They Built It, They Hyped It, It Flopped
Millions in ads couldn't sell 'an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon'
E-Day was the culmination of the most expensive product launch in American history. A lavish $50 million publicity campaign lured record numbers into dealerships. The mainstream press, which soon enough would lampoon it, warmly welcomed the Edsel, praising its styling, features, and performance.
But shoppers realized the Edsel was just a car, not a transportation revolution. And base prices that ranged from $2,519 to $3,801 (about $19,000 to $28,000 today) seemed excessive. A summer plunge in the stock market in 1957 had triggered a recession that would last nearly a year. Consumers suddenly wanted small cars that used less gas, like the American Motors Rambler. Overall, car sales tanked in 1957 and 1958.
Right off the bat, the Edsel sold far below levels Ford wanted. Recriminations began. Robert McNamara, who held one of the top jobs at the automaker, thought the whole program was extravagant and set out to kill it. Sales drifted downward for two years. Finally, Ford discontinued the Edsel late in 1959, after building barely 110,000 of them—less than 25 percent of what it had hoped to sell.
It wasn't unusual, however, that the Edsel skidded into a soft market. The real ignominy was that Ford completely abandoned the car. In his book Disaster in Dearborn, Thomas Bonsall says the Edsel might have succeeded if only Ford had stuck with it. "The real failure in the Edsel saga had little to do with the car," he concluded. "It was a failure of Ford Motor Company management."
Orphan. Yet Ford practically disowned the Edsel, and its owners. "Once the cars were orphaned, they had virtually no value," explains Dave Sinclair of Eagle, Idaho, who bought his first Edsel in 1967, for $120. Now, 50 years later, the car's orphan status is part of the appeal. "Some people like abandoned cars, and the Edsel is so different because it fell on its face so quick," Sinclair says.
Ford recovered quickly from the Edsel debacle. The Mercury Comet—originally designed as an Edsel—and the Ford Falcon were healthy successes. Then Ford hit a grand slam with the Mustang in 1964. But its attitude toward the Edsel has never softened. Organizers of the Edsel golden anniversary asked Ford to sponsor the event. Ford declined. Lovable or not, to some the car is still a loser.
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