"E-475" 410cid 345bhp V8, Teletouch automatic transmission, 3.22:1 axle ratio
Edsel number
705004 manufactured in Somerville, MA on August 27, 1957
Owner:
Kevin Keinert
The second owner was John Nance of Modesto, CA. He dated Elizabeth in the 1940’s and maintained contact with
her after moving to California. He helped her find parts to keep the Edsel running while she still owned
it. She died in 1993 and had no children to leave the car to, so her sisters gave the car to John as a gift
of her estate. He paid $1200 to have the car transported to California. The body color was originally
red but Elizabeth had it painted black while she owned it. John gave me pictures of the car (that were sent
to him after Elizabeth died, so he could decide if he wanted it). The car is black in these pictures with a
gray padded dash. John had the car repainted to it’s original red color when he started the restoration. The
majority of the car’s restoration was done by John in the 1990’s. When he received the car, it had 40,000
miles on it and a cracked engine block due to sitting outside in the freezing VA winters. John had Ernie’s Classic
Auto Repair install a rebuilt short block and reuse all of the top end parts from the original engine. (I have
the receipts). The car had 50,500 miles on it when he sold it to me. John had personalized license plates
while he owned the car - “SCOTTSE” (which means Scott’s Edsel). Scott is his grandson who liked the car as a small
boy but was no longer interested in the car as a teenager. So John decided to sell it.
The third owner is Kevin Keinert of Santa Maria, CA. I bought the car on eBay. The auction was listed by
Dan Cunningham, who listed it for John (who is now 85 yrs. old). John tried selling it himself in the local
newspaper. When it did not sell, Dan approached John to let him place it on eBay. John was asking a fixed
price, and Dan received the additional amount over that price, for listing it on eBay. The auction closed at
$7101. Sherry and I drove to Modesto on Saturday, May 1, 2004 to pay for the car with cash. Upon inspecting
the car, I felt that it was not in as good of condition as Dan described in the auction. I offered John $6000 for the car,
John said it was up to Dan to decide if he would take less, Dan countered with $6200. I accepted.
In tracing this cars history, I talked to George Reynolds, John Nance, and a lady in Bedford who helped liquidate Elizabeth’s
estate when she died. All confirm that this is the car won in the Simmons contest. I also contacted the Simmons
company, Hammersley Motors (delivered the car to Elizabeth) and the Virginia DMV. None of these three have kept any records
dating back to 1958. All records of the original owner, registration, etc. have been thrown out by these companies.
Location:
Santa Maria, California
Owned since:
May 1, 2004
Mileage:
unknown
Condition:
unknown
Originality:
unknown
Accessories included:
unknown
Notes:
(History by Kevin Keinert):
The original owner was Elizabeth Overstreet of Bedford, VA. She won this car in a
Simmons Mattress contest. Charles Reynolds (the store owner that sold her the mattress) won a
second car, X8WW704305. I spoke to Charles
in May, 2004. He sent me the newspaper article and the 8x10 B&W photo that are in this folder. Charles
sold his Edsel to an attorney six months after winning it. The Simmons Mattress ad ran in the April 28, 1958
issue of LIFE magazine (pages 72 & 73). The Bedford Democrat newspaper ran an article when the cars were
delivered. It appeared in the November 13, 1958 paper on Section 2, Page 1.