That badge is an interesting addition to the grill. It makes me wonder how many Edsel owners there are outside of the United States, particularly given the brand's short lifespan.

Interesting question. According to the International Edsel Club web site, it is "the world’s largest Edsel club representing five different countries including the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America." Never mind that Europe and Latin America are not individual countries. Still, some must have crossed international borders. Canada is no surprise, but the others?

Can’t forget the horrid push button automatic transmission shifter these things had

Some MoPars had them, too.

A column-mounted shifter was an option, although that Teletouch transmission may be the best-remembered Edsel feature.

About forty years ago, I came very close to buying a pair of derelict '59 Edsels. Were it not for my lack of garage space...

we had an Edsel station wagon when I was a kid... I believe it was green and white...

V.

That would be a Villager. My character, Roy, drives one.

All it would have taken to keep this marque out of the dumpster would have been to hire a designer whose taste wasn't all in his mouth. The nose was a disaster; the rest of the car was acceptable.

Personally, I love the "horse collar" styling. But the Edsel competed head-to-head with its sister Ford division, the well-established Mercury.

I think Roy Carrera would approve. ;)

The Edsel's story is an interesting one, and there were many reasons for its short existence.
Recession-year 1958 was a bad time to introduce a new car; every American car maker save Rambler experienced a sales slump that year. Also, the Edsel was a victim of its own hype -- people were led to believe that it was a revolutionary new car when in reality it was a reskinned Ford ( Ranger and Pacer ) or Mercury ( Corsair and Citation ).

It also arrived at a time when some people were beginning to react against oversized, overstyled gas guzzlers, which is one reason why Rambler -- a compact car -- didn't see a sales drop in '58. As one Ford executive noted: "The Edsel's aim was true, but the target moved."

And then, there was that grille. It became the butt of many jokes, some of them quite off-colour. It was compared to everything from an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon to female genitalia. Not many people want a car that everyone makes fun of. The Edsel was a perfectly good car, but too many factors worked against it.

Roy would most definitely approve. He kept his Villager running for a lot of years and I have to believe that he shed a couple of tears when the tow truck finally hauled it off to the junk yard.

Pinning Edsel's failure on a single thing is too simplistic. I think it was a combination of factors: design, marketing, and (as you pointed out) timing. I always get a thrill when I see one at a car show.

You're right...it wasn't just the grille. Personally, I like the Edsel's face; there's no mistaking it for any other.
When I was a pup, a man in town still drove a black '58 Citation Hardtop Sedan, and I loved it.