What If: Ford never cancelled Edsel?
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
- Welcome to What If cars! In this series we are going to make alternative universe cars, based on my own fantasies or your request!
In this episode, what if the American Edsel car brand was still alive? You know, the brand that only lasted three years but was cancelled by Ford becasue of various reasons, including it's weird design with vertical grill? What would their cars throughout history look like? And would they still use the vertical grill?
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Enjoy! 
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Ah yes, the Bugatti Crown Victoria
"From horsecollar to horsepower" 😅
I thought that when I saw the thumbnail too!
Lmao this got me.
I thought the same like how come Bugatti is worshipped but Edsel isn't with that grill line?
@@imrytebeehyneu Alfa Romeo too
I like these because they actually look quite realistic and not over the top
And some even look quite good!
I liked Ed's variations of the vertical grille. Had Edsel continued, some sort of central grille workout would likely have been a design signature, like BMW's twin kidney grilles. (Even the 1960 Edsel had some emphasis on the front center, with the "points" of the side grilles coming together in the middle.)
Thanks! Like I mentioned its hard to find a middle ground between 'Haha ugly car with big grill is funny' and ' yes this is likely, but boring' but I think it worked out in the end
@@EdsAutoReviews The 70s personal luxury car is the best of the four IMO. It looks better than many actual cars of the era. One minor nitpick is that it would certainly have had whitewalls standard. It fits the design language of the era quite well. The other three look really good as well.
*Rips up my panties* Yes it’s so trueeee, daddy ed. 💕
I can imagine a badge engineered Thunderbird with an Edsel grille showing up in the early 2000s retro wave. What a tragedy of a car that would’ve been
Naw
Please don't!
yessssssss.
Now we need a "What If Chrysler Never Cancelled DeSoto." Just imagine all the additional Mopar muscle cars we may have gotten!
They could've gotten at least another decade out of DeSoto as a compact/midsize-only brand upscale of the Plymouth and Dodge offerings, alongside the "no jr. editions" policy for the Chrysler brand.
I think DeSoto Cordoba is much nicer sounding than Chrysler Cordoba.
And I'm the only sadomasochist lunatic who would like to see a modern Saturn, Geo, Oakland, Viking, Marquette and LaSalle?
DeSoto basically was Chrysler's "answer" to GM's Oldsmobile. Given what success Olds had with the Cutlass in the 1970's a DeSoto Cordoba would have been a huge hit for Ma MoPar!@@bigheadfred
Since LaSalle was a bridge between Buick and Cadillac, I can see more modern LaSalles as more "Cadillaicish" versions of the Buick Regal.@@jonny-nava-367
The Macco seems to be a cross between a Mustang and a Capri, with a touch of Celica of the time
I always thought the styling of the 70's Celica had a baby Mustang look and looked much better than the Mustang II.
@@captlazer5509 I honestly thought it was a badge engineered Toyota Celica, until Ed described it.
"Macco" doesn't exist. "Mako" is a species of shark, but GM has the copyright on that name, or did back then.
Where did you get Macco from? Mako Shark? Chevy used that name on a 60's Corvette concept. See 1963 Vette for what made it to production.
"Maaco" (note spelling) is the name of a cut-rate chain of body shops in the US
@@Flies2FLL see 4:34 of the video, says "Macco"
Edsel is truly a "what if" car.
no its more a "why? car"
The irony is is that Ford actually used the Corsair name for the replacement of the Lincoln MKC crossover in 2020!
...and Ranger on tons of pickups since Edsel bit the dust. Pacer and Citation became better known, but no less reviled, on AMC and Chevy cars respectively...
@@stevetournay6103 that’s right, the Ford Ranger is a very popular midsize pickup (it used to be compact, but that mantle has been taken over by the new Maverick)
@@digitalrailroaderbought a 2000 Ranger last year. My first truck and I’m loving it.
Villager was also the name of Mercury's minivan in the 90s or early 2000s. I believe it was a badge-engineered Nissan.
Do you mean rebadged Ford edge
Ed actually did cross over into a parallel timeline and brought us his findings.
I’d get the Edsel Citation in a heartbeat. A little bit nicer than a Crown Vic but not nearly as much as a Grand Marquis. Edsel at that point would just be Ford’s Oldsmobile. Near premium to near luxury cars. And that Villager looks nice too! If only Mercury made a Expedition or Bronco.
3:34 "And now the Mako, a fish" You're the best Ed! You not only got the design right, you absolutely nailed the marketing!
too bad it showed a whale which is a mammal.
Yes, it's simply a pot-whale.
