FORD - 1958 EDSEL RANGER - Introduction of the Edsel - In the Ford Factory

[@TinLizzie-uc1jw]

Who else here doesn’t hate the Edsel? Personally I love the way it looks!

[@roberthaworth4581]

I think the rear quarter view, of the trunk lid and rear scallop, is quite nice. My second favorite view is from the front and below -- that car looks like a beast. I have a '58 Citation 2-dr. HT.

[@scootergeorge9576]

Corsair and Citation, on the longer wheelbase, look better than the shorter, cheaper, Ranger and Pacer. The "horse collar" or "Oldsmobile sucking a lemon" grill had few fans and clashed with the horizontal tail lights. There was a time when I owned a 1957 Ford Ranchero, Custom 300 that it seemed like a good idea to create a Edsel Ranchero with Edsel station wagon tail lights a n Edsel front cap - fenders, hood, grill and bumper. That is, till I saw such a conversion. Butt ugly!

[@mattsbubble312]

No its ugly but i still like it

[@joyr36]

I love the baby blue color of the first car shown.

[@scootergeorge9576]

@@joyr36 - My first car was a baby blue 1962 Mercury Comet. 170 with 3 on the tree.

[@ringosullivan4967]

I own a 1959 Edsel Ranger, 4 door hardtop. Only 2200 were made. I still love the old girl. She came with a dealer installed 45 RPM record player.

[@1spunkymonkey2]

I personally think the Edsel is one of the most beautiful cars ever made. If I could own one, I would, great film!

[@PU8698]

Yeah i think it is beautiful as well, but back when it came out people thought it was ugly and looked terrible

[@williamdixon1992]

I owned a beautiful 58 Pacer 4 door hardtop a few years ago.. Have to say it was the most comfortable car i have ever owned. A dream to drive.

[@MrDetroitnews]

SORRY THE 1959 OLDS WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL,AND IT RAN ! LOL

[@Drchainsaw77]

My favorite description was "a Mercury pushing a toilet seat."

[@DirectorVideo1]

Great video! Thanks for showing it all - I love images of the Edsel!

[@kingbee1500]

I believe this factory footage was shot in the then-new Ford Assembly Plant in Louisville, KY. The plant, over the years, has produced everything from the Fairlane and Bronco to the Ranger. Then as now, it was one of Ford's most modern factories...after a big plant re-build a couple of years ago, it now makes the Focus and two Ford/Mazda SUVs. This plant is not to be confused with Louisville's other Ford assembly factory, Kentucky Truck Plant for all models F-250 and above.

[@Emanistan]

My first real dream car. I'd still love to have one, even though owning, operating, and restoring cars like this is far more expensive and far less practical today than it would have been back then, 30 years ago.

[@joebarber4030]

We had a 58 ranger 2 door hardtop when new, was a great car.

[@WineNationTV100]

I wonder if one of these was the first car I bought! My first car I bought in 1987 was a non running 4 door 58' Edsel Citation hardtop, it had every option available then, inc twin antennas, AC you name it. I was 21 at the time. I loved 50's cars and still do. I didn't know how much money it would really take to rebuild the engine or anything, found it in a field just outside of a barn. Bought it for $700. Realized I wouldn't have a way to get it back home, as the tow truck guy I was going to have it towed by, unfortunately passed away before he was able to tow it to my house and I wasn't ready to spend a lot of money to rebuild it. Sold it to a guy in Oregon for $800

[@geodavid51]

Classic video of a car everyone remembers

[@tigertail68]

I just LOVE the pomp and circumstance that car manufacturers used in the past. Especially Ford, with it's Edsel: the car for the young (male) Executive on his way "up the corporate ladder"...!

[@kerryincolumbus]

DAMN what a great picture.. do you REALLY look like that??

[@TomDjll]

Ford/Edsel dealership repair departments had a joke for what the letters in EDSEL stood for: Every Day Something Else Leaks.

[@jansmeulders2281]

Edsel was great...and still is....

[@guardian08527]

The boom period of the 50's was winding down. When this car debuted, the recession of 58 hit and most people were not looking to buy a new car. But that's only one problem the car faced. 1: Ford didn't know where to price the car. They invented the Edsel to make another brand to compete with GM and Chrysler models and the Edsel was supposed to be the next model/brand above ford, then Mercury then Lincoln.

