The ill-starred Edsel remained in production for only three years, but one of its most popular models, the Pacer, lasted just a single season.
The 1958 Edsel was introduced to the American public with a blizzard of promotional campaigns, and in a flurry of available models, too. (We’ve explored that issue here.) While buyers were probably confused and overwhelmed by all the choices, we can boil them down thusly: There were two distinct product lines, essentially, one built on the big 124-in wheelbase Mercury chassis with two trim levels, the Corsair and the flagship Citation. And there were two slightly smaller cars based on the 118-in Ford chassis. These junior Edsels, the base Ranger and the fancier Pacer, actually made up the bulk of Edsel’s sales in 1958.
Both the Ranger and Pacer were powered by a 361 cubic inch FE-series V8 with 303 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque, hence the name E-400 on the valve covers. Overall, their mechanical hardware was virtually identical. Where the Pacer differed was in its snazzier interior appointments and exterior trim. Unlike the Ranger, The Pacer sported a chrome accent molding that stretched across the front fender and nearly across the front door. It’s the easiest way to tell the two Edsel models apart.
That’s not to say the Pacer was loaded with features in base form. Like all Edsels, it featured the trademark floating drum speedometer. But at introduction, the floor was covered with a rubber mat rather than a carpet. A month later, carpeting was made an extra-cost option, then in January of ’58 it became standard. Power steering, power brakes, and power windows were all extra-cost options.
The Teletouch shift control in the steering wheel hub, an Edsel signature feature, also came at extra cost in the Pacer. A 3-speed manual transmission was standard, while an automatic transmission with a conventional column shift lever added $217.45. The Teletouch automatic listed at $231.40, 14 bucks more. With its inevitable new-product bugs, Teletouch helped the Edsel develop a reputation as a lemon—unfairly, one could argue.
The Pacer also added one additional body style over the Ranger, a convertible, while subtracting another, the two-door sedan. A four-door post sedan and pillarless hardtops with two or four doors filled out the lineup. With pricing in the $2,700-$3,000 range, the Pacer landed in direct competition with the Ford Fairlane 500, and there were similar conflicts throughout the Edsel product line. While Edsel was positioned between Ford and Mercury in the Ford Motor Company’s price ladder, or so it was said, that space didn’t really exist. There was already price overlap between Ford and Mercury before the Edsel was introduced.
For a whole list of reasons, it’s fair to say, the Edsel failed to sell anywhere close to the 200,000 cars projected for ’58, as total volume amounted to around 63,000 cars. Of those, almost two-thirds were the Ford-based junior models, Ranger and Pacer. So when the Edsel line was reduced to two models for ’59, the big Mercury-based cars were thrown overboard. The Ranger remained, but its Ford-based companion was now named the Corsair. Despite being the second-best selling Edsel in 1958, the Pacer was no more.
My favorite Edsel. I like the Ford roofline much more than the Mercury style on the Corsair and Citation.
I’ve never forgotten my first automotive heartthrob, in highschool 1965 – a ’58 Edsel, specifically a baby blue with white inset Pacer convertible that I could have had for $195 with a poor top, cracked windshield and bad exhaust from a Gypsy fortuneteller on DuPont Circle in Washington DC. My father nixed the deal when he saw the big V8 under the hood. After that it was a ’51 Packard for me.
I’ve always thought that the Pacers had the cleanest lines with just the right amount of trim, too. And with all the design details suggestive of a comet, like especially the rear quarter but also elsewhere if you look, I’ve often wondered if the likely top contender for a name wasn’t Comet. Especially since that surfaced as a little Mercury later on.
Otherwise, don’t you mean that Tele-touch was available for more $ with the Ranger? (Also, FWIW, long ago I also saw a stick 6-cyl Ranger 2dr, too.)
And of course, the original planned name for the Comet was . . . . Edsel.
Edsel Comet, make and model. Even if it was to have been the only Edsel after 1960. Wisely, Ford chose to cut their losses on the Edsel name and give the Comet a fresh start.
It’s widely known, or at least it was at one time, that there was a great quandry at FoMoCo over what to call the new car. They solicited suggestions, one of which famously was Utopian Turtletop. Edsel supposedly emerged at the last minute.
Also, Ford was about to embrace astronomic names – the first Galaxie was ’59, and then there were the Comet and Meteor, so this must all have been in the air before the Edsel was launched.
Of course the name Pacer appeared again on AMC’s “wide car,” with the same sales results.
Actually the AMC Pacer was a hot seller for a year or so, until everyone who wanted one had one.
I would never have guessed they introduced the “upmarket” Pacer with rubber mats on the floor. The nuggets we get from this site!
Maybe somebody at FoMoCo was paying attention, since standard carpeting was supposedly such a big plus for the Mustang.
But…”pacer” spelled backward is “recap”, and when driving down a highway, and seeing recaps peel off of 18 wheelers, it doesn’t inspire confidence. Seriously, I always thought it unfortunate that the talented and often marginalized Edsel Ford’s name was placed on the car that became an object of ridicule by many. Hardly a tribute to the man who had many great ideas, and died too young. The Edsel wasn’t necessarily a bad car, but it was unneeded in the market at that time. Too bad.