While today we usually just call them all Edsels, when it debuted in 1958 Edsel was actually a full vehicle lineup, sporting both “Senior” and “Junior” models, each with a variety of model names. The recently launched Lincoln Corsair (a name previously used by Edsel) got me thinking about the fates of the other Edsel model names. How many went on to have second lives, and how many (like the Edsel name itself) have faded into ignominy?
Citation
1958 Edsel Citation
When Edsel launched in 1958, the two senior models (both based on Mercurys) were the previously mentioned Corsair and the Citation. The Citation was the range-topping model of the Edsel lineup, with some extra gingerbread to distinguish it from the (slightly) lesser Corsair.
Citation, as we all know, went on to be used by General Motors in 1980 for Chevrolet’s ill-fated version of GM X-Car. I’m not exactly sure how Chevrolet ended up using this name – perhaps Ford didn’t maintain their trademarks on the Edsel models, under the assumption that no one would be foolish to reuse a tarnished Edsel model name.
In any case, this is advice that GM probably should have heeded, as the Chevy Citation would go on to become arguably one of GM’s deadliest sins, with poor quality, many recalls, and rear brakes that could famously lock up early, causing the car to lose control. As much as anything, the Chevy Citation was responsible for driving buyers by the millions into the arms of Honda, Toyota, and Nissan.
Cessna Citation
As an aside, while the Citation name may have been affixed to two of the largest automotive flops of all time, the Cessna Citation series of private jets is the world’s most successful series of business jets, with over 7,000 produced since 1972, and is still being produced today.
Pacer
I’m starting to sense a pattern here. The Pacer was one of the two junior Ford-based Edsel models introduced in the lineup in 1958.
While Edsel would drop the Pacer for 1959, the Pacer name would go on to be (in)famously reused by American Motors in 1975 for their revolutionary new-ish compact car. There were some interesting modern touches (such as the rain gutter-less, airplane style doors), an isolated front subframe suspension and one of the first uses of rack and pinion steering in an American car. The passenger door was also four inches longer than the driver’s door to ease ingress, a proto Hyundai Veloster, if you will. The diminutive engine compartment was originally intended to house a compact rotary engine being jointly developed with GM, which would have been revolutionary, had GM not killed it.
Alas, all this was not enough to save the Pacer. While the elevator pitch was noble (big compact car with small car economy), the reality was closer to the opposite: The space of a small car with the fuel economy of a large car. And let’s not forget that the styling, while daring, was way out of step with the Brougham era into which the Pacer launched.
Ranger
The Ranger was the other Ford-based junior Edsel model launched in 1958. Ranger (along with Villager) was the only Edsel name to be used on all three model years of Edsel, up to the bitter end in 1960.
Unlike the Citation and Pacer names above, Ford decided to reuse this name itself. Initially, Ranger was the name of a fancy option package for the F-100 pickup, introduced in 1965 (just a scant 5 years after Edsel closed up shop, giving it the shortest “rest” period for any Edsel name). The Ranger included such niceties as bucket seats, carpeting, and an available center console).
The rehabilitation of the Ranger name continued with the introduction of the fifth-generation F-100 in 1967, with Ranger officially becoming the top level trim line. In 1970, a Ranger XLT trim was added above the Ranger model. The Ranger brand extension continued into the 1970s, with an even higher Ranger Lariat trim being added in 1978. In 1982, the Ranger name was yanked from Ford’s full-sized truck to be used on the compact Ranger pickup (A truck that seems to have never gotten a full CC treatment). Introduced in 1982 as a 1983 model, the Ranger name was used for several iterations before being retired in 2012.
A new mid-sized pickup bearing the Ranger name was introduced by Ford in 2019, giving Ranger the longest and most successful second life of any of the Edsel model names.
Villager
Villager was the name applied to the lower trim four-door Edsel wagon. Fun fact: The Edsel Villager was originally intended to be called the Edsel Caravan, a name that obviously went on to great success with as a Dodge minivan.
