The case of the Murderous

Vice President

(not a Perry Mason whodunit)

When it comes to cars, I have a special place in my heart for orphans, lame ducks and fallen angels. The orphan would have to be the Edsel, the quintessential icon for a "spectacular flop," and the fallen angel has to be the DeSoto. ...Its sad tale will follow anon. And after that, I will have to cogitate on what defunct American marque is to be the next long lamented lame duck. These days, there are so many...

Today is the day to remember the Edsel.

The Edsel wasn't a particularly bad car, as a matter of fact, it was quite an innovative machine for 1958. It had a push button automatic transmission and the buttons were
conveniently positioned in the hub of the steering wheel. Long, low and wide, it was built for comfort with sofa-sized bench seats fore and aft.

Interiors were rather lavish for a car in the medium price range and the exterior styling was daringly different. In a sea of horizontal grilles, the Edsel's was upright and completely unexpected with its chromy "horse collar" oval being part of the three-piece front bumper system. And, the Edsel also had plenty of power with the mighty Citation-Corsair E475 engine under the hood.

So with all this good stuff going for it, why did Ford's newest marque go so quickly down the dumper? Well to be blunt, it was assassinated. At the Edsel press introduction dinner, on August 28, 1957, Ford Vice President, Robert MacNamara, quietly said: "I've got plans for phasing it out." ...And so, he did.

The Edsel ~ FoMoCo’s

Mechanical Murder Victim

Labour Day 1957

The Russians announced their Inter-continental Ballistic R-7 Missile could reach targets in the west. The report of a successful test flight was announced on August 26 and dominated the news headlines of the week, until September 4th when the Americans announced their own bomb. It was called "the Edsel." and the day chosen for its introduction was designated "E-Day."

The Edsel, a medium priced car offered in four series, was positioned between Ford and Mercury on the Ford Company ladder. Its lower-priced series were based on Ford, the upper series based on Mercury. It was the most researched car in Ford's history. And it was a thundering flop that lived only three model years.

Many post-mortems have been performed on the ill-fated Edsel and blame has been assessed: the controversial styling, the inexperienced dealer body, production snafus and the deep postwar recession. All are certainly factors and had a role in the ultimate failure of the marque. But there's even more to the story.

The Edsel arose out of a concept known as the Breech Plan. It was conceived by Ford executive Ernest Breech, who was one of Henry Ford II's "Whiz Kids" who were brought in to save the company after the death of its founder in 1946. Breech had a reputation of being a troubleshooter and strategist, and he felt that Ford was missing too many segments of the market uncovered. He was a close friend of Henry II and it was not a surprise when Breech was named Chairman of the Board in 1955.

The Breech plan called for an alignment along the lines of General Motors- the Low priced Ford, a low-mid priced offering, the Mercury (migrating somewhat upmarket), the Lincoln, and a Super Lincoln. The board approved the plan

in 1955, and of course, the new low-mid priced offering ultimately became the star-crossed Edsel.

Robert S. MacNamara was another of Henry Ford II's "Whiz Kids", brought in to save the company after the death of Henry. MacNamara was a Harvard MBA accountant whose expertise in cost management brought him huge accolades and reinforced his power within the ranks. And he strongly opposed the Breech Plan and the Edsel.

MacNamara felt the Ford Motor Company should concentrate on maximizing volume on the Ford nameplate (upon whose sales he just happened to be paid) and opposed the Edsel whose success he saw as distracting from his livelihood.

He was a powerful enemy who made his displeasure known to all within earshot, both inside and outside of the company. Fairfax Cone, president of the Edsel's Advertising Agency wrote in his memoir that while in Detroit for the Edsel's launch, he asked MacNamara what he thought of the yet-to-be-introduced new car. He wrote that he was shocked that MacNamara's response was "I have plans for phasing it out."
One cannot downplay the importance of such a powerful opponent. In the early fall of 1957, when Edsel was hoping for a strong launch, MacNamara offered strong dealer cash incentives of up to $750 on Ford cars, making the Edsel effectively $1000 more than a Ford.

He succeeded in getting the Mercury, Edsel and Lincoln divisions merged and from there, steered the downfall of the brand - first with consolidating Edsel products onto the Ford chassis only for 1959, and then reducing the marque to a very slightly differentiated Ford for 1960.

Of course, there were many factors going on in the marketplace in the late 1950's. The economy was in a deep recession. The controversial styling was a factor, but a similar look had given Studebaker record sales a few years earlier. Production quality was spotty. Dealer discounts on Fords made Edsel "intenders" into Ford drivers. And once the first comedian referred to the car as an "Olds sucking a lemon," the carefully crafted image began to crumble.

