I have a die cast model of the '53 Skylark

A good halo car which probably attracted many to a Buick showroom. Then another affordable Buick was purchased.

What a great choice for a close-up look. The IP and wheel wells are notable high points of the design.

❤ I didn't like the box style

Thanks

I want one so bad, it's a thunderbird always loved personal luxury coupes.

I did not hate this car. In the right color (not grey!) it was a looker. And you could get the special order color matched tu-tone interior that looked kinda cool as well. If you bought it for what it was, it was fine. If you bought it with the wrong expectations, you'd be disappointed. Had a couple nice top down rides in my boss's 'bird at the time, though he never would quite admit it was just an LS - which I did in fact have at the same time (had more features and may have handled better - mine was a V8 Sport). 0-60 was in the mid 6's, decent for the time. And yeah, the interior was slightly cut rate for the price I thought. As a golf club car in what passes for country in outer suburbia with gentle turns on the way there - sure! Never experienced it with the hardtop, but I think the idea was that you'd only use this in the winter.

The styling is nice, it’s your typical retro styling. The build quality on the interior is just OK and I believe the dashboard is very similar to the Ford Fusion.

I bought a 2004 new. I agree with the cost cutting on the interior. There is too much hard plastic, which cheapens it, and the visor mirrors are ridiculous in the price range of the car. The Thunderbird was actually very well received at the start. The main cause for the sales falling off was the unscrupulous price gouging by the dealers. Some of the dealer premiums were almost 100%. Also, the limitation of interior colors was very disappointing. The dealers also refused to work with the customer on the colors and options. I had chosen a bronze one with a beige interior (shocking!) and wanted a black convertible top, since light color fabric tops are hard to keep presentable. No way would they even allow me to special order. I ended up going to a different dealer (had to fly from South Florida to NYC) to get a platinum (silver) one with (of course) a black interior at just a bit below MSRP. I still have it with 80K plus miles. I love the way it looks, the comfort (I'm way under 6'1" tall) and the power range is what I expected. I wasn't looking for a Corvette, and Ford would competed with their own Mustang if they had concentrated on more of a sports car. It hasn't been my most reliable car. There were clearly Jaguar influences. If it had used the Ford 4.6L V-8, it would have been more dependable. I have a 1994 Thunderbird with the 4.6L and it's approaching 500K miles with no issues at all. Corporate infighting at Ford and shady dealer practices prevented this car from being a success. I do get a lot of attention when I drive the car, especially from the younger crowd who are not accustomed to the sound and feel of a V-8, and the styling always gets positive remarks.

I love it it's only my wife and I we are are in our late 50's I'll buy it and even thinking about buying one. What worries me is the Jaguar motor dependability and cost to maintain.

The hardtop clunks on the body as the body flexes has been my experience, just like the 1955-57s did.

Why do people always talk golf clubs when they look at the trunk?

It was never intended to be a Corvette beater. Those who were expecting a Sport Car, where delusional or had wishful thinking.

It’s a shame Ford didn’t put some money into the interior. A little could have gone a long way toward making the car feel like it was worth the price.

The grill killed it. Looked like a toilet bowl slapped on it. It was gross.

My father had one. 2 door hardtop in light metallic blue. It was very fast. Rocket V8.

Was that Martha Stewart shown briefly with a Roundup?

I have a question. I have a 76 Coupe DeVille. It needs new upholstery. What I would really love is getting the plaid Calais interior of the era. Is that possible?

Gilmore Car Museum has one of those Cadillac Brougham models. I believe it's the one Bob Hope owned.

Really enjoyed this Christmas 🎅 gift! I owned an ‘86 Taurus LX sedan and regret I failed to snag an ‘89 LX wagon. Its seating comforts front and rear were amazing. Although the third seat back was quite perpendicular the Blue Oval won the day in family haulers!

🎶 "Holiday Road, Oh Oh Oh, Oh Oh Oh, Oh Oh Oh, Holiday Road, Oh Oh Oh, Oh Oh Oh" ...

Well....u r wrong about...never again nothing else like it....The COLLECTORS SERIES of 79....SAME CAR....Less the 460V8 OPTION....offered in 4 colors

i daily drive a 62 catalina 4 dr hardtop that has the speedminder and i use it on the highway.........

In 1956 Ford introduced the Ford Parklane wagon- a 2 door wagon intended to compete with the Chevy Nomad and Pontiac Safari. In 1957 they renamed it the Del Rio and kept that name for 1958. Those were not intended to be economy wagons but be more upscale.

Edsel's were an acquired taste, appearance wise, a lot of cars in the 50's were questionable. The problems were in forcing them down Ford and Mercury assembly lines without adequate prep, and with bad advertising.

Push button trunk release on sedans, but on wagons you still had to lift up the tail gate glass whereas on Chrysler Co cars starting in '57 you could push a button on dash and drop the glass into fold down tail gate.

My Aunt had a Edsel Wagon for a long time. I remember going to the drive in with it. It could easily haul all the kids in the neighborhood. My uncle kept it running and looking good.

The automatic transmission with column shift was $217.70, and with teletouch, $231.40. Teletouch was only $13.70 extra. And except for cars mistakenly built without an exhaust heat shield, they were fairly reliable. Maybe a new servo motor after 60-90k miles.

