Edsel Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

Edsel trivia quiz with answers about the Ford Edsel car.

Edsel Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

What is an “Edsel”?
A: Edsel is an automobile marque that was planned, developed, and manufactured by the Ford Motor Company for model years 1958 through 1960.

Edsels were to be sold through a newly formed division of the what?
A: The Ford Motor Company, as a companion to the Ford Division, Mercury Division, Lincoln Division and (newly formed but also short-lived) Continental Division.

Each division had its own what?
A: Retail organization and dealer network.

The free-standing Edsel Division existed from November 1956 until when?
A: January 1958, after which Edsel sales and marketing operations were integrated into the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division (referred to as M-E-L).

Initially Edsels were sold through a new network of approximately how many dealers?
A: 1,187.

This briefly brought the total number of dealers of all Ford products to how many?
A: 10,000.

Ford saw this as a way to come closer to parity with whom?
A: Chrysler, which had 10,000 dealers, and General Motors, which had 16,000.

On what day were Edsels introduced amid considerable publicity?
A: On "E Day"—September 4, 1957.

It was also promoted by what top-rated television special?
A: The Edsel Show, on October 13, but the promotional effort was not enough to counter the adverse initial public reaction to Edsel styling and conventional build.

After the launch date, Edsel was described as a what?
A: "A reborn LaSalle," a General Motors brand that had disappeared in 1940.

For months, Ford had been telling the industry press that it "knew" (through its market research) that there would be what?
A: Great demand for the vehicles.

Ford also insisted that, in the Edsels, it had built exactly the what?
A: An entirely new kind of car" that Ford had been leading the buying public to expect through its pre-introduction publicity campaign for the cars.

In reality, however, Edsels shared their engineering and bodywork with what?
A: Other Ford models, and the similarities were apparent once the vehicle was viewed firsthand.

For the 1958 model year, Ford produced how many Edsel models?
A: Four, the larger Mercury-based Citation and Corsair, and the smaller Ford-based Pacer and Ranger.

The Citation was offered in what versions?
A: Two-door and four-door hardtop and two-door convertible.

The Corsair was available in what versions?
A: Two-door and four-door hardtop.

How was the Pacer available?
A: As a two-door or four-door hardtop, four-door sedan, or two-door convertible.

The Ranger was sold in what versions?
A: Two-door and four-door hardtop or sedan.

The four-door Bermuda and Villager wagons and the two-door Roundup wagon were based on what?
A: The 116-inch wheelbase Ford station wagon platform and shared the trim and features of the Ranger and Pacer models.

Edsels offered several features that were considered innovative for the time, including the rolling-dome what?
A: Speedometer.

It also had warning lights for such conditions as what?
A: Low oil level, parking brake engaged, and engine overheating.

Other Edsel design innovations include ergonomically designed controls for the driver and self-adjusting what?
A: Brakes (which Ford claimed for Edsel as a first for the industry, even though Studebaker had pioneered them earlier in the decade).

Edsels also offered such features, advanced for the time, as what?
A: Seat belts (which were available at extra cost as optional equipment on many other makes) and child-proof rear door locks that could only be unlocked with the key.

Unlike Ford and Mercury, the Edsel division never had any dedicated what?
A: Manufacturing plants.

All Edsels were built where?
A: In Ford or Mercury plants on a contract basis.

In the first year, how many Edsels were sold in the United States?
A: 63,110.

How many were sold in Canada the first year?
A: 4,935.

Though below expectations, this nevertheless represented the second-largest what?
A: Launch for any new car brand to date, exceeded only by DeSoto introduction in 1929.

For the 1959 model year, the Edsel brand fielded only what two series?
A: The Ford-based Ranger and Corsair.

The larger Mercury-based Edsels were what?
A: Discontinued.

In the 1959 model year, how many Edsels were sold in the U.S.?
A: 44,891.

How many in Canada?
A: 2,505.

