EDSEL

Ford Motor Co. (1958-1959)
Detroit, Michigan

This is an Edsel radiator emblem (1959)  mjs
Size: 126mm high 41mm wide    MM: None

The Edsel was named after Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, and was introduced for the 1958 season by Ford's Lincoln-Mercury Division to fill a gap between the Ford and Mercury lines (see Ford) and to try to secure additional market share from Chrysler and General Motors, but the project was not successful. 

The Edsel had a wrap-around windscreen and a choice of two sizes of V-8 engines. A distinctive feature of the Edsel was the curious, horse collar-shaped radiator grille. Sales were low and the project made a big loss, so the Edsel was quietly dropped in 1959.

Emblems

The first Edsel produced for the 1958 model year, displayed the "Edsel" name vertically within the horse collar-shaped radiator grille, see examples shown below:

Edsel car showing radiator grille emblem (1958)  john straton

Close up showing radiator grille emblem (1958)

The horse collar-shaped radiator grille remained but there was a change in the emblem for the 1959 model year, see example shown below and the emblem detail shown above at the top of this post.

Edsel car showing radiator grille emblem (1959)  simon cars