Swearingen Bros., Austin, TX.
Bob Nowlin Edsel, Topeka, KS.
England Edsel Inc., Harrisburg, PA.
Meyer Edsel Sales, Richmond, VA.
Edsel of Missoula, Missoula, MO.
Tom Terrel Edsel Inc., Ann Arbor MI.
Modern Edsel Sales, San Fernando, CA.
The Edsels of Model City Auto Sales, Kingsport, TN.
Bryant Edsel Inc., Ashland, KY.
Krieger Edsel, Columbus, OH.
Wigwam Edsel, Burlington, VT.
Fiore Edsel Sales, Altoona, PA.
The men of Tom Terrel Edsel Inc., Ann Arbor, MI.
Related CC reading: 1959 Edsel Corsair And A History of Edsel Dealers – A Different Perspective
How many horsepower does Fiore’s Edsels have?
Git a horse! (I was wondering, too.) Tom Merjanian
Is this maybe tied in with the infamous Edsel “win a pony” promotion? The Wagon Train poster at Tom Terrel was.
Dealers were stuck with the ponies for obvious reasons, at least according to author and Edsel pr guy Gayle Warnock.
Apparently one. And a small one at that.
Wigwam Edsel also sold the Borgward Isabella, which probably was also not a moneymaker. Today that location is the home of Perrywinkle’s Fine Jewelry.
Also one block west of Edmunds Middle School (then the location of Burlington High School) which makes me wonder how quickly youthful admiration of the gleaming new models turned to laughing at the flop car.
One can delve into this in great detail via the various Edsel groups on Facebook. Dealers either switched over from selling another brand, or went in anew—at considerable investment. There were lawsuits because Ford was reassuring dealers of long-term viability while internally discussing eliminating the brand—long before the public announcement in November (?) 1959.
Edsel sponsored “Wagon Train” on TV, and at one point participating dealers had give-away-a-pony sweepstakes (hence the photo). The devoted Edsel researchers know the names of hundreds of winners—and their ponies’ names–thanks to years of diligent effort.
Google Books has the proceedings for a dealer lawsuit (southern Illinois) that played out into 1964 or 1965…..successful longtime Mercury-Lincoln dealer was told by Ford (as per franchise agreement) to take on Edsel (a failing franchise nearby) or have his own L-M franchise bought out (and prices basically dictated by Ford). Lots of Ford internal documents there!
My hometown is here and I had to look it up. The scant hits included a lot of good info on Facebook that I’m copypasting here for posterity;
From Edsel Quarterly: Foreign car dealers Robert and Marilyn Shearer decided to go with Edsel in July 1957. They found a new facility and proudly opened on E-Day.
Their time with Edsel proved tumultuous and the dealership folded in nine months.
The Shearers sued Ford Motor Company for $35,000 in damages in May 1959. The case was considered a “test case” over the Edsel. The suit claimed Ford did not live up to the terms of its franchise agreement charging the cars were false represented, poor in quality and exhorbitantly priced. As of November 1959, Ford motioned for dismissal of the suit. The judge dismissed Ford Motor Company’s motions on two grounds and took a third under advisement. The case wound up being settled out of court for an undisclosed amount and until his dying day Shearer wouldn’t speak about the Edsel debacle.
From Burlington Area History, written by Bob Blanchard: This 1957 photo shows the Wigwam Motors Edsel dealership at 227 Main Street in Burlington. This new dealership opened with the introduction of the Edsel by Ford Motor Company. It was opened by Bob Shearer, who had left Shearer Chevrolet in 1954 after seven years to open Wigwam Motors on Williston Road as a Renault dealership. Three years later he used the Wigwam name again when he opened this Edsel dealership. Edsel of course was a famous flop, and became a punch line, the name synonymous with failure. So this version of Wigwam Motors was short lived. The building, which was across the street from Memorial Auditorium, is long gone.
227 Main Street was also a Nash dealership as well as a Chrysler dealer location. In an interesting bit of local trivia, the previous tenant of this building before Wigwam was Colonial Motors, a Chrysler dealer run by Tony Pomerleau. One of several ventures that he tried before he found his niche in real estate and insurance.
James Detore photo/UVM Special Collections.
Thanks. I was wondering how they felt, knowing that they were stuck with a loser. Hudson dealers after the merger must have felt the same way. The AMC dealer training films tried to keep up morale, showing them how to transfer loyalty to the Rambler without quite saying that the Hudson brand was all done.
