I dunno, I liked the Edsel. Wasn’t too keen on the push buttons in the steering wheel but still I liked them. Of course now that horse collar front is getting a little stale-maybe that’s where the trapezoid grills are heading. Wouldn’t it be boring if all the cars looked the same? And someone has to buy all of them, ugly or not.
@Bing. There were two distinct Edsels when the 1958 Edsels were introduced in late 1957. The lower models, the Ranger and Pacer were based on the Ford Fairlane and had the conventional lever for the auto transmission. These models could be had with a manual transmission and had a 303_hp V8. The upper series, the Corsair and Citation, were based on the Mercury and had the pushbutton controls for the auto transmission in the center of the steering wheel. These models had a,343_hp_V8. The 1959 Edsels were Fords with a,different body. They had the same engine lineup as the Fords and even offered the 6_cylinder engine. The few_1960’Edsels were just Fords with slightly different trim.
How did GM manage to use the Corsair and Citation names in the 1980s?
Did they “buy” those names from Ford . . . ?!
@db4690 Give credit to the auto industry. The auto industry was recycling before the environmentalists. Of course, the auto industry was just recycling model names. AMC used the Pacer name that was earlier used by Edsel. In 1949, the top trim line for the Chevrolet was the DeLuxe. The bottom trimline for the 1946-48 Ford and Dodge was the DeLuxe. For the 1949-51 Ford, the upper trimline was the Custom which was the same as the 1946-48 Dodge and DeSoto. Auto companies aren’t too original.
That’s interesting information you posted . . . thanks
But I was under the assumption that car names belong to the manufacturer, at least for a period of time. I thought car manufacturers spend money, so that only they are allowed to use that name, at least for automotive use
I assume that because I know for a fact, that some manufacturers did not use a name, because another manufacturer owned the rights to it. So they used a different name
Perhaps Ford’s “hold” on the Citation and Corsica names had already expired, when GM decided to use them . . . ?
GM has copy-righted a number of names, mostly 6 letter ones without a specific meaning, such as Camaro and Toronado… Others cannot use these names. It would be difficult to copyright a generic name such as Maverick, Mustang.
I suspect names like custom and deluxe are in the public domain. I’m sure there was a deluxe vacuum cleaner somewhere back in the 40’s too.
Desoto made a Suburban the same time that Chevy did…
I am wondering what GM wants to do with the “Aztek” name.
My guess is that they’ll keep it unused until everyone forgets about it. Perhaps 1,000 years will be enough. 