What do you get when you cross an enthusiast of a dead car brand, a bank account, and a late-model Panther?
This. Presenting the 2008 Edsel Citation:
Today’s Rare Ride started out in life as a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria, as was probably obvious from the headline image. From the Ford dealer, the beige sedan was sold to Edsel enthusiast Rob Cerame. Mr. Cerame had a greater plan in mind for Crown Victoria: A tribute to his favorite deceased automotive brand. The marque in question? Edsel.
For context, Edsel was a short-lived division of Ford, named after founder Henry Ford’s son. Desirous of a larger market share, Ford planned a “new” intermediate line of cars. The company hyped the Edsel brand and launched it in 1958 as a standalone, accompanying the Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, and Continental divisions.
Edsels shared bodies with Lincoln-Mercury cars, with nearly identical pricing to Mercury vehicles. The 1958 lineup included the Ranger, Pacer, Corsair, and flagship Citation cars. Customers weren’t impressed with the styling or the vehicles, and instead continued to buy the nearly identical (but less ugly) Mercury or Lincoln they would’ve bought before Edsel existed. A complete failure, Edsel’s last year was 1960. Back to our Rare Ride.
In honor of Edsel’s 50th anniversary, Mr. Cerame executed his vision of what an Edsel would look like in 2008. An aftermarket company designed and grafted an Edsel visage and rear end treatment onto the Crown Victoria. The door handles were chromed; artificial side vents added.
The sales listing mentions custom paint, but that might’ve been a respray over the edited body panels – there were plenty of Crown Vics this color. Aftermarket wheels, custom Citation badging, a pinstripe, and a carriage roof treatment completed the exterior modifications. The whole package rides on some aftermarket wheels with custom Edsel center caps.
Inside, more exquisite Edsel! A chromed dash trim strip compliments the foil-effect instrument surround. Our creator applied an Edsel logo over the steering wheel’s Ford badge and reworked the seats. These now feature “50th Anniversary” embroidery, 1950s patterned cloth, and some brown leather. The same geometric cloth finds its way to the door trim inserts, though perhaps chromed material (to match the dash) might’ve been more expected.
The Sotheby’s listing indicates only two 2008 Citations ever became a reality, so this one is a serious opportunity for the Edsel enthusiast. It goes up on the auction block in Auburn, Indiana on August 31st. There’s no reserve, but bids are expected to run between $10,000 and $15,000. There are many more pictures on the listing, which all Edsel enthusiasts will want to review.
[Images: RM Sotheby’s]
So very sick, yet I would drive it.
OMG Corey, where did you find this hot mess? I too would drive it for giggles and grins
That front end is pure car-porn… literally
Yeah, I wanted to flag this article for indecent exposure of Queen Victoria’s coochie.
You’ve seen Queen Victoria’s coochie?… ew
Yeah, two pics of it above! Certainly wasn’t my choice lol.
The woman was grossly over weight, had nine children and bathed once a year “whether she needed it or not”… Yep, nailed it
Did they seriously cut the front bumper in half to jam in that awful Edsel twatfeature? So it is not only hideous, it’s also primed to fold in half if you ever hit anything. Brilliant!
Probably not. The impact bar is well behind the four inches of bumper lip, and would likely have been undisturbed in this modification. You’ll have a little less impact foam, but the bumper cover itself—which is the part they took a sawz-all to—is purely cosmetic, and won’t affect the structural integrity of the car.
I don’t dispute that it’s hideous, however.
D*mmit, Corey, you can’t just post pictures like that on the front page without warning.
This thing is vile.
A horrible idea executed with obvious care and attention to detail… but still a horrible idea.
Well said.
Well said. Could not agree more.
Hah. I was known for saying “that’s an outstanding execution of a really stupid idea” in business meetings.
Sounds like we’ve worked for the same companies, FWD Donuts.
“I was known for saying “that’s an outstanding execution of a really stupid idea” in business meetings.”
My brother told one of his bosses that he was a “fvcking idiot”. It went to a disciplinary meeting and was told to apologize and things would be dropped. He looked at the boss in question and said, “I’m SORRY that you are a fvcking idiot”. Since my brother was one of their best field operations managers, they told him to play nice and do what he was told (and to keep notes). 6 months latter they fired his boss.
