The Huron Expositor, 1989-05-10, Page 4dA — irldiaHURONwEEXP'OSI'FOR..MAY 1D, 19B
1 YEAR
ANNUAL
G.I.C.
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49
Seaforth Community Hospita&
..+'�...1 I » r�,.
CANADA HEALT AY
Seaforth Community Hospital Celebrates
Canada Health ;clay by recognizing volunteers.
To show our appreciation of the many
volunteers providing service at the hospital, we
are hosting a luncheon for them. Friday, :ay
12 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p,; all Hospital
Volunteers and Canvassers are welcome to
join us in the Boardroom.
Seaforth
Community
Hospital.
FUUF{-uvuhi, riArea ui', CITATION 1958 EDSELis own- and ys he ----�pw"'a` eel
aeTpsNt.w
h it is newly painted
ed by Fred Glanville of Bayfield, and was built especially for the and has new floor rugs, tthe estiof the carit.lhinclud ng chrome and
Chicago Fair. Mr. having
Glanville 'is only the third owner of the car (and leather interior, is all original. Mr. Glanville plans to have the car at
the first male owner), hpurchased it in Florida in 1986 for the Car Show in Seaforth later this summer.
what he calls a small sum. The car is Mr. Glanville's first Edsel
Designer says it's_ time for another Edsel
Roy Brown says in no uncertain terms
that the time has come for another Edsel. It
was Brown who designed Ford's infamous
Edsel more than 30 years ago, and with it,
he unwittingly gave a whole generation a
new word meaning failure.
Mr. Brown, now 72, spent 25 years as a
Ford designer, and he says that cars in the
late 1980s are much;likethey we'e'ln'thelate
1950s - at least in one very important •area:
styling.
In the spring of 1955, Mr. Brown and five
designers from the new, and as yet unnam-
ed, car division at Ford, stood on a busy
street corner in Detroit watching cars pass.
"We studied all the cars on the road,
every one of them, 19 different American
makes at the time. They all had a wide
mouth. I said, `Hell, from a block away, you
can't tell one from another," he recalled.
Mr. Brown said he gets the same impres-
sion looking at today's cars, although, he
says, the styling is much better now than it
was in the mid-to-late 50s.
"I think modern cars are wonderful. I love
the looks, and what has happened in the
automobile industry in the last few years.
The only problem is that cars are all beginn-
ing to look the same. Even for me, it's get-
ting hard to tell a Nissan from a Toyota or a
Mustang- they all look alike. It's time for
another Edsel. I really think it is. It's time
for a car that is very different from the rest
of them."
Building a car that was different from
anything else on the road was the priority
given Mr. Brown when he was named chief
designer for what was called the E -Car in
1955.
If there was any one part of the Edsel that
killed its chances in the marketplace, it was
the grille, which may he the only one in
automotive history to launch a thousand
jokes. Some said it reminded them of an
Oldsmobile,.sucking a lemon and others
compared it to a toilet seat. ButMr. Brown
agid the�grplle;mailed *e home collar, was
a.:deslgnetkt role' ?. )toilie- event from
''the-shapes'beurg °on othermars,
From the very'begi.nning, I always had
the ides ,of something vertical and
something on each side. So you had these
three elements. My idea of good car design
is that, you've got to be able to read the
design in one glance. If it's so fussy that
HELP!
Edsel production
1958 63,110/2,806 convertibles
1959 44,891/1,343 convertibles
1960 2,846/ 76 convertibles
there is so much going on, and you can't
remember -what the car looked like, then it's
a bad design.
"In 1958 and 1959, the Edsel was really a
pretty clean design compared to...well, I
remember the Oldsmobile of the day had a
trebled clef on the side of the fender with
notes on it and everything. I think it was the
Buick that had a great big thing on the grille
that looked like a chrome plated furnace
door. It looked like you should lift it open,
shovel coal into it and CLANG! Those were
heavy chromed cars with heavy forms.
Things like that were ugly."
But it wasn't long after the Edsel debuted
that the jokes started. The Edsel's con-
troversial looks, however, weren't the only
reason the car did not sell. In fact, the
EdseI's styling may have just been a minor
nuisance and may have been blown out of
proportion by critics. The real problem was
simply this: the Edsel was the wrong car at
the wrong time.
The Ford marketing survey that led to the
decision to produce the Edsel was com-
pleted in 1954 and early 1955, according to
British author Robert Lacey, who wrote
about the history of the Ford Motor Co. At
that time, the economy was booming and
people said they wanted cars in the medium
price range. But by October 1957, when the
Edsel debuted, the country was in a reces-
sion, the market for medium-priced cars
had withered by 40 per cent. Buyers, accor-
EDSEL FAN - Fred Glanville of Bayfield
says he has always loved old cars, and
wouldn't trade his 1958 Edsel for the world.
Mcllwraith photo.
designer. The disaster of it was when the
whole thing burst, but you have to take the
good with the bad," said Mr. Brown.
One might think a disaster of the Edsel's
magnitude - Ford Lost about $250 million -
would have been enough to eliminate Mr.
