Calling ALL EDSEL Owners

[112561]

I thought you had one of those models

Great!

Granted, the four door hardtops and sedans draw the least money and interest, but in my opinion, deserve to be saved, unless only useful for parts, like that poor derelict Citation ragtop. Four door anythings are more for budget hobbyists, two door hardtops and convertibles, are naturally more desirable for people who invest as well as collect. Station wagons are now considered desirable, beyond the Nomads and Safaris.

 

[58limited]

I like a four door simply for ease of taking friends with me - no having to lean the seat forward so that they can get in back. That was why I originally bought this Edsel. I also have a four door wagon, a '57 Pontiac. It is also rough but is a rare model and thus worth the cost of restoring. It is one of the few four door wagons that can bring almost as much money as a Nomad or Safari 2 door. I want to make it my vacation car: style and lots of luggage space.

 

[112561]

1957 Pontiac Transcontinental

Wow, you're not kidding!

 

[xraytech]

this is the Edsel of my dreams

 

[112561]

Mine too!

What a travel car!

They'll know you've arrived!

 

[qsd-dan]

I like a four door simply for ease of taking friends with me

X2

My first car was my grandfathers 1973 2 door Dodge Dart Swinger with 42,000 miles that was garaged its whole life. Loading and unloading my friends was not only a huge hassle, but every time they got in and out, they would mar up my seats with shoe marks and stepped all over and cracked my plastic seatbelt housings. It was also a PITA to vacuum and clean! Ugghh!! I'll NEVER own another 2 door car (except a truck) as long as I live!!!

I'm mostly into vintage land yachts (late 50's to mid 60's), and they just look much classier in a 4 door, IMHO. 2 door Cadillacs and Lincolns look funny, if not "white trash" (especailly if they're in poor condition), to me.

BTW, cool pics Jetcone!!!

 

[danemodsandy]

That Wagon...

...Was called the Bermuda. Very pricey it was, too. Someone in our neighbourhood had one, though I recall it being '63 or so by then, so it would have been a pretty well-used car by that time. As much as we like to sigh for the good old days, the sloppier manufacturing tolerances and more primitive lubricants of the '50s saw to it that cars wore out pretty quickly then. A car with 75K on the odometre was old, or at least highly suspect as a used car. Ring and valve jobs delayed the inevitable a while; at least the cars were simpler to work on for such major repairs. If you got 100K out of a car then without major work, you were doing very well.

The Bermuda was sold only in '58. For '59, disappointing 1958 sales caused Ford to thin the Edsel herd quite a bit. The TOL Citation was dropped, as was the next-to-BOL Pacer. The three wagons (TOL Bermuda, MOL Villager and BOL Roundup), were pared back to just the Villager. A restored Bermuda would be a far rarer car than any of the Edsel convertibles - to say nothing of a far more difficult restoration, because of the problems in finding replacement Ye Olde Fayke Woode Graine.

 

[qsd-dan]

"the sloppier manufacturing tolerances and more primitive lubricants of the '50s saw to it that cars wore out pretty quickly then. A car with 75K on the odometer was old"

eeeehhh

My 1959 Pontiac has 200K miles. The motor was untouched and surprisingly showed little wear during the tear down. The transmission was rebuilt only once, in 1969. The rear end still has the same gear oil it left the factory with 51 years ago (not good, since it's a limited slip which requires strict oil replacement intervals). It's all in the design.

What I found interesting about the Pontiac was that the manual very strictly called for 10-30 oil. Remember, this was in 1959 when most car manufacturers still called for straight 30 or 40 weight oil. I bet multi-weight oil was a major PITA to locate back then!

 

[danemodsandy]

Dan:

Sometimes you got lucky, as my parents did with a BOL '56 Chevy One-Fifty sedan. That car ran and ran and ran. It wasn't unheard-of to get - or top - 100K without some engine overhauling, but it wasn't common, either. That started to change in the '60s.

 

[bugsyjones]

danemodsandy

I know of the problems with Teletouch. It seems Chrysler is the only ones to get it right, and I think it has alot to do with where the controls were placed. Being in the steering column to me, would wear it out faster. More moving parts, etc. If I remember right, there were Chrysler cars all the way up into the 60's with the push button option.

