VIDEO: When good ideas go bad
Ah, the Edsel. A historical signpost warning against innovation for the sake of innovating. Of course, that wasn't the only reason for the car's birth. Ford perceived a hole in their offerings and decided to take Lincoln upmarket and offer a new model range as "step-up" cars from Ford. It sounds a little bit like the conundrum they find themselves in now, and why there's a refocusing going on over at Lincoln/Mercury. Ford's inability to develop and bring the car to market quickly also hurt the Edsel.
The economy was on the skids by the time the large, thirsty Edsels debuted with their thumping V8s. Consumers were shifting toward compact models, and Edsel was left holding the bag. Had the division come to market with the Comet they deveoped just before folding up their tent in 1960, it might have been a different story. As it was, the Comet went to Mercury and saw much success. The Edsel cars were filled with promise and unique touches, such as a geared center hub in the steering wheel, holding it stationary as the wheel turned, and an ignition interlock that locks the shifter in park until the key is turned, but it seems what really killed the car, besides the subjective issue of styling, was an overly exuberant pre-launch marketing campaign.
More commentary and a video after the jump.
They don't look so bad now, fifty years on, but they're certainly not posessed of the same grace as their peers. Styling was definitely an issue with consumers, who largely disliked the look. Build quality was poor to begin with, as well. Edsels rolled down the same lines as their Mercury and Ford cousins, but the cars were sufficiently different to cause the line workers confusion, which resulted in improper assembly or pieces being left out completely.
The advertising campaign leading up to the unveiling also led to public disappointment, and provides what's likely the greatest lesson to be learned from the Edsel story. The public had been led to believe that something truly new and revolutionary was coming, yet Edsel ended up just being tarted up Fords and Mercurys with high sticker prices. One must tread carefully when playing with customers expectations. The video serves to illustrate just how different the advertising world is today. This Edsel spot is not only far too long, the pace is way too slow. Then again, they weren't all hopped up on trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup back in the day, they just had to sit through these things at the drive-in before the Creature Double Feature.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Avinash machado 9:13AM (2/14/2007)
Henry Ford II took the Edsel failure personally because the car was named after his father Edsel Ford.
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Edmund Dantes 9:18AM (2/14/2007)
Looks to me like the Subaru Tribeca has the same grille.
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bernie 9:19AM (2/14/2007)
It's funny how the Edsel has become the poster child for misguided model launches when GM, Ford and Chrysler (and Mitsubishi and Kia and others) have generated collosal flops that weren't named after the CEO's son, but were just as profoundly bad.
With the glut of new models flooding the market every year today, crappy new models are met with a resounding "meh" rather than a thud. The worst thing you can have is market and media apathy, like the Ford 500, Jeep Commander and Pontiac G6 have seen.
Instead of the fans booing, today it's the equivalent of fans pulling out a newspaper or talking on the cell phone when a dud is introduced.
The biggest irony I see is what hit me when I saw the photo at the top: The Edsel's face resembles another flop -- the Subaru B9 Tribeca. Meh.
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Robin Rhyne 9:26AM (2/14/2007)
I never knew that Edsel was a whole separate line like Mercury or Lincoln.
"meh" describes it well; except of course for the twin brothers in my high school whose dad built drag engines for a living. They had a brace of Edsels that would smoke any Roadrunners or Camaros around. Memories....
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Frank 9:33AM (2/14/2007)
The Edsels actually look very nice in profile compared to other cars of the 50's. The front is another story. I think the economic situation killed it more than the styling.
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RevRick 12:38PM (2/14/2007)
The Edsel was a beautiful car, my neighbor has a red Citation convertible and is turns every head when he drives it. Way ahead of its time in styling, from it's vertical grille to the gullwing tailights, a great car, my dad also owned a '59 corsair 4-door(baby blue) that he handed down to me, wish I still had it today.
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AZMike 10:21AM (2/14/2007)
Frank (#5) hit the nail on the head.
another factor rarely mentioned is that many of the top 'powers that be' within Ford itself hated the Edsel, and plans to discontinue it were actually in the works even before it was introduced in the fall of 1957.
in reality, they planned 1959 to be the final year, but made it thru 1960 to prevent lawsuits by dealers who dropped other profitable franchises to take the Edsel franchise.
there were four Edsel models: Ranger, Pacer, Corsair, and Citation. the Ranger and Pacer were built in Ford factories, and the Corsair and Citation were built in Mercury factories. much is made of supposed "bad" Edsel quality; in reality, the quality was no worse than many cars of that day.
for those who find the Edsel story fascinating, you should read "The Edsel Affair" by Gayle Warnock. he was Director of Publicity for Ford, and he gives an incredible inside perspective of what REALLY went on.
Mike
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roadside observer 11:02AM (2/14/2007)
Look at the front of an Edsel, and then look at the front of a 1970 Pontiac:
http://www.hubcapcafe.com/i/2001/poci01/pont7001.JPG
A huge, narrow, vertical grille, a la Edsel ... but was it ridiculed like the Edsel? Methinks not.
IMO the Edsel has been unfairly maligned over the years. Other automakers have turned out far uglier cars.
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D Man 10:27AM (2/14/2007)
5 minute commercial, I almost fell asleep.
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Rene Curry 10:31AM (2/14/2007)
Edsel gets a bad name like something was wrong with the car. Nothing was wrong, it was just a marketing error.
The problem was it was basically the same car as a regular Ford. You could bolt an Edsel front end onto a 57 or 58 Ford. The same window post design gave it totally away. It was not even high end or higher tech except for the push button transmission controls in the steering column. So anyone with any smarts would rather buy the lower cost Ford and get the same car.
