Posted on Sep 4, 2018
7
7
0
On September 4, 1957–“E-Day,” according to its advertising campaign–the Ford Motor Company unveils the Edsel, the first new automobile brand produced by one of the Big Three car companies since 1938. (Although many people call it the “Ford Edsel,” in fact Edsel was a division all its own, like Lincoln or Mercury.) Thirteen hundred independent Edsel dealers offered four models for sale: the smaller Pacer and Ranger and the larger Citation and Corsair.
To many people, the Edsel serves as a symbol of corporate hubris at its worst: it was an over-hyped, over-sized, over-designed monstrosity. Other people believe the car was simply a victim of bad timing. When Ford executives began planning for the company’s new brand, the economy was booming and people were snapping up enormous gas-guzzlers as fast as automakers could build them. By the time the Edsel hit showrooms, however, the economic outlook was bad and getting worse. People didn’t want big, glitzy fin cars anymore; they wanted small, efficient ones instead. The Edsel was just ostentatious and expensive enough to give buyers pause.
At the same time, there is probably no car in the world that could have lived up to the Edsel’s hype. For months, the company had been running ads that simply pictured the car’s hood ornament and the line “The Edsel Is Coming.” Everything else about the car was top-secret: If dealers failed to keep their Edsels hidden, they’d lose their franchise. For the great E-Day unveiling, promotions and prizes–like a giveaway of 1,000 ponies–lured shoppers to showrooms.
When they got there, they found a car that had a distinctive look indeed–but not necessarily in a good way. Thanks to the big impact ring or “horse collar” in the middle of its front grille, it looked (one reporter said) like “a Pontiac pushing a toilet seat.” (Another called it “an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon.”) And its problems were more than cosmetic. Drivers changed gears by pushing buttons on the steering wheel, a system that was not easy to figure out. In addition, at highway speeds that famous hood ornament had a tendency to fly off and into the windshield.
In its first year, Edsel sold just 64,000 cars and lost $250 million ($2.5 billion today). After the 1960 model year, the company folded.
To many people, the Edsel serves as a symbol of corporate hubris at its worst: it was an over-hyped, over-sized, over-designed monstrosity. Other people believe the car was simply a victim of bad timing. When Ford executives began planning for the company’s new brand, the economy was booming and people were snapping up enormous gas-guzzlers as fast as automakers could build them. By the time the Edsel hit showrooms, however, the economic outlook was bad and getting worse. People didn’t want big, glitzy fin cars anymore; they wanted small, efficient ones instead. The Edsel was just ostentatious and expensive enough to give buyers pause.
At the same time, there is probably no car in the world that could have lived up to the Edsel’s hype. For months, the company had been running ads that simply pictured the car’s hood ornament and the line “The Edsel Is Coming.” Everything else about the car was top-secret: If dealers failed to keep their Edsels hidden, they’d lose their franchise. For the great E-Day unveiling, promotions and prizes–like a giveaway of 1,000 ponies–lured shoppers to showrooms.
When they got there, they found a car that had a distinctive look indeed–but not necessarily in a good way. Thanks to the big impact ring or “horse collar” in the middle of its front grille, it looked (one reporter said) like “a Pontiac pushing a toilet seat.” (Another called it “an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon.”) And its problems were more than cosmetic. Drivers changed gears by pushing buttons on the steering wheel, a system that was not easy to figure out. In addition, at highway speeds that famous hood ornament had a tendency to fly off and into the windshield.
In its first year, Edsel sold just 64,000 cars and lost $250 million ($2.5 billion today). After the 1960 model year, the company folded.
Edsel arrives in showrooms at last - Sep 04, 1957 - HISTORY.com
Posted from history.comPosted in these groups: 
Automotive
Automotive
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 6
5
5
0
The Edsel Story (1957)
Thank you my friend TSgt Joe C. for reminding us that on September 4, 1957 the Ford Motor Company unveiled the Edsel, the first new automobile brand produced by one of the Big Three car companies since 1938.
Image: 1957-09-04 Ford Edsel.
Background from
"SEPT. 4, 1957: SHORT, UNHAPPY LIFE OF THE EDSEL
Edsels like this 1959 Corsair convertible may enjoy retro cachet these days, but the car was an unpopular and costly flop in its own time.
In an industry celebrated for its spectacular failures, the Edsel still takes the cake. Although as mechanically sound as other Ford products, the car was criticized from Day One for being too ugly, too expensive and vastly overhyped.
The 1958 Edsel was intended to be an intermediate-level brand, bridging the gap between the cheaper Fords and pricier Mercurys and Lincolns. The most-affordable Edsel (the Ranger) cost 70 bucks less than Ford's top-end Fairlane, while the most-expensive model (the Citation) cost more than a Mercury Montclair.
In the post-mortem that followed the Edsel's early demise, the faulty pricing structure was cited by Ford as a big reason the car failed. Sales weren't helped, either, by the fact that it rolled out of the plant at the beginning of a recession. But there was more.
