December 13, 1956 — Mercury

Unveiling of the Turnpike Cruiser at the New York Auto Show.

September 3, 1957 — Edsel

Guy Steuart, where are you? 8040 Georgia Avenue  is now the address of something called Mayorga Coffee Factory. One Teletouch latte to go, please.

September 4, 1957 — Edsel

Sept. 4 was Introduction Day. Edsel’s only Manhattan dealer, Charles Kreisler (bottom of ad), threw in the towel after two months to sell Ramblers.

September 10, 1957 — Edsel

Atlas Edsel, Monarch Edsel, Circle Edsel, Mole-Edsel, Elvic Edsel — poof.

September 15, 1957 — Edsel

A two-page ad showing all eighteen Edsel models, various permutations of  Ranger, Pacer, Corsair, Citation, Roundup, Villager and Bermuda.

September 25, 1957 — Edsel

The earlier Edsel newspaper ads were variations on the print ads that appeared in magazines. Later in the model year they were completely different. We have around two dozen to post in the coming weeks.

October 9, 1957 — Edsel

It was early in the game still, but you can tell the head office was starting to get nervous. Early in 1957 Ford said it expected to sell more than 200,000 Edsels in the brand’s first year.

October 19, 1957 — Edsel

Guy Steuart was still plugging along, “on the right side of the tracks.”

October 22, 1957 — Edsel

The earlier ads emphasized prestige — Edsel was, after all, supposed to be a step up — but as the year went on, the focus was increasingly on price.

October 30, 1957 — Edsel

Up until now, Edsel was the only new car in the nation’s showrooms, having been unveiled a month earlier than usual. Ford executives were hoping the public was taking a wait-and-see attitude with the car, and that once the price pressure was off — it had been competing with marked-down 1957 models of other makes — sales would pick up.

October 31, 1957 — Lincoln

Lincoln and most of the other makes had November 1 as Announcement Day. An exciting time if you were a little (or big) kid in the late 1950s.

November 1, 1957 — Buick

The “B-58” Buick (which took its tag from a supersonic bomber of the same name) looked something like a lead balloon and sold like one, too.

November 1, 1957 — Chrysler

The 1958 “Forward Look” Chrysler, with only minor changes compared to the 1957 model, was one of the year’s better looking cars.

November 1, 1957 — Dodge

Another of Virgil Exner’s finned beauties, set against the Golden Gate Bridge.

November 1, 1957 — Ford

A teaser ad for Ford, which had its introduction a week later.

November 1, 1957 — Lincoln

Lincoln’s Announcement Day ad from the Washington papers.

November 1, 1957 — Plymouth

A very sharp-looking and elegant design. If only Chrysler had revived this instead of coming out with the PT Cruiser and Prowler. Bring back tailfins!

November 6, 1957 — Edsel

The public looked right back and said blech.

November 13, 1957 — Edsel

Note that “EDA” in small print — the Edsel Dealers Association.

November 13, 1957 — Lincoln

The rear is stretched in the top picture to make a giant car look even longer.

November 20, 1957 — Edsel

Charles Kreisler was still hanging in there on Park Avenue and at East 44th.

November 22, 1957 — Mercury

The 1958 Mercury was inspired by the Turnpike Cruiser “dream car” of 1956.

November 25, 1957 — Edsel

A Corsair sedan in the parking lot, and smiles all around.

December 3, 1957 — Lincoln

The Lincoln Landau, biggest car of 1958 along with the Continental.

December 4, 1957 — Edsel

The one that’s really new is the lowest-priced, too!

December 17, 1957 — Edsel

More emphasis on price, and an “authentic scale-model Edsel” offer.

January 8, 1958 — Edsel

Different illustration, same scale-model offer.

January 12, 1958 — Lincoln

A Lincoln Landau and its Continental Mark III counterpart below, both stretched out horizontally to look exaggeratedly long and low.

January 20, 1958 — Edsel

The Happy Edsel Family, motoring cheerfully along the Oblivion Thruway.

January 28, 1958 — Edsel

Guy Steuart gives it the old college try.

February 26, 1958 — Edsel

Gallery of Suckers, Part 1, including a miner and a Guggenheim.

March 12, 1958 — Edsel

Gallery of Suckers, Part 2. Hello Earl Hissam of Owatonna, Minnesota.

April 16, 1958 — Edsel

Gallery of Suckers, Part 3. Edsel police cars! (Actually we have a news clip from 1958 on Edsels as police vehicles that we’ll post one of these days.)

April 30, 1958 — Mercury

Halfway through the model year the Mercury slogan went from “Sports-Car Spirit With Limousine Ride” to “Performance Champion for 1958.”

May 6, 1958 — Edsel

The spring of 1958 saw the debut of ads with the tagline “The Edsel Look Is Here to Stay,” evidently to counter criticism of the car’s styling.

May 21, 1958 — Edsel

Another “Edsel Look” ad, among the most graphically adventurous of the car’s three model years of existence.

May 22, 1958 — Edsel

Interesting shot of the Koeppel Motors Edsel showroom, with a Citation rear fender barely visible through the window, along with a Thunderbird.

June 4, 1958 — Edsel

More “dramatic Edsel styling.”

July 9, 1958 — Edsel

Chart purports to show that Edsel sales numbers really weren’t that bad after all. A year earlier Ford executives were saying at least 200,000 Edsels would be sold in the car’s first year.

August 14, 1958 — Edsel

The chart jumps from 50,000 to 54,300. Yaay!