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1959 Edsel Corsair convertible.

It was 50 years ago, on Nov. 19, 1959, that the Ford Motor Company finally pulled the plug on its ill-fated Edsel. It wasn’t an unexpected announcement; the Edsel had been circling the drain almost since the day it was introduced.
Launched with great fanfare on Sept. 4, 1957, the Edsel arrived right at the start of an economic recession. Buyers, perhaps expecting something different because of all the pre-launch hype, stayed away in droves.
It wasn’t so much that the Edsel was a lemon. Although early production models did suffer from quality control issues, it was no better or worse than other cars of the period.
For one thing, Ford already had several brands in the mid-price range. And its styling was controversial, with that horse collar grille borrowed from a Packard show car, but I liked it then and like it now.
It was, quite simply, the wrong car at the wrong time.
The car was named after Henry Ford’s only son, Edsel, who had did of cancer in 1943 at the age of 49. As company president Edsel gave us the Model A, then founded and named the Mercury division, was responsible for the Lincoln Zephyr and Continental. His name deserves a better fate than being forever linked to a great automotive flop.
For the 1958 model year, Edsel came in seven lines. Corsair and Citation were based on the larger Mercury platform and were available in 2-door and 4-door hardtops, with Citation also adding a 2-door convertible. The smaller Pacer and Ranger were built on Ford chassis and came in 2-door and 4-door hardtop or sedan versions, with Pacer also available as a 2-door convertible. The 4-door Bermuda and Villager stations wagons were based on Ford platforms, as was the 2-door Roundup wagon.
In that first year, 63,110 Edsels were sold in the U.S., with another 4,935 sold in Canada, most of those being assembled in Oakville, Ont.
By model year 1960 the lineup was down to Ranger sedans, hardtops and convertibles and Villager wagons. Only 2,846 1960 cars were built – all of them in Louisville, Ky. – before production came to a halt and the bleeding was stopped
The 1959 Corsair convertible in the photo is owned by Jeff Kryzanowski of Bowmanville, Ont. He bought it in September, 2004 when his wife Yvonne found it on her company’s electronic bulletin board.
“Ha, ha, ha,” she told Jeff, “somebody’s trying to sell an Edsel.”
She doesn’t think Edsels are so funny now.
Although Jeff really wanted a Mopar, the price was right for a rare car that had been given a complete restoration between 1990 and 2000.
“The odometer shows 114,000 miles, which I assume is right,” Jeff says. Since buying it five years ago, he’s put fewer than 3,000 miles on the car, which has a 361 cubic inch V8 producing 303 hp, a 4-barrel carburetor and dual exhaust.
The white on white convertible originally had a white spear, but that was changed – wisely, I think – to a red spear during the repaint. Original seat fabric was matched by a company in California.
The black steering wheel tells aficionados this is a U.S.-built car. If it were one of the Edsels made in Canada in model years 1958 and ’59, the wheel would be white.
Incidentally, 50 years ago some people said they could never by a car with a silly name like Edsel. Today, people buy cars with meaningless names such as Camry, Elantra and Altima.
At least naming a car Edsel was an attempt to honour a true automotive pioneer.
Go figure.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com