Once again, Flick displays his superior knowledge of automotive history. What I found interesting about the Edsel was that it was named after Henry Ford's only son, Edsel Bryant Ford, while Edsel's son (Henry II) was serving as company president. Edsel had died young from cancer at 49, but had contributed mightily to Ford's success while serving as company president. He had initiated the purchase of the Lincoln Motor Car Company and the development from within of the Mercury division.

In my opinion, the Edsel itself was not a bad car but it suffered from too much enthusiasm from management and not enough practicality. First there was the name. For some reason it just doesn't have the sound one associates with big powerful automobiles. When coming up with a name Ford even went so far as to solicit names from the general public and from the examples I have seen, many of them were as bad, and in some cases even worse, than the Edsel. Had all other factors been equal I don't think the name would have made much difference. Carroll Shelby once said when questioned about the name of his GT 350 Mustang If it's a good car the name won't hurt it and if it's a bad car the name won't save it. In the era of tail fins and acres of chrome the Edsel was actually quite reserved. However, different is not always innovative and the famous horse collar grill was described as looking like an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon. Except for the center section of the grill, I don't think it's a bad looking car especially when compared to what the competition was offering. Edsels were built on Mercury assembly lines with every 61st car being an Edsel. This meant that workers had to take parts from different bins resulting in mistakes being made and as a result, quality suffered. Ford's final blunder was an 89 cent mistake that gave the Edsel a reputation as a bad car. Chrysler had come out with controls for the automatic transmission that was initially a lever on the dashboard later replaced by push buttons. Edsel went them one better by having the controls for the transmission push buttons mounted in the center of the steering wheel. The controls remained stationary when the wheel was turned. Somewhere in the mechanism there was a defective part that must have broken on every Edsel that was made. The repair kit retailed for something like 89 cents but it made no difference. The Edsel's fate was sealed. The Edsel was one of the first cars to use ( to quote the advertisements ) diamond luster finish that never needs waxing and big, self adjusting brakes. Even a respected spokesman like John Cameron Swayze could not sell a car with that darn grill.... a vertical eyesore in the middle of a decent horizontal front. Ford felt the sting of the Edsel for many years thereafter and it almost did not go forward with production of the Mustang because of their fears. All of their millions of dollars of research and development went down the tubes in three years. How ironic that the Mustang, which was essentially Fairlane running gear ( on V-8s ) with Falcon trim would be the car that would put Ford back in the limelight. I guess that's the difference between Henry Ford II, and Lee Iaccoca.

A astonishingly ugly brute of a car. Where I live there is an Edsel club of about ten guys who have restored the things back to their pristine glory and they drive them in the local parades. Always draws a huge laugh.

It flopped because it was *vaginal*. Look at it! Look at it from the front! Car-buyers in the late 50s were men, and wanted penis-substitute cars then just as now. It is a truly laughable machine, and I chuckle every time I see it. It would be fun to drive one with a string hanging down from the grille.

Bad idea for the Ford company at any rate. This company spent millions on research and public opinion to find out what people REALLY wanted in a car and then bundled it all up into one vehicle. Ford even had a separate production plant for only Edsels with 800 executives and 15,000 workers. Ford also managed to convince many small dealerships to become Edsel only dealerships. Massive marketing blitzes took place and the car was introduced with dazzling fanfare in 1957. It was a magnificent flop compromising less than 1% of all cars sold between 1957 until 1959 when it was discontinued. Bottom line- try to please everyone and you please no-one.