As we often say here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, there may be no better way to sell cars than with a lively song-and-dance routine. Here’s a musical pitch for the 1959 Edsel.

By October 28, 1958 when the 1959 models were launched, it was already clear to the Ford Motor Company brass that the Edsel boat was sinking. Sales for the first year fell pitifully below the original target of 200,000 cars when only 63,110 were delivered, a third of the volume projected. Among all the other troubles for the Edsel division, a severe recession arrived just as the ’58 Edsel was introduced (E-Day, September 4, 1957) and sales in the Motor City’s mid-priced class were hit especially hard. Between ’57 and ’58, model-year sales at Pontiac tumbled 35 percent. Those who say the newborn Edsel brand was doomed from the start have a pretty good point.

In a desperate move to right-size the Edsel division, or maybe in recognition that the end was in sight, the ’59 product line was slashed from two platforms (Ford, Mercury) and four models to a single platform (Ford) and two models, Ranger and Corsair. (See our feature on the elaborate ’58 Edsel product line here.) Meanwhile, the Edsel assembly plants were reduced from six in number to a single factory in Louisville to align with the disappointing lack of demand. Exterior styling was toned down as well. The all-new sheet metal was still Edsel-esque, but less outlandish than the polarizing 1958 look.

So if there’s a sense of urgency or even desperation in the dealer presentation we’re sharing here, that would certainly be understandable. Here, a catchy tune and snappy dance moves are employed to motivate the sales force to get out there and “sell the car!” (“Even call up the White House!”) We have to wonder what the lonely salesmen in Edsel dealerships across the country were thinking as they viewed this musical production. Video below.