Why did Ford kill the Edsel so quickly ?

[19704X4F250]

I like looking at the junkyard photos. An Edsel doing the 1/4 in 11.32 @116 MPH without nitrous!! That is real good for a big car.

[Ds7776]

It had problems cuz it was made on the same lines as other ford and mercury cars so workers would accidentally forget to put parts on. Plus their was something inside that seemed to be a collectible to the employees who built it. Ditto on the push button transmission shifter in the steering wheel. I would love to pull a 361 out of the 58 model. 400 lbs ft torque oofta, and put it in 4wd and race it our street stock class.

[mercman86]

I would love to have a '59 or a '60 Ranger. The '60s are rarer than rare!

[jimandmandy]

At the time one of the comments of the styling was that it looked like an Oldsmobile sucking on a lemon.

The reality is that the timing stunk. The country was going into a deep recession and other car brands were dying at the same time, Studebaker and DeSoto for example. I never understood why the "Big Three" needed several mid-price brands anyway, Buick, Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge, Edsel, Mercury, Oldsmobile and Pontiac? I think Edsel was supposed to compete with Dodge and Oldsmobile as more of a performance and technical innovation than luxury brand, while Mercury would be the more conservative "almost luxury", like Buick or Chrysler. Conservative Buick was the best seller in that class, even outselling low-priced Plymouth, so Ford marketing made a huge mistake with the wild Edsel styling.

Jim