Interesting recap of those Burlington dealers, ones I was not aware of. As one whose family has been in Vermont since 1760 (the Waits, for whom 2 towns and a river are named), I follow Bob B’s history site regularly, and in fact we’re at our summer camp in Mallets Bay right now.
The Shearers remain car dealers, having sold off Shearer Chevrolet a few years ago and buying the VW/Audi franchise from Lewis, located at what I recall was the former Val Preda Olds/Cad dealer building on Shelburne Rd.
I did not know Tony Pomerleau (RIP a couple years ago at 101?) had been a car dealer, though not surprised as he was into just about everything commercial around here
My departed Father bought 3 new cars while living up there (2 separate times)
He moved from Shelburne, Vt. to Austin, Tx. in 1982.
First was a ’65 F85 Wagon, he had to buy something as our sole car at the time, a ’63 Rambler was totalled in front of our motel in Catonsville, Md. after we’d just vacated our previous house before moving to Burlington…he bought it at Val Preda’s.
The second was a ’68 Renault R10. He bought it at Almartin Motors, which I remember was somewhere near the airport probably off Williston Rd…it wasn’t much of a place, more like a garage than a dealership. Maybe Wigwam became Almartin?
The last was a ’78 Caprice Classic wagon, bought at Shearer Chevrolet. Probably by today’s standard wouldn’t be a big deal but it was probably the car with the most optional equipment he ever ordered…and the only car he bought out of the showroom. He’d owned 2 Ford wagons before that, he looked at the new ’79 Ford wagon (Fall, 1978) and for some reason ended up getting the Chevrolet (his first of several, though he also owned 3 Mercury Sables in between and a Dodge 600).
I have an old advertising ashtray from Hinder Motors Mercury Edsel and Lincoln of Aberdeen MD. I quit smoking 26 years ago so it doesn’t get used anymore.
Huh, my Dad bought a ’57 Ford Country Sedan in Spring of 1958 from Hinder in Aberdeen…are they still around?? It would have been right during that Edsel era.
I remember when we picked it and while driving home to Towson hearing “Flying Purple People Eater” on the radio for the first time. So weird what sticks in one’s memory… good times! lol
I went to school with the grandson of Kreiger Edsel. They had a large Ford dealer in Columbus as well.
What an absolute joke. The Edsel answered questions no one asked! And the pony give away? Wow.
I’ve never ridden in one, but I can remember my dad telling me bits ands pieces.
I wonder if Paul Neidemeyer would have loved the Edsel less than the Galaxie/LTD cars he was shuffling around?!
Sometimes it is difficult to feel sorry for an automotive dealer, but the Edsel dealers made huge investments in building infrastructure, tools, employees and advertising only to have their products dropped by Ford after only 3 years. Lots of money was lost.
When Studebaker went under (half a decade after Edsel) several of their dealers switched and acquired franchises of this weird little car from Japan called “Toyota”. I wonder if some of these Edsel dealerships did anything similar.
Our local Studebaker dealer J.R. Munroe & Son, went to Datsun and was renamed Munroe Datsun by the Son and then Munroe Nissan by the grandson. The dealership shut down after the grandson retired in the early 2000’s.
I recall my grandfather considering a purchase of a 1st yr. Edsel.
In the end, he went for a 2nd hand ’57 Mercury.
4-yr. old Me spent countless hours pressing its transmission buttons, clicking the turn-signal stalk, and turning every knob I could see.
Whether selecting an Edsel or the Merc, it was an improvement over his old ’49 Star Chief ….. which went to my Mom until its utter collapse by 1961.
Anyone notice that every one of these Edsels is a 1958? A year later virtually nobody would have wanted to be caught dead with one! After all who wanted be seen with “an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon” as Jack Parr said, or even worse, the “car with a toilet seat grille” as it quickly became known!
What I see is an antique horse collar.
What did they sell in 62 after Edsel evaporated? Do any of those dealers survive today.
Hopefully they didn’t sign up for Studebaker. Actually a lot of the standalone dealers picked up foreign cars so let’s hope they made the right choice. I’m sure many of them went belly up however.
That foreboding, apocalyptic Eisenstein looking sky in the first photo seems to portend the sad fate that Edsel was heading to.
The Ann Arbor Edsel agent had an unhappy end.
https://aadl.org/aa_news_19571213_p19-thomas_terrell
Wonder what was happening in Mar 1959 that would prompt Swearingen Brothers to put on their front window “Must go by Mar”. Would you advertise that to your customers (particularly if you were an Edsel dealer?). Maybe Mar 1961 would have been more likely for Edsel.
I’ve lived off of Swearingen Rd in Austin Tx for 40 years now.