The Villager name would go on to be used by Mercury’s version of the joint-venture Nissan/Ford VX54 minivan, produced in Avon Lake, Ohio from 1993 to 2002. While not an outright failure like the Citation or Pacer reincarnations, the Mercury Villager was never a strong seller, despite benefitting from a powertrain lifted from a Maxima, ads featuring Jill Wagner, and a curious naval-themed Nautica trim. The biggest knocks against the Mercury Villager was the high price relative to its smallish size, non-removable third-row seats, and for being late in implementing dual sliding doors.
Roundup
We now enter the realm of what I call the “Edsel names in waiting.” These are the Edsel model names that have not been reused and are still waiting to find their forever home.
The 1958-only Roundup was Edsel’s two-door wagon (recall that the modern four-door wagon was just starting to become a thing in the late 1950’s) and served as their entry-level wagon. With only 963 sold, the Roundup also represents the rarest Edsel model.
Given that the Roundup name is now closely associated with herbicide, I consider Roundup to be the Edsel name least likely to ever get a second life on another car.
Bermuda
Bermuda was the top-of-the-line Edsel wagon in 1958. The Bermuda and Roundup were both dropped in 1959, leaving the Villager as the sole wagon in Edsel’s lineup for 1959 and 1960.
While Willys briefly used the Bermuda name in 1955 for the hardtop version of their Aero sedan, the Bermuda name has never been applied to another vehicle since Edsel, which is a shame because it is a great name. Bermuda is rich in imagery, conjuring up pictures of tropical islands, loud plaid shorts, and plane eating triangles.
Edsel
Lastly, what about the Edsel name itself? I quick search of the USPTO web site reveals that for other than a few specialized uses, most of the Edsel trademarks have lapsed. This technically means that anyone could conceivably use the Edsel name on their own vehicle in the future. However, the reality is that after 60 years, Edsel is still synonymous with “failure” even among people with even no automotive knowledge. Indeed, other than a few obscure rock bands, I was unable to find any non-automotive uses of the the Edsel name, that’s how badly Ford damaged this name. We are unlikely to ever see this name affixed to another automobile.
Villager name got used even earlier as a trim package on Montego/Cougar wagons during the 1970s(I think starting with the 1972s)
Good point – I had forgotten about the 1970’s Mercury Villager wagons (although as you mentioned they were just trim packages and not true model names).
Yes, the Villager seems to have been affixed to Mercury’s smaller-than-full-size wagons beginning with the Comet in 1960.
I didn’t know that! Interesting and fitting Villager got repurposed that freshly off the heels of Edsel onto a Comet that was originally meant to be an Edsel.
Villager even had its own brochure in 1962 http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/mercury/62mcv/62mcv.html
Interesting – I have been thinking about this ever since I bought an Edsel Pacer model kit in 1999 and researched the Edsel brand. The Corsair name was of course used on a fighter plane (the Vought A-7, which was used in the US Navy and Air Force) and on a Ford car in England in the 1960s which was bigger than an Escort, but slightly smaller than the Cortina.
Dave, the Corsair was bigger than the contemporary Cortina. With a T-Bird front end and some nice interior appointments, it sat between the Mk1/2 Cortinas and the Z-cars. Tended not to get the engines it deserved, but to some extent it was Ford’s counter to the Triumph and Rover 2000s.
Thanks, I never realized that the Corsair was a bigger car.
The Ford Corsair was basically a stretched Mk.1 Cortina (+ 3″ w.b., + 8.5″ overall), sharing much of the unseen engineering under a new skin. It appeared in 1963 and ran to 1970, so was the first re-use of the name on a car, albeit three thousand odd miles away.
Friends in Aussie had one but with an inline 4 not the V4 they drove it all over the country last seen in Donnybrook WA, in fact I got a ride into Bunbury in it when our Datsun refused to start so it was abandonned and i came back from town in a mitsubishi Galant Sigma.
It is curious how Edsel model names lived on.
With the exception of Colony Park all wood grain Mercury Wagon adapted Villager name from 1962-1984, including Comet 1962-1967, Montego 1970-1976, Bobcat 1975-1980, Cougar 1977 + 1982, Zephyr 1978-1981, & Lynx 1981-1984.
Ford used Corsair (a popular Matchbox car, too) in England from 1963-1970 and in Australia from 1989-1992 as a badge engineered Nissan Bluebird variant.