First-year Edsel sales of 61,000 were well below expectations, yet nonetheless represented the second best new nameplate introduction up to that time. But MacNamara was harping daily on what a disaster it was and now it needed to be dropped, and support within the company for the Edsel eroded daily. Edsel found its budgets slashed, its staffs reduced, and its options severely limited. By 1961, the Edsel was history.

Article via Palm Springs Automobilist

On November 14, 1959, the Edsel

became Ford's first murder victim.

It's interesting to realize that the Edsel was in development a year longer than it existed as a Ford Motor Company product. The car destined to be named the Edsel went into development in 1954 and showed up in showrooms as a 1958 model. That amounted to four years of planning, researching and designing. However, it was in production for only three years, 1958-60. It was a true flash in the pan.

But back in 1954, the future looked bright and there was a market gap in the Ford lineup. The E car, research data confirmed, was just the vehicle to do the job. Here are some Edsel styling renderings. Chief stylist Roy Brown was given the task of creating a car you could recognize from two blocks away. You'll have to agree these concepts certainly fulfilled the challenge!

An early design study, this one of a Ranger/Pacer, explores a fastback design.

A photo, dated June 19, 1956, shows the styling of the Citation convertible was pretty well along the way.

An early conceptstudy, this one of a Ranger/Pacer, explores a fastback design.

Due to the short time frame involved, the 1959 Edsel line was designed alongside the 1958 line. These photos show the progression from concept to final product.

The final 1958 Pacer Rendering. Compared to the concept renderings, the final product was pretty mundane.

What if… Edsel had built its own version of the Thunderbird?

Hemmings contributor Apr 13th, 2016

[Editor’s Note: Daniel Lindquist of KDC Garage not only has some interesting ideas about alternate automotive histories, he can also render those histories in Photoshop and form a narrative around them. One of his latest: an Edsel-flavored Thunderbird.]

The Ford Thunderbird began life in 1953 as a direct response to Chevrolet’s recently unveiled Corvette prototype. Calling in some major players in the design field, the Thunderbird rapidly developed from idea to prototype in about a year. Ford was very pleased to see record-breaking sales of the Thunderbird reach 23 times the number of Corvettes sold in 1955.

With a new Edsel Corsair model staged for production in 1958, Edsel saw the great success and popularity of the Thunderbird as a viable platform for a mid-level entry personal luxury car within the Ford corporate lineup below the top-of-the-line Continental. In 1956, borrowing the Thunderbird’s basic frame and removable hardtop roof, Edsel had its design team rush to create a prototype similar to the Thunderbird in length, though being slightly heftier in general proportions to fit the fresh styling of the new Corsair.

Edsel was so confident it had a winner, that an operable prototype of the car was driven to a meeting with Ford execs where it was touted that the new Raven model would provide a bit more headroom and elbow room than the Thunderbird, and offer even more luxury options at mid-level pricing. Edsel also went on to elaborate how Ford could then focus more attention to racing applications of the Thunderbird as to be more competitive against the Corvette.

However Ford execs, fearing diluting the market for such a popular vehicle as the Thunderbird, quickly axed the project, and this specially made prototype was presumably destined for scrap. Edsel continued with its full-sized Corsair as planned for the 1958 model year. Though, sadly, on November 19, 1959, Ford discontinued the Edsel marque and the last Edsel car soon rolled off the assembly line.

THIS IS THE EDSEL THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

Edsel-ized Ford Skyliner answers

a question no one ever asked.

The folks at Bring A Trailer found something really interesting on Ebay this week: a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner onto which someone added a 1958 Edsel doghouse, base 1957 Ford Fairlane side trim, and ultra-rare 1958 Edsel wagon tail lights. They also swapped in a ’58 Edsel dash – one of the strangest to come out of FoMoCo.

According to the seller, the restoration was a serious endeavor with a new-old-stock (NOS) top sourced to replace a haggard original. Sourcing NOS sheet metal for these cars is a job unto itself, let alone finding a complete Skyliner top.

According to the seller, the paint is about 20 years old, and it could really use some love. In reality, the whole car could use a good once over, as it’s been a driver, but with the current bid at just over $16,000, it would make for a good point cruiser that won’t get lost in the sea of classics at your local cruise night.

For those not familiar with the history of the Skyliner: Ford premiered the name in 1954 as a see-through top model. Ford kept the Plexiglas top throughout the body change in ‘55, and then killed it in 1957. However, Ford wouldn’t let such a great name go to waste, and kept the moniker for its new retractable hardtop.

WESLEY WREN ~ Wesley is an Associate Editor at Autoweek. He loves cutting up old cars, listening to weird music, and going fast.

