Ford launched a new car line on September 4, 1957. The company called the day E Day. The car was named after Henry Ford’s son.
The timing was wrong. The 1958 recession hit medium-priced cars hardest. Buyers could not tell where the Edsel sat in Ford’s lineup. The car’s vertical grille drew ridicule, and early models had quality problems.
Ford ended production on November 19, 1959. The company lost more than 250 million dollars. The name became a byword for a hyped failure.