I think that having Teletouch is an important feature to have. If you don't there's no use in having an Edsel. Especially one with an aftermarket floor shift or something.

I've learned my lesson on project cars. They are a money hole. Never again. I intend to get one in good driving condition with working Teletouch.

As you indicated, it's quite an expensive mechanism to repair, but that's the risk I'm willing to take.

The closest I've gotten to driving an Edsel or any old car was my friend's 67 Plymouth. It was big, powerful, automatic and had steering as smooth as butter.



~Tim

 

[danemodsandy]

Tim:

On Teletouch, the button pod in the centre of the wheel stays stationary; it doesn't move with the wheel. The wiring in the column is actually one of the more reliable components of the system. And a good thing, too, because the stationary pod was accomplished with a nightmarishly difficult-to-service steering column assembly.

There's a Wikipedia article on the system you would probably enjoy; linkie is below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletouch

 

[jetcone]

Sandy

nice links there I must look them over. I have the manual still I should scan some of it in.
The Teletouch mechanism went two ways. Depending on how or where it was assembled into the car as I recall from the club discussions in the 70's. This could have changed in 30 years I have not kept up with the EOC.
They either were so smooth you could operate it with a toothpick -like Gwendolyn's or so bad you had to hit it with a hammer.
AS I understand the Chrysler version used lever rods like bikes do to activate the transmission shifter forks.
Edsel/Merc had the teletouch control activate a circular switch plate which made the teletouch motor swing an arm to a specific position for a selected gear.
If it all meshed well it worked like a dream.

 

[jetcone]

BTW I've seen that

Bermuda wagon in person at a meet years ago. The interior behind the seats was an absolute mint restoration right down to the chrome screws and collars holding the matting down to the floor. It won a lot of trophys as I recall.

 

[supersuds]

Packard

The 1956 Packards had a pushbutton automatic shifter made by Autolite, mounted on a little pod to the right of the steering wheel. Autolite destroyed the tooling soon after Packard went out of production, causing endless grief for owners of almost new cars.

By the way, 10W-30 oil was pretty common by the late Fifties. Chrysler products recommended it too, or 20w-40. I always heard that the early multigrades were pretty terrible, though, and my dad, for one, wouldn't use them until the 1970s.

 

[danemodsandy]

Didn't Lincoln...

...Have its own version of Teletouch in this time frame? Those late-'50s Lincolns are not quite as familiar to me as the early '50s cars or the 1961-63 ones.

 

[jetcone]

I just remembered something

in the B&W photo,the guy standing to the far right with his family next to the '59 lived south of Albany and he had 75 Edsels on his farm in Ghent.
I can't quite remember his name.

 

[supersuds]

Nope, Lincolns didn't use pushbuttons. The '56 through '60 models had wonderful long, shapely column shifters.

I had a '64 -- much more sedate looking, but very similar mechanically to the '58-'60 models. It had virtually the same 430 cu. in. engine as the top-line Edsels and Mercurys. Weighed about half a ton but virtually indestructible!

 

[alr2903]

bump

Jetcone, this thread was so far down in the forum . I almost missed it, what a treat! alr2903

 

[112561]

1955 Lincoln Futura

This show car is the only Lincoln vehicle to have pushbuttons. Lincoln toyed with the idea of pushbuttons briefly for 1958, but forgot about it quickly. I believe the buttons were in the center of the steering wheel, like Edsel.

 

[sudsmaster]

Push Button Trannies

Not sure when Chrysler phased them out, but my '64 Plymouth Valiant 2-dr hardtop coupe has the transmission controls on the dash, to the left of the steering column. It was basically my first car, the one I really learned how to drive with, and I usually would find myself stabbing the dash with my left hand when driving a car with a more "normal" transmission control location. That transmission, by the way, is an early A-904 Torqueflite. It has a rear pump so that it can be bump started - which back in the day came in useful when it was experiencing charging/starting issues. I remember using the bump start feature more than once when parked at the top of the hill above the UCSF med center where I worked.

Fifteen years ago it cost all of $300 to have that transmission rebuilt. Today, it would be more like $800, but still a bargain. Still have the car, and it runs fine, but I parked it about 10 years ago to save on registration/insurance. Legendary slant six motor.