[@guardian08527]

Finally, the top of the line Edsel, the Citation was loaded with all kinds of modern stuff, but the gas mileage wasn't great by 50's standards. The 57 Chevy was praised for having possibly the best gas mileage of the time at around 17-20 per gallon, you can kinda guess what these boats were getting. I own both a 57 Belair sedan and a 58 Pacer sedan and the Edsel is about 17 inches longer than the chevy. The thing is a tank, with a curb weight of 4500 pounds.

[@cubantoro]

Did anybody notice that the clock is NOT running on this brand new '58 Edsel? Sort of a hint, don't you think? Still love the car's look.... yeah... and I like the AMC Pacer and AMC Matador too!

[@thealgorithmisbroken]

I just pulled a 1958 Edsel pacer out of a farmers field that's been sitting for 30+ years. Hooked a battery up and the clock works perfectly.

[@alanolson6913]

Owned a '59 Corsair two door (or, as Ford preferred, tudor) hard top. It was white with navy in the side spear and navy interior. I was the 2nd owner, bought it in 1975, owned it 5 years. It was a boat to handle with the turning radius of a mine sweeper, and I enjoyed every moment. It rode well, comfortable for hours of driving and easy to work on. Poor, goofy looking vehicle. I really did like it, though. I know it was off-beat in the style department, but therein lies the interest. Named for Henry Ford's only child whom he usually didn't like. Edsel died young, some say of a broken heart. I currently own a Thunderbird, and I truly love driving it.

[@VicsGarage71]

I personally love the look of 50's cars and find the Edsel unique and cool. I'm working on a history of the Brand video now for my channel.

[@2right4words]

the Edsel was a prime example of big business with a bunch of yes-men that were too afraid to tell upper management that they were making a mistake

[@1940limited]

Despite that I really liked them. Not many shared my enthusiasm.

[@michaelweizer7794]

I think Bob McNamara understood that. Even if he didn't understand about Nam later

[@allenhall2259]

i talked to a retired ford worker years ago and he built the edsel and that they were built inbetween fords and mercurys causing a nightmare of problems and missing parts.

[@roberthaworth4581]

Edsels were built between either Fords or Mercuries, depending on the plant, typically during the last 10 mins. of each shift. In addition to the hassle of switching tools and parts bins, workers were not relieved of any of their hourly quota of Fords/Mercuries once the Edsel was introduced; the fact that they were thus building Edsels "for free" had a lot to do with the quality control issues. Also, union shop foremen observed to their key workers that if the Edsel were a success, their regular Ford/Mercury business would suffer and their might be layoffs on those lines, so a fair degree of passive resistance in the form of sabotage is also likely -- causing cars to arrive at dealerships with trunks full of trim, missing rubber door seals, or with roped-on bumpers. FoMoCo executives had explained to corporate management and the dealer network what was in it for THEM, but failed to reach out to workers with a similarly tailored message. There were other problems. In LA, Edsel bodies had to be painted at a facility on the other side of the city and then trucked several miles to be mated with the chassis at the Pico Rivera plant, some finishes inevitably being damaged in the process. In Mahwah, NJ, line managers regularly drove a large stakebed truck around town, stopping to recruit street-corner idlers (!) and bar patrons as extra hands to build Edsels; many lasted only a day or two, while still others disappeared after collecting their first full paycheck. Industrial disorganization and poor industrial relations doomed Edsel quality.

[@josephbingham1255]

The two tones are pretty. 3:42 black smoke (pre smog). I knew someone whose father won an Edsel at a racetrack. He pick the seven last place horses.

[@trumpeteer67]

My dad had two Ramblers with the pushbutton transmission. Put 52K on the first and 107K (!) on the second. Both were city driven, so the buttons got pushed a LOT. I only remember one time when a button stuck inside. It was an easy fix. Talking to Edsel enthusiasts, they say that the quality control was poor. The factory workers were building Fords and Mercurys on the same line. Now they got the Edsel. Too much to remember! The Edsel was the wrong car at the wrong time. People wanted smaller cars, and it wasn't long before the Big Three had to bow to the Rambler and bring out their own compacts. The Rambler at one time was number three in sales! That was in 1961 and 1962. The two that my dad had, they replaced Chevies, were great cars. Rock solid, economical, comfortable, and very durable. Just my .02.

