I want you to soak in for a moment at what you are seeing. It may have started life as a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria, but it is now one of reportedly two Panther-platform cars that have been converted to be one man’s vision of what a modern-day Edsel Citation could have, should have, might have been if it wasn’t for the Edsel brand’s nosedive directly into failure. How deep a devotee to a particular model do you have to be to do this? Edsel was killed in November 1959, with the 1960 cars being more-or-less castoffs to clear production lines. In modern money, Ford sank nearly four billion dollars into launching the brand and lost at least 2.3 billion dollars on the project. Just the name Edsel alone is a synonym for abject failure after proclaiming that the move is infallible.
Part of the reason a 2008 Citation exists is the “what if?” line of thinking, the same one that wonders what a Hemi-powered, rear-drive, four door sedan would be called if Plymouth still existed, or whether a luxury four-door version of the Mustang platform could feasibly sell as a Mercury Cougar. It’s a daydream, a chance to let the brain wander and experiment. It’s just that normally, nobody puts those thoughts into action, let alone sheetmetal.
Still, it’s a fun game to play and that’s the goal for today’s Question of the Day. It doesn’t have to be a dead brand, but what model would you bring back for a modern interpretation? My offering is the Chevrolet Nova, in the form of the Chevrolet Code 130R concept car from 2012. While we’d need ANY other grille than what the car got, the idea of a nimble, small turbo V6-powered machine with rear-drive is entertaining and would fit both forms of Nova that people remember. Small, light, economical, and in the right hands a giant-killer, the reborn Nova would be a low-volume sell, something that would be an option for a Subaru BRZ shopper, or someone who wanted a car the size of the Cruze but hated front-wheel-drive.
What’s your selection? And don’t say Edsel, someone’s already beaten you to the punch, horse collar grille and all.
(Edsel photos: RM Sotheby’s)
Not me – my brain hasn’t melted!
Yuck!!!!!!
You just can’t account for poor taste! An Edsel, why?
FCA still needs to make a Cuda version of the Challenger.
I’ve actually had this idea for a while: Why don’t the big 3 make a joint venture called Obsolete Motors (OM). They would platform share/badge engineer modern renditions of the halo cars from their deceased marks that the big 3 could sell at their stealerships for a nice premium. An AMX, Cuda, Firebird, and Cougar could easily share a platform (probably last gen Camaro). GTO, Gran Torino, and Roadrunner (on Chrysler 300). Bronco, K5, Ramcharger (on Jeep JK)