What if...

It might have happened if the Edsel and the Skyliner had survived.

Love it! Some time ago I read about an Edsel retractable which started life as a '58 Ford retractable with Edsel body panels grafted on to it. Not sure if the one pictured is the same one in the article.

There are several floating around. I don't think any of them are factory-made, though. Here are a few:

@jkuvakas I prefer these over the original Ford Version.

That Edsel would have looked great and probably would have sold more?

They look very good ! It would also look quite good as a diecast model. Perhaps if one were really brave they could kit-bash between  the 1/18 Yat Ming 1958 Edsel and the 1/18 Sunstar 1957 Ford Skyliner.

I like the '59 best of the bunch...but without that kit!

The smaller Edsels were actually Fords under the skin, and in 1958 at least Edsel didn't have a separate assembly plant so the cars went down the same production line as the '58 Fords (the fact that Ford assembly line workers had to switch to assembling an Edsel every six cars or so, which disrupted their routine, was reported to be one reason for poor Edsel build quality, with some cars coming off the line with bits of trim stashed in the trunk, or missing altogether). So I think it's probably true that the people who did these Skyliners actually managed to fit Edsel body panels and trim to Ford Skyliner bodies, rather than doing a complicated re-engineering of an actual Edsel body.

Those Skyliners were interesting, although the need to shorten the roof and lengthen the trunk to make the whole thing work made the proportions less attractive (and luggage space in that vast trunk was limited to a small plastic box).

I like it!

@terryslekar  You can have it, as far as I am concerned.  Never liked the body dimension changes to accommodate  the retractable hardtop, made the Fords look out of proportion.

I'd take one!  I especially like the photo of the one with the Edsel "station wagon" taillights on it.  I always thought that "Boomerang" look was cool. 

I know the Edsel has always been the brunt of jokes and we all know of the stories that been told and that it was and remains FoMoCo's biggest mistake, but in my opinion, the company's biggest mistake was deciding almost immediately to drop the brand. 

It should have been given a better push and styling design for 1959 and then given at least a 2 to 3 years after that to live on.  They bailed too fast!  

It is a pretty cool 1:1 car, yet bringing it out in a recession year was a real obstacle and it can be hard to overcome things like that. Plus, I don't think Ford President Robert MacNamara liked the car, and that is another impediment.

MacNamara was dead set against Edsle and Lincoln. As one of the "Whiz Kids" at Ford, He fought Edsel from its inception. Edsel's fate was sealed as MacNamara rose in influence and finally became president of Ford in 1960. He wanted to cancel the Lincoln division and campaigned to end Mark II production as he thought it to be an extravagant waste of resources. Ultimately, he was talked into allowing one more chance for Lincoln, which resulted in the game-changing 1961 Continental. 

The man was a rational, pragmatic thinker and was probably the first of a new generation of "bean counters" to head one of the big three. His methods of using spreadsheets, data analysis, and market studies are still major influencers today. 

Posted by: @jkuvakas

MacNamara was dead set against Edlse and Lincoln. As one of the "Whiz Kids" at Ford, He fought Edsel from its inception. Edsel's fate was sealed as MacNamara rose in influence and finally became president of Ford in 1960. He wanted to cancel the Lincoln division and campaigned to end Mark II production as he thought it to be an extravagant waste of resources. Ultimately, he was talked into allowing one more chance for Lincoln, which resulted in the game-changing 1961 Continental. 

The man was a rational, pragmatic thinker and was probably the first of a new generation of "bean counters" to head one of the big three. His methods of using spreadsheets, data analysis, and market studies are still major influencers today. 

My hair, what's left of it, on the back of my head stands up when I see or hear his name because of his role as Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam war.  But that's a discussion for another time and place.