Before drunken revelers rang in the calendar year 1960 with tenuous optimism, Edsel was already a dead player. A few unceremonious months out of the 1960 model year’s starting gate, Ford hoisted the white flag over its most infamous blunder, and from that point forward they realized that matching General Motors point for point was a fool’s errand. Even the number two automaker in America could not compete with the decadence that was GM in its prime, begetting a process of shedding brands that culminated (so far) in Mercury’s recent quietus.
If the 1960 Edsel wagon looks familiar, it should. After all, Ford’s half-hearted attempt at badge engineering loosed a Pontiac Galaxie on an indifferent world, a world so unenthusiastic that a mere 275 of these Edsels in name only were trucked and trained from the front doors of the factories of America. This one’s met a sad end, but have you seen another?
Full disclosure: I actually contacted the Edsel Club of America in an attempt to get someone, anyone, to save this old parts car. In a futile attempt to extract the grille from this weather beaten wagon, I realized that I would need a jack and a prayer to crawl underneath and remove the last bolts. I value my life just a little more than a rare part, so I sadly walked away.
This picture offers the best opportunity to discuss the engine, which is the standard 292 Y-Block, an engine that may be more forgotten by the masses than the Edsel brand itself. The Y-Block may not have been the smashing success that the concurrent Chevy 265 and its myriad variants were, but it didn’t assault the nostrils with the scent of failure either. The “Ranger” Six was a delete option in Edsels that year, saving the buyer $97. In that case, why not just buy a Ford? Many did.
Appropriately, a roached and ravaged copy of Gone With the Wind sits on the front seat, as forgotten as the car itself. How did it get there? How does a car owner sell a car to the salvage yard without cleaning out his/her belongings? Gone With the Wind can’t be that bad; is this a silent literary protest from the dim, distant past? We’ll never know.
The cargo area might resemble a neighborhood garage sale, but at least this image highlights the two-toned color, Sherwood Green over Polar White, that ostensibly was original to this wagon; although the piled up junk unfortunately obscures that seating status, rendering the six or nine-passenger determination impossible. For the record, the nine-passenger model was rarer, with only 59 made. Fifty-nine. Is this one of them? Are there others?
In happier times, our featured Villager might have taken its owner fly fishing, mirroring this idyllic scene in the original brochure, a brochure that probably cost more to produce than the profit rendered by the entire 1960 production run.
Time, of course, is kind to nothing but the reputation of the world’s greatest artists and leaders, and this junkyard Edsel is no exception to the rule. It has certainly been parked in the same location for several decades, and its next move is into the jaws of the crusher, which is why I contacted the Edsel Club. Even if the car cannot be saved, its trim and a few panes of glass can. Up front, I’m barely visible in my vain attempt to figure out the grille situation.
The last Edsel was, sadly, the most conformist of the three model years, even though it shared a body with the relatively outlandish 1960 Ford. Edsel’s reputation, of course, is derived from the “horse collar” 1958 and, to a lesser extent, 1959 models. Those who deride the Edsel today are probably unaware that a 1960 model even limped out of the gate.
And although I’ve seen a few 1960 Edsels, imagine my surprise at this wagon hiding in the bushes, symbolizing someone’s market miscalculation, paying the price for someone’s mistake, the child of a misbegotten parent, perhaps wishing it had never been born.
It’s easy for me to attach anthropomorphic characteristics to cars because I love them so much and I’ve taken them apart and reassembled them with my own hands. I’ve treated them with respect. I’ve given them homes and I’ve sheltered them. Remember the movie Cipher in the Snow, the one where the unloved kid died getting off the bus, died from a lack of love? That’s what I see when I see cars like this Edsel, and in a way, I feel like I’m a social worker for abandoned cars. But you can’t save them all, although it’s certainly cold comfort to admit it.
