Editor’s note: David Krumboltz’s regular column is on hiatus until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In its place, we’re running some of Dave’s favorite past columns. This one originally ran in June 2015, and Dave says the owner has sold the car since then.

It’s hard to understand how a company as successful as Ford Motor Co. could have created such a disaster as the Edsel. The car was introduced in 1958 after a lot of hype in 1957 that “The Edsel is coming.” Everyone involved with the Edsel was sworn to secrecy. The Edsel Division instructed dealers to keep the Edsels under cover until “E Day” on Sept. 4, 1957. No one was allowed a sneak peak.

According to several websites on the subject, 2.5 million people showed up in dealer showrooms on “E Day,” but not many bought. Edsel lasted only three model years with the first year, 1958, its best but selling only about 64,000 cars. In 1959 sales dropped to 44,891, and in their last year model year — which lasted only a few months — Edsel sales were 2,846. It has been reported that Ford lost $350 million (about $2.9 billion in 2015 dollars) on the Edsel fiasco.

Pittsburg resident Lee Leder’s 1959 Edsel Ranger 2 door Hard Top made by Ford Motor Company is photographed on Thursday, May 21, 2015. (Photo by David Krumboltz) 

A lot of reasons have been given to the Edsel failure but the primary one has to be Ford’s management. True, there was a recession in 1958 and some experts say the car’s name itself was a major negative. The fact that the 1958 models had the ugly “horse-collar” grille didn’t help either. It wasn’t really a bad car, though. It offered a “teletouch” push-button automatic shift with the buttons in the center of the steering wheel. A nice idea, but plagued with problems. Another interesting feature was the “rolling-dome” speedometer, considered very cool at the time.

By the time the 1959 Edsel priced at $2,691 ($21,864 in 2015 dollars) was launched, it was already too late to breathe life into Edsel. I suspect many of the Edsel Division people were already polishing up their resumes and downplaying their involvement.

Eliminated for 1959 were the teletouch push-button transmission and the rolling-dome speedometer. The larger Edsel models, based on the Mercury chassis, were dropped, leaving only the smaller, Ford Fairlane-size models for Edsel. Gone was the horse-collar grille in favor of a more conservative and traditional grille. The dashboard was almost identical to the Ford dashboard. Pittsburg resident Lee Leder has a love for Edsels.

The interior of Pittsburg resident Lee Leder’s 1959 Edsel Ranger 2 door Hard Top made by Ford Motor Company is photographed on Thursday, May 21, 2015. (Photo by David Krumboltz) 

“This is the fourth one I’ve had in 10 years,” the car collector said. “I like ‘X’ cars, car that aren’t produced anymore. I’ve had Packards, Studebakers and Edsels. One reason I like Edsels is that a lot of people will come up to me and say they have never seen one before and some have never even heard of it.”

Leder’s 1959 Edsel was originally sold in December 1958 with plastic seat covers, a popular thing to do at that time, and they’re still protecting the seats. When I asked what he paid for this Edsel he said, “I stole it. I only paid $8,000 for it. The car sat in an auto museum in Tucson for about 45 years.”

When the museum scaled down, they sent this Edsel to an auction. “The auction ran late into the evening, and there were not many Edsel buyers there, and that’s why I got it for $8,000.”

Leder has documents showing that the car had only 67,000 original miles. After the auction, he checked all the fluids and drove it back to California. “I was driving in the desert, in the mountains, at night time in the rain and on the freeway.” It made it all the way home minus one block. It turned out there was a pin hole in the gas line, which Leder quickly fixed before driving the Edsel the last block home. “I drove it 920 miles.”

Proudly the owner states, “I consider this car 100% stock, original, unrestored, and all I had to do was wipe the dust off.”

Since owning the car, he has done only routine maintenance with the most costly item being replacements for the approximately 50-year-old tires. Leder estimates the current market value of his Edsel is around $15,000. He drives the care about 1,000 miles a year now, mostly to car shows and around town. The car is tight, and the 200-horsepower, 292-cubic-inch V8 engine has a great sound. It has power steering and brakes but no other power equipment. The radio is AM-only. He took me for a ride. He still has a little hot rodder head under that gray hair.

During the hype of the Edsel, there were a number of advertising slogans that didn’t prove true like the one that claimed “The Edsel is going to be copied.” But as far as Lee Leder is concerned, one slogan has proved true. It stated “Once you’ve seen it, you’ll never forget it. Once you’ve owned it, you’ll never want to change.”

“I’m going to keep it,” he said. “It’s my favorite.”

Pittsburg resident Lee Leder’s 1959 Edsel Ranger 2 door Hard Top made by Ford Motor Company is photographed on Thursday, May 21, 2015. (Photo by David Krumboltz) 

Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles or to read more of Dave’s columns, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.