It was an Edsel-type day. Much like the story of Edsel, this particular day had held so much promise, was something that had been eagerly awaited, yet it turned out to be vastly different than initially intended. Finding this Edsel by mid-afternoon was so symbolic, so appropriate.
It was a wonderful treat.
While I’ve never elaborated about where I work or what I do for pay during the day (it’s rather irrelevant for this venue), let’s just say I’m never truly and entirely off the clock. Some days simply require my attention despite not physically being at work, something to which Editor Jim Klein can attest. He got to overhear a conversation or two about various goings-on while traveling to the CC Meetup in Detroit two years ago. The good folks in Human Resources are perhaps my biggest ally and cohorts.
From 1993; it isn’t nearly as bad in 2019
This particular day certainly fell into the needing to be available category, despite technically being on vacation leave so I could spend the day with my daughter while the wife was out of town. It was a noxious cocktail of a continually rising Missouri River that was creating the fourth highest crest ever for this area combined with the aftermath of a stout tornado that recently hit Jefferson City, showing its abilities within a mile of my house. For a county that previously had only four confirmed tornados since 1959, none of which were very strong, this tornado was an EF-3 that hit one of the more densely populated areas of town.
The tornado announced its destructive arrival in the state capital by landing on the Chevrolet / Toyota dealer. Well over ninety percent of their nine hundred plus unit inventory was damaged or destroyed. On the premises, and also damaged, was a 1967 Corvette and a Checker Aerobus.
It also heavily damaged over 500 buildings in town – or maybe more. I’ve lost track.
Multiple apartment buildings took direct hits before the tornado worked its way to the Missouri River on the north end of town and finally dissipated. The debris cloud rose to an altitude of 13,000 feet during the height of the storm. I’ve talked to people living fifteen miles away whose property was showered with insulation and other tornado related debris.
It’s a miracle only one person died as a direct result of the damage. The initial reports of apartment buildings taking direct hits generates nothing but concern.
But we are supposed to be talking about our featured Edsel aren’t we? Well, the day of the tornados certainly didn’t turn out as planned; the only real bragging rights is having simultaneous natural disasters. How often does that happen? Might coining a new word, Edsel-esque, be appropriate? Nothing was turning out as planned or anticipated.
For whatever reasons, Edsels have been popping up in my life lately. Nothing tremendous, but just enough. It does seem fitting given a number of other things have not panned out quite as intended. That statement is not a pessimism filled rant, it’s simply an observation. Life if full of things that don’t go as planned, which is quite reflective of the Edsel itself.
The Edsel emergence started with stumbling upon a B-movie from 1975 starring Cloris Leachman and titled Crazy Mama. Set in 1958, Leachman’s character is traveling with her mother and recently impregnated daughter, along with an assortment of other eccentric people, from Southern California to her hometown of Jerusalem, Arkansas. Her landlord had evicted her from her beauty parlor and she, along with the entourage, are now on a cross-country crime spree.
imcdb.org
As an aside, it was hilarious to see Jim Backus, the voice of Mr. Magoo and the man who played Thurston Howell III on Gilligan’s Island, yell and call Leachman’s character a “crazy bitch.”
Perhaps he later went home and had an Old Fashioned with Lovey.
imcdb.org
In the movie Backus drove this Cadillac Eldorado that Leachman’s character promptly steals.
imcdb.org
As another aside, I had never realized Leachman had as good a figure as she did. Wikipedia says she was 49 years old and had birthed five children when this movie was made.
imcdb.org
Anyway, this group’s ongoing crime spree included the theft of many different vehicles for use as getaway cars in their various heists. One of these cars was a 1960 Edsel Ranger.
It’s pretty amazing how Leachman’s gang was able to find a worn 1960 Edsel at a time that is supposed to be 1958. No doubt this major league error wasn’t a planned outcome, as the Edsel was simply a cheap old sedan procured by some unknowledgeable person on the crew. They likely figured it could be used for a getaway car….
imcdb.org
And then recycled into a police car toward the end of the movie.
The Edsel seems fitting for use in this movie. Leachman’s character does not have the outcome in Jerusalem that she had intended. Where she had hoped to purchase the old family homestead with her stolen money, she finds herself fleeing the constabulary after a shoot-out at a wedding reception.
But I’m talking about the wrong year of Edsel. I need to focus on 1959.
Edsel sightings are weird. While there were more 1958 models produced, it seems these are rarely seen. If they are seen it tends to be in a museum. The ’60 is so rare it’s almost tartare; I’ve seen all of one in the wild in my entire life and I immediately knew that was a serendipitous event.