A Corsair clay model based on the Mercury body.

A "Thunderbird-esque" rear treatment.

A Bermuda proposal incorporates the "boomerang"

tailights from the '58 model.

This Mercury-based clay was a proposed Corsair on the left side and a Bermuda on the right side. This must have been before final approval of the model names was given as the production Bermuda was a station wagon.

Another Corsair clay model based on the Mercury body.

A proposed Mercury-based 1959 Citation convertible that wears '58 style wheel covers. The Mercury-based models would eventually be dropped as the project was scaled back. Note the Mercury clays in the background.

This station wagon front end, dated January 18, 1957,
carries a Caravan name script.

These front-end proposals are quickly moving toward the final 1959 production design.

Here is an interesting nose clip forecasting the front end of the 1970 Thunderbird.

here is a rather menacing Edsel front-end proposal.

These are truly bizarre styling efforts.

The designer should have been slapped.

A very early clay model of a proposed 1959 Citation.

Notice the different roof lines on each side.

Design proposal based on the '59 Ford body.

An early clay model continued the "gull-wing" theme of '58. Note the "Special Products" license plate and '58 Bermuda clay in the background.

A Ford-based Pacer 2-door hardtop proposal for 1959

- with a Thunderbird-style roof line.

In response to the longer, lower, and wider styling

reflected in the GM and Chrysler production cars, Robert MacNamara ordered a crash program to play catch up with the competition.

Some rear end concepts show the flat Ford fin still being used at this time.

The proposals above and below shows the "Impact Bar" grille initially approved for production.

Edsel concept cars for 1960 promised a unique line of automobiles, but production cars turned out to be nothing more than a reworked version of that year's all-new full-sized Ford.

As later recorded by Edsel public relations director C. Gayle Warnock in his book, "The Edsel Affair," this decision had come way back in April 1958, when it was abundantly clear the Edsel experiment had gone awry.

The man behind it was none other than the no-nonsense Robert S. MacNamara, then a Dearborn vice-president, who declared the 1960 Edsel should be merely "a variation on the Ford car, using the same major components with modified front and rear ornamentation."

The 1960 Edsel that should have been.

Originally, it was intended to seriously differentiate the Edsel's front end on the bodyshell it shared with Ford. The "dragon's tooth" design was simple, different, and clever. However, since the marque was on the way out, upper management could not justify the expense of retooling the front clip. Instead, the designers were told to make it look like a '59 Pontiac, which they did.

This Corsair 4 door hardtop was a working prototype based on the approved design.

Even so, "instant recognition" was still deemed

important to Edsel sales when work on the 1960 model began. Special Interest Autos magazine suggested as much in 1970 with a rescued photo of the front-end treatment originally intended.

This was somewhat like the final production design save a prominent bright central bar running up from the bumper into a chrome-edged nacelle. Both bar and nacelle were roughly triangular, with the latter blended smoothly into flanking cross-hatched sub-grilles. The hood formed its top portion and continued its line rearward in Edsel's customary tapering-vee bulge. If not exactly timeless the treatment was at least identifiably Edsel and far less prone to joke-making than the original horse-collar.

Trouble was, this design required unique hood and grille stampings, and that was too much for the sales-conscious MacNamara. His cost concerns also eliminated the 1960 Corsair models – which would have worn a wide, tapering swath of brushed metal on their lower flanks – as well as a rear-end treatment using Ford's new flat-fin rear fenders to revive a 1958 Edsel hallmark: "gullwing" taillights.

However, late in the program, well after styling for the '60 model had been approved, Ford Chairman Ernest Breech toured the Edsel Studio and saw the prototype. He walked around it several times before declaring his disapproval of the front end styling. "Make it look more like a Pontiac" he was heard to say, and so the "Impact Bar" grille was out and a '59 Pontiac grille was in.

The 1960 Edsels thus bowed in October 1959 with just five Rangers and two Villager wagons bearing a split grille remarkably like that of the previous year's Pontiac, plus four vertical ovals stuck awkwardly onto the Ford rump for tail- and backup lights.

There were also bullet-style parking-lamp housings an big E-D-S-E-L lettering on the lower rear fenders, but most everything else was 1960 Ford. Not that it mattered much, Edsel's plug was pulled barely a month after the 1960s went on sale.

Via How Stuff Works

The approved design.

Edsel designers were told to make the 1960 model look like a '59 Pontiac. They followed those instructions to the letter.

A unique 4 door hardtop was produced by Edsel in 1960, producing 135 of them to be exact. The Ford Galaxie used a different roofline on its 4 door hardtop.