The A7 naval attack/fighter was actually named Corsair II. The first Corsair warplane was the famous World War II fighter used by the US Navy and Marine Corps. It predated the Edsel Corsair by about fifteen years.
Corsair will be a Lincoln model come 2020 replacing the MKX.
https://www.lincoln.com/luxury-crossovers/corsair/2020/
The MKX has become the Nautilus, while the Corsair is the replacement for the MKC.
A fun read. Those Mercury-bodied Citations and Corsairs were never common at all, even by Edsel standards.
And was there ever a faster drop from four models to two to one?
Packard? DeSoto?
(although Packard actually added a second model in 1958)
Given the times, if the Pacer DID arrive with a rotary engine, given the designs dirty exhaust emissions, and it’s undying love for fuel, It probably might have been a one or two year footnote in automotive history. At least the piston engine allowed it a few years of life, not that it did AMC any favors.
I’m having thoughts of a turbo 13B in a Pacer.
I think there was a not-obscure band called the Edsels that had a hit in the early 1960s
I was surprised to see Ford highlights the Edsel failure on its online historical timeline. No mention of the Pinto though…
Neat topic. I’m surprised that Bermuda hasn’t been used since the Edsel; I agree with you that it’s a great name.
Incidentally, at the same time Edsels were produced, Motorola made radios named both Ranger and Corsair — below is a Motorola Corsair ad from 1958:
Bermuda has been used in automotive color names a whole bunch from the 30s through the 2000s. I remembered Bermuda Brown from the 64 Studebakers, but there has also been a Bermuda version of tan, cream, turquoise, and coral from various manufacturers and a Bermuda Blue offered by almost every company at one time or another.
And now I’d like to see a follow up article on Studebaker names that have been reused. Of course Daytona and Land Cruiser immediately come to mind. And the Jeep Commander which I almost forgot about. I can’t see Dictator ever getting reused, though.
Really, this could be a whole series.
I doubt Scotsman will ever be reused either – that sort of stereotyping not looked well upon in modern times. Although somebody Scottish I read about on one of the online car sites (maybe this one?) when learning about the Studebaker Scotsman thought it was hilarious and was like “whats wrong – was ‘Tightarse’ already taken?”
President later became a JDM Nissan.
Yes, I was already considering turning this into a series by doing a followup on Studebaker, Desoto, etc. As a writer, this was a fun post to research and write, and I’m glad people enjoyed reading it.
I’ve always though “Citation” was a terrible name for a car. With respect to driving, a citation is a traffic violation notice. Who wants to think of that when buying or driving a car? I can’t believe it was used *twice*.
I wonder if, say, General Motors has bothered to renew names like “Vega” or “Cimarron”, or did they let them lapse figuring they sullied those appellations so badly that nobody in their right mind would want to reuse them anyway….
Trademark renewal requires use. You can’t register a mark and idle it perpetually.
With that said, Ford had better get busy designing a new Thunderbird. ;o)
Well, the name is being used elsewhere. It was a favorite among some contributor here back in the ’90s. Tastes certainly change.
https://www.tbirdwine.com
Wow, Jason… an actual Cabernet Sauvignon and a Big Zinfandel!
Talk about using an Edsel name on a (presumably) decent wine.
I seem to remember Thunderbird as being a wine you drank out of a paper bag back in the day, well that, and Mad Dog 20/20*, provided you were a bum, or a couple of kids sneaking the ‘wine’ into the movie theater (not that I would know anything about that of course ;o).
(* Mogen David for you non Baltimoreans).
Mad Dog 20/20 was what is was called in the PNW too.
They’ll probably do a “Thunderbird-inspired crossover”
Which is is why US Airways had regional subsidiaries called Piedmont and Pacific Southwest Airlines — to maintain the trademarks so no other airline could use them.
It’s an interesting point. There are also a very small number of Standard gas stations around (operated by Chevon) to keep that trademark alive.
However, off the top of my head, I can’t think of any automotive examples of a name being used in a similar fashion to keep a trademark alive. Surely there have been some obscure trim packages or special editions or something along those lines used to keep a trademark alive?
Jeep occasionally trots out “Willys” or “Overland” trim packages
Prior to the Edsel, the Henry J offered a 6-cylinder deluxe model marketed as the Corsair.
