Restyling the ’58 Edsel

A lot was happening in Detroit, late-’57-early-’58. The big styling departments scrambled for change—innovation—looking for inspiration in a wide range of places. Pointed fins were heading toward the exit. Cars continued to grow. Conversations in smoky boardrooms among men in pressed white shirts and narrow black ties about adding more headlights, more scoops, more trim, more horsepower, more taillights and maybe even more exhaust pipes regularly roared to life as deadlines loomed. As we now know, some of the ’58s turned out well and some weren’t so lucky.

Enter Joe Henning and OCee (pronounced Oh See) Ritch, the humorous and talented pair behind numerous Rod & Custom articles that focused heavily on the “what ifs�? of our hobby. In late 1957, they infamously took a jab at the then-new ’58 Edsel, alerting readers that those who bought one were being “…rooked, bilked, and cheated or otherwise taken to the cleaners.�? They were quick to dismiss just about every styling cue on the Edsel, with extra disdain for the front grille. Key words and phrases included, but were not limited to: “busy,�? “little gimmicks,�? “not done in good taste,�? “unfortunate,�? “should have died with the ’47 Buick,�? “difficult,�? and “not solved.�? Like I said, they weren’t impressed.

As those of you who are well versed in the little pages know, Henning and Ritch weren’t all talk—they offered solutions. Henning penned up a sample ’58 to show that the poor machine could be saved from its factory appearance with a fair amount of customizing.

The end result was attractive and completely different. Gone was the vertical nosepiece, heavy trim and unnecessary ornamentation, and well, basically everything that discerned it as an Edsel. I’m not sure if I’ve said it in print before, but I’m a fan of Edsels—’58s in particular—so I’ll be the first to say I don’t agree with everything H&R put down in R&C. But in their defense, the restyled version looks pretty good to me. Like the article suggests, maybe all this talk is just “Much Ado About Nothing.�?

—Joey Ukrop

Artwork by Joe Henning, R&C, October 1957