Vintage Snapshots: Remembering Edsels In The 1950s & 1960s

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– Posted on September 4, 2025

Text by Patrick Bell.

Today is the 68th anniversary of Edsel Introduction Day, or E-Day.  It was a highly publicized event that attracted a lot of attention, but not very many sales.  Science fiction was popular and the jet age was taking off, and the product just did not live up to what the public’s hyped expectations were.  And that was just the beginning.  We have a good selection of images from the first two years of the Edsel’s short life, so take yourself back to 1957 and see what you think.

Our first one was a new ’58 Pacer 2 door hardtop with an Illinois dealer license plate. The Pacer was third in the four series lineup for the inaugural year, and this 2 door hardtop was the most popular Pacer, and the second most popular Edsel. The gentleman was likely a dealership employee, if not the dealer himself.

This top of the line ’58 Citation convertible was one of 930 built, and had the distinction of being the heaviest and most expensive model of all three years of Edsel production.  It was registered in Wayne County, Michigan, the home of Detroit.  The standard (and only) powerplant for the Citation and Corsair lines was the 410 cubic inch V8 with 345 horsepower.

The boys were having fun with their homemade scooter with a red wagon front axle, and parked across the street was a clean ’54 Plymouth Savoy Club Sedan.

And another Citation convertible, this one looks like it was parked on the used car lot of an Edsel dealer, where you could buy one for $58 a month. There was also a convertible model in the Pacer series, which along with Ranger series, was on a six inch shorter wheelbase, and featured the 361 cubic inch V8 for power.  The Pacer convertible had a base price that was $773 less, and over twice as many were produced.

The other units on the lot were from the left a ’56 Chrysler New Yorker, ’56 Ford Tudor Sedan, ’57 Chrysler 4 door hardtop, and a ’55 or ’56 Mercury 2 door hardtop.

A ’58 Ranger or Pacer with a ’59 issue Texas license plate was visiting Glacier National Park in Montana in the summer of ’59.  A previous view of this particular image was covered HERE. :

Modern Edsel Sales was a name that seemed redundant; if you sold Edsel’s you had to be modern.  It was located in San Fernando, California, and was highlighting the towing capabilities of a ’58 Bermuda wagon.  I can’t tell if this was a 6 or 9 passenger model, but neither one was very popular. Total sales of the two were 2,235.  A wagon in 6 and 9 passenger versions was also available in the lower priced Villager model, where total sales were somewhat better at 3,272.  In the background was a white Corsair or Citation 4 door hardtop.

Here was a new looking ’58 Ranger 2 door hardtop that was sharp in black and copper.  It was from the bottom rung series, which of course meant it was among the lowest priced.  It appears to have a ’58 issue Ohio license plate, and was in the driveway of a good sized farmhouse.

It’s probably a safe bet that the “Racine Tavern” was located in Racine, Wisconsin.  It offered Package Goods, which meant you could get your order to go.  Out front was a ’59 Ranger 4 door sedan.  For ’59 the available number of series was trimmed to two; Citation and Ranger.  And the Ranger was now available with a six cylinder.  This one looked close to new and was parked real close to a well used ’46-’48 Dodge sedan.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol had at least one ’58 Ranger 4 door sedan patrol unit in their fleet, as seen in this photo from ’58 that was taken in the town of Port Gibson.  It was likely a good road car.  The pickup in the left lower corner looks like a ’53-’55 Ford, behind the officer was a ’57 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan, and across the street a ’49 Chevrolet Styleline Special 4 door sedan.  For some more Edsel’s in police service see HERE.

A warm winter or early spring day is a good time to get the clean car out of the garage and go for a ride.  This ’59 Ranger 4 door hardtop was at least three years old in this photo as the narrow whitewall tires weren’t widely available until about 1962.  It looked in good condition and perhaps was a fair weather car.

Here were two gentlemen checking out something in the right front wheel area of a ’59 Villager wagon from Iowa.  It was registered in Dallas County, which is just west of Des Moines.  The Villager was the only wagon in the ’59 line, and was available in 6 or 9 passenger models.

A young man was posing on the hood of a ’59 Villager wagon from California.  And the location was also California on a sunny day.

Now we have a trio of ladies sitting on the hood of a ’58 Ranger or Pacer 4 door sedan with a missing center grille inner ring.  I’m thinking they were stuck.  That tail end was sitting low in the water, and the front tires looked like they were in the soft mud.  But, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Our final image today was shot in 1971, and a forlorn ’58 Pacer convertible was in the foreground.  Yet it was very representative of the era.  Cars from the late fifties were then pushing 15 years old, and what was left of them were tired and had little to no value.  Plus they weren’t well loved to begin with.  The same applied to the ’56 Dodge 2 door Lancer hardtop next to it.  And the baby blue ’57 Plymouth Suburban, and the beige ’58 Oldsmobile Holiday Coupe further back.  Fun and attractive new cars were still in production at that time, and every new year they got a little better. So there wasn’t any good reason to save the obsolete and worn out ones.  We are a nation that thrives on consumption.  And we do it very well.

Thanks for joining us and to all good day!

 

More Vintage Photos Here