And before that was the 1938 Phantom Corsair!
chrysler OZ recycled the Pacer badge in the late 60s for their performance models of the Valiant, they also used the Ranger badge on lower end sedans and wagons in the early 70s,
AMC jumped on the bandwagon rather late
VJ Ranger XL.
Sorry, my picture didn’t come through. Let’s try again.
Caution, pedant alert here,
there was no XL on the Ranger model for the VJ, Chrysler was already scaling back on the number of different models available due to the VH not living up to expectations.
Charger XL continued however.
My car had Ranger XL on the right front fender not on the left but since they were different colours they might not have originally been on a VJ, RF was green LF brown, main body shell was yellow, it could have been a repaired VH for all I know never did get the paperwork or the promised RWC. It was a cheap dunger from a less than reputable car dealer in Shepparton $1200 cash and the Valiant for a problematic HQ van that ‘looked’ nice.
I had a metallic green VH 265 manual Ranger XL, a rather crude device, but tough as, and hard to kill, until it was rear ended by an XD Falcon, but it still got me home, the poor XD wasn’t going any where.
No, he’s right. Todd Motors New Zealand developed their own VJ Ranger XL and Regal for the NZ market as the Aussie changes didn’t suit Kiwi wallets and dealerships.
Thanks Alistair, that makes sense for Valiants in NZ as they had a more prestigious place in the market.
I have read that Todd motors assembled Valiants had better build quality than what us Aussies got and some NZ made content as well.
Love that 4 headlight VH in your pic.
GM marketed Ranger branded cars in South Africa and parts of Europe in the late ’60s and ’70s.
Exactly. They were posh Opel here in the Netherlands.
Whenever I hear Ranger I think of these. My father almost bought one but it had a suspension failure when he test drove it (second hand car).
Also built and sold in Switzerland. Note GM Suisse logo on driver’s side of grill.
Great subject. ‘Edsel’ is one of those more obscure names like ‘Guinevere’ that just doesn’t seem to have caught on. I’m waiting for some hiphop act to appropriate it.
When I saw the name Bermuda the first think that popped into my head was Bermuda grass. But that might just be because it was juxtaposed with Round Up.
This particular Edsel was born before the car. And he was quite a success (as well as the brother to one of my parishioners when I was a pastor in North Dakota). https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pvnews/obituary.aspx?n=edsel-delano-dunford-ed&pid=118678073
That got me curious about how many kids are/were named Edsel, so I looked it up. According to the US Social Security Administration, 14 baby boys named Edsel were born in 2018.
I don’t know where Edsel Ford’s name originated from, but when he was born in the 1890s, the name was virtually unheard of. After he became president of Ford Motor Co in 1919, parents began naming their kids Edsel – if not directly after Mr. Ford, then just because the name seemed dignified and associated with an important person. A few hundred baby Edsels were born in the US annually during the 1920s & 1930s, when your acquaintance was born. The name started falling out of favor by the 1950s, however, and by 1957 (the year before the car debuted), that number had fallen into the 50s.
But in most years since then, between 10 and 30 Edsels have been born each year. Go figure!
Edsel is an Anglo variation on the Germanic name Etzel, which means noble. Etzel itself is a variation of Atilla, sharing a similar meaning. No surprise there it’s become rare.
Do not ask me how abstract and throughly German my last name is, thanks to my father’s side of family lineage. I will only state it starts with an I. Yes, an I.
My paternal side has names that challenge the amount of syllables words legitimately can possess.
Here’s a chart from SSA showing just what Eric703 described. Edsel as a name for boys had fallen down to almost nothing before the car came out.
the Edsel wagon has arrow turn signals that indicate the opposite direction of the intended turn
remarkable feature probably never to duplicated again
The Nissan Puke comes close.
Another fun tangent is all the whimsical names suggested for the Edsel-to-be by Marianne Moore. The only one I know to be used for any vehicle was “Chaparral”; I doubt I’ll live to see a “Utopian Turtletop,” alas: http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/utopian-turtletop.html
Well, Diamante was picked up a few decades later by Mitsubishi, too.
I think another suggestion among Ford executives was “Drof” — Ford spelled backwards. No wonder they settled on “Edsel.”