The 1959 Edsel is the Edsel that seems to be the most frequently found. I know of a few other ’59 Edsels parked in various places, awaiting that fateful “some day” when they are resurrected. The 1959 Edsel also seems like it’s the one mostly likely to be used as intended instead of being pampered.
From hemmings.com
Case in point on usage is this 1959 Edsel Ranger recently featured in Hemmings’ daily newsletter. It’s called the Kozy Traveler Kar Kamper – for me the misspellings don’t generate a lot of confidence in the manufacturer.
From hemmings.com
The intention was to remove the trunk lid of the host vehicle and use the trunk floor as the base of the camper unit. It was then supported by brackets mounted to the gutters of the car. The ad in Hemmings says the camper is 1968 vintage. A search for the Kozy Traveler Kar Kamper shows a identically named company founded in Goodland, Kansas, in 1965 that is now defunct.
While the trajectory of the Kozy camper appears comparable to that of the Edsel, there are other things that likely didn’t turn out as intended. At least for this poor Edsel.
This unfortunate beast of burden is powered by a straight-six mated to a two-speed automatic. With the gearing and aerodynamics of this rig, it undoubtedly takes the phrase of “leisure travel” to a new dimension.
One thousand words in and there’s still precious little mention of our featured Edsel. Did I intend it that way or did I not?
Finding this particular Edsel was fortuitous. As stated earlier I had taken the day off to be with my daughter while my wife was out of town. Sure, my offspring is old enough to stay at home alone but children have that awful habit of growing up. These opportunities are rapidly dwindling.
We had gone to get some ice cream at a local establishment, a place that vastly exceeds that 32 Flavor place in variety and quality while greatly undercutting them on price. How about a pint of ice cream in a waffle cone for $3? See for yourself.
Going there is a sort of tradition; we took the child there for breakfast on her tenth birthday. So after eating entirely too much on this most recent visit (my sugar consumption is going to haunt me one of these days) we left this 1940s era establishment. Deciding upon an adventure to avoid the traffic being detoured by the store due to the flooding, we ventured up the steep hill of an alley.
Getting to the top, there she sat. If you look at these pictures, you can tell it wasn’t alone.
My daughter and I both realized finding this Edsel was a reward sandwiched amongst a huge pile of a profession’s crap. Dealing with a growing natural disaster, and the aftermath of a second, plus interviews with three different television reporters will drink a lot of time on a person’s day off. Thankfully my daughter is understanding of it all and we have already discussed another attempt at our day. There will no doubt be more ice cream involved.
This all leads up to the conclusion of this narrative. Sure, the Edsel saga did not unfold as Ford had planned. But might the Edsel have been as memorable otherwise? Good also comes from bad, as the Edsel created production capacity Ford quickly put to good use with the Falcon.
Finding this Edsel came about from the frustrations of a day not going as planned, with outcomes that some could consider failure. But it isn’t. It was simply a reminder that things happen for a reason, one can salvage good things from bad if they think about it, and a person needs to realize the joys of the moment. Had I been distracted, this Edsel would still be awaiting its moment of international recognition.
The Edsel was truly a reward in which we both equally enjoyed the discovery.
Found June 5, 2019, Jefferson City, Missouri
More Edsel related reading:
1959 Edsel Ecoboost by PN
1960 Edsel Ranger by PN
Cloris Leachman was actually a beauty pageant contestant back in the day.
Yes, she actually landed in the top 16 in the 1946 Miss America pageant, and used her scholarship winnings to study acting in New York with Elia Kazan.
Most people who saw her in Young Frankenstein, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Phyllis think of her as a comedienne, but I’ve always been impressed with her dramatic acting abilities like her performance in The Last Picture Show (for which she won an Oscar), and of course one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, the disturbing “It’s a Good Life.”
Exactly Cloris is an excellent actress. I give her lots of credit for sticking with her real name too instead of adopting some stage name.
Prior to watching Crazy Mama, I had found a movie from about 2012 or 2013 that featured Leachman. It was an independent movie called “This Is Happening” in which her character’s grandchildren are attempting to get her character moved into an assisted living facility.
You are correct as she has a very broad range of abilities.
There’s a follow-up episode of It’s A Good Life made in 2003 with Cloris Leachman and Billy Mumy. It’s YouTube able.
Yes, I’ve seen it. Equally disturbing, but not quite as good as the original.
Another literary masterpiece, Mr Shafer. I can picture you in Alistair Cooke’s chair writing this.
I learned much here, since my Cloris Leachman film experience comes only from Herbie Goes Bananas, so I watched the trailer for Crazy Mama. Having attained a certain age myself I too can appreciate a 49 year old woman with a great figure.
