Car shows turn up unexpected gems; either something that was once common and is now not, was always rare everywhere but somehow one endures, or that look to have been beamed in from somewhere far, far away. In Ely, in eastern England, at the recent local club show, there were two FoMoCo products that came into that last category. Both were unusual sights at such a show, and unusual at any location or event in the UK. I won’t try to give you an oversight of these cars –Â the interest is that they were where they were; if you want more information on their histories, CC has many posts that will do just that, and better than I would.
In the blue corner, a 1959 Edsel Ranger with the 4.8 litre 292 cu in V8, imported to the UK in 2014, and recognised as a “FORD UNKNOWN” by the registration authorities.
The bulk gives you a clue; that famous and distinctive horse collar grille gives the game away at a distance.
An interior that says “1950s, confidence”
Aftermarket wheels, but the owner liked them so that’s OK.
Meanwhile, just a few yards away, a 1972 Ford Pinto sedan, recognised as such by the registration system as well. It came across the pond in 2019.
More aftermarket wheels, and a bespoke paint job?
The windows of this car were closed, as the owner was presumably enjoying a browse in Ely’s excellent independent bookshop, so I didn’t get any shots of the interior. Let’s just say that despite some Cortina genes, the interior practicality was seemingly not high on the “to do” list.
And a final thought – is the rear half of this shape an inspiration for the mid 1970s European Ford Granada Coupe?
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1959 Edsel Ranger – Unintended Positive Outcomes
QOTD: 1959 Edsel – How Did Ford Sell 40,000 Of These Things
Curbside Classic: 1971 Ford Pinto – 1971 Small Car Comparison No. 4
Car Show Classic: 1974 Ford Pinto Runabout – Little Boat
Car Show Classic: 1973 and 1974 Ford Pinto Squires – Still At Least Two Left…
The Pinto coupe had a uselessly small trunk. IIRC, you couldn’t stand up a gallon of milk in there. The Runabout was a much more useful vehicle.
The toned down 1959 Edsel was certainly a come down from the over-the-top 1958. Gone were the Tele-touch transmission buttons on the steering wheel, the dash tachometer, the rotating speedometer, the long wheelbase Corsair and Citations, the big 410 V-8. Even the horse collar grill was muted. Robert McNamara hated the Edsel from the start, and this was the first step in killing it off. Not really a bad car, but the wrong car at the wrong time.
I think if Edsel had this grill and the rest of the car was the same as ’58, it might have been a bit more successful. The worst feature to me of the ’58 wasn’t so much the horse collar grill as it was the “receding gums” look of the front end.
I find it nice to see a surviving Pinto anywhere .
-Nate
Just two weeks ago there was a very nice low mileage (<50,000) 71 Pinto sedan with the 2.0L engine and 4 speed for sale at just under $6K. Excellent interior and exterior. I was very tempted…
Two cars universally scorned as “turkeys”, but for different reasons.
The Edsel, because of its looks and “loser” image; the Pinto because it is a compromised, cynical, badly engineered piece of plastic junk best described as a “penalty box”.
So the Pinto’s problems are worse than the Edsel’s. I would pick an Edsel over a Pinto any day.
Not a fan of the wheels on this Edsel. Why buy an authentic, original car of the ’50s and then put modern, incorrect wheels on it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Those dopey low-profile tires must really hurt the ride. The aftermarket wheels on the Pinto look more like they belong, giving the car a sporty look. But it’s still a Pinto.
The older I get and the more I learn about the Pinto, it actually makes me angry now. It just could have been So Much Better if Ford had been willing to take design input from Ford UK and/or Ford of Germany. Seems they were just too arrogant to do so.
There were quite a few RWD subcompacts in the era that used the same length/wheelbase so much more efficiently in terms of usable interior space. But Ford executives didn’t want to know about it. Sometimes I think they made it deliberately awful so they could sell you a Maverick instead.
To be fair, it wasn’t worse than the Gremlin, but AMC had the excuse of being broke.
I just did a presentation on Iacocca (not the greatest or best, but informational anyway). It was a pissing match between Knudsen & Iacocca. Knudsen wanted to import or at least have Ford of Europe design a small car for the USA and bring it over for around $2400. Iacocca, not wanting to play 2nd to Knudsen, threw down the gauntlet, and said “I can have one designed and built here under 2000lbs, and under $2000”. And the die was cast.
Here’s my speech:
Thanks for sharing that – that’s a good presentation.
NIce juxtaposition with the old Austin Seven. The Edsel was trying to retro the vertical radiator of British classics, but even the cheapest British version did it better.
Total Pinto production = 3,173,491
Total Edsel production = 118,287
Why are we comparing these two? I suppose if you don’t remember either one of these cars when new, you’d only know them by their reputations. However, when either of these cars were new – they didn’t yet have much of any reputation. It is history and hindsight that does that, and in both cases, their reputations are rather unfair.
So lets start with the contemporary experience, OK? Edsel was a flop. Pinto was not. How common was it to have a lemony experience with an Edsel? Probably just a bit more possible than it was to have a lemony experience with a GM car, or a Chrysler product from the same year. Edsels were about as reliable as any other car those years.
How common was it to have a Pinto explode? Out of those 3,000,000 cars, your chances of having your Pinto explode was miniscule. Nobody wants a car that has even the remotest possibility of turning in a funeral pyre, no excuses. However, having a parent and family members working for Ford and driving quite a few Pintos, it wasn’t until we experienced probably 100,000 miles in these cars did we hear that some poor souls lost their lives in one. It was dramatic, but it was also extremely rare.
What is so great about Curbside is that we go beyond the simple tales and we try to respect each car if something respectable can be found. Having read enough about the Edsel here to understand that there were very good reasons to consider one in 1959, my respect for them has grown. Thanks to Curbside, I know a lot more about the Pinto than I knew as someone who rode in them for a decade or so. No – I wouldn’t want one anymore than I’d want a VW Beetle, which was another popular small car that I have spent years being uncomfortable in.
So, I’d like to say that dismissing either car is unfair.
1959 Edsel Ranger Six 4-Door Sedan – For $950 OBO You Can Own The Most Advanced Styled American 1959 Car
The custom wheels on the Edsel really detract from the car and lower its value significantly
I’d like to see more of that Volvo 240 next to the Edsel.
The Pinto was once an integral part of the American landscape. It was a good looking little car, and the early ones were a hoot to thrash about.I think VW did more than anyone to set Americans’ taste in small cars, especially in the near-universal belief that small cars should have only 2 doors.
The Edsel really only took on significance as they aged. When 50s kitsch got hot in the 1970s, the Edsel was ready for its close-up.