Ms Moore also suggested Civique, which with a slight tweak went on to much greater success
Was this woman serious? “The Intelligent Whale”? “Thunderblender”?
These are names you’d expect Mad magazine to make up.
I wonder how much she was paid. And she won a Pulitzer? CLOWN WORLD!
No car called “Utopian Turtletop”, but there is a raised-roof van converter called Turtle Top (which started out just two years after Edsels were discontinued). Moore also suggested “Dearborn Diamante” – the last half became a Mitsubishi. No “Aeroterre” from Ford or anyone else yet, but Aerostar comes close.
Applying a man’s first name to be a car brand nameplate made no sense at all. One would think the Fords would have shied away from that idea after watching the stupidity of the ‘Henry J’ If the Fords wished to honor their late father by some means, investing properly in Lincoln to keep it the absolutely finest in subdued, tasteful designs and high quality would have been far more appropriate. Likely none them knew how much Lincoln was a refuge for their father from their tyrant grandfather.
Dino.
A man’s first name used for a brand even after there was an association with a Purple Dinosaur seen daily riding in an open bottomed, foot pedaled cartoon car.
Automotive Industrialists, like real estate developers, have a propensity to name things after their kids…
You could rearrange the script on the back of a new Ford EDGE SEL model you would have an EDSEL.
Ranger certainly lives on here attached to the Thai developed pickup shared by Ford and Mazda the BT50/Ford Ranger, they sell like beer at a football game, nothing special to drive as such but they sure are popular especially with fleets.
Nice to re-read this one, and all the comments. I learned plenty!
I’ve often discovered this in reverse–of a previous use of a recent or current car name. There’s the “Ford Transit” of our day preceded by the 1930s-40s bus I learned about not long ago.
Appropos of nothing, I just now found a 1970s article noting that the 9/4/57 release of the Edsel was also Henry Ford II’s 40th birthday–was that played up in the press at the time?
BTW, I still recommend the Gayle Warnock books about the genesis of the Edsel. They’re easy-to-read volumes without the obligatory snark of, say, Jalopnik.
Henry Ford Museum photo: Rotunda, Christmas 1957
The poor Edsel. Virtually every decision Ford made about it was wrong, with the worst simply being the styling. That gaping horsehoe maw really falls into the ‘what were they thinking?’ category.
I can only surmise that the Ford stylists were trying for some sort of old-school, Packard-style luxury vibe. It might have worked, too, if the end result didn’t look so much like just a big, damn hole, like what a human being would look like if someone cut off their nose. The later, much toned down versions came off a lot better, but, by then, it was too late.
It would have had a more classic look without the “horse collar”.
Or just something normal totally without the vertical grille.
Thanks, Mike. I was hoping someone would do a photoshop of an Edsel without the horse collar. Even with all of Ford’s other marketing foibles, the Edsel might have had a chance with a cleaned-up front end.
Even keeping the big hole in the middle might not have been so bad if it had a more cohesive shape and/or size, like an oval or a rectangle with smoothed corners, then filled with some sort of grille with horizontal or vertical bars.
But the odd horse collar shape and size just kills it.
Beside the previously mentioned Cessna Citation and Vought Corsair, Brewster Aeronautical produced a WWII dive bomber called Bermuda. It was a notable failure. Piper also made a Pacer which was fairly successful with over 10,000 built.
The US Navy has had no less than eight USS Rangers.
No offense to the residents of Bermuda, but the name has no positive connotations to me. Ugly shorts, annoying grass/weed, and a place where planes or ships disappear. I’m not surprised it hasn’t been revived. At least Citation sounds nicely sibilant, and a non-traffic citation can be a positive thing to receive.
RMA Amphi Ranger
Name least likely to be reused: Dictator (Studebaker), although it’s better than Utopian Turtletop and Mongoose Civique.
I was walking on the street today and saw a Citation logo several feet long, on very shiny new vehicle. It was a Thor RV, Sprinter-based. I just checked the Thor website (they claim to be the largest RV manufacturer, with many brands including Airstream) and they not only use Citation, from Ford/Chevy, but also Omni and Challenger, from Dodge, and Gemini, from Isuzu.