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Tag: edsel

October 13, 1957 – The Edsel Show
13Oct By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

October 13, 1957 – The Edsel Show

What do you get when you mix a handful of the era's biggest celebrities, a brand new car company promising to be the hot new thing, and an hour long special on a popular TV channel (there were only three at the time)? The Edsel Show! The one hour CBS special, designed to promote Ford Motor Company's new Edsel line, premiered on this day in 1957 in place of Ford's usual sponsored program, The Ed Sullivan Show. Hosted by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Louis Armstrong, and Lindsay Crosby, with performances by The Four Preps and Bob Hope, the show snagged a huge audience, even earning an Emmy nomination for best single program of the year. Snap shot taken during filming of The Edsel Show. The success on screen did not translate to the dealerships. Since many viewed t...
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August 27, 1957 – Press event launches Edsel with stunt show
27Aug By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

August 27, 1957 – Press event launches Edsel with stunt show

While most prefer to go out with a bang, Edsel, Ford’s new mid-priced car line, did things a bit backwards. On this day in 1957, automotive journalists were invited to Dearborn for the press introduction of the new car. What they got was a spectacle unlike any automotive introduction that preceded it. Much to the irk of division head Richard Krafve, a full on stunt show was performed, demonstrating capabilities of the car that most people would never need. At the end of the event a number of the pressmen were provided with an green and white Edsel Pacer of their own to drive home and evaluate. The journalists had come from across the United States, so a fair amount had long drives to make. One automotive writer, Floyd Clymer, suffered a breakdown in Wyoming. Ford replaced the car f...
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November 19, 1959 – Ford announces the end of Edsel
19Nov By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

November 19, 1959 – Ford announces the end of Edsel

Too much money, too much hype, and too much of the same old thing would ultimately kill Edsel. Designed to fill the gap between Ford and its luxurious Lincoln line, Edsel debuted to high expectations on September 4, 1957. Despite all the glitz and glam, including an hour long TV special, the car failed to hit its mark. The press and the public were quick to shrug it off, many left gawking at its odd vertical grill. Above: 1960 Edsel Ranger. By Fletcher6 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0. Top: 1959 Edsel Villager. By Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA - 59 Edsel Villager, CC BY 2.0 Sharing numerous cosmetic and mechanical components with other Ford models, Edsels did little to stand out. Aside from their pillarific front end, that is. The 10 years of development and $250 million spent on plann...
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November 19, 1959 – Ford announces the end of Edsel
19Nov By Automotive HistoryNo Comments
This Day

November 19, 1959 – Ford announces the end of Edsel

Too much money, too much hype, too much of the same old thing would ultimately kill Edsel, a brand new car line from Ford meant to fill the gap between Ford and its luxurious Lincoln line. But when the brand debuted amid high expectations on September 4, 1957, the press and the public were quick to shrug it off, and a few were left gawking at its vertical grill. Sharing numerous cosmetic and mechanical components with other Ford models, the car did little to stand out, aside from its strange front end. The financial fiasco that followed quickly sunk the new marque, leading Ford to announce its discontinuation on this day in 1959. When production ceased at the end of November, 2,846 units had already been produced for the 1960 model year, leading to a final production total of 118,297 E...
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