I have a bit of a soft spot for 1959 Edsel. During my university career I would often go for extended walks instead of studying, looking for old cars in alleys near the school. There was a black 1959 Edsel in very rough shape I checked on occasionally. 30+ years later it must be long gone.
What?! And not a word about the McCormick-Deering tractor? Later known as International, as in Harvester…
Well it’s a 10-20 hybrid. Hybrid by having rubber on the front axle and steelies on the rear! It was a sharp tractor.
De-fanged steelies at that!
You make a great point about how the 59 is the one year of Edsel that seems to be most commonly seen despite the 58’s far greater production figures.
I recall coming across a couple of different Edsels, both 59s. Both were original low mile cars, one for sale at Auburn maybe 25 years ago, a peach-color strippo with a 3 speed and more recently a nice green sedan found in the parking lot for folks attending a car show. I took several pictures but have never gotten around to writing it up. If I do I will have to figure out what to say about it, as you and PN seem to have covered these pretty well.
And I will add a hearty +1 on your local ice cream establishment (and on how quickly children grow up). By all means, share as many ice cream cones with your daughter as you can.
Good point. I’ll try to get an ice cream night in with my daughter before she heads off to be a camp counselor all summer
Oh, and speaking of Edsels in the media, I can never look at one in this color (admittedly not a common occurrence) without remembering the episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in which Rob Petrie witnessed a robbery and saw someone driving away in a red Edsel. The car became a bit of a running gag in the episode. When the driver turned out to be just a guy cheating on his wife, Rob said he felt sorry for the guy because he was stuck with a red Edsel.
You’re not wrong about being Mr. Get-It-Done while we were driving towards Detroit. I think someone even referred to you as “Governor” but I may have misheard that…Jason does more before 9am than most others do all day.
I do not believe that I have ever seen a red Edsel, it looks quite fetching in that color. I’m glad at least something good came of that day. Next time I’m in town I’ll have to partake in an ice cream cone as well, now I know where to go.
I like to get things done, what else can I say? 🙂
There were some really attractive colors and color combinations available on Edsels. Somewhere along the way I have seen a tri-tone Edsel (it was either a ’58 or ’59) but a quick scan at oldcarbrochures.com did not readily show any such availability.
’59 Edsel slogan: “Makes History by Making Sense”. So we live in a world where you can make history just by making sense.
I know this is cheating, but at the Ford event at Carlisle that my Dad and I attended on May 31, they had all the Edsels grouped together. It wasn’t that many, and definitely no 1960 models, but this one’s kinda rare….
…a Wagon!!!! I had never seen one.
Here’s a 3/4 view of the way-back….
Rick, you finally made a Carlisle show? How’d you enjoy it? When I was there last year it was the same, all the Edsels in one spot. There were about the same number of 58’s as ’59s last year. I don’t remember that wagon, she’s a beaut.
The show was great… I was actually looking for a seat for my Mustang, but the closest I found was dark gray not light gray.
Dad and I really enjoyed it, and I wanted to write it up, but I took too few pictures as Dad and I were kinda mesmerized by it all. It’s funny, but we apparently missed about a third of it. We looked past the Edsels and T-Birds and there were lots of trucks on the hill. Dad and I decided we had seen enough, since we aren’t truck guys.
Later looking at the site map, I saw we missed the Fox Body section that was over the hill! I would’ve like to have seen a Futura! Oh well. There were also Focuses over that hill too, but we were pretty satisfied with what we saw.
Since Dad and I are both “over the hill” ourselves (he 81 and me 59), we were done walking around anyway. BUT we logged like 6 total miles that day according to my FitBit!
One thing I was going to point out if I write it up… there were WAY TOO MANY MUSTANGS!!! And I LIKE Mustangs. But Dad and I were interested in other things. I think when you wrote up your trip, you said the same thing.
The Torino section was awesome, but there was only ONE ‘72. I was kinda bummed as that is my favorite as you well know.
There were 5 Starsky & Hutch tribute Torinos. Dad and I both commented on it saying, that’s almost as bad as all the Mustangs.
This was the first car we saw in the swap meet area…. Dad spotted it first. Ah, memories…. (Stop laughing JPC 😉)….
I am glad you enjoyed the show Rick! Last year there were lots of Torinos and lots or ’72s, but the Carlisle was showcasing Torino. I actually didn’t include all the ’72s when I did my write-up, just too keep the article from getting too long. From the Torino group I am with it didn’t sound like many were going this year and I guess based on your report that was true.
