What Were They Thinking? .. [PIC]

By 1958, I had had the over-chromed, multi-colored, garish land yachts up to here. We had derogatory terms for these cars that are a bit too scatological for this forum. Kudos to FoMoCo for developing a new division that would place the Edsel between Mercury and Lincoln. Two new engines were offered from their FE Y-block V8s: the standard 361 cid producing 303 HP and the top V8, in the upper models, the E-475 which which produced a whopping 345 HP and 475 lb/ft of torque. The 3 speed Teletouch automatic was a push button deal controlled from the steering wheel hub. There was a rotating dome speedometer, ergonomic dash controls, self-adjusting brakes. optional seat belts, child-proof rear door locks and a host of interior styles. At the pinnacle of the longer wheel base models was the Bermuda station wagon. Now the engineers did their job perhaps too well as potential customers were found a lot of the features rather confusing, but what the stylists came up with basically injected a fatal blow to this new division. I, as well as most people, found the design of the Edsel to be shockingly ugly with its signature vertical grill that Ford claimed was "classical" became a joke for late night comedians calling it a "Ford, sucking on a lemon. With the Bermuda's tutone paint scheme with its ridiculous faux bamboo trim looked like a clown car that  could have 100 clowns exiting it. For me, the last year of this dying brand was the 1960 model which was a Ford body with some stupid looking add-ons, but looked so much better than the oiginal design. I thought cars like Mercury's Turnpike Cruisers were awful, but this Bermuda took the cake. Now, I kinda like DM's model, which celebrates what was the last gasp of 1950's kitsch.