@@XA351GTthat’s the joke
What If AMC Eagle or just amc survived to the 90s and 2000s?
I could see Hornets, Gremlins and Pacers being reintroduced for a younger generation at the time. I'm sure they would have sold a lot of them.
It did, in a sense...Jeep, which AMC acquired from Willys in the 60s...
@@arthuridisThe Hornet name has in fact reappeared, on a new Dodge SUV...
@@stevetournay6103 OH BOY...I wonder how much that will cost.
Eagle did, it's rebadged Mitsubishis.
Man this was incredible. This series definitely needs to continue 😂
Yes Ed, I have always wondered what the Edsels would look like if they were continued. I figured Ford would have corrected the looks and eventually made a success out of the Edsel
Going with the "what could have been " scenario, how about featuring what if Studebaker had not ended in 1966? I think it would be interesting to see maybe a 2023 Studebaker Champion, for example.
Stude should have stayed in trucks, actually...but their corporate board was hellbent on exiting the car business as early as 1957...by the mid 60s there was zero chance of Stude surviving as a carmaker.
An aside, I've got a '64 Daytona sedan with just 37k miles since new...spent 1974 through 2021 garaged...I'm the first one ever to take the car to a show!
That'd be awesome
If it had continued as a Canadian import. Or better yet, the proposed merger between Hudson, Nash, Packard, and Studebaker went through.
I love the premise of this series! I think it would be cool if you made what if scenarios for some of the captive import brands like Merkur, Geo, and Eagle.
Don't forget Daewoo. 😅
Sorry Sam, too boring from the get-go. You might as well include GM's Geo line while you're at it.
I like your Edsel-Alfa-BMW-Romeo.
Best part of a Sunday
New Ed's Auto Review upload
That was a fun "What-if" timeline reconstruction! You should continue this to other defunct auto makers, both NA and European. I look forward to seeing what you bring in the future!
What if Tucker didn't fail?
Imagine a rear-engined mid-to-upper class American sedan in the 1970s.
You somehow figured out how to make the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator look slightly less ugly.
As the 199th viewer, and after watching your What Happened to Edsel video, I've come to my own conclusion, which I think is very true:
In the last century, car makers used to have many brands to cover the widest range of buyers possible. GM had Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac. FoMoCo had Ford, Edsel, Mercury and Lincoln. Chrysler Corporation had Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler.
Because quality always matters rather than quantity, automakers decided to defunct marques that fall between the most practical marque and the luxurious top-of-the-line marque, hence the discontinuation of Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Edsel, Mercury (although it was affected by the financial crisis of 2008) and DeSoto.
Nowadays, they offer various trim levels of each car model, which is way easier and less costly since it is not a whole car marque that will add the costs of designing models from scratch, r&d, etc.
To answer your question, I think Edsel would've faced the same exact fate of Mercury, if not worse (which had already happened upon canceling it).
I’m sure the absence of Plymouth was an oversight. And at one time Ford has two luxury divisions… Lincoln and Continental. Happy Holidays! 🎄
@@Primus54 Oh shoot my bad! Thanks for correcting me
@@AJay0404 Lol… No worries. Cheers!
Finally, love me some Edsel
The 1960 Comet was originally going to be an Edsel model, but when Ford Motor Company made the decision to discontinue the Edsel marque for 1960, Comet became a standalone car until it officially became a Mercury model for 1962.
Some nicely balanced choices there. I like them despite loathing malaise era cars and SUVs from a technical aspect.
It's great to see Ed use Automation, my most favorite game of all time.
I loved the Edsel personally. You have done a great job with it Ed.
I'm kind of surprised how the Mercury models you mentioned look (in retrospect) like they could have been Edsels themselves. The grill on the Mercury Cougar had what looks like a de-emphasized Edsel vertical grill. Similarly, the "square thing" on the grill of that 70's Mercury has the same "Edselness" to it. Then there's the grill on 2000s Mercury Grand Marquis, which is really just a WIIIDE Edsel grill. Ok, I'm now convinced that Mercurys were just stealth Edsels
With one small caveat. 5:46 I don't see that grill covered by the bumper. I think Edsel would sooner utilize the design like 6:54. The problem is that consumers didn't like that horse collar/toilet seat. People made fun of it. If Edsel were to actually survive, engineers would probably abandon this negatively associated detail. For example. Even in Poland, designers at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s knew that they could no longer produce the "Syrena" car with suicide doors. That was the main distinguishing feature of this vehicle, someone designed it this way in the 1950s, but for people in the late 1960s it was already a pain in the ass and they had to change it. To sum up, Edsels from the 1970s to 2000 would probably no longer have a vertical grill. The factory would rather avoid negative associations with its product.
