Ford Edsel

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The Ford Edsel - named after the son of Henry Ford who died of (stomach) cancer - is known as the biggest marketing and industrial mistake of all time. While at the Ford Motor Company it was thought to sell 200.000 units every year, everything went wrong, very wrong.

It also didn't help that the grille evoked associations with a part that gynecologists are regularly confronted with. In 1957 the debut, in which well before the launch date, regular tips of the veil were lifted, seemed very hopeful. Barely two years later, production was stopped. The Edsel was unsaleable. Ford was able to record a loss of 250 million dollars. If we pass that on to today's standards, it means more than 2 billion dollars! We are now almost 60 years further and people are still talking about that 'zeper'. The most famous joke “Who is the biggest loose? Richard Nixon in a Ford Edsel ”. Despite the great successes of the Mustang and the GT40, the Edsel Ford continues to haunt. With all this in mind, the Ford Edsel is a rarity today and the worldwide interest in this model is growing ...

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2 comments

  1. Actually, the Edsel in 1958 was not even such a bad car. Just look at his peers, eg Buick and Pontiac, they were no better. A huge advertising campaign preceded the usual commercial nonsense. When “VE day” arrived (the introduction of a new car was then a kind of Prince's Day) the spectators saw a normal car with four wheels and a steering wheel. So that was disappointing. Still, the rating was not bad. But after two months, almost nothing had been sold. Dealers pulled out and the Edsel Division was merged with Mercury and Lincoln in no time. Journalists wrote the car into the ground and everyone took it over. Actually, the Americans were fed up with the chrome whales. In 1961 other cars appeared.
    (except at Plymouth).

  2. Well….
    But….

    If I am honest and then look at one of its major competitors, the Chevy Bel Air '1….

    Then I would have known then (and now of course still) which car it had become…

    And that's not one with a blue brand logo….

    After all these years, I still just can't really like the Edsel ...

    Outside the Bel Air there were other, much nicer cars for sale in its model year (s) ...

    Just look at '57 Pontiac's, Chryslers and Mercury from our own house for example.
    10x more beautiful, also (or better: correct?) Now!

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