Who Owned an Edsel?

Yesterday, I got an email from an Edsel Collector asking if I knew whether Stasser's was an "original" Edsel dealer and sold Edsels on their opening day of September 4, 1957. While I am trying to find out the answer to that question, I thought it would be interesting to find out how many people around Haigler owned Edsels.


The only one I remember for sure is Herman and Lilly White. I believe it was a brand new one and it seems like it was Red and Black. One thing I remember about the car itself is that the gear shift was a set of buttons in the middle of the steering wheel.

If you know of anyone else who had an Edsel, you can write your memory about it or just give a name by clicking on the word "Comments" below or Email me and your comments will be added to this post.

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My brother Paul and his wife Nancy owned an Edsel Station Wagon which was purchased from Stasser's Garage.
Cal Freehling

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The only Edsels that I remember in Haigler when I lived there, was a convertible that I think that Gene Williams had, and a four door sedan that Ted and Tom Harford drove to school in the late 60's and early 70's. I believe that this Harford Edsel, has the distinction of being the last Edsel to "Scoop the Loop" in Haigler. I wonder where these cars are today.

LaVoine Smith

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If it's of interest, I think one of our cousins has an Edsel in his quonset. Doris Whipps

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To answer the guy's question, yes, to the best of my knowledge we were among the initial Edsel dealers. I had started at CSU that September. So wasn't around much except during the summers for the next several years. I can't tell you who bought the first one in Haigler. But the ones I remember for sure are the blue and tan station wagon that belonged to Bob and Grace Bannister and the last one we sold to my aunt and uncle Ed and Isabelle Cook. I believe the Bannister one was a 1959 model and the Cook one was the only 1960 model we got before they quit making them. The last I knew, Frank Salisbury, from McCook owned both of them. Frank has been dead for several years and I suspect that his estate sold them. Maybe even at an auction. If Doris' comment about one being stored by a cousin, I would think it could be that Royce Cook may have bought the one that his parents had.

When we closed the garage in 1979 there were a lot of Edsel parts and manuals that were sold at our auction.

By the way, the push button shift thing was a constant source of trouble and was very quickly discontinued.

Sincerely, Dick Stasser

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Thanks, everyone for the info. I have a website at http://edsel.net that you might enjoy.

I own this mechanical pencil from there too.

Jim

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My folks bought an Edsel from Vic Stasser, I'm thinking 1957 or 1958. It was red with black and the push button gear-shift in the center of the steering wheel. I can remember a couple of times the buttons would stick, but can't remember how dad fixed them. Everyone says this is impossible, but you could back mileage off this Edsel. I discovered this by driving to the mail-box and then backing up the car to the house (Lord knows why I decided to do this). Then the "hummmmm" idea came to me, "the folks would never know". Oh my, I could hardly wait until the folks went some place in the pick-up. My hot little feet could hardly go fast enough out to the garage and carefully back the car out, remembering exactly how it was parked. Up and down the hills I would go and then back-up all the way home. (Oh yes, I got to be a pretty good "backer-upper"). But you know, some people are lucky enough to have brothers around and I happened to be JUST that lucky. Sitting at the dinner table one day, Leslie looked at me and said "Karen, just how far will that Edsel back up"? Well you can imagine the rest. HE got to tell mom and dad what he had seen when he was working in the field and I had to do the explaining.

My folks were sticklers about keeping track of mileage and apparently there was never much variance after my adventures. I also have a witness about this car backing mileage off if she would care to step forward and admit she went on a ride with me one time and was amazed about the mileage being backed off. (BE BRAVE, STEP FORWARD).
--Karen Lindell

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Hehehe!!! Not only would it back up and take off the miles, but it also would go VERY fast!!! The day you picked me up and we went looking for (can’t remember the name for sure, but it was some boy you had a crush on at the time) who lived on a farm north of St. Francis, we had to HURRY to get home before our folks missed us!! I remember looking at the speedometer and you were driving 70 mph because we were on the highway and we had to hurry and get off so no one would see us and you didn't want to "backup" on the highway where there might be "traffic"!

It took some planning on our part to find a day when both our folks were gone at the same time. Another thing you left out of your story was how old we were!! I believe it was the summer I was 12 years old….. Let’s see… Are you older than me or younger?

We are lucky we aren't STILL grounded or crippled or DEAD.
--Sherri Gregory

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