Excellent Ed. You put a lot of thought and effort into this video. You thought this out and shared the past design cues influenced the designs. You are right about how it would have been in the same position as Mercury. You can see the Thunderbird and Crown Victoria and Milan in the models. The 1960's sports coupe look more Mercury/Ford Capri than Mustang. You are right they would be crossovers and suv's today. I applaud your efforts and explaining the models. Thank you.
Ed - Great video! I love your “What if” series, and your attention to design detail. Here’s an idea for a future “What if” series: What if Tucker had remained in business. Tucker over the decades, culminating in a 2024 Tucker SUV EV? Imagine what their innovative features would be like over the past 70+ years!
This is a great idea!
That last SUV with a slightly toned down tail light treatment looks totally saleable. Great job, Ed!
You did a great job modeling what a modern Edsel would look like! I'm sure they would look exactly like these, and I'm sure if the brand existed in current times, it would be like Caddilac. They still exist, they're there, but no one hears anything about them anymore.
If you are interested in rwd GM sedans unfortunately the only real option is Caddilac ct5-v etc. Which don't come to Australia.
I feel like Edsel would be like Oldsmobile, and Buick.
I normally don't like retro designs being adapted into modern design, I like your take on the "What if" Edsel designs. I love how the vertical grill is being adapted in every car despite the ugly look on the late 50s Edsel (Which in my opinion was because it was too big). It reminds me of the opposite approach where the BMWs from the 2000s where the kidney grills are small yet tastifully done opposed to the grills they have today. My personal favorite is the Macco.
One thing I will say is that your rear wheels need to be offset more (Ie close to the edge of the fender). You can go to wheel and tire section and there should be a part where you can adjust the offset of the wheels. Other than that, great work.
I really like this video and how you stepped up to the challenge with a design as difficult as the Edsel. BMW has managed to keep it's kidney grill design relevant since the 1960's but working with two ovals is much easier, in my opinion, than a narrow vertical "horse collar". Thanks!
The Corsair look similar to the Ford LTD of the same period. BTW, Great design study you did. I like very much your videos! Wish you the Best for 2024! And, many videos to come for us!
Suggestion. What if they kept the tail fin / wing look of the late 50s?
What if they kept the "Longer, Lower, Wider" theme of the late 50s?
What if they kept the Fast-back look of the late 40s and never grew trunks?
What if they kept the Chrome look of 1958?
What if they evolved the 1968 Corvette look into sedans and Station wagons?
What if they evolved the Mustang into the sedans and Station wagons and this became the main seller for Ford due to the good looks and performance instead of the big boats that took place?
What if gasoline remained really cheap?
What if gasoline because really expensive just after WWII?
What if the alll glass look like the 56 Crown Victoria took off as the theme up to present?
What if cars became Driverless way back in the 1950s?
No Edsel E-100 pickup? Nice segment, enjoyed this.
Now that would've been awesome
Neat idea...
this is one of the BEST automotive what ifs I've ever seen. I was always curious how certain car manufacturers that have went out of business years ago would look like today if they were still around. this is the most realistic approach I've seen for Ford's Edsel brand. Great job!
I could watch this type of content all day ❤
Thank you and please do more ☺️
Interesting take on the Edsel after '60.
Oddly enough, the horse collar grill of the original was inspired by
(copied, stolen?)
the Packard Predictor concept car which appeared on the auto show circuit in 1956.
I'd love to see a "what if" of Packard AND Studebaker someday.
Thanks for all the great content and Happy Holidays 🎉 to you and yours...
At the time of the K-car intro, Canadian former Studebaker exec Stu Chapman tried to interest Chrysler Canada in a revival of the Studebaker brand. Sketches were done of the K-car with '66 Stude style grille and also of the Cordoba/Mirada in Gran Turismo Hawk guise. Both really looked quite good, especially the K-car (given that it rather resembled the square-cut 64-66 Stude already)...
@@stevetournay6103 Fascinating! Anything more pix and info about this online?
Love the possibilities in Automation! Might try my hand at some of these "what-if" cars
Originally, Edsel was supposed to be a super premium brand above Lincoln to compete with Caddilac an Imperial, not a lower brand below Mercury or lincoln. Edsel shared very little with other Ford marques. What if Edsel continued as a super premium marque and competed with Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz?
You have certainly done your homework in design. Please do more.
Okay Ed, "What if AMC/Jeep was bought by Ford instead of Chrysler?"
