I’ll always have a soft spot in the old ticker for ’59 Edsels. My Aunt Lucy and Uncle Harry bought one new (a white 4-door with a red top and side spear and a black and white interior) and drove it for a decade . My Aunt Lucy loved that Edsel and said on more than one occasion that it was the best car they ever owned. I’d like to know the story behind this rare, surviving long roof. Only 5,687 Villager 4-Door, 6-Passenger Station Wagons were produced for 1959 and the seller claims that except for the tires and shocks, it’s original.
After its disappointing debut in 1958 (okay, more like disastrous), Edsel dialed it back in 1959 and also looked for ways to cut costs as well (the taillights were repurposed from the 1958 Continental, for example). Styling was more conservative and unique features such as the Teletouch Drive transmission were scrapped. For the Villager Wagons, they used a ’59 Ford body shell, glass, doors, lift gate and tailgate. The seller shares that the Villager was “used sparingly until it was put up in 1983” but doesn’t go into detail. The snazzy President Red and Snow White two-tone paint looks good as does the chrome, glass, and trim. The panels look straight and I’m not spotting any damage or rust. This is one well-preserved Edsel Villager.
The original interior looks remarkable for a 65-year-old station wagon. According to the data plate, it’s Code 31 which was a red and white vinyl interior with Gold Puff cloth seat inserts. There’s a little stretching on the driver’s cloth seat, but the passenger side and back bench seat look great. The door panels and cargo area are also impressive, and even the carpet looks decent. Another cost-cutting measure was the ’59 Edsel’s instrument panel and dash. Gone are the space-age gauges, toggle switches, Teletouch Drive transmission, and “floating compass type speedometer” from the year before. Its instrument panel and dash are very similar to its ’59 Ford cousin, and this one is in very good condition.
Engine sizes were also smaller compared to the ’58’s. Gone was the powerful E-475 motor and the once-standard E-400 was now an option. This Villager’s power plant is a 332-cubic inch V8 that’s mated to a Mile-O-Matic 2-speed automatic transmission. The odometer is showing 10,710 which could be the actual mileage. The seller says he/she has a notebook of what has been done to the Edsel through the years and at what mileage. The next seller will like to give their arms and legs a bit of a workout while driving since this Villager was ordered from the factory with manual steering and manual brakes. This rare long roof is currently residing in Milner, Georgia, and is for sale here on craigslist for $25,000. The seller will also consider “some classic car or muscle car trades.” If this Villager is the real deal as far as originality, it could be one of the nicest surviving ’59 Edsel Villager Wagons around. Let’s hope the next owner will pamper and preserve this rare long roof for decades to come. Let’s also hope that Clark Griswold isn’t looking for another unique station wagon to replace the Wagon Queen Family Truckster.
I don’t understand why these were thought to be so hideous. I can think of more hideous cars of that era. I hesitate to mention them specifically because it will probably tick people off. But I am sure everyone who is into cars can name at least one car from this era that was more bizarre looking
So sad that by the time they made the Edsel look really good(the 59’s are beautiful) it was too late and they’d be gone the next year…the few 60’s that were made ..especially the Starliner roof’d one were glorious cars.
Ford already decided to axe the Edsel while the 59s were being built, and there were no Starliner Edsels, only Fords, in ’60 and ’61.
So i guess the 295 Edsel Ranger’s with the Starliner roof made in 1960 are peoples imagination.
https://www.edsel.com/pages/edsel60.htm
So strange that EDSEL introduced a 60 line to so quickly stop production. The following year DeSoto brought out a 61 line, dropping it within a month. Crazy 🤪 😜 Detroit. But then it’s even worse now, with the preponderance of Ponderously Bloated Ugly SUVS. PONDER THAT! 🤔
I really like these…….if you look on Craigslist……paint on doors looks like a different shade than rest of car
They were not ugly this year but 58’s were pretty ugly. The real problem was two fold. They were hyped as game changing but they were not. Second the price point made no sense in the lineup.
By ’59, they were basically just another ’59 Ford competing with the real Ford. The company wisely decided to pull the plug.
Terry, Robert McNamara @ FoMoCo was notoriously against the Edsel from it’s initial planning stages around 1954. By the time it hit the market in 8/57, he was bound to do all he could to kill it and succeeded. By November of `59 it was history. If only Ford had a better reading on the mid-priced segment and survived the `57-`58 recession better the Edsel might’ve had a chance.
Beauty IS in the eye of the Beholder! Admittedly I’m a believer in OTT excess. So for me the 58 EDSEL was much better than the 59 🤮. Fortunately in the US 🇺🇸, we, CAN STILL have our opinions and hopefully respect others 👍
I love it, but I am a wagon tragic, lol.
It’s condition is amazing.
Maybe it might have succeeded if it wasn’t called an Edsel????
I’m a Ford man, no hope in hell I’d buy a Ford called Henry, hence my comment.
Love it!
Exactly, My only problem with the Edsel was the name. I ordered my Ford convertible earlier so wouldn’t consider Edsel for that very reason.
I have read that Henry the Deuce was opposed to the use of his fathers first name, but they did it anyway. A truly tragic epitaph for a very classy man who died to young.
I have often wondered what Ford would have been like had Edsel survived into the 1950’s. I believe he would have been proud of the Continental, which was shepherded into production by his son William Clay. The Edsel though it of course would not have used his name might have never happened.
Back to Terrry’s and Will Fox’s comments… this certainly must have been the case, that the possible “killing” of the car almost had to have been in motion when it was being introduced. Because what is on today’s model year vehicles is largely based on decisions made two, three, or even more years in the past (given engineering time, supplier time needs, etc.). The lackluster sales probably sped things up, and the other changes (i.e. using parts bin parts) were made on the fly, as best they could, in order to save money.
Actually, Bob, FMC spent years testing various groups for what they liked in a car. The FORD family didn’t want to name it EDSEL but after an exhausting search for a name, the name EDSEL was reluctantly placed on the car. THE BETSY starring Tommy Lee Jones is surprisingly close to what was happening at FMC with HARDEMAN MOTORS used as a family company with issues much like FORD. Think I’ll watch it again! 👍
In the late 70s worked at a Lincoln-Mercury dealership that still had all the special service tools that came from Ford to work on the Edsel’s they were still hanging on the wall. They didn’t want them should have gathered them all up.
I spent my childhood in Zebulon, GA which was just a few miles from Milner. I still have cousins in Milner. Gonna have to get on the phone and find out more about this Edsel. Milner is a town of about 600 people. If that car has been there long, they will know about it. Will report back.
this IS QUITE A NICE WAGON I COULD EASILY CONSIDER CHANGING FROM Wanting A Caballero WAGON FOR THIS , how does one contact the owner??MAYBE just even my 54 Buick!!!!!
IMO, the ’59 Edsel is the best looking of the bunch. This is one nice looking wagon and I hope goes to a good home without someone chopping it up or putting crazy rims on it.
Sorry, But the $25,000 for ANY wagon has my tail waggin NO! 👎 That’s MY ED SEL ENT advice 😅 🤣