[@guardian08527]

A lot of it had to do with the assembly line workers who resented building the cars along with the Ford/Mercuries and were just halfassing and pushing the cars out the door as soon as possible so they could get back to building Ford/Mercuries. They're were even instances where the cars were going to the dealerships WITHOUT brakes installed. The Edsel was Fords first car with self adjusting breaks, by 1962 all Ford cars had self adjusting breaks.

[@zz449944]

The biggest problem with the Edsel cars was that they never had their own dedicated production lines. In 1958, there were 4 base models of Edsel with a grand total of 14 body styles. Two of the models were based on Mercury vehicles and were built at Mercury production lines; two of the models were based on Ford vehicles and were built at Ford production lines. The initial batch of Edsel vehicles produced in advance of the public launch were built in big batches of all Edsels on the production lines and those were generally well-built and trouble-free with all fixes completed while still at the factories. After that time, Edsels were produced on an as-ordered basis and individual vehicle builds were mixed in with the other vehicles those assembly lines normally produced. For example, a line that was building the Mercury Montclair would have the occasional one or two Edsel Citations put down the line. So workers all along the line had to switch from putting on the normal Mercury parts to finding and attaching the correct Edsel parts and then installing them correctly, which may have needed different processes than what they were accustomed to when building the normal Mercury. Add to this the mix of body styles (2-door hardtop, 4-door hardtop, 2-door convertible, or station wagon) and different engines (Edsel Citation used the MEL 410). So, yes, the assembly line workers were unhappy having to build Edsels when they were supposed to be building Ford or Mercury vehicles. They had to learn new parts, new engines, new body panels, different installation procedures, all the Edsel special features that were different, plus the various options that were ordered that were different from one vehicle to the next. Imagine how maddening it could be if the parts you needed, right down to the smallest screws and bolts, were not easily available. If the correct parts were not brought down the line with the vehicle or supplied in advance, the assembly line workers were often forced to improvise and make the regular Ford or Mercury parts fit somehow just to keep the whole assembly line moving.

[@doloriodamico]

I think Edsel's were pretty advanced for their time.

[@zaimirewylie1737]

Agreed

[@sterlinsilver]

Absolutely. A lot of its "radical new features" are standard today

[@scotpens]

Not really. The Edsel was just another big American car, not very different from a Ford or Mercury. The only thing that set the Edsel apart was its unusual styling, which quickly became the butt of jokes.

[@liverush24]

I preferred the '60 Edsel.

[@scotpens]

@@liverush24 The 1960 Edsel was virtually identical to the big 1960 Fords, with the only major differences being an hourglass-shaped front grille insert, distinctive side trim, and thin vertical oval twin taillights. 1960 Edsel production ended on November 19, 1959, totaling less than 3,000 units. 1960 Edsels are extremely rare today.

[@billdoer9240]

Edsel, It reminds me of the little bear that couldn't. Gota give them credit for trying something new though.

[@billbright1755]

Bring back the EDSEL is the nation's cry!

[@VoxSweden]

Knowing the fait of the Edsel brand one can't help but to draw a comparison between the grandure in the speaker's voice announcing that the Edsel is "Already making history for Ford Motorcompany" and the one of a DPRK News reader addressing the accomplishments of the "eternal leader".

[@vahakna]

Classic cars are best than modern cars in today.

[@ferlenarab]

I think they look sharp today, in the 60's we said they looked like an Oldsmobile sucking on a lemon. I like them now, very advanced.

[@dannypatta7487]

My. Grandfather. Tony had a 1958 Edsel citation!! It was white on white , it was a beauty. It was so long when he pulled it in the garage, he would close the garage door and lay the door on the back of trunk. Grandfather drove it for 10 years!! He passed away and my grandma said I can hardly wait to get rid of that boat!!!I do remember it leaked alot of oil and my mother would never let my grandfather park on our driveway!!well grandma got her way and sold the Edsel to a bunch of nuns out in Santa Clarita,over by friendly valley.always wonder what happen to the Edsel,hope the crusher didn't get it????

[@guardian08527]

2:13 mark. Check it out. The Tachometer and Clock are not installed on the dashboard, but they reappear for the closeup at the 2:18 mark.

[@lotrdude41392]

the video is so clear. !