The rear styling changes actually look good. The rest? Meh, with a side of prolly not.
Gack! Actually, the low-line 1958 Edsel shared its platform with Ford, while the high-line models used the Mercury platform. For 1959-1960, only the Ford platform was used.
Aren’t those V6 Mustang wheels??
Yes, I believe so. Not bad looking.
This whole car comes across as a “what if” badge-engineering experiment. Like, lets make a Mercury Tracer out of a Focus! Or a Plymouth Neon out of a Dart! Okay, those are compacts but the point is valid. Lol just doesn’t make sense.
That is exactly what it is. Consider that Mercury at the time was a gussied up Ford; it would be logical to think that a top of the line Edsel would be a gussied up Mercury.
Lincoln, Rolls Royce, Cadillac, and BMW all still had their distinctive grills at this point, so if Edsel was still in existence, it would too. Some of the above (especially the Rolls) were still grafting their square grills on a jellybean body, making for an awkward look.
So as a “what if” design exercise, this works for me. But would I buy/drive it;; no. The original Edsel was too over-the-top styling wise for me; and this one is no different.
Absolutely right.
If I were so inclined, had more money than I knew what to do with, and held affection for Edsel (the car), I’d find an old original car in poor condition, upgrade it with modern hardware, possibly using some parts from a later Crown Vic. I would not use a sad stock 4.6L, but instead, either the 3.5L EcoBoost or a Coyote 5.0L. A resto-mod, in other words. I can’t say buying a then-new Crown Vic and making it into a rebadged Edsel would have ever occurred to me.
The Edsel as originally released was to cover the ground between Ford and Mercury and was a gussied up Ford for the low end models and Mercury could be considered a gussied up version of the high end Edsels.
Yup they are. My neighbor has them on his Mercury GM. Gives that car some MUCH needed attitude.
Yes. The bolt pattern is the same.
Yes Mustang V6 wheels with the optional spinners, that is what I got for the winter tires for my Daughter’s Crown Vic, sans the spinners.
There was a site on the internet that listed all of the bolt patterns and offsets of various wheels. It was a very handy site for wheel swaps.
This was on Jalopnik recently on NP or CP. It is the very same idea. Excruciating attention to detail, but why?
This is like shoddily building a swimming pool in your living room. You might like it, no one else will touch it when it comes time to sell. Labor of love…?
https://jalopnik.com/at-13-200-nothing-rhymes-with-this-1985-ford-thunderb-1828459620
I’d rather have the super-orange “Bird” in the link than this thing.
Very clever, except for the obscenely ugly front grille re-do. It will get plenty of attention, but still looks like a customized Crown Vic.
Downplaying the treatment on the front would have make it much nicer. Seriously, after 50 years, that little detail would have undergone many modifications.
It’s kind of like when Ford redid the 2005 “retro” Mustang, it was immediately identifiable as a Mustang, that is if the Mustangs from 1974-2004 never existed. It’s called suspension of disbelief
50 years?
Look for a photo of a 1960 Edsel. 2 years and the grill was gone. If Edsel had survived
that look wasn’t coming back.
Guys a talented moron if he thinks “What if..” He knows what if.
He’s probably someone who doesn’t believe the 1960 models are real Edsels because
only around 2800 were made before Ford pulled the plug.
The first Edsels were the most identifiable with that, that grille. By 1960 they were nothing more then Fords with different chrome bits that few people even knew still existed. So, yeah, if someone were to do a “what if” custom mod they’re going to go with the most identifiable image
The 1960 Edsels were far more understated, I wish Ford would have stuck with it for one more year. (But then, based on the prototypes I would have liked to have seen the 1967 Studebakers, so…) Agreed though that only 10 people would recognize a throwback trim edition based on the last-year face.
That being said, my biggest problem with the bumper treatment is how the grille segments pinch upward and the bumpers curve *away* from the horsecollar, creating the bumper equivalent of DLO fail.
With you dejal1 – I can see keeping the general idea of the “centerpiece” with a more understated version – a smaller “v” shape that does not cut through the bumper facia line being the same height as the rest of the grille. That would still allude to the original, but be less disruptive and perhaps more attractive over all. I also would have went with a more understated 50th anniversary declaration on the front seats – again, smaller and centered in the top portion of the seat in darker gold thread to aid the “readability”. Other than the throw back center portion of the front, it’s not a bad looking car.
