Edsel was a short-lived automobile brand produced by Ford Motor Company for the 1958 through 1960 model years. The marque was named after Edsel Ford, the son of company founder Henry Ford, and was introduced on “E Day,” September 4, 1957, as Ford’s attempt to capture the mid-price market. The brand became synonymous with commercial failure, but its visual identity, particularly the distinctive vertical grille and circular “E” emblem, remains a notable artifact of 1950s American automotive design.
Design and History
The Edsel’s most famous design element was its vertical “horse collar” grille. Chief designer Roy Brown originally envisioned a thin, almost fragile opening in the center of the front end, but engineers feared engine cooling problems and vetoed the design. Ford executive Ernest Breech then insisted on making the grille wider and taller, which led to the “horse collar” appearance that the public immediately began deriding. Time magazine quipped that the grille looked like “an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon.” [1]
Brown, who was hired at Ford in 1953 after working at General Motors, designed the Edsel’s overall concept, which included rear lights shaped like boomerangs and two-toned, scalloped sides. When company President Henry Ford II saw what Brown and his team had created, he stood up and applauded. [2]
The 1958 Edsel displayed the “Edsel” name vertically within the horse collar-shaped radiator grille. [3] The 1959 models received a revised, smaller vertical grille incorporated into a horizontal grille, with a green badge built into the top-center of the grille. The 1960 models used a horizontal grille with an hour-glass shaped centerpiece, again featuring the green badge built into the top of the hour-glass. [4]
Ford canceled production of the Edsel in 1960, having sunk more than $250 million into the project. [2]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Edsel’s circular “E” emblem featured a capitalized letter “E” in white on a green background, set within a circle. [5] The green badge, found on the 1958 Citation trim and the 1959-1960 grilles, is affectionately known in Edsel circles as “the Pickle.” [4]
The 1958 Edsel also featured a stand-up hood ornament sporting a decorative “E,” a motif that recalled the Boyce Moto-Meter days of the Teens and Twenties. [6]
Typography and Design
The Edsel wordmark used a stylized script lettering that appeared on the cars’ grilles, sides, and rear decks. The 1958 models displayed “EDSEL” identification prominently and vertically on the grille, on the side scallop, and across the rear deck above the trunk. [4] The brand’s identity also included a stylized “E” in a custom font type, set within the circular green badge. [5]
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