Regarding Edsels, the jury is still out on the real reason for the failure. Some say it was the “ugly” front end; however, in later years Pontiac had a similar front end treatment and it didn’t take them down… at least not right away.
Another reason could be the quality was not very good for a new car introduction, and this certainly was a contributing factor; but,
likely the single biggest event was the serious recession from mid 1957 through spring of 1958! All US industry suffered greatly during this downturn, with new car sales plummeting at least 30% from previous year’s peak activity.
All in all, it was just not a good time to introduce a new model car…
2. Management problems – McNamara (the guy who later fouled up the Vietnam war) appears to have foisted that vagina-grille on the company over the objections of nearly everyone with eyes, and one wonders what other mistakes he made.
3. Brand dilution. The original goal was to create a “better than Cadillac” brand for Ford, because Lincoln was generally perceived as almost as good as Cadillac. But then they also stuck the Edsel marque (and ) on mid-range cars. Basically they stuck the Edsel name and the distinctively terrible grill on a Mercury. That lost the full-out luxury car sachet that was the whole point of the project, and gave the Mercury management reason to hope it failed.
4. The full-out luxury cars were lemons. They tried every bit of new technology their engineers could dream up, all at once – and a lot of it didn’t hold up. Only the military can afford to handle the problems created by deploying too many new ideas in the same project, and as a former F-111 tech I can tell you that it’s a bad idea even then. (The F-111 was a McNamara pet project when he was Secretary of Defense.)
charliefarmrhere over 9 years ago
Instead of a Classic car barn find, did they back then, have a Classic wheel cave find?
phylum over 9 years ago
I bought one right off the floor brand new…jeeez..if I only knew then…
Aussie Down Under over 9 years ago
What’s a square dance?.. a dance for squares.Great movie Rock around the clock.
swadeparker Premium Member over 9 years ago
That rock won’t roll.
Dkram over 9 years ago
I’d say that must have been a rough ride..\\//_
neverenoughgold over 9 years ago
Regarding Edsels, the jury is still out on the real reason for the failure. Some say it was the “ugly” front end; however, in later years Pontiac had a similar front end treatment and it didn’t take them down… at least not right away.
Another reason could be the quality was not very good for a new car introduction, and this certainly was a contributing factor; but,
likely the single biggest event was the serious recession from mid 1957 through spring of 1958! All US industry suffered greatly during this downturn, with new car sales plummeting at least 30% from previous year’s peak activity.
All in all, it was just not a good time to introduce a new model car…
neverenoughgold over 9 years ago
As I recall, The Mythbusters tried the “square wheel” concept and it was quite a rough ride (pun intended)…
markmoss1 over 9 years ago
The Edsel failed due to a combination of factors:
1. Terrible styling.
2. Management problems – McNamara (the guy who later fouled up the Vietnam war) appears to have foisted that vagina-grille on the company over the objections of nearly everyone with eyes, and one wonders what other mistakes he made.
3. Brand dilution. The original goal was to create a “better than Cadillac” brand for Ford, because Lincoln was generally perceived as almost as good as Cadillac. But then they also stuck the Edsel marque (and ) on mid-range cars. Basically they stuck the Edsel name and the distinctively terrible grill on a Mercury. That lost the full-out luxury car sachet that was the whole point of the project, and gave the Mercury management reason to hope it failed.
4. The full-out luxury cars were lemons. They tried every bit of new technology their engineers could dream up, all at once – and a lot of it didn’t hold up. Only the military can afford to handle the problems created by deploying too many new ideas in the same project, and as a former F-111 tech I can tell you that it’s a bad idea even then. (The F-111 was a McNamara pet project when he was Secretary of Defense.)