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The Edsel thread (cars that made you go "wow")

7K views 76 replies 14 participants last post by  larchmont 
#1 · (Edited)
On the "desigining the top" thread, we started fooling around with Edsel pics. Our guy TSX "R" US even put together this top for our site:






(Don't worry, it was a joke.) :D


I started wondering, what other cars have made us go "wow"?
Usually "wow" meant good, but it didn't have to. And sometimes the car was so "wow" (or whatever) that you couldn't tell if it was good or bad.


Here are some other "wow" cars that I remember, more or less in chronological order.

Early '50's: Hudson -- It wasn't anything about how it looked or drove or anything like that, it was that in the TV commercials, you found out that the Hudson had a bed in it. Why anybody would want a bed in their car, I had no idea (hey, I was only about 3) :D but I still thought it was cool.

Late '50's: Studebaker -- Nowadays any car from the '50's looks cool (although also stupid, of course), but at the time that kind of look was very ordinary. Except for the Studebaker, which seemed to have all these extra indefinable shapes in it, making it interesting but also weird, and also was smaller than most other cars. Now, if you see a pic of a Studebaker, it actually looks pretty big, like all the '50's cars, and I think even the styling doesn't stand out so much. But at the time it really did. I never knew anybody who dared to have one.

'60's: Nothing. (I guess people's minds were on other things.)
Except maybe the MB's.

Early '70's: The little BMW's -- You didn't see many, but you saw a few. I think first it was the 1600, then the 1800, and eventually the 2002 which was discontinued when they came out with the 320i in '76 (model year '77). Other foreign companies had come out with little cars in the U.S., but those cars weren't particularly interesting and they weren't regarded as particularly good -- the idea at the time was that you'd get them to save money, not to get a great car. The little BMW's were the first ones that struck me otherwise.

Mid '70's: A very fertile era for "wow" cars of the stupid variety. My 2 favorites (which looked like they coulda been distant cousins):

Citroen -- famous for its "hydraulic suspension." I didn't know what that meant but from its look I could see there was plenty of room in there for lots of water. We really need a pic for this:

(Sorry, couldn't find one easily. Probably will post one later.)

It was regarded as a pretty good car but with rotten reliability. Anyway the Citroen didn't stay here very long.

AMC Pacer -- It was sort of like the Toyota Echo but more upscale -- it was mid-level. The Echo is just tall; the Pacer was kind of spherical. I'm not kidding. It felt like a space module, and maybe in fact it was inspired by that. I test-drove one. It was interesting -- quiet but "echo-y," like when you put a sea-shell to your ear. But it mainly felt just weird. It felt futuristic, but not like any car you'd want to own. I guess everybody pretty much agreed. The Pacer didn't last very long either.


I'll quit there for now. Maybe more later. But, how about anybody else's "wow" cars?
 
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#2 · (Edited)
This is the best and closest Citroen pic I found. It's not what you usually saw here, it's a lot snazzier. This one was sort of a super-sports/luxury cross which was made to compete with cars like the Ferrari as well as the Bentley. The ones we would see were bulkier and less sleek, but it's the same basic idea.

 
#9 ·
As long as I'm going back to the '50's, we have to give a bow to the original VW Beetle:





I remember how striking the car was. To me as a little kid, it was absolutely the biggest "wow" there was -- I dunno, maybe because it was tiny like me. :D
For a long time it was also the only import car I was aware of.

BTW this nice pic was "borrowed" from the site of a fellow named Mark Dawson.
It was harder to find a good pic of the original Beetle than you might think!
 
#11 ·
Whatchamacallit said:
Maybe I missed it in your post but what's special about the Edsel? :donno: :slap:
I don't think you missed anything, I guess it's subjective, and maybe also "you had to be there."

The Edsel is famous mainly as one of the great marketing fiascos of all-time. Ford thought it was making a great and bold new car, with distinctive styling (I think that part was true) plus lots of extra features included as "standard" (that part reminds us of a current brand, doesn't it?). But the car didn't find a real niche, its main competitors seemed to be other Ford models, people didn't want to have to buy the extra features, and it was a bit of a gas-guzzler at a time when people were getting a bit MPG-conscious. (I think that about covers it.)

The car is now a cult-classic, maybe because of its styling, maybe because not too many were made and so they're rarer than your average '50's car, maybe because of being a fiasco of historical proportions -- most likely a combination of all of these.

I do find the car to be a "wow," but maybe that's because I can't separate the car from its story.


Anyway, my choice is the lady in that Lotus. :D
 
#14 ·
Since there's actually a Volvo that might deserve a look, I think we oughta do it.





That was the P1800/1800/1800S, from the '60's-early '70's.