The chrome driver’s side mirror and black passenger side mirror make me think of one of those styling exercises where they split the car and do one trim level on each side. But in this case it just looks like a goof up.
Nah, I think the cheapie chrome cover just fell off of the passenger side
With the attention to detail on just about everything else in the car, it is interesting that the “50th Anniversary” seat-backs do not match the rest of the upholstery.
Or is a trick of the light with the camera exposure?
It’s 2018. Time for a 60th anniversary model…
No BOF cars to build it out of.
Maybe an F-150 with a sedan body? Uhhhggg please don’t any one take that suggestion. I’m begging you. This was bad enough.
I wonder if any automaker has actually built a sedan on a ladder (truck) frame. Not just a perimeter frame, but an actual ladder frame. It’d probably have a very weird driving position, since you’d be sitting on the frame, not in it.
I think when you build a ladder frame sedan you end up with a The Beast limousine.
That’s true. They did put it on a TopKick/Kodiak chassis.
With an unholy mixture of Escalade, DTS, and STS parts.
Beat me to it, Corey, thought about it on the way home from work and was going to come here and say the same thing.
I think the Rolls Royce Silver Clouds and Phantom V/VI might qualify. Depends on how you define the frame I guess.
A couple of months back I saw a 97-03 generation F-150 long bed with a short bed cap on it. Undocumented landscapers will jury rig anything. Anyway, it looked just like a sedan. What the Continental should have been but wasn’t. Awesome.
Doesn’t matter. Build one out of the Taurus. The result would be as good.
AUBURN INDIANA I THINK.
NOT MICHIGAN.
Correct.
Sajeev will outbid everyone. This Edsel Citation may be the ultimate display of Panther love.
One look at this: Ha ha ha!
I’m sure it will sell to someone, but what I want to know is: How much did all the modifications and custom trim cost?
I would love to see what Chip Foose would come up with for an anniversary “Edsel”, although I’d rather see a current Ford Taurus made into a proper Ford Galaxie 500. Now THAT would peak my attention!
Edsel? I thought it was a Lexus!
I’m curiously aroused. I may need psychological help.
Well that front end does beg allusions to a flying version of a part of the female anatomy.
looks like it has a cleft lip.
In a homage to TTAC past. I am not sure if which is worse, this or my Tribeca.
The picture made me think it was a new brougham version of an Alfa Romeo.
Makes about as much sense as somebody building a 50th anniversary Subaru Tribeca.
I don’t hate the rear-end treatment. That’s about the nicest thing I can say.
I think I would have tried to blend in the upper tail light part better than they did. It almost looks like they just painted over the stock tailamps. I always felt the 1998+ Grand Marquis deserved a more distinctive rear styling from the Crown Vic. Something like this, although as I said, with some further modifications, would have been better.
They probably should have come up with actual metal caps and welded them to the quarter panel, for a seamless look. Then you wouldn’t know where the OEM lights had been.
I think Ford completely lost the plot with the 98+ Panthers. Build quality went way down, and it was strange that the Crown Vic began using the Grand Marquis’ body shell in the first place.
I agree, on both paragraphs.
For the man with a very serious Edsel fetish, commissioned by a man with an Edsel fetish that knew no bounds of financial restraint.
You think you hate it now ; wait till you drive it.
Just think, in three years, someone can take a Chevy Spark, put in an aluminum/silicone engine, delete the power steering, brakes, windows, etc., douse the body in saltwater and produce a 50th Anniversary Vega!
Ooh, looking forward to that one
Looking at the top photo before I started reading, I thought this was going to be a “What would a modern Edsel look like?” piece with a “photochop” illustration. But no, it’s for real ….
A male moose would find that front end attractive.
I’m as big a Panther fan (a hardcore Edsel fan too) as there is but even I wouldn’t be caught dead driving that rolling abortion. Kill it with fire, please.
I hate Panthers with the heat of a million suns, but I think this was a terrible thing to do to one.
Deeply unfortunate looking.
It’s been done:
https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzJYMzI=/z/JesAAOSwWhRZhy7R/$_86.JPG