It’s hard for me to acknowledge that I was alive when the Edsel was born … and died. As a small child, I’d heard people mention the Edsel “horse collar”, but that was pretty confusing, as I’d never seen a horse with a collar. And I certainly don’t remember noticing any differences between model years; they all seemed big and ugly, and even then pretty uncommon, certainly less visible on the streets than DeSoto’s.
Another way of looking at it is that if the car had been a plain old Ford, it wouldn’t have lasted this long. 65 years is a pretty good run, all in all.
You can see elements of a modern-styled wagon, by 1960’s decade standards. But it clearly remains overstyled.
Even without the presence of exposure to road salt, I am sometimes surprised, how quickly autos return to dust.
If I understand the design-to-production timeline in this era, the 1960 Edsel models would have been on the drawing board not long after the introduction of the brand in 1958. So the fact that the 1960 models lost their uniqueness in 1960 meant that FoMoCo had already given up on the marque almost immediately after its debut.
OR… there *were* unique 1960 Edsel models on the drawing board – I know the new-for-1960 Comet was intended to be an Edsel – and they were torn up and tossed.
I suspect the original plans for the ’60 Edsel assumed success of the brand. Had that come to pass, I think we’d have seen a far different Edsel in 1960.
The ’60 Edsel we see today probably came about as the result of shelving the original plans and substituting a hasty rebadged Ford as a stopgap pending actions regarding the brand’s future.
Killing a car line is probably less complicated for a manufacturer than dealing with the fallout from shutting down a dealer network established under the franchise laws of 48 different states.
The reality of franchise laws and charting a course for the Edsel dealers probably required Ford to offer their remaining Edsel dealers something until legal issues could be resolved.
The end of Edsel was a script similar to that ending the Packard and DeSoto brands.
I’ve heard rumors that the original contract agreement was for 3 years from the original car’s a-month-or-so-before-the-other-’58s intro and it’s also a known fact that the 1960 Comet was developed to be an Edsel.
Either way, it’s clear the ’60 Edsel was a placeholder, either for the existing contracts to sunset or for the Falcon-based deluxe compact to be ready a bit late, with it likely that the Comet would be *the* Edsel and the full-size car to either run out then and there or go away at the end of the ’60 model year. Once the decision was made to shutter the Edsel division and give the Comet a fresh start with an unsullied name that was that.
Evan, I’ve seen on line full sized clay models of Mercury-based 1959s which would have been the true Corsairs and Citations
GM at that time let each division create their own motors and transmissions. Once they shared motors and transmissions the end was in sight.
A really well written article that touches my heart too.
I’ve never been to a demo derby, never willing tried to destroy a car, but instead have done my fair share to keep them alive.
The Edsel story happened all before my birth in 1963 and I don’t ever recall any family taking off owning one.
I think, just based on my reading, it answered a question never asked.
There’s a collector of Edsels in Citrus Heights California who has every possible model and color combination sitting in a large field .I do not know him or her but they are located on a very small dirt road off of Oak Avenue in Citrus Heights. I found this wondrous place while going to a poultry sale. I have no idea if they are still there,still alive or anything else about them but they were still in existence 2 years ago. I am not tripping but I don’t know anything more about it other than the fact that it existed.Maybe some sort of registry or local auto club could help you locate them.
The fact that this car is at least one in 275 (if not perhaps 1 in 59) is shocking to me, and all the more reason why I too would have attempted to contact the Edsel following on the interwebs about this one. It’s a shame that nothing came through…despite the fact that this one seems pretty retrievable with lots of good parts if not a total restore. At least relative to other low-volume cars. That this Edsel is not speaks to the overall dismissal these cars have suffered. Which is your point of course.
The part about trying to liberate the grill hits one of my junkyard gripes The way that cars are traditionally positioned in junkyards totally obliterates the accessing of parts that I would think that many folks want. It’s really kind of too bad for serious parts pickers, but I guess in the end the value of a junkyard car is simply its weight in scrap metal.