A girlfriend at that time told me that one of her ex's had one. I was so impressed that I still remember the guy's name. Matthew Temple, if you're watching, we still remember you. :D
 
#15 ·
larchmont said:
The Edsel is famous mainly as one of the great marketing fiascos of all-time. Ford thought it was making a great and bold new car, with distinctive styling (I think that part was true) plus lots of extra features included as "standard" (that part reminds us of a current brand, doesn't it?). But the car didn't find a real niche, its main competitors seemed to be other Ford models, people didn't want to have to buy the extra features, and it was a bit of a gas-guzzler at a time when people were getting a bit MPG-conscious. (I think that about covers it.)

The car is now a cult-classic, maybe because of its styling, maybe because not too many were made and so they're rarer than your average '50's car, maybe because of being a fiasco of historical proportions -- most likely a combination of all of these.
Thanks for the history lesson. With a name like Edsel, I would have thought it sold well.

Also, looking at the orange picture, I keep thinking Edsel was a Chevy instead of Ford. For some odd reason, I picture Chevy Chase driving it in some of his old movies. :jeffy:
 
#16 ·
Whatchamacallit said:
.....looking at the orange picture, I keep thinking Edsel was a Chevy instead of Ford. For some odd reason, I picture Chevy Chase driving it in some of his old movies. :jeffy:
You mean kinda like this?





Yes, that might well have been an Edsel. It wasn't, but it sure could have been -- it would have fit perfectly.

BTW a while ago I tried to make that pic my avatar, because it's pretty close to what I look like, or at least used to -- but it didn't work.
P.S. Now unfortunately it's more like Larry David. :D
 
#17 ·
larchmont said:
Doors are highly overrated and just add unnecessary weight!



(The Lotus Seven - now the Caterham Seven - dates back to 1957, which must be a record of some sort...)
 
#19 ·
larchmont said:
You mean kinda like this?



I'll be darned, according to this Edsel fansite, Chevy Chase appeared in the movie "The Three Amigos" in a '59 Edsel. :)
http://www.edsel.com/pages/edslfilm.htm

I'll have to keep my eye out next time I watch that movie.

It's not too hard to add avatar here. Just make sure the picture is 1000 by 1000 pixels or 20000 bytes (whichever is smaller).
 
#20 ·
Whatchamacallit said:
I'll be darned, according to this Edsel fansite, Chevy Chase appeared in the movie "The Three Amigos" in a '59 Edsel. :)
http://www.edsel.com/pages/edslfilm.htm

I'll have to keep my eye out next time I watch that movie.

It's not too hard to add avatar here.....
You know, I suppose it's possible that IS an Edsel!

In that other post, I originally wrote "I don't think it was an Edsel," but then I figured, of course it's not an Edsel, so I changed it to "It wasn't."
Let's say I'm pretty sure that's not an Edsel. But, as we said, the Edsel would fit him perfectly, and I guess we were right. :D

About the avatar.....I didn't find a small version of this pic with the right format.
No great loss. :D
 
#21 ·
larchmont said:
You know, I suppose it's possible that IS an Edsel!

In that other post, I originally wrote "I don't think it was an Edsel," but then I figured, of course it's not an Edsel, so I changed it to "It wasn't."
Let's say I'm pretty sure that's not an Edsel. But, as we said, the Edsel would fit him perfectly, and I guess we were right. :D

About the avatar.....I didn't find a small version of this pic with the right format.
No great loss. :D
Try this:
 

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#23 ·
1995 Oldsmobile Aurora. 4.0 liter Northstar V8, 250hp, lowest first harmonic frequency of any car built to that time (probably since). Originated "used bar of soap" styling that prevailed for a decade.

Recall too that this vehicle should have debuted in 1993 but was almost killed by GM.

The technology that went into it has migrated throughout GM line, improving all aspects of the GM line.
 
#24 ·
The PT Cruiser gave me the biggest "wow" of any car in the last few years. I remember the first time I saw one. It was parked on the street in Manhattan. A few people had stopped to look at it. I couldn't help joining them.

Unfortunately, once you get beneath the styling, apparently it's not such a special car, although very good in quality -- the opposite of what one might think about such a car. According to the category ratings in AAA's current "New Cars and Trucks," the PT Cruiser is absolutely the most average, ordinary car you can buy. But they basically like the car, and it also gets very good reviews in Consumer Reports and Consumer Guide.



BTW I tried to include a couple of nice Cruiser pics from a PT forum (PT Cruiser Club) -- giving credit and acknowledgement etc. -- but I found that the pics didn't stay as pics; after a few seconds they turned into these:





I guess some sites are programmed so that their pics can't be pasted elsewhere....
 
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