This big old 1958 Ford popped up on Facebook recently near our home here in the Cleveland, Ohio area with an eyebrow raising asking price of "just" $4,000. I say, "just" because if this was a GM or Chrysler product of this vintage, in what appears to be great shape, it would have an asking price three, four if not five or six times as much. In this crazy market, it might go for as much as ten times as much. Why's this so cheap? Because it's not just a Ford, it's an Edsel.
My older son and I came across an Edsel at a car show during the summer before the start of The Pandemic and he didn't seem to notice just how unusual the front-end styling on it was. To him it was just "an old car" and not something particularly strange or even ugly. Mind you, though, he didn't care for it like he does Cadillac's of this vintage either. Could his apathy towards an Edsel indicate that Edsel's may soon have their day in the sun?
The brainchild of Henry Ford II's "Whiz Kid" staff, the Ford Motor Company produced and sold Edsel's for 1958 and 1959 only. Technically there was a 1960 model, but production was halted not long after it began. All in, a total of 120,000 were built making them relatively rare. Not unicorn rare but compared to a 1957 Chevrolet, these are very uncommon.
Allegedly squeezed between Ford's Mercury and Ford divisions, the Edsel was purportedly intended to help create at Ford a mid-priced three like General Motors had. Edsel Ford, the son of Henry Ford and the father of Henry Ford II, had created the Mercury division himself back in 1939 to help bridge the price gap between a Ford and a Lincoln and compete grill-to-grill with Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick. Problem with Mercury, most model years, it was nothing more than a slightly disguised Ford. In an effort to make the Edsel distinctive from any other Ford make or model, enter the "horse-collar" front end. I liken it to a toilet, urinal or even a bidet but that's just me.
Allegedly inspired by the front-end styling of an Alfa Romeo, you see that now when it's pointed out, while the grill did get a fairly handsome reboot for 1959 that took out most of the "oh-god-what-is-that?" aspect of it, Edsel had more problems than just its styling.
Poor workmanship and unproven yet clever technical innovations like a push-button automatic transmission selector did a number on sales. Couple that with a short but nasty recession in 1958, a massive and ultimately disappointing marketing build-up ahead of time didn't help either. Imagine the groans of disappointment from those who bought into the pre-game hype when they saw this thing. Horse-collar\American Standard front end and all.
Then there was the name. By all accounts, Edsel Ford was a wonderful human being but his name. Yikes. And I don't think he was referred to as "Ed" by friends and family either. Legend has it the Ford family themselves at first bristled at using "Edsel" as a moniker too. At least at first. HF II had final say on using his father's name rejecting, again, legend has it, some 18,000 other suggestions.
End the end of the day, though, the name of this car was perfect. Could this be anything other than an "Edsel"?
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