What puzzles me about automakers, is the repeated move of spending money on tooling for a significantly different generation of a model, then, quickly dumping it. Same with DeSoto, tooling and starting production on the 61s, then sticking a fork in them in November of 60. Same thing with Studebaker: new front clip and rear fenders for 64, then shuttering South Bend in December 63.
Makes no sense to me, but I don’t pull down an 8 figure payday, in 2025 dollars, so maybe that is why big shot decision making doesn’t make sense.
Most of the design and planning decisions for next year’s model and the year after that had to be made before the current model year even began. Tooling orders had big lead times — you couldn’t just send somebody down to The Home Depot, and there was setup and testing time. You could accelerate things somewhat, but it was expensive and tended to result in quality control problems.
By 1960, lead times on finalizing designs was 3,sometimes 4 years prior. Yes, ordering new tooling probably took the most time. The basic design for the `60 Edsel was probably finalized by 11/57 or so. The Falcon program was well under way by `58, and the handwriting was already on the wall regarding Edsel sales. Thankfully, the Comet never turned into the `60 Edsel.
The 1960 Edsel was a lawyer’s special. FoMoCo tried to end the Edsel with the 1959 model, but their lawyers said no. Ford had a contract with their Edsel dealer network. It was signed November 19, 1956, and ran for 3 model and calendar years. Ford tried to buy back all the contracts, but at least one dealer would not sell. Faced with losing a lawsuit for violation of their own contract, deep pocketed Ford (forced by those lawyers) decided to make a 1960 model. The car was introduced for sale on October 15, 1959. On the day the contract expired, November 19, 1959, they pulled the plug on the marque. The 1960 model was only offered for sale for one month and four days of 1959.
2,846 of them were made.
My father bought one at dealer cost on November 19, 1959, but it is a 2 door Ranger sedan, not a Villager wagon. (He had no choice–they had 2 unsold cars left and the bargain price was only for one of those).
Wish my father had gotten a wagon, but that is not what the dealership had. I still have that car.
The 1960 Edsel shares some sheet metal and all window glass with the 1960 Ford (and 1960 Canadian Meteor) but it is its own car. It has a longer wheelbase, drivetrain, and the rear suspension of the car is entirely different. They saved money by sharing many things, but it is not just a re-skinned Ford.
The 1960 Ford (and Edsel) had to be a one year model because it is 81.5 inches wide. While trucks are allowed to be wider than 80 inches (Hummer 81.2, Tesla Cybertruck, etc) many states restrict passenger cars to 80 inches. Special patches to laws had to be legislated to register those vehicles as cars.
In other words, somebody at Ford did not do their homework. They goofed, big time.
But they were smart enough, after making that mistake, to never make it again.
Which is why the 1960 is a stand alone year, and unlike the 1959 or 1961.
I can’t believe no one wants this treasure trove of unobtanium parts .
Crushing this rusty old hulk would be a crime .
-Nate
I get a tinge in my heart when I see a junked car in a field or side of the road.
Upon assembly, someone was proud to have this new wagon in their driveway. Any dents or scrapes were immediately resolved.
Within 3 to 4 years, it was traded in or handed off to a family member and not treated with the respect it deserved.
By the next handoff, minimal maintenance was the rule of thumb till the engine blew or floor boards rusted away.
Now sitting in a field, rusting away, hoping someone shows pity.
Ouch!!
This. And I will add someone’s deluded thinking that there was no sense trying to sell it or trade it at the time of parking. “I’ll replace that bad [insert failed part here] and this will make a great backup car.” Which, of course, never happened.
Thank you for contacting the Edsel club, regardless of their follow up. Sad this rare model has been delegated to the dustbin of history.
In my 60+ years, I’ve only knowingly seen two 1960 models in person; one a sedan running the streets about 20 years ago, and the second also a sedan at a classic car show about 10 years ago. Obviously not as noticeable as the (iconic?) ’58 or ’59 models, but if I’m not mistaken by the time these hit production the decision was already made to end the Edsel line.