http://pics.imcdb.org/13592/snapshot20130613194622.jpg
http://pics.imcdb.org/13592/snapshot20130613194622.26.jpg
Laurie was driving a 58 Edsel Corsair 4 door Hardtop Sedan. A four door HT is pretty rare in any 50's car model. Corsair along with the Citation (The top of the line model) were the senior Edsel models built on Mercury frames whereas the Pacer and Ranger (bottom of the line model) were built on Ford frames and were called the junior Edsels because they were a little narrower and shorter.
I have a 58 Pacer sedan that is very close in color to this car. The difference between the Pacer and the Corsair is that the Corsair model has that added on anodized trim piece that you can see in the above photos on what would be the C pillar area (hard top doesn't have a b pillar so manufacturers had to reinforce the A and C pillars to support the roof in the case of a roll over so the card didn't pan cake on the people inside if it flipped over). Also the Corsair had some extra gimmicky doodads inside the car most likely. All car makers add a little bit of stuff to offer a more luxurious model for more money.
The Citation and Corsair had bigger engines exclusive over the Pacer and Ranger models and they both only came with the problematic teletouch push button transmission. Rangers and Pacers you could pay extra for the push button transmission or get an old school manual shifter or a tree mounted automatic. Drag racers liked the manual shifter on the Rangers with that 303HP engine from what I hear. The other add on that the Citation had over the Corsair pictured above, was an anodized Edsel shield logo that went on the rear fender (In the white paint area at the back of the car at the end of the Edsel logo).
The marketing campaign was such a flop on the unveiling of the car because a recession and the styling was too weird on the car, people weren't willing to blow money on a glitzy gimmicky car. The pricing on the car was off too. Ford wanted to make a car brand for in between the Ford and Mercury models, but the price range was so close that you could buy a top of the line Ford or an entry level Mercury for the same price. I think it was some ridiculous amount like $20-$50 difference. Most people would go with a car model that was proven and they knew.
A lot of people agree that if Edsel had come out 2 years earlier it would of sold better. But I gotta think they would of canned it eventually. The late 50's early 60's were a bad time for car companies. Desoto went down in 61 and Studebaker followed a few years later. Packard and Hudson bought the farm in the mid 50's because the Big three (mostly GM) killed off a lot of the market with their V8 engines. Hudson farted around too long with 6 cylinder cars which were pretty damn fast, but average joe shmo wants more bang for his buck. Post WW2 Packard tried targeting the middle class by selling their cars cheaper while building them at a luxury price and they lost money on all of them.
Well, that's enough auto history for one night.
reply
share