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roger born 10:34AM (2/14/2007)
Edsel was the deceased beloved younger brother of Henry Ford, and the new car was named after him, not Henry's father.
The car was one my dad briefly owned, but soon sold, not because it was a bad car, but because everyone at the steel factory where he worked laughed at the vagina front end. It was the styling that killed that car, and not the economy cars, which cam almost a full decade later.
Doesn't anyone who didn't live in those times understand the real history? Where do you guys get your information? Sheesh.
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mr.ed 10:48AM (2/14/2007)
Our local Edsel franchise was a former Studebaker dealer, a loser all the way around. The common description was of an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon. Many US vehicles of the era were lousy rustbuckets with minimal fender liners. The '59 Ford would pour salty slush forward through the ends of the stamped aluminum grille directly from the front tires- you could see the street right through the mesh. Brakes were still drum, the tracks narrow on frames and suspensions left over from the late 40's, tires bias ply. Alternators were still several years away, along with transistor radios that didn't quickly drain the battery. Heaters and oil bath air cleaners were accessories. I learned understeer, valve float and brake fade from some of these beasts.
I certainly wouldn't go back and can't understand how people pay good money for the few remaining ill-handling hulks.
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Big jim 10:58AM (2/14/2007)
The warning light for the cruise control is a feature the Germans are offering in their cars, the Edsel was the first to offer it in 1958, which is a shock to me. Its sad that the brand died, the cars according to this ad had some inovative features for its time, most cars today, don't offer what the Edsel had. At car shows they are a real treat to come across in a sea of muscle cars, hot rods and classics.
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Howard Kerr 11:03AM (2/14/2007)
The Edsel was NOT little more than a Ford, as one or two posters here write. Yes, the bodies of the two cars are somewhat similar...to the extent that a Pontiac is "similar" to a same sized Chevrolet, but Edsel used engines that were not even offered (at least not in the same displacements/power ratings) in a Ford. Also the interiors of these cars differ somewhat, as is to be expected.
I wasn't aware that Edsel "pioneered" the gearshift interlock, I'll bet that feature turned-off quite a few buyers. And I always wondered how Edsels could have steering wheel hub mounted automatic transmission selection if the "gearpad" rotated. As was pointed out: the center of the steering wheel remainded stationary. Didn't I read on here recently that some other manufacturer has incorporated this feature into it's latest show car? Citroen, maybe?
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John 12:01PM (2/14/2007)
#9: The Edsel was named for the father of Henry Ford II, not the original Henry Ford. Edsel was the only child of the founder of Ford, and the father of Henry Ford II, William Clay,and Benton, all of who came to work for the company following their father and grandfather's deaths in 1943 and 1947 respectively. THAT is the correct history of where the name came from get YOUR facts straight.
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porker 1:51PM (2/14/2007)
The Edsel failed because of its abysmal quality. My uncle had one for about 9 months. He put his foot on the front bumper once while talking to me about it. The entire assembly fell off onto the ground. Rust everywhere, and mechanical and electrical failures galore. Even worse junk than was typical of Ford in the 50's.
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Bryan 2:07PM (2/14/2007)
Wow I never knew the Edsel had so many cool features. I never thought the Edsel looked bad(though I wasn't even born during this time). I wouldn't mind finding one for myself to restore or such. This seemed to be a cool car.---Oh and Mr ed, the Japanese took over the rustbucket department. Ive seen many newer models..even Lexus models that have been hit and the paint chipped off. Guess what? Rusting!
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Richard Warren 3:59PM (2/14/2007)
#5 & 6 right on!
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zlivruquok 4:05PM (2/14/2007)
Funny, in retrospect, that two of Edsel's models were the Citation and the Pacer. Given how those names were used in the late 70s, is it possible for a nameplate to be cursed? zliv
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BOB 6:11PM (2/14/2007)
SORRY, DAN -- If Autoblog allows voting for RR of the week, how about Poorly Researched Story of the Week? ____ soooooooo inaccurate!! Why not pick up a phone and speak to one of the many readers who was around then? I was 12, and a huge car nut.
1-- Lincoln did not move upmarket, Mercury did. The two junior lines of Edsel were Ford bodies, the two senior were Mercury bodies. (easy to see if you look at the greenhouses of each). This was similar to Olds using the Chev/Pontiac body for 88s, Cad body for 98s -- Buick also split the bodies.
2-- Yes, Edsel was Henry IIs dead father, who probably died of stress from working for his father and henchmen -- tragic, and forced II to take over the company while young.
3-- WHY IT FAILED:
a -- the styling was unappreciated, to say the least. The front ends were seen as narrow looking and comical, when wide and low was the trend.
b-- there was NO IDENTITY to the vehicle. Horrid, horrid name, unwanted styling, odd features such as trans operated by pushbuttons in the steering wheel hub.
c--Introduction stupidity: it was shown in the Spring of 1957, the very first midyear intro: initial impact was lost, because cars were in a fast-changing fashion period then, so consumers wanted to wait to see the 1958 cars from GM and Chrysler, months later.
d -- the public basically thought the car was from Mars: just plain out of the box.
e -- the '59 models only had the Ford-based smaller models, and were no longer "wierd but pretty", just wierd. The 1960 was a grille change of the "60 Ford.
f-- I have never read the story of the Comet, but I always could see in the tail lights that it was an Edsel with a last minute change to a plain grille and a Mercury nameplate.
ONE OF THE GREAT FIASCOS -- AND-- it is very hard to establish an upscale nameplate, even with the best product.
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