager station wagon. 44,891 cars sold in model year 1959. For the 1960 model year, Edsel's last, only the Ranger and Villager were produced. The 1960 Edsel, in its final model year, emerged as a Ford — its grill, hood, and four tail lights, along with its side sweep spears being the only real differences separating the Edsel from Ford. End
Edsel and its failures There is no single reason why the Edsel failed, and failed so spectacularly. Popular culture often faults the car’s styling. Consumer Reports cited poor workmanship. Marketing experts hold the Edsel up as a supreme example of Corporate America’s failure to understand the nature of the American consumer. Business analysts cite the weak internal support for the product inside Ford’s Executive offices. According to author and Edsel scholar Jan Deutsch, the Edsel was "the wrong car at the wrong time." "The aim was right, but the target moved"
The wrong car at the wrong time One of the external forces working against the Edsel that Ford had no control over was the onset of the recession in late 1957. When the Edsel was in its planning stages in the early and mid 1950s, the American economy was robust and growing. However in the years that spanned the planning to its introduction an economic recession hit, and American consumers not only shifted their idea of what an ideal car should be; in prior economic downturns, buyers flocked to the lower price marques like Plymouth, Chevrolet and Ford. But in 1958 even these cars were perceived by some as unnecessarily large and while the compact Rambler saw itself shoot to the third best selling make, none of the Big Three had anything compact to sell except their European cars built for Vauxhall, Simca, and Opel. The compacts introduced by the Big-Three in 1960 were the direct result of the Recession of 1958. Compounding Edsel's problems was that the car had to appeal to buyers of other well established nameplates from the Big Three such as Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Dodge, DeSoto and even its internal sister division Mercury, itself never a stellar sales success. Even if the 1958 recession hadn't hit when it did, the Edsel was entering into a shrinking market place. While Ernest Breech convinced Ford management that this market segment offered great untapped opportunity in the early 1950s when the "E" car was in its earliest stages, by 1957 independent manufacturers in the mid-price field were drifting towards insolvency. Hoping to turn around their losses, Packard acquired Studebaker, yet the venerable Packard was no longer produced after 1958. On the other hand, American Motors changed its focus to the compact Rambler models, while their pre-merger brands (Nash and Hudson) were discontinued after the 1957 model year. Even Chrysler saw sales of its DeSoto marque drop dramatically from its 1957 high by over 50% in 1958. Following a disastrous 1959 model year, plans were made in Highland Park to discontinue DeSoto during its 1961 model year run. Thus, the large expensive Edsel that was planned to be all things to all people suddenly stood for excess, not progress. Edsel, a difficult name to place The name of the car, Edsel, is also often cited as a further reason for its unpopularity. Naming the vehicle after Edsel Ford was proposed early in its development, however the Ford family strongly opposed its use, Henry Ford II stating that he didn't want his father's good name spinning around on thousands of hubcaps. Ford also ran internal studies to decide on a name, and even dispatched employees to stand outside movie theatres to poll audience as to what their feelings were on several ideas. They reached no conclusions. Ford hired the advertising firm Foote, Cone and Belding to come up with a name. However when the advertising agency issued its report, citing over six-thousand possibilities, Breech commented that they had been hired to develop a name, not six thousand names. Early favorites for the name brand included Citation, Corsair, Pacer and Ranger, which were ultimately chosen for the vehicle's series names. David Wallace, Manager of Marketing Research and co-worker Bob Young unofficially invited poet Marianne Moore for input and suggestions. Wallace's rationale was "who better to understand the nature of words than a poet." Moore, a loyal Ford owner, submitted numerous lists which included: "Silver Sword," "Thundercrest" (and "Thundercrester"), "Resilient Bullit," "Intelligent Whale," "Pastelogram," "Adante con Moto" "Varsity Stroke," and "Mongoose Civique." (One name she suggested, "Chaparral", later coincidentally was used for a racing car.) Against the strong objection from her brother, Moore also submitted the name TURCOTINGA, which was a play on the Cotinga (a South American finch) and the color turquoise; however she noted in her letter to Wallace that it was simply a suggestion that if wanted to go in direction of nature, that she had several volumes of works that she could review. In a letter dated December 8 1955, Moore wrote the following: Mr Young, May I submit UTOPIAN TURTLETOP? Do not trouble to answer unless you like it. Marianne Moore All these outside ideas were rejected, although Miss Moore received two dozen roses and a thank you note affectionately addressed to the Top Turtletop which Moore found amusing. In her reply to Young she regretted that she could not have been more help, and noted that she was looking forward to trying out the vehicle when it was introduced. While Moore's contributions were meant to stir creative thought, and were not officially authorized or contractual in nature, history has greatly exaggerated her relationship to the project. At the behest of Ernest Breech, who was chairing a meeting in the absence of Henry Ford II, the car was finally called "Edsel" in honor of Edsel Ford, former company president and son of Henry Ford. Marketing surveys later found the name was thought to sound like the name of a tractor (Edson) and therefore was unpopular with the public. Too big when small was in
Design controversies The Edsel is best remembered for its trademark "horsecollar" grille, which made it stand out from other cars of the period. A widely circulated wisecrack at the time was that "It looked like a Merc sucking on a lemon." Men often referred to the horse collar grill as being akin to a woman’s genitalia. The vertical grille "theme" was discontinued for the 1960 models, which were almost indistinguishable from Ford models of the same year. Many drivers disliked having the automatic transmission as push-buttons (above) mounted on the steering wheel hub: this was the traditional location of the horn, and drivers ended up shifting gears instead of honking the horn. While the Edsel was fast, the location of the transmission push buttons was not conducive to street racing. There were jokes about stoplight dragsters and the buttons: D for Drag, L for Leap, and R for Race (instead of Drive, Low and Reverse). There were also complaints about the tail lights on Edsel station wagons, which were boomerang shaped and placed in a reverse fashion; at a distance they appeared as arrows pointed in the opposite direction of the turn being made. While the left turn signal blinked, its arrow shape pointed right and vice-versa. The role of Robert McNamara
The Edsel Comet
Popular culture Since the Edsel was a large commercial failure, the name has become a popular joke in various media. Television programs, cartoons, video games and films have all used the Edsel as humor. The humor has usually come as a quick joke or as a sight gag. One popular misconception was that the Edsel was an engineering failure, or a "Lemon". When in fact, it shared the same general reliability of its sister Mercury and Ford models that were built at the same factories. This may be a link to the horsecollar grill design anecdote as noted above. In the 1960s television series The Andy Griffith Show, bumbling deputy Barney Fife was depicted as driving an Edsel, presumably as a reflection of his ineptness and poor taste. The 1950s doo-wop group The Edsels was named after the model. The car has developed a following in American car culture. Fewer than 6,000 Edsels survive and are considered collectors’ items, convertibles sometimes selling for over $100,000 for top condition Citation Convertibles. (As usual with classics, hardtop models are worth considerably less, station wagons less than that, and sedans least of all. It is possible to get a solid, running, inspected 1959 sedan for about $3000 to $3500, as of January 2004.) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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