Edsel

by Jeff Little

Information on Edsel is probably filed away somewhere in The Ford Motor Company's archives under "S", for "Seemed like a good idea at the time." But it was far from that.

Edsel is known as one of the biggest flops of all time.

The name (chosen in honor of Edsel Ford, former company president and son of Henry Ford) has actually become synonymous with failure. But why?

Having become a publicly traded company in 1956, total control of The Ford Motor Company was no longer held by the Ford family. And this turned out to be the main ingredient in what became a recipe for disaster.

Released on September 4, 1957, Edsel represented a "new and exciting" line of cars from the Ford Motor Company.

But success was not in the cards for the ill-fated autos.

In 1958, Edsel offered several models. Consumers could choose from larger designs like The Citation and The Corsair, or go for smaller, less expensive autos like The Pacer or The Ranger.

All of these came as 2-door or 4-door and even had some designed as convertibles for the sportier crowd.

In an attempt to cover all the bases, Edsel also offered models with the family in mind.

Edsel station wagons were available in the forms of The Bermuda Wagon, The Villager Wagon and The Roundup Wagon.

With several models to choose from, cutting-edge innovations like "Teletouch" (a transmission shifting system on the center of the steering wheel) and a "pull out all the stops" marketing approach, it initially looked like Edsel would be the next big line of American cars.

Over 63,000 sold in the first year, making it the second largest car launch for any brand up to that time.

Sadly, Ford had set a sales goal of 100,000 for 1958. The 63,000 plus sold that year marked the beginning of the end for the soon to be defunct automobile.

The reasons for Edsel's failure are obvious.

The marketing was all wrong. Edsel's pre-release publicity was shrouded in mystery. The public was never allowed a clear view of any of the cars before their release date.

Edsels were even shipped to dealerships under wraps and remained wrapped on the dealer lots.

This engineered mystique, along with the typical "bigger, better" approach to the attached advertising gave the public expectations that the cars could not possibly live up to by most estimations.

Also stacked against the Edsel was the nature of the economy in the late 50's. The Edsels were somewhat pricey, had large engines that required premium fuel and delivered poor mileage and were released to the public just as The U.S. was entering a recession.

And Edsel was not the only auto that fell victim to America's economic woes.

Several cars ceased production at the end of the decade and beginning of the next. Between 1957 and 1961, De Soto, Packard, Nash and Hudson all bit the dust, proving that Edsel's major problem was probably bad timing.

No matter what the reason or reasons, Edsel stopped production of its cars in 1960. But at least Ford provided the world with some fine automotive memories and plenty of jokes to go with them.

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1 of many print ads.

1958 Edsel Pacer

1959 Edsel Corsair