Post-War Fords - Edsel

Few cars have ever been introduced with as much hype and excitement as the Edsel. It brought in huge crowds to kick its tires, but failed to find many buyers.

Ford Motor Company of Canada made a wise decision by having existing Ford dealers handle the Edsel. In hindsight, it was much better than setting up an entirely new dealer network as was done stateside.

Edsels were built at Ford's Oakville assembly plant, along with Fords, Meteors, Mercurys, and Monarchs. That broad a mix must have caused some production headaches, but they were lessened some by the limited number of Edsel models. Just the smaller and lower priced Ranger and Pacer sedans and hardtops were made here. Convertibles, station wagons, and the larger luxury Corsair and Citation models had to be imported from the U.S.

Some economies of production were achieved by cutting down on the colours of some components. For instance, steering wheels and columns were white on all Canadian-built Edsels.

For 1959, Ranger and Corsair sedans and hardtops continued to be built here. At the end of that model run Edsel production ended in Canada. A very few 1960 Edsels were imported. Even the 1960 Edsel catalogs were imported rather than printed here.

In the preceding section, it was explained that the Monarch, omitted for 1958, was brought back for 1959. Its sales that year were double those of the Edsel, confirming that Ford Motor Company of Canada had been travelling down the right road.