But the brand failed due to several reasons, some of which I wrote about, along with others mentioned in the first link.
The 1958 Edsel line was comprised of four models. In ascending price order, they were Ranger, Pacer, Corsair and Citation. The first two were based on Ford bodies, the rest on Mercury bodies. Fords and Mercurys were redesigned for the 1957 model year, and I'm using those as the basis for the discussion below, rather than facelifted 1958 models.
Setting the scene, entry-level Ford Customs had 116-inch (2946 mm) wheelbases, and Ford Fairlanes had wheelbases of 118 inches (2997 mm). All '57 Mercury wheelbases were 122 inches (3099 mm). Edsel Ranger and Pacer wheelbases were 118 inches, like those on Ford Fairlanes and Fairlane 500s. Edsel Corsairs and Citations had the longest wheelbases, 124 inches (3150 mm). As will be seen below, wheelbase differences were dealt with fairly easily because the cars were built body-on-frame, rather than using unitized bodies that are today's norm.
Unless noted, images below are of cars listed for sale.
First, the entry-level Ford 4-door sedan on the short wheelbase.
Ford's longer-wheelbase 4-door sedan. Rear door widths provide the clue for lengthening. The Fairlane door is wider, and the passenger compartment top lengthened to accommodate that, while the shape of the backlight window was unchanged.
This is the Edsel based on the car above. Wheelbases are the same, so the basic structures are the same as well and visual differences are due to cladding.
Here is Ford's '57 4-door hardtop sedan.
And an Edsel version using the same structure and wheelbase.
Repeated photo. Compare to the Mercury 4-door sedan below with its 4-inch (102 mm) longer wheelbase.
The Mercury body is different, though there are a few intriguing similarities. Compare the door cutlines. They are virtually the same (the photo of the Fairlane 500 4-door hardtop shows the lines more clearly), the forward Mercury cutline being more vertical, and rear door aft cut shaping differing around the wheel opening. Windshields are essentially the same, though framing is more angular on Mercurys. This suggests possible structural carryover to an otherwise different platform. Otherwise, passenger compartment tops differ along with body sheetmetal cladding. But I could well be wrong: an experienced body shop crew would probably know the truth. Anyway, for styling analysis purposes, we can regard Mercurys as having distinct body designs.
Edsel Corsairs and Citations were hardtops or convertibles, so compare this Mercury 4-door hardtop to the sedan above. The main difference is that the hardtop has a wider C-pillar.
The main structural difference is the backlight window shape and framing along with slight aft side window reshaping and a thinner C-pillar.
4 comments:
The aft side window reshaping on the Edsel Citation looks the same as on the Mercury Park Lane (which I see you wrote about previously). The Citation has its own C pillar though. Why they bothered with all that not to mention two semi-different 1957-58 Fords is another question.
The'58 Edsel wagons (Villager & Bermuda) borrow heavily from the the '57 Ford wagons. The rear fenders & tailgates appear to be a direct lift, even though the Edsel tail lights & trim are different.
tm: Back then station wagon bodies, since they represented maybe 5-15% of production, often got shorted to save money by making fewer new stamping dies. As described here Edsels came in two ranges, one Ford Fairlane based and one Mercury based. But the wagons were only Ford based. There are no Edsel wagons with the Mercury wagon greenhouse which was completely different from the Ford one. And Fords themselves came in two ranges too but the wagons were only based on the lower tier model. So Ford based Edsels were based on the upper tier Ford bodies, but the wagons on the lower one.
The Edsel wagon tail lights were obviously just stuck on Ford fenders with an small extra piece stuck on to be the lower fin. They still had to make unique tail lights for them anyway so this never seemed like the best choice.
1956 Chryslers and DeSotos were facelifted with higher finny rear fenders but the wagons (other than Plymouths) continued with the 1955 Fenders with caps on top. All brands of 1957-59 Chrysler products used the same rear fender (a sort of averaging of all their fin shapes but canted forward) but with the four individual brand's tail lights put in the same opening. There are many similar examples in the 1950's to 60's.
At the time I saw the Fairlane 500 as very dramatic, but, time gone by, if any 1957 Fords can be called good looking, it would be the four door wagons (particularly the black Country Squire) and the cheapest Custom. The Custom 300 had the chrome spear slathered on as shown in your picture. That was an element of 1950s US cars: chrome appliques echoed in "50s" retro diners.
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