Edsel Ford can be called a child of the automotive age. Born November 6, 1893, the first days of his life were filled with the newest sound in the country - the chuck-chuck of the gasoline engine. He was six weeks old when his father tested the first Ford engine in their kitchen at 58 Bagley Avenue while Edsel slept in his crib a few feet away.
Edsel was not yet three when, on June 4, 1896, he shared his father's triumph by riding in Henry's first successful car.
As a young boy, Edsel was interested in the styling and making of automobiles. It is no accident that his first car sketches were made in 1903, for that year marked the founding of Ford Motor Company and the beginning of his father's rise to fame and fortune.
During his years at the Detroit University School, Edsel wrote essays on automobiles and automobile manufacturing. After hours he visited the busy Ford factory where he helped in the office, licked stamps, carried mail and learned how cars were made.
At the age of 12 Edsel had his own Model N Runabout. His imagination and styling ability were not satisfied with the "ugly-duckling" lines of the early cars. In these pioneer days of the "horseless carriage," he started out to civilize the automobile. He had an ideal of comfort, grace and beauty which he expressed in a series of personally designed cars. One of these became the famous Model T Torpedo Runabout.
Edsel's interest in automobiles was more than a youthful wish to be different. In 1912, when he completed his work at the Detroit University School, he decided against college and joined the company where he could learn more about automobile manufacturing as an apprentice.
By 1915 Edsel had become a business man and automobile manufacturer. In October of that year he was elected secretary of the company and in January of 1917, vice president. From the beginning he assumed responsibility for the business side of the company, sales, purchasing, advertising and the numerous details of the daily routine. His father was free to concentrate on engineering and manufacture.
These were still the years of the pioneer. Americans separated by vast distances wanted an automobile to meet a basic need. This automobile had been found in Model T. Ford Motor Company expanded enormously in a few short years and yet demand far outreached supply. Henry Ford wished to continue expanding the company's facilities, but other stockholders insisted on immediate profits at the expense of expansion. When the courts decided against Henry Ford, he resigned as president of the company, vowing he would form another company with his son and produce a car that would outshine the Model T. In this atmosphere it was Edsel, newly elected president of the company on January 1, 1919, who found a solution. He began negotiations for the purchase of outstanding minority stocks and by July, Ford Motor Company had become the sole property of the Ford family. Plans for expansion went forward rapidly.
To his new position of responsibility, Edsel brought a fine organizational talent. The commercial side of the company was Edsel's domain. The overseas operations were of special interest to him and he worked to expand Ford facilities in foreign places. He encouraged and supervised Ford participation in public events such as the World Fairs of the '30's, He constantly emphasized quality and service as the prime factors in Ford sales. In business and administration it was Edsel behind the scenes who held the company together.
Successful though he was as an executive within the limits of his father's opposition to change, Edsel's real contribution was not in the daily routine of making and selling. He brought something new to the automobile industry - a belief that an automobile could be beautiful as well as useful. His principal interest was in the styling of cars to carry out this ideal.
Much of his early designing was for personal satisfaction. After 1922 it was to be an active force within the company. It was in February of that year that the Fords purchased Lincoln Motor Company.
Edsel's first concern was for an improvement in the Lincoln style. "Father made the most popular car in the world," he said. "I would like to make the best car in the world." Edsel called in noted body designers from all over the country. Brunn, LeBaron, Dietrich, Judkins and Derham, to name but a few, soon were hard at work designing special bodies for the Lincoln chassis. Each design was scrutinized by Edsel. Each car was a masterpiece of beauty, yet planned for quantity production. The result was an era of the most distinctive and beautiful automobiles in automotive history.
Edsel's influence did not end with the Lincoln, for in the mid-twenties he was urging an improvement in Model T. Changes in 1923 and 1925 gave Model T curved surfaces and smoother lines. Dealers immediately increased their orders and Henry Ford recognized the effect of the styling changes. He even allowed colors on Model T, giving up his orders that "You can have any color as long as it's black."
Model A, introduced in 1927, was Edsel's car in color, style and trim. Henry Ford said, "We've got a good man in my son. He knows style - how a car ought to look. And he has mechanical horse sense, too."
Although his interest in engineering was limited, Edsel Ford was credited with the installation of hydraulic brakes on Ford cars and with interesting his father in building a six-cylinder engine to sell with the V-8.
He also brought about the development of safety glass after a friend suffered severe cuts in an accident in 1926. The following year, 1927, laminated glass was a feature of the Model A.
Edsel realized the effects that styling had on automobile sales. He studied marketing conditions and as early as 1924 told the New York Times that "women are a greater influence in the automobile buying field than ever before."
He summed up market conditions that year by stressing economy and efficiency. "There is a large field of prospects among the middle classes," he said, "who are able to pay more for a car - and pride, vanity, a desire for something more impressive enter very strongly into the sale."
His ability to recognize the public's inherent desire of "something more impressive" motivated his push for a medium-priced car. And, as a result of his efforts, the Lincoln-Zephyr was added to the Lincoln line in 1935.
He further recognized that the lower area of the medium-price market, the area which would benefit most by the shift to higher-priced cars, still was untapped by Ford Motor Company. The competitive potential of the company could not be maintained without active entry into this price class and, accordingly, the Mercury was launched in October, 1938.
Probably his greatest contribution to styling was the Lincoln-Continental which he designed and it was sold prior to and immediately after World War II. Although only a few more than 5,000 were built, those still on the road today are in great demand because of their classic styling.
That he was a man with a vision is seen in an article written for Nation's Business (May 1, 1925) entitled "Why We Have Faith in Aircraft."
"The fundamental of all commercial transportation is speed, and the field in which greater speed can be obtained is in the air," he wrote.
"…… Amongst the commonest experience of the not too distant future will be the daily use of airplanes for personal purposes in many parts of the country, the preparation of landing fields everywhere and an acceptance and use of aircraft as widespread comparatively as the radio."
Edsel Ford eventually purchased the Stout Metal Aircraft Company to produce the famous Ford Tri-Motor plane. He later mobilized engineers and technicians and set them to developing a conveyor system for mass production of interchangeable-part bombers in World War II.
The pressures of World War II took much of Edsel Ford's strength. His entire energies were devoted to producing for victory, and he did not survive these years of trial. With his death on May 26, 1943, Ford lost a true leader, the man whose vision and energy had held the company firm. Probably the greatest contribution made by Edsel Ford to the automotive industry was his ability to combine the artistry of custom design with the functional requirements of mass production. This concept sparked the styling revolution of the 1950's. He knew that the end of automobile making was the pleasure of the owner, and to this end he insisted on comfort, service, quality and beauty.