Brown from any further serious design
work, but that wasn't so. In late 1959, he was
promoted to that
of design for 'Ford of
Great Britain.
He stayed in England until 1964 and dur-
ing his five years there, Mr. Brown was
given the task of crating a new design center
dung to Lacey, were looking for economy and assembling the best team of designers
cars. That year, Rambler sold more than in Europe. His next three ears, the Ford
100,009 copies of its lower-priced American. Zephyr,' the Ford Zodiac and the Ford Cor -
In the 'Edsel's three years in the tina, all racked up impressive sales.
marketplace, about 110,000 cars were sold. Today, Mr. Brown is an architect, a
Ford had predicted sales would run as high painter and a photographer. He lives in
as four times that number. Michigan and spends time throughout the
"The thing that contributed to the failure year at his condominium in Fort Lauder -
of the car was bad timing. It was a good dale. He said if he were given a blank sheet
design. When we made the presentation to of paper and the same instructions now that
the (Ford) board of directors, we had a tur- he was given for the Edsel, he'd design a
quoise and white convertible on the turn- modern version of the Edsel. He has two
table. When the ccutrains opened, it went cars; a late model Lincoln, and a white and
around and around, and I made the spiel: turquoise 1958 Edsel convertible, similar to
'What we've done here is something you will the one that debuted in front of the Ford
not see on the road. There is not anything board of directors years ago.
like it.' When I got through, Henry Ford II "I said at the beginning, when the Edsel
stood up and applauded and then everybody went down the tubes, someday this is going
stood up and applauded. to be a collectors' car. My fellow employees
"It was the first time the board of direr- said, 'Never mind all that stuff, Roy.' It sure
tors applauded a bloody automobile. Well, is nice to be right. There's a little part of me
that was the highlight of my career as a that says I told you so."
The Secy
LETTERS TO ME EDITOR
Communtv
Hospita
Petro Canada and CJ's Auto Service will donate
Se per litre of all gasoline sales: purchased at CJ's
Auto Service from May 17 to May 24 to the
Hospital
Fund
,Farmer feels
• from page 2
I also wanted to thank the township coun-
cil's representatives for supporting the lan-
downer's concerns.
word.
But I didn't move from my seat or utter a
I wanted to tell Mr. Thomas and Mr.
'Tosine about the problems we have had
dealing with the railway in regards to fenc-
ing, crossings, weeds, drainage and many
oxher nuisances and that I would rather bear
e expense of buying this property than the
frustration of .trying to persuade another
owner or agency to mdintain it in a satisfac-
tory manner.
I also wanted to tell Mr. Thomas and Mr.
Tosinethat .we cherishedour.way of life and
our privacy and that we do not want these
two important aspects -of farm life en-
dangered by a public access through -the
middle of our farms, front yards, back
yards,, and laneways.
1 wanted to mention that 1 though that peo-
ple who are today trespassing on CPR
private property and boasting about it
would probably not hesitate to trespass on
.qy property oryours, as well.
I wanted to point out that basic freedoms
like our way of life and privacy are precious
traditions that are easily lost but very dif-
ficult or impossible to regain.
As I have written, I wanted to say these
things, but having no talent for public speak-
ing, Y was unable to utter a word.
But I didn't have to worry because all my
concerns and others besides were capably
covered by other people and intently listen-
ed to and carefully noted by Mr. Thomas
and Mr. Twine.
Well, it's time to tend my cattle again. I do
that twice a day, 305 days a year. Lucky for
me I am a bit better at farming than speak -
Ing at a meeting or writing.
A Morris Township Farmer
Wight
• frompage 2
tions, rfaarriaages, •50 many special occasions
etched :in :our memories because ;we could
see.
What.. wouldlt:be like if -I had never had • the
chanddee 1o:see7 As mother, T would have
missed iso.,mueh. duty-fanlitly rY would
,have been ;so ,mticli poorer ,without the
stories handed llawn:by-mother and;grand-
terand, Ale 0,00rs ;who,had.aetually
' Vie evs.
Cataract operationsis Canaria .to4'eptore
sight are comrponplace, ,but there are
Plaggsaki a+worldaWhere.such,o r boons
o eeke4 rweegine.
d cRun €s, cwhere
re is a;•gll riser
00
lCe ecl
Sl,ffoi' ilby
tram, Jame .lucky .we "ac ..0 have access 1 i
medical facilities, to have clean water and
most of all to be able to contribute to the
well•being of others.
We all:tiwik of -our mothers and ,grand-
mothers on M other's D y. On this Mother's
ay, please think about the mothers and
grandmothers of Third World countries,
whado not havetheir sight, who bave,never
ee their ollil(I<'eai.or male/4idren .and
who Cannot live a .usef life , douse they
are -WO. A gift :to taper Ion Eyesight
ttniversnt:ps a tribute toPolo .her rPOW-
pother
mould be a gift of•real ,1 a to
meoae• ,whoMOW 4918.die hope.
)9tions ,MAYbe809t to: O sj
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