edsel.com: Chronicles

THE EDSEL CHRONICLES


Exclusive to Edsel.com:  True unpublished stories from people who were involved with the Edsel project.  From designer to dealer, if you had a hand in making the Edsel automobile a reality, this forum is available for you to share your experience with the rest of the Edsel community.

Please send e-mail to admin@edsel.com if you would like to be included in the Edsel chronicles.


Reflections of the Edsel Days

Written by Tom Sneary, Assistant District Manager, Edsel Division, Ford Motor Company, Dallas District

Dealership Recollections

Written by R. Lee Parks, whose father ran Piedmont Motors in Gastonia, NC


The Design Studio Trophy

     

My father, James Sipple, was the designer of the distinctive Edsel "horsecollar" grille.  He past away several years ago.  All this time, he kept the Design Studio inside joke trophy that was given to those who worked on the project.  It’s an Edsel hood ornament mounted on a plastic base with an engraved tag of their name on a brass tag.  My dad always said that piece of work almost got him fired from Ford.  But, he made it past it.
-Robert Sipple, November 2018


1960 Edsel Radiator Test Vehicle

"Does anyone know the whereabouts of a white 1960 Edsel that was owned by either Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Company or Harrison Radiator in Buffalo, NY?  My father was a metallurgist for Kaiser and headed up a project that successfully developed the first aluminum radiator.  The test vehicle was a new 1960 Edsel with a padlock securing the hood.
I was about 12 at the time and still clearly remember those "cat eye" tail lights.  My father, who was doing R&D with Kaiser at the time (including Teflon coated cooking ware, pop tab cans, USAF flying saucer program w/AV Roe Canada and other projects) and said it was his "company car", but I'm not sure which of the companies.  His responsibility was in determining the optimum alloy and thickness to give the radiator the strength and durability needed, as well as special techniques for welding the units.  The final product became the first aluminum radiator to be installed in Corvettes.
I wonder if they left that aluminum core in that old Edsel??"
-Mark Brown


Edsel Memories

"My father, Eugene D. Hauptmann Sr., was Sales Manager at the Dallas Edsel on Ross Avenue in Dallas, Texas.  In 1958 I was six years old, and remember the showroom floor with the Edsel kid's car.  It was a difficult time for my father being half German working with a car that was ahead of its time with little thought to common maintance and repair.  He had fond memories of the sleek designs and powerful engines.  The next year he was working for Ford and bought a pink T-bird Convertible."
-Eugene Hauptmann