That ’73 Ford was their last year too. I think it was a 400 powered car IIRC? I agree way too many Mustangs and the show is huge. My dad is a bit younger than yours, but he had to take a few rests in the dining area while I ventured on my own.
Yep… 400-4V. Mine was a 351-2V. The cool thing is it was a non-Brougham with the same exact interior and vinyl top colour as mine. His was a darker goldish brown, while mine was gold.
The car next to it was a similar color and also his… a ‘70 XL…
All I will say is that almost any wheel treatment is an improvement over what was offered on these.
Yeah, I have to agree, JP.
I so wanted to put aftermarket wheels on my ‘73, but as a teenager with his first car, albeit a hand-me-down, I couldn’t afford that luxury. The wheelcovers I did have were the basic ones that came on these which, although full wheelcovers, were basically glorified dog dishes. Although I think the poor dog’s water would pour out all over the floor through those holes.
These look cheaper than mine did however, as I seem to recall that “FORD-FORD-FORD” was silkscreened in black, not plain like that.
The ’59 Edsel is underappreciated, stylistically. Its front end is highly advanced, as it (minus the horse collar) predicted essentially almost all American car front ends for years to come. Meaning the headlights were moved down low into the grille, which was very horizontal and wide. The leading edge above the grille had a shape that would be very widely seen.
GM’s ’59 cars also mostly brought the headlights down low (except Cadillac), but their front ends were much more flamboyant, and were quickly toned down for 1960.
If someone here were to PS the horse collar out of the ’59 Edsel front end, you’d be looking at just about every Ford and Mercury to come for some years, as well as a lot of post ’64 Mopars, AMC’s and plenty of GM cars.
And that’s just its front end. The rear end and roof structure are rather advanced for ’59 too. Although not as influential as the ’60 Corvair was in Europe, at least one European maker thought very highly of the ’59 Edsel:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/alfa-romeo-giulia-design-inspiration-discovered-and-vice-versa/
There is a lot of 1956 Packard Predictor in the 59 Edsel’s front end, much more so than in the 58. Take those side grilles and double their height and you are almost there.
I agree that there is a lot to like in these. Was this the only big FoMoCar from maybe 1955-61 that had not even a hint of a tailfin? The Falcon used some of the same ideas on that back end, only the lip at the back of the deck rolled around a round taillight instead of being flat a la 60 Impala.
I agree with you on the styling of the ’59. I have long preferred the ’59 over the ’58 specifically because of what I deemed as more advanced styling, in particular the front end. Without a doubt the entire package was the most advanced styling to come from Ford’s ’59 portfolio.
I too would like to see the PS version of the ’59 without the horse collar grille. I have often tried to picture it over the years and I agree that it would look substantially more modern than 1959, albeit probably a bit on the bland side.
Non-Galaxie 1959 Fords had the same roof as Edsels.
In that era, “mid-priced” cars with sixes always strike me as annoyingly pretentious. “Lookit me! I can afford an Oldsmobile (but only with a Six)”.
I’d like to believe that if I was a car buyer in that era, I would have selected a Ford or Chevy with a V-8 and a pile of options, rather than being the phony with an Edsel Six.
Always like an Edsel post on almost any site, and this does not disappoint.
Thanks Jason, and that looks like a great example of the breed. It’s interesting to note that to my European eyes, that car looks quite calmly styled for a 1959 American car, especially one that was trying to make an impression.
Not only is the ’59 Edsel better-looking than the ’59 Ford, to me it’s one of the handsomest cars of that year. Can’t help but wonder if, it had been the car they brought out in September of ’57, it could have made a difference in the division’s survival.
Another great article, Jason.
The CC Effect is real! From the Kenosha News Yesterday (Thursday 6/13):
In a land of Ramblers the man with an Edsel is king?
I’m seeing Edsels here in more numbers so somebodies supply must be dwindling, it appears a lot of younger people like them, only 60 years too late for Ford Motor Company.
Re: the picture of Ms Leachman driving the Eldo convert…..I had to really look to see what Jason was talking about – her good figure, etc. No problem at all, however, regarding the lady in the back seat…….
I can’t tell one year Edsel sedan from another, but by chance there are two within a mile of my house. Both are driven around, too. They’re original-looking and appear to be in decent shape.
An Edsel is sort of a metaphor for Gary, Indiana where I am. Old, worn, some ugly parts, a well-known failure but having good stuff within if you bother to look for it.
I went to a car show today, and happened to see this 1959 and 1960 Edsels parked next to each other. I’ve seen the ’60 before, since its owner takes it to a lot of local car shows, but seeing these two next to each other was a treat. At car shows, Edsels are usually lonely.