[@yourallbrainwashed]

I heard it was because the shape the grill looks like a toilet bowl, and I kind of agree. But I have noticed that as the years roll by, the cars that I thought were ugly when I was younger now look good to me. And I used to not like 4 door cars, but now of all the old cars are getting so rare that ill gladly take a 4 door just as I would a 2 door. Plus the new cars lack style and elegance and make the old ones look even better. I love old cars, especially the one from the 50's!

[@rjft7003]

21st century SUV taillights for the Citation :D

[@radioguy1620]

if you look at the upper part of the car the roof and windows specificly they are really well done as are some other fifties cars. there are two of these at a junkyard on my way to work and one day I stopped to check them out, lots of stainless trim and work went into those cars. too bad they didnt style the front properly

[@markjolyn94]

Love it. Edsels were(are)aweome automobiles. Supposedly the public did not like them. Although I must admit most people I have talked to either really like it or,can't stand it

[@nekad2000]

Look, thanks for posting the clip. I didn't mean to come off sounding like an entitled asshole. I was probably just in a bad mood when I wrote that comment. Anyway, the Edsel is an enigma and I can't get enough of it. Sorry about going off like that without all of the facts.

[@guardian08527]

The problem here was that for the price of the bottom of the line Edsel Ranger model, you could buy Fords best tricked out model, or at the very least, buy a bottom of the line Mercury, so most customers would probably go for a car that has been around for decades and proven reliable. 2: The design put people off. Horse Collar, Toilet Bowl, even some rumors that it looked like a vulva were the reasons for putting people off.

[@thetman0068]

Why does this show the Thunderbird at the end???

[@scotpens]

guardian08527 Yes, putting the pushbutton automatic transmission selector on the steering wheel hub was a really, REALLY dumb idea. Chrysler had a pushbutton automatic at around the same time, but theirs was mounted on the dashboard.

[@hoss73ford]

my friend has a 1958 Mercury with that (called the Teletouch transmission control) As much as I like the car, I'll likely pass. Rebuilding the 383 M-E-L engine would cost $8 to $10K and going later model would wreck the value and uniqueness of it. There is a guy on e-bay who rebuilds the transmission control boxes for about $250. There are cheaper cars out there to put back on the road.

[@thomasbbrann]

HOW MANY HP DID THE 410 HAVE???--ALSO HOW MANY HP DID THE 383 HAVE??

[@yambo59]

Yeah, look up Edsel on Wikipedia -- its at the beginning and also under the design controversies heading -- it was also more commonly known as a Horse collar -- my uncle had one in Chicago In the early sixties, oddly enough his was a convertible, they were worthless then, now theyre valuable to collectors.

[@the66volks]

gotta love edsels!

[@arnesahlen2704]

"... already making history for Ford Motor Company" - how sadly prophetic.

[@guardian08527]

3: Reliability issues. The car suffered from quality control because Ford had the brain fart of not bothering to build exclusive assembly lines for Edsel cars. Instead, they broke up the 4 58 models. Rangers and Pacers were built on the 58 Ford chassis at the Ford plants and were nicknamed "Junior Edsels" the Corsair and Citation were built at Mercury plants and called "Senior Edsels". \

[@guardian08527]

As road grime would easily get on the contacts since they were positioned right off the roadway and fowled easily. In the May 1958 issue of Popular Mechanics, 16% of Edsel owners reported poor workmanship, with complaints ranging from faulty welding to power steering failure. In its test car, Popular Mechanics tested for these problems and noted others, such as the trunk leaking badly in a storm and the odometer showing fewer than actual miles traveled

[@blkpopeye]

I was a legend before its time..Just like the Tucker.

[@gojoe283]

Corsair and Citation were based on Mercury, not Lincoln.

[@sterlinsilver]

Look at the exhaust coming out of it when it starts...

[@MrShobar]

The rationale for emissions controls on autos is evident at 2:00.

[@queenofyeay]

Probably so, though as a mechanic it seems to me like the carb jetting is WAY too rich on that car to begin with... it's losing a lot of power set up the way it is. If there were spark plugs in the tailpipes of that Edsel (like the old hot rodders did), that thing would have been capable throwing out 15 foot flames!

[@roberthaworth9097]

Surprised that the powder blue Citation in the first commercial wasn't given spinner hubcaps or s/s rocker moldings. They should have really tricked it out for TV.

