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| Steve Johnson , owner
of Shamu, a 1958 Edsel, was kind enough
to send me the pictures that he collected over the years and this enabled me to write this page as a tribute to the |
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A Brief History of the Edsel
| Long about 1954 the Ford Motor Company came to thonclusion that
it's automobile line was lacking in competitiveness with General Motors.
While GM had some 5 Autos, Ford had only three. Hence Ford decided
to ad to the line with a car that would span the gap between Ford and Mercury.
They started with the "E" car for experimental.
They wanted something unique so the first car that featured retro
styling from the 30's was the E car. At a cost of $250,000,000 a
new car was created, advertised, researched and began to take form under
strict secrecy. It was to have a vertical grill, high taillights
for visibility from behind, rotunda
The E car had a contest to come up with a name. These names
were as follows; ALTER, MONGOOSE, UTOPIAN, MONGOOSE, TURTLE TOP, ABBY,
AGEAN, ZEBRA, CITATION, CORSAIR, COUGAR, PACER, RANGER AND SOME TWO HUNDRED
MORE NAMES. Finally out of frustration and keeping with the name
E car the general manager of Ford shouted Edsel after Edsel Ford, the designer
of the Continental and brought Ford back from bankruptcy in the late 40's.
Also in the final names were Citation; Corsair; Pacer; and Ranger.
They were to be the four series of the make. Wagons were to be in a category
of their own.
There were to be 15 models in the 4 series for 58. 3 in the
wagons. Bermuda in 6 & 9 pax; the Villager in 6 & 9 pax and the
Roundup; in 6 pax. The 59's had only 2 series plus the wagons. the 60's
only 1 series plus the wagon. Ford had also developed a compact for 1960
but was canceled on
On September 4th, 1957 (model year 1958), the Edsel was introduced
to the public among a very large hoopla. The showrooms were flooded
with people but no one seemed to buy. There were many reasons for the failure
over the three years of production.
Today, there is only some 1700 operational Edsels on the road in the US.. Steve Johnson |
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The EDSEL Look
1958, 1959 and 1960
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Unlike most other pages on this site, many of these
Edsels are named by their owners.
These names as well as their owners name will be shown
where ever possible.
The 1958 Edsels
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The 1959 Edsels
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| This car was seen at a car show in St. Petersburg FL, Nov 2014 |
The 1960 Edsels
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