The Edsel – named for Edsel Ford, Henry Ford's son who died of cancer in 1943 – was the subject of an intense marketing blitz while still on the drawing board. The company promised an eager public something revolutionary, carefully baited the hook, and then failed to deliver. The Edsel was just another sedan on the basic Ford chassis.
Almost immediately after E-day, the superhype that had generated so much anticipation boomeranged on Ford. Automotive writers roundly trashed the Edsel, going so far as to compare the oval-shaped vertical grille to the female sex organ – racy stuff for 1957.
Henry Ford II, who had opposed naming the car after his late father, believing it to be undignified, was no doubt furious and mortified. Robert McNamara, soon to become U.S. secretary of defense in the Kennedy administration, was president of the Ford Motor Company at the time and realized instantly he had a lemon on his hands. (A few years later, he'd be a little slower to realize that he had even a bigger lemon on his hands in a place called Vietnam.)
During the Edsel's first year, 1958, four models were produced and barely more than 63,000 were sold in the United States. Sales dropped in 1959, even though Ford had cut back to just two models, and on Nov. 19, 1959, barely two years after E-day, the company threw in the towel on the Edsel.
In one of those little logic-defying ironies, the Edsel today is a prized collector's item, fetching as much as $200,000 for a rare 1960 convertible."
The Edsel Story (1957)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Z9F-svFAk
FYI LTC Jeff ShearerSGT Philip Roncari Sgt Arthur Caesar ]Lt Col Jim CoeCWO3 Dennis M.SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCordSGT Jim Arnold Sgt Albert Castro PO3 Phyllis Maynard Maj Robert Thornton 1SG Carl McAndrews SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft PO1 H Gene Lawrence SGT Brent Scott CW5 John M. CMSgt (Join to see) PO2 Kevin Parker
Image: 1957-09-04 Ford Edsel.
Background from
"SEPT. 4, 1957: SHORT, UNHAPPY LIFE OF THE EDSEL
Edsels like this 1959 Corsair convertible may enjoy retro cachet these days, but the car was an unpopular and costly flop in its own time.
In an industry celebrated for its spectacular failures, the Edsel still takes the cake. Although as mechanically sound as other Ford products, the car was criticized from Day One for being too ugly, too expensive and vastly overhyped.
The 1958 Edsel was intended to be an intermediate-level brand, bridging the gap between the cheaper Fords and pricier Mercurys and Lincolns. The most-affordable Edsel (the Ranger) cost 70 bucks less than Ford's top-end Fairlane, while the most-expensive model (the Citation) cost more than a Mercury Montclair.
In the post-mortem that followed the Edsel's early demise, the faulty pricing structure was cited by Ford as a big reason the car failed. Sales weren't helped, either, by the fact that it rolled out of the plant at the beginning of a recession. But there was more.
The Edsel – named for Edsel Ford, Henry Ford's son who died of cancer in 1943 – was the subject of an intense marketing blitz while still on the drawing board. The company promised an eager public something revolutionary, carefully baited the hook, and then failed to deliver. The Edsel was just another sedan on the basic Ford chassis.
Almost immediately after E-day, the superhype that had generated so much anticipation boomeranged on Ford. Automotive writers roundly trashed the Edsel, going so far as to compare the oval-shaped vertical grille to the female sex organ – racy stuff for 1957.
Henry Ford II, who had opposed naming the car after his late father, believing it to be undignified, was no doubt furious and mortified. Robert McNamara, soon to become U.S. secretary of defense in the Kennedy administration, was president of the Ford Motor Company at the time and realized instantly he had a lemon on his hands. (A few years later, he'd be a little slower to realize that he had even a bigger lemon on his hands in a place called Vietnam.)
During the Edsel's first year, 1958, four models were produced and barely more than 63,000 were sold in the United States. Sales dropped in 1959, even though Ford had cut back to just two models, and on Nov. 19, 1959, barely two years after E-day, the company threw in the towel on the Edsel.
In one of those little logic-defying ironies, the Edsel today is a prized collector's item, fetching as much as $200,000 for a rare 1960 convertible."
The Edsel Story (1957)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Z9F-svFAk
FYI LTC Jeff ShearerSGT Philip Roncari Sgt Arthur Caesar ]Lt Col Jim CoeCWO3 Dennis M.SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCordSGT Jim Arnold Sgt Albert Castro PO3 Phyllis Maynard Maj Robert Thornton 1SG Carl McAndrews SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft PO1 H Gene Lawrence SGT Brent Scott CW5 John M. CMSgt (Join to see) PO2 Kevin Parker
(5)
(0)
2
2
0
SFC Shirley Whitfield MSG Mark Million COL Lee Flemming PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SCPO Morris Ramsey SFC William Farrell Alan K. MSgt Stephen Council Sgt Trevor Barrett Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. MSG Andrew White SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth Cpl Scott McCarroll LTC John Shaw LTC John Griscom SSgt (Join to see) SGT Jim Arnold SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas SPC Margaret Higgins
(2)
(0)
1
1
0
I have always heard failures make you better so hopefully that helped Ford.
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google