[@vernwallen4246]

1958 was my worst year,to wit;I got married and bought an Edsel.😤😕😥😜😜

[@neilpye6089]

What was the mpg (miles per gallon) or was it ipg (inches per gallon)

[@corrion1]

11-12mpg

[@franknew9001]

With the Edsel, it could be how many gallons to the mile. LOL

[@michaelgeorge8671]

All 1958 Edsel's had the new FE Big block V8 . you could get a 430 Lincolin V8 as an option.

[@Rickswars]

Back when real cars roamed the streets and all American too, unlike the Japanese jellybeans and European turtle looking cars of today.

[@yambo59]

Believe it or not Ive read several places where women were offended the center grille resembles womans anatomy-- not making this up, check it out

[@ebthedoc4992]

Lordy. We were drivin’ half-Panzers, back then, weren’t we…

[@CovertOperation13]

I had herd that it also had the first self adjusting brakes that would adjust while reversing the car, but didn't work properly and they would lock up or ware out to fast . Any truth to that rumor ?

[@humdidoadi]

it actually just had a bad steering and a very soft suspension thats all which was bad about it at that time!! no reasons not to purchase it especially as there were modern items like the automatic switch in the wheel.

[@scotpens]

senorkaboom Actually it was Henry Ford II, son of Edsel Ford and then-president of Ford Motor Co., who spearheaded the Edsel project. When your name is on the product in big chrome letters, you outvote everybody!

[@hoss73ford]

Initially Henry Ford II didn't want his father's name on the car. It was likely his right hand man Ernest Breech who talked him into changing his mind. Ernie had a habit of that often saying "I'll take care of Henry".

[@lowerlevel2398]

***** The Edsel project was actually Benson Ford's baby. When Bob McNamara went all out to kill it, Henry II did nothing to stop it and told his brother the Edsel was doomed once McNamara sunk his claws in.

[@hoss73ford]

Den Burnout I was never a fan of Bob McNamara especially when he got into politics. When he bungled things concerning Vietnam and the body count kept growing, he resigned and in later years by his own admission his guilty conscience about it caught up with him. But he was good in his initial years with Ford being one of the original "Whiz kids". I had no clue until about 10 years ago that Ford was nearly bankrupt in 1948. Always learning new things thru the years;.

[@scotpens]

***** The "squished" frame is because the video was uploaded with the wrong aspect ratio. The original film didn't look like that!

[@musicom67]

You are correct, sir. It is "stretched". Just like I obtained it and posted it. Now, would you like to take the time to 'squeeze' it back to 4:3? I didn't think so. Would I like it to look correctly proportioned? You betcha.

[@felizini]

Put this code into the tags section of the video: yt:stretch=4:3

[@maryrafuse2297]

It looks huge. I don't think it was that bad looking.

[@guardian08527]

The Corsair and Citations were made on the Lincoln chassis and were about 1 1/2 feet longer and afew inches taller and wider. The problem with quality control was that 1/5 cars on the assembly line were Edsels while the others were Ford/Mercury models. What happened is the guys working on the cars would work on 4 Fords/Mercuries as they came down the assembly line, then when the Edsel car came along, they had to stop and drop they're ford assembly tools and switch over to they're Edsel tool

[@lisasmith9311]

My dad made the Ford Mustang horse out of fiberglass can anyone tell me where it's at?

[@allenhall2259]

he also added the mcnamara the president of ford at that time didn't do much to help the edsel get off the ground and was glad when it died off

[@yambo59]

Look in the W/P link under Edsels design controversies, tells what im talking about on the grille

[@marcorubio3496]

Wow! I would be the laughingstock of the neighborhood.

[@roberthaworth4581]

Quite the contrary. I have a '58 Citation, and it's a chick magnet. Trouble is, all the chicks are 70 years old.

[@blkpopeye]

I like it..It would be worth a lot of money minted.

[@loveisall5520]

On top of the Eisenhower recession, having that awful name didn't help things. I love their looks!

[@douglasb.1203]

So like, what's up with the clock?

[@PaulLea]

The main mistake with the Edsel was the ugly "horse collar" radiator grill, apart from that it was fine.