🎄☃🎄⛄🎄

Very good program. Mercury had been the only offering Ford had to capture buyers moving up market from the “low priced three” to higher priced.brands ( Pontiac, Olds, Buick Special and Century, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler Windsor, Nash, Hudson, Studebaker Commander, junior Packards. Ford thought a second medium priced brand was the answer. Problem was that the Big 3 were moving Chevy, Ford, and Plymouth upscale with the fancy but lower priced BelAir, Fairlane, and Belvedere models at the same time small, more evonomical foreign car sales were rapidly growing. So by 1958 the mid priced , full size Edsel was on mission impossible , get a foothold in a rapidly contracting market segment. Controversial styling or not, this new product was fighting an unwinnable battle. Nice try - but about 5 years too late. Ford solved the problem in 1960-61 introducing the very popular Falcon and Comet into the fast growing compact car segment.

Great video on a model of Edsel that is often overlooked. Thank you!

Just a fugly NON all new car!

"Elegant. Powerful. And brimming with mid-century charm"..............And so cool.

Cadillac had an automatic trunk release in 1955 I believe.

the replacement Cadillac is now $350,000. Celestiq. Unfortunately it makes you wait a lengthy time at the pumps.

Good video. Thank you. I bought seat fabric made by you for my 1966 Chevrolet Bel Air. Not only was it a perfect match but it was also beautifully made.

The Edsel wagon had two extra problems the rest of the line didn't - since they shared the Ford Division wagon body and all 1957-8 Ford wagons shared a wheelbase and front doors with the low-series Ford Custom/Custom 300 sedans while the low series Edsel Ranger and Pacer used the Ford Fairlane body and 118" wb, the wagons were actually the shortest Edsels. On top of that, Ford had real success selling the Country Squire as a premium product with more cachet than the top-trim Chevy and Plymouth wagons, so the extra money spent on an Edsel wagon didn't buy any extra prestige even before they were seen as a "loser".

Edsel failed because it promised more than it delivered. It was advertised to be revolutionary, but was just another car. People looked, shrugged, and went about their business. My folks were two of those people. They ended up holding off a year, then buying a 1959 Pontiac Catalina.

The Edsel was not a bad car. It was essentially a "58 Ford. The buyers looked at both cars and thought the Ford.

I believe the biggest reason the E Car failed is Robert MacNamara. He wanted Ford to be like Volkswagen; minimal changes to the same basic model. He wound up becoming our secretary of defense. I don't think the Edsel is any worse looking than its peers, but it wasn't really different. If you release a brand new line of cars during a recession... they'd better be different!

0:30 Martha Stewart with the red Edsel Wagon SEXY🥰 Mom & Dad had a 64 Ford Country Squire Brown wagon in the back was a fold up / fold down rear facing seat dad would put the rear window down us kids would stick our toungs out at the cars behind us back then everyone Laughed 🤩🤗

When I was little I remember hearing people referring to the😊 front grill as a toilet seat or the "Lemon sucker". Ha! Oh well. I still love Edsels!

That's crazy, I never knew the Edsel wagon boomerang taillights signaled the opposite way in the way they pointed. Wow, someone wasn't paying attention there. It always looked obvious those fenders were from the 57 Ford. I've always wondered how Edsel's reputation might have looked like had the new 57 Packard which looked somewhat like the Edsel design, had it debuted a year earlier. And, if Edsel still nosedived even tho it would have appeared to be copying the Packard look, would that have taken Packards new look down too. Interesting to think about. Henry Ford II wanted to buy Packard in 1956, and those cars would have complimented Ford's lineup because they had been similarly styled for several years. Unfortunately, Ford was then pushing the M-E-L division, and the new Continental Division, all of which failed. The Edsel was built all three years right here in Louisville. That Ford plant, one of 3 still builds vehicles.

I find the ‘58s grotesque but I do have to admit that ‘59s, in person, are not horrifying. To me it’s amazing that the front end design went into production. I just find it uncannily disturbing. But… probably the worst thing was launching the model into a recession.

This is a great video!!!

I can't believe that the doyenne of design, Martha Stewart, drives one of these beasts -- and it's the base model no less! Clearly her eye for domestic delights didn't extend all the way to her own driveway. For the fact is, the front of the 1958 Edsels still has the power to shock us with its incredible ugliness all these decades later. If there were still horses on the road when the car debuted, these wagons would have been spooking steeds right, left, and center! WOOF! WHAT A DOG!

My parents had a 1958 Ford Ranch Wagon. From the side it looked identical to the Edsel. My father chose to have the 292 V8, dash clock & roof rack as the only options. We teased dad, that we hardly used the roof & we'd more than likely would use the radio if we had one. This car was so striped down, that it only had one left side cardboard sun visor. It also lacked the "Ranch Wagon" name plate on the side. It served us well & the fake hood scope made it look like an Edsel from the drivers seat1

Ford sort of goofed in 57 and 58 basing all Ford and Edsel wagons on the shorter, economy Ford Custom and Custom 500 chassis and body. Mercury refused to allow Edsel to use thier hardtop station wagon bodies for a Corsair or Citation equivalent wagons which, otherwise, only offered pillarless body styles. Mercury was able to do this because senior Edsels were built in Mercury plants.

we went for the 59 colony park which was bumped up to 126in wheelbase. the third seat faced forward unlike any other wagon, and push button transmission had been dropped. stunning black woody on red interior.

I had a speedminder in a Lincoln and used it for long distance highway driving. I liked it.