Looking at the thumbnail, its fortunate they didn't......
I've done something similar to this idea, with the two cars I made being the 2009 Edsel Comet, which was really just a badge-engineered Ford Fusion, and the 2002 Edsel Io, which was based on the US market Ford Escort. I'm honestly pleased with how both cars turned out, though the Comet seriously looks like a Fusion with a split grille from the front, and the Io came out looking like it should belong more to Pontiac than Ford. I also decided to go with a space theming for Edsel model names, so I made the Comet and Io (after the moon of Jupiter) as well as the unfinished Antares (after the rocket) and Apollo (after the moon mission).
3:35 - I see what you did there, very funny. Great episode, the subtle humour is just perfect. Thanks, Ed, for another 15 mins very well spent!
Excellent presentation, Ed. I was 14 when the Edsel debuted-at the pinnacle of my car-guy years. We didn’t think much of the Ford styling of that day. Chevy was starting their Impala era. Every year, the Impalas were the car of choice for a young car aficionado. But I do like some of your designs.
BTW, does that Villager come in a metallic red?
It's Ford, so it comes in Rapid Red Metallic, but because it's Edsel, they have a different name for it, even though it's the same paint code number.
BMW: Hold my kidneys...
Ed, you did a great job and really thought this out. Love it.
This is a fantastic episode I really like this format.
Great series.
To me the Edsel vairant of the Mustang would be the Edsel Coyote
But the Coyotes would never be able to catch the Plymouth Road Runners.
@@rotehaus Right, also The Edsel vairant to the Fairlane and Torino would be the Edsel Hurricane.
@@rotehausbeep beep...
Edsel Coyote. Phonetically I quite like that...
@@stevetournay6103 Agreed
I was skeptical at the start, but you impressed me a lot as you went on! The little touches are very accurate and I could see these car being produced. Unless the brand was very strong though, I think it would've gone the way of the dodo and Mercury.
Well done! Definitely carry this series on!!!
Thank you Ed for the fun Christmas gift. Blessing to you and looking forward to more car fun and history in 2024.
Fascinating Ed! And great presentation and explanations. I look forward to more!
What I find most sad is that to celebrate the 65th anniversary and summarize the pinnacle of a car maker knolwledge, instead of a state of the art sporty sedan or a blazing fast coupe, we have 5 and half meter long van. Not your fault, is today's market that I cannot understand anymore. I'd buy and Iveco Daily minibus instead, it is bigger, has up to 22 seats, may be it is even lighter, tons of torque from a 3.0L turbo diesel and has rear wheel drive! 😂😂
good to see that you've been putting more hours of work into Automation Ed, these designs are really good and improve a LOT over the last episode! keep it up
The Edsel was ahead of its time with features not used in any other vehicle for a while. The thing was it was new technology and that needed more time to be worked on.
Good stuff! The SUV looks so contemporary
To be honest Ed you kinda failed at making the the Mako an ugly car. You actually designed a very nice-looking car. I think it would have sold quite well.
That would be nice if Ford never cancelled Edsel. What if Edsel started making very unique designs just like Oldsmobile does, and with the vertical grille, but in different ways. The Edsel brand would give the Ford Company more flavor, and the buyers more options, instead of basic Fords. I like all of your designs, especially the green one, since I love Ford Crown Victorias.
As a former Edsel owner (I inherited our '59 Villager from my parents) I found this really interesting and well done. Some comments, though. 1) Edsel is pronounced with a softer "s" sound. Your pronunciation comes across more like "Edzel." 2) The shark species is spelled with only one "c" and is pronounced with a long "a", i.e., "May-ko." If you've added the double "c" for copyright reasons, then your pronunciation is correct. 3) Your logo "E" is too square. The real thing had tapered prongs (or whatever you call the horizontal bars on an "E") and a non-straight vertical bar.
All in all, very imaginative and entertaining!
Merci beaucoup pour cet excellent travail bravo 👍👏 ... À propos de calandres verticales :
La calandre du nouveau SUV d'Alfa Roméo nommé Milano me fait penser à la calandre initiale de cette sacrée Ford Edsel 😅😅
Ed, this is the best Christmas present I received this year! Brilliant!!! Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Great music choices and fun designs! I really enjoyed this.
I think you did a marvelous job of interpretations a what if. And seriously your designs aren’t far off from what is available today. Great job Ed. I wish I knew when you were coming to Chicago. Would have liked to meet you.
This is a great presentation Ed. Edsel could have marketed the British Ford Cortina that was also sold in America in the late sixties and early seventies. Plus the 1960 Mercury Comet was originally supposed to be an Edsel Comet.