[@TheLishyChick]

I saw a 1959 Edsel Corsair for sale today. All original. $9800.00

[@CovertOperation13]

cool

[@gojoe283]

Notice how the driver has to hold the wheel to the left to keep the car straight. Many old cars were driven like that, no doubt due to wimpy suspensions and bias tires. Today it's a valued antique, but back in 1958, no one was buying them.

[@worsfoldfamily]

He's driving around a curved track, though.

[@fairfaxcat1312]

It looks to me like he had to hold the wheel to the right from 3:52-3:56 and with a fair amount of struggle.

[@TheGbeecher]

Gosh - a '58 Ford! ( Lol..)

[@teresa67factoid95]

with a different front end, it's not a bad looking car.

[@postal_the_clown]

and someday far in future, they'll invent editing software...

[@michaelweizer7794]

With all the intrest inthe Edsel, and I can think of cars that are worse, If given a choice between a 58 Edsel or another car that disappeared right after the Edsel did a 58 DeSoto, believe it or not I would take the DeSoto. Neither car was a huge seller in a recessed market and I know that neither had great assembly quality which was unfortunate for those late 50s MOPARs because they had so many things going for them. From a styling point of view MOPAR really was three years ahead of anything GM Ford or anyone else was building.

[@nekad2000]

This video is heavily edited. It skips constantly. What was the point of doing that? To annoy everyone that watched it?

[@BlueSky-ub4fx]

Why stretched to 16:9...????? 😥😥

[@frankgiaquinto1571]

To look at the situation objectively, the 1958 model year was not a good one for most of the auto industry. It turned out to be a recession year for the economy in general and the auto industry was no exception. The only auto brand that did a bit better in 1958 than 1957 was AMC with its Rambler models ( Rambler American,Classic, etc.) This is at least partially because people were looking for cheaper,more economical cars in greater numbers than they had previously. If one looks at the sales figures for all other medium priced cars,they would discover that all of them sold in much lower numbers than the previous year. In fact,the only medium priced cars to sell over 200,000 units for the 1958 model year were Oldsmobile,Buick, and Pontiac. I myself rather like the '58 Edsel (even the grille) ,though I much prefer the body style of the junior models (Ranger and Pacer) over the senior series.I also believe the '58 models had the best styling; I don't care much for the '59/ '60 models. Keep in mind that most cars in all price ranges had become larger,heavier,gaudier,more expensive , and thirstier for fuel than they had been just a couple of years earlier.

[@SoapBoxMediaTV]

Shame you felt you had to stretch the picture.

[@musicom67]

KZbin stretched it and I couldn't be bothered reformatting it. It was not by design.

[@senorkaboom]

Why did it fail? So many theories have been proposed, styling, economics, quality among them. My personal one is over marketing. Ford touted the car as something fresh, new, almost revolutionary, yet it turned out to be a.........car. It had an impressive options list, but it was another car.

[@lowerlevel2398]

senorkaboom Also, Bob McNamara went on a personal quest to kill it and did it quite successfully.

[@senorkaboom]

Agreed, Den. McNamara was no fan of this car and it became a quest to eliminate it. With a senior manager in that frame of mind, it just was one more strike against it.

[@lowerlevel2398]

senorkaboom Yup. The '61 Comet was meant to be the new Edsel and probably would have been a success if it were allowed to happen. People forget the Edsel was introduced in a recession and McNamara had announced a $200 price increase which by the timing of the various divisions at Ford would have hit Edsel first as it was coming out for 1958 a wee bit early. $200 back then was real money and killed any initial sales momentum the Edsel would have otherwise had. After the intro, McNamara cancelled the increase as it did what he had intended for it to do and so it never affected the other divisions.

[@sim61642]

senorkaboom The grill looks like a toilet seat, reliability problems, Ford just put too much effort in it.

[@akeith4600]

1960 ranger convertible is sweetest car of that era

[@DMBall]

No matter how ugly, clumsy, and poorly engineered a car is, a few people will still profess to love it. The reality was that in my particular town, Ford set up an independent Edsel dealership in its own building, under the direction of a dealer with 20 years of car selling experience. Five months after the Edsel's introduction, this dealership closed.