For the 1960 model year, Edsel's last, how many vehicles were produced?
A: Only 2,846.

All but the pilot cars were assembled where?
A: At the Louisville, Kentucky assembly plant.

The marque was reduced to the Ranger series of what?
A: Sedans, hardtops, convertibles, and the Villager station wagons.

Edsels shared its basic chassis, glass, and major sheet metal with what?
A: The 1960 Ford Galaxie and Fairlane models that were built on the Louisville assembly line with it.

Though Edsels had a front "split" grille similar to that of the 1959 Pontiac, it did have a unique what?
A: Hood and four upright oblong taillights, along with its side-sweep spears.

The 1960 Edsels ride on a 120-inch wheelbase, compared to the concurrent Ford's 119-inch span, and it also uses a different what?
A: Rear suspension.

What do the cars share?
A: Engines and transmissions.

The 1960 Edsel Ranger four-door hardtop model uses the thin-pillar Ford Fairlane four-door sedan roofline, as opposed to what?>
A: The squarish roof-line used on the corresponding Ford four-door hardtop, which is exclusive to the Galaxie line.

The Galaxie four-door hardtop's rear door trim panel, however, is fitted to the what?
A: The Ranger.

This gives Edsel four-door hardtops a unique body style that was never offered on any what?
A: 1960 Ford-badged vehicle.

When did Ford announce the end of the Edsel program?
A: On November 19, 1959.

However, production continued until late in what month?
A: November.

What was the final tally of model year 1960 cars?
A: 2,846.

Total Edsel sales were approximately 116,000, less than what?
A: Less than half the company's projected break-even point.

The company lost $350 million, or the equivalent of how much in 2016 dollars, on the venture?
A: $2.3 billion.

How many Edsels were built, including 7,440 produced in Ontario, Canada?
A: Only 118,287.

By U.S. auto industry standards, these production figures were what?
A: Dismal, particularly when spread across a run of three model years.

Historians have advanced several theories in an effort to explain Edsel's what?
A: Failure.

Popular culture often faults what?
A: Vehicle styling.

What has Consumer Reports alleged was Edsel's chief problem?
A: Poor workmanship.

Marketing experts hold Edsels up as a supreme example of the corporate culture's failure to what?
A: Understand American consumers.

Edsels are most notorious for being what?
A: A marketing disaster.

The name "Edsel" became synonymous with what?
A: The "real-life" commercial failure of the predicted "perfect" product or product idea.

Incredibly, Ford had presumed to invest $400 million (well over $4 billion in 21st century dollars) in developing the new product line without what?
A: Without any prior study to determine whether such an investment would be prudent or profitable.

Upon seeing the price for a base model, many potential buyers did what?
A: Simply left the dealerships.

Other customers were frightened by the price for a what?
A: Fully equipped top-of-the-line model.

Customers started buying more fuel-efficient automobiles, particularly what?
A: Volkswagen Beetles, which were selling at rates exceeding 50,000 a year in the U.S. from 1957 onward.

Edsels were equipped with powerful engines and offered brisk acceleration, but they also required what?
A: Premium fuel, and their fuel economy, especially in city driving, was poor even by late-1950s standards.

The name of the car, Edsel, is also often cited as what?
A: A further reason for its lack of popularity.

What did Henry Ford II declare?
A: That he did not want his father's good name spinning around on thousands of hubcaps.

More than half a century after its spectacular failure, Edsels have become what?
A: A highly collectible item among vintage car hobbyists.

Fewer than how many Edsels survive?
A: 10,000, and they are considered valuable collectors' items.

A mint-condition Edsel convertible from any of its three model years may sell for how much?
A: Over $100,000.

The rarest Edsel (by body style) is what?
A: The 1960 Ranger convertible: only 76 were built.

How many survive today?
A: Approximately 25.

The rarest Edsel by model is what?
A: The 1960 Ranger deluxe interior 4-door hardtop, model 57B.