EDSEL

  Almost immediately after Ford Motor Company went public in the early 1950’s, there was a clear plan in place for distinguishing their divisions by price points as well as going head-to-head with each of their competition’s equal vehicles. At that time, the Lincoln was not a direct competitor of Cadillac, rather, Oldsmobile.  It was Ford’s thoughts that if they could replace the Lincoln’s equipment, price and competitive position (in other words the Lincoln Division) with another vehicle, that would allow the Lincoln to revamp and go head’s up with the Cadi.  Under the cloak of darkness, Ford’s R&D team came up with the code name “E”-Car (short for Experimental Car).  Although Edsel would share its body components with Ford it would be another division.  Unfortunately that division only lasted two years (11/56 to 01/58) after which any remaining were sold through the newly formed Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln (MEL) Division.
Although they had more dealerships and thus more public exposure, it was quite apparent from the “get-go” that this wasn’t working well.  In order to strengthen the division, many dealers even added the English Ford or Tannus dealerships to their holdings while other Edsel dealers closed.
For the 1958 year, Edsel sold 63,110 vehicles and produced 4 models including the larger Citation and Corsair as well as the lesser expensive Pacer and Ranger models. The Bermuda Wagon, Villager Wagon and Roundup Wagon were based on the two smaller Edsel models. All of these models, by the way, included what some to claim to be “State of the Sart” improvements such as “Rolling-Dome” speedometer, and Teletouch transmission shifting system located on the center of the steering wheel. 

  In 1959 they were down to just two models, the Ranger and the Corsair which was nothing more than a re-labeled Pacer.  For the 1960 model year (Edsel’s last) only the Ranger and the Villager were produced and a miserable 2848 cars were sold.  Commedians of the day made jokes about it’s styling cues, most notably the hood-to-ground, wide open mouthed grill, Ford promoted the Edsel as an all new vehicle even though it was evident when you saw it that the body was an existing Ford and, as a result, Edsel (named after Henry’s Ford’s only Son) ceased to be on November 19, 1959.