[@pekitamam.anladim.560]

My favorite 59 impala

[@d.s7741]

the music is so dramatic it's almost like you have to own one, to fend off evil

[@spartus]

slap here ..slap the door ...slap the tail fin .that passes for quality control.. ?? slap wet sticker on window,,

[@50zcarsman]

FUN FACT: Edsels were made not in dedicated plants, but by plants belonging to other brands in the Ford family -- that is, Ford (small series) or Mercury (big series). Edsels were thus always seen as interlopers on an established process. As one result, Edsel quality control techs were prohibited from watching cars being made -- they could only check them at the end.

[@axeandrewandrew6965]

😍😍😍

[@TheHelado36]

Were the bumpers on the Citation not chrome !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just can't see the difference among all the model trims!

[@50zcarsman]

Join the original shoppers. Corsair and Citation were so similar and priced so closely, a good case could be made that Corsair should not have existed. I'd have deleted the stripper Ranger model, too, making due with just two series -- at least until the marque had gained a foothold.

[@guardian08527]

These guys were on the clock so to speed things up they didn't do such a good job on putting the trim on or paint or fitting panels. A lot of the time they would just chuck the parts in the trunk and let the dealership figure it out. The reliability issue had to do with the pushbutton transmission. Rumors of people going to slam on the what they thought was the horn button by instinct and mashing all the gears at once makes for a annoying repair bill. The push button trans could be defective

[@calebproductions5970]

It had power and was big and nice but the people who designed the front grille should have gotten fired. It was really taking away the beauty of the Edsel and damned it in the history books

[@lelandfranklin3487]

Even new....auto clocks never seemed to work!

[@70Kenny]

The Edsel might have been a much bigger seller if the stylists had just realized that nobody wanted a car with a VAGINA on the front, and also if the stock market hadn't taken a nosedive in 1958. Someone once said of the Edsel "It's aim was right, but the target moved." After the recession began, there was no longer the market for the "mid-priced Ford" the developers were aiming for at the beginning of the car's development. But the remaining mid-priced buyers opted for makes other than Edsel, because so few found the frontal treatment bearable.

[@scotpens]

The unusual front-end styling was also dubbed the "horse collar" and "an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon." At least those were some of the more polite descriptions.

[@michaelweizer7794]

@@scotpens public must have been very fickle because what about those sharp split grilled wide track and sometimes chrome nosed Pontiacs of the mid to late 60s!

[@troysmith7623]

My dad told me its better than a Mercury

[@kaunas888]

It seems that in Ford´s efforts to built a stunning "success" it tried too hard to impress in the styling department, and ended up with an overworked mess. Every bit of tacky "rocket age" detailing was added to the body. There is no sense of flow or aesthetic coherence to the design; just a jumble of attention getting pieces. It also looks impractical being so long and low. However, one has to admire it as a high point in extravagant 50s styling that would never come back again, and the dashboard looks ahead of its time.

[@StillHip4AnOldGuy]

250,000 built for 250 Million dollars...lol

[@50zcarsman]

Only 118,000 were built. US production was about 63K the first year, 44K the second, and a token 3K in 1960, Canadian production making up the rest.

[@jasoncarpp7742]

It's too bad the Edsel didn't sell. It was a good looking car. Why did it not sell well? I've heard that it was a poorly built car, but I don't buy it.

[@imonfb]

We own a 1959 Edsel 2 door Ranger and its wonderful everything is original motor and everything runs fine.

[@jasoncarpp7742]

imonfb Awesome! :)

[@scotpens]

The Edsel wasn't really a bad car -- there was just no market for it. After all the hype and ballyhoo, people were expecting something radically new and different. What they got was just another big, boring American car, pretty much like a Ford or a Mercury except for the unusual styling -- which quickly became the butt of jokes. One of the more polite descriptions of the vertical-grille front was "an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon."

[@jasoncarpp7742]

***** Ah! Ok. Even big cars can be exciting if a lot of thought went into it.

[@imonfb]

***** Well the car isn't the best looking at the front but still has some beautiful features Like how it flairs out the back and the way the rear windows winds down is just cool

[@2right4words]

when the forward look Chrysler is came out, these cars were immediately obsolete

[@CovertOperation13]

Why did the Edsel fail ? It looks like a revelationary car for the times .

[@fleetwin1]

It is easy to see why the Edsel was not successful.

[@kevinbertke5677]

Compared to GM and Chrysler styling at the time, Ford's was bland and this car was especially homely.