One bright spot for Ford about the Edsel fiasco was that the extra production capacity they were aiming for came in handy with the hot-selling Falcon compact (and, later, the Falcon's hot-selling Mustang derivative)...
I just found your channel and I love it! Keep up the great work!
GASP!! I'll have Edsel nightmares tonight for sure!
Ed, well done by the way.
Maybe it's not a coincidence that Billy Joel in 1989 sings in his hit song "We Didn't Start the Fire": "Edsel is a no-go!" 😀
Yep. Studebaker gets a mention in that song too, but in a neutral light and in the "1950" stanza of the song. 1950 was Stude's largest production year, with over 300,000 cars (and trucks) built.
I do want to add Ed, that you have done a fantastic job reimagining the Edsel. I can see style lines in your renderings that you did not even mention.
Here's a suggestion: What if the oil crisis never happened - what would modern day offerings from the big three look like, if they never had to worry about fuel economy, emissions, or competition from foreign manufacturers?
Would the entire malaise era just not happen, or would it have been inevitable due to other changes in the market?
The front grille of the 2005 Citation makes the car look like a Daewoo, but I think it does well incorporating the vertical grille without making it too obvious.
Awesome video as always Ed
Done well!! I could see how these could exist. Merry Christmas!
Ed, I think you have Edsel Mania. Great vid!
I love the fact that you used SimCity 2013 music when showing off the edsels
Entirely plausible and an interesting take on what could have been
I applaud your work
I think you did a great job interpreting the Edsel through time and style changes.
Happy Christmas
This may very well be your best work yet Ed! As a "Lincoln Man" I know I would have bought these designs. Excellent all around!
I'd like to see a what-if scenario where Ford had kept the Thunderbird as a 2-seater Corvette competitor from 1958 to the present.
Diggin the citation, great work
A great video, super interesting. Ed, your creativity in this was great, loved how you integrated real history, like the '08 financial crash. A nice look at an alternate Ford motor company.
I enjoyed this episode a lot. I think your interpretations of the Edsel theme were very plausible. If you should do an episode on alternative reality EV's of the near future, let's see what Edsel EV's would look like. Maybe 1 of these future EV's would have some pickup truck or ute vibe in the design.
Ed, your videos are always the best. your well thought out designs followed the trend to make different brands under one big company use mostly the same parts albeit with a few design changes. The one change I thought you could have incorporated to make another Edsel trademark look would have been to give all the cars diagonal headlights like you put on one of the later models - just to really differentiate Edsels from the other two Ford brands. thanks - lots of fun. looking forward to the next one. (btw, Axe and Ax are both pronounced aks.)
Nice new concept Ed. More EARs!
Happy Christmas from Australia!
Great video, Ed and happy holidays
Some say the 1961 Mercury Comet was originally designed as an Edsel. This would have taken Edsel in a new direction, and made it a compact car which was the hot selling fashion of the early sixties.
What a grin !
Expert hindsight / foresight and absolutely spot on.
👊😎
Your video skills have come so far, keep up the great work my friend!
I had a marketing professor who'd worked for GM in the late 60's. He said that one of Ford's problems with Edsel is that their corporate geniuses decided that neither Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealers could sell Edsels out of their existing dealerships. All Edsels had to be sold from a separate store and many of their dealerships ended up being sidelines for gas stations. Yeah, Edsels looked clunky in 1958 but so did Fords, Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, Mercurys and Buicks that model year.
Amazing video Ed, Merry Christmas if you celebrate it. I love edsels and even have an edsel ornament on my wall above my desk. I thought the ending verdict was quite plausible, and found the video enjoyable. Here's my question, and suggestion for the next video: What if modern model names were introduced earlier than IRL? Such as the 1966 Ford Explorer?
Es you did a great job. Great Car Designs 😎👍
Oh man. I'm a huge fan of how you did those. Especially the newer two look pretty damn believable. Brilliant!
as an automation content creator this makes me very happy
ily Ed
We need a “What if Mercury never got discontinued in 2011”? Good job on the video, I dug the Edsel Citation, it looks great.
Okay, calling the giant SUV a 'villager' is a genius level joke. Bravo, sir.
Great job. Fascinating.
You’re getting good at automation, love to see it Ed
MERRY CHRISTMAS to you Ed, and your family.
🎄🎄🎄
Hopefully someone high up at Ford will see this video and implement your ideas and bring the Edsel name back. I am liking what your showing
You flexed your design-muscles VERY well. Thank you for these very-impressive creations!