Edsel Ford
Encyclopedia
Edsel Bryant Ford son of Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...

, was born in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was president of Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 from 1919 until his death in 1943.

Life and career

As the only child of Clara and Henry Ford, Edsel was groomed to take over the family automobile business, and had grown up tinkering on cars with his father. He became secretary of Ford in 1915 and married Eleanor Lowtian Clay (1896–1976), niece of department store owner J. L. Hudson, on November 1, 1916. Together they had four children: Henry Ford II
Henry Ford II
Henry Ford II , commonly known as "HF2" and "Hank the Deuce", was the son of Edsel Ford and grandson of Henry Ford...

 (1917–1987), Benson Ford (1919–1978), Josephine Clay Ford (1923–2005), and William Clay Ford
William Clay Ford, Sr.
William Clay Ford, Sr. is the youngest of the four children of Edsel Ford and the youngest grandchild of Henry Ford.-Biography:...

 (born 1925). They made their home at 2171 Iroquois St, in the Indian Village
Indian Village, Detroit
Indian Village is a historic affluent neighborhood located on Detroit's east side, bound to the north and south by Mack Avenue and East Jefferson Avenue, respectively, along the streets of Burns, Iroquois, and Seminole...

 neighborhood of Detroit.

Ford went to The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut
Lakeville, Connecticut
Lakeville is a village and census-designated place in the town of Salisbury in Litchfield County, Connecticut, on Lake Wononskopomuc. The village includes Lakeville Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district represents about of the village center...

 and Detroit University School. His family have been donors to both institutions, and the school library is at Hotchkiss is named the Edsel Ford Memorial Library.

The younger Ford showed more interest than his father in flashier styling for automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s. He indulged this proclivity in part with the purchase of the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922. His affinity for sports cars was demonstrated in his personal vehicles: Edsel bought the first MG
MG (car)
The MG Car Company is a former British sports car manufacturer founded in the 1920s by Cecil Kimber. Best known for its two-seat open sports cars, MG also produced saloons and coupés....

 motorcar imported to the United States. In 1932 he had an aluminum, boat-tailed speedster automobile custom-designed for him by Ford's first designer, E.T. (Bob) Gregorie. This car had a number of features that were not available on any other car. Most of the design features appeared in many Ford models throughout history. The car had Ford's brand-new V8, the first low-cost eight-cylinder engine. The car is considered the world's first "Hot Rod" by many car experts and historians. Two years later Edsel had another car designed, this one a low-riding aluminum-bodied speedster. The latter two cars he kept for the remainder of his life and inspired the design of the Lincoln Continental
Lincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...

. The 1934 roadster was sold at auction in 2009 for $1.79 million dollars.

After becoming president of Ford, Edsel long advocated the introduction of a more modern automobile to replace the Model T
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...

, but was repeatedly overruled by his father. Flagging sales and dwindling market share for the company, however, finally made introduction of a new model inevitable, the Model A.

During the design phase for the Model A
Ford Model A (1927)
The Ford Model A of 1927–1931 was the second huge success for the Ford Motor Company, after its predecessor, the Model T. First produced on October 20, 1927, but not sold until December 2, it replaced the venerable Model T, which had been produced for 18 years...

 in 1927, Henry Ford assured mechanical quality and reliability, leaving it to his son to develop the body design, with the help of designer József Galamb. Edsel also prevailed upon his father to allow the inclusion of four-wheel mechanical brake
Brake
A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....

s and a sliding-gear transmission
Transmission (mechanics)
A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...

 on this model. The resulting Model A was a commercial success, selling over four million during four years of production.

As president, Edsel Ford often disagreed with his father on major decisions, and was occasionally humiliated in public by the older man. The relationship between the father and son was always close but also always fraught with unhealthy aspects. However, Edsel managed to introduce many lasting changes. He founded and named the Mercury
Mercury (automobile)
Mercury was an automobile marque of the Ford Motor Company launched in 1938 by Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, to market entry-level luxury cars slotted between Ford-branded regular models and Lincoln-branded luxury vehicles, similar to General Motors' Buick brand, and Chrysler's namesake brand...

 division. He was responsible for the Lincoln Zephyr
Lincoln-Zephyr
Lincoln-Zephyr was a marque for the lower priced line of luxury cars in the Lincoln line 1936-40. Lincoln-Zephyr and Mercury, introduced 1939, bridged the wide gap between Ford's V-8 De Luxe line and the exclusive Lincoln K-series cars. This served a purpose similar to Cadillac's smaller LaSalle...

 and Lincoln Continental
Lincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...

. He significantly strengthened Ford Motors' overseas production, and he worked to modernize the company's cars, such as by the introduction of hydraulic brake
Hydraulic brake
The hydraulic brake is an arrangement of braking mechanism which uses brake fluid, typically containing ethylene glycol, to transfer pressure from the controlling unit, which is usually near the operator of the vehicle, to the actual brake mechanism, which is usually at or near the wheel of the...

s.

Death and legacy

Edsel Ford died due to stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...

 in 1943 at 'Gaukler Point' in Grosse Pointe Shores
Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan
Grosse Pointe Shores is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. With only land area, the city is the smallest of the five Grosse Pointe communities. The city, which is entirely residential, is the location of the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club on Lake Saint Clair. The city's population was 3,008 at the...

 at the age of 49. According to tour guides at the Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe
Grosse Pointe
Grosse Pointe refers to a coastal area in Metro Detroit, Michigan, United States that comprises five adjacent individual communities. From southwest to northeast, they are:*Grosse Pointe Park, city*Grosse Pointe, city*Grosse Pointe Farms, city...

, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, however, Edsel's father, Henry, was a domineering type who insisted that his son drink unpasteurized milk, which caused Edsel to contract and then succumb to undulant fever
Brucellosis
Brucellosis, also called Bang's disease, Crimean fever, Gibraltar fever, Malta fever, Maltese fever, Mediterranean fever, rock fever, or undulant fever, is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unsterilized milk or meat from infected animals or close contact with their secretions...

. His father, Henry, resumed the presidency of the company. All of Edsel Ford's nonvoting stock was donated through a codicil in his will to the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....

, which he had founded with his father seven years earlier. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.

Each of Edsel Ford's children inherited many shares in the Ford company, and the three sons all worked in the family business. Henry Ford II
Henry Ford II
Henry Ford II , commonly known as "HF2" and "Hank the Deuce", was the son of Edsel Ford and grandson of Henry Ford...

 succeeded his grandfather as president of Ford on September 21, 1945. He is generally credited with rescuing the company during and after World War II via a wide-reaching regime change (removing Harry Bennett
Harry Bennett
Harry Bennett , a former boxer and ex-Navy sailor, was an executive at Ford Motor Company during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known as the head of Ford’s Service Department, or Internal Security. While working for Ford, his union busting tactics, of which The Battle of the Overpass was a prime...

 from operational control of the company and allowing the Whiz Kids to bring operations research
Operations research
Operations research is an interdisciplinary mathematical science that focuses on the effective use of technology by organizations...

 to Ford's operations management
Operations management
Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and...

).

Edsel Ford was one of the most significant art benefactors in Detroit history. As president of the Detroit Arts Commission, he commissioned the famous Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...

 Detroit Industry mural contained within the Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...

 (DIA). He was an early collector of African art
African art
African art constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Though many casual observers tend to generalize "traditional" African art, the continent is full of people, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture. The definition also includes the art of the African...

 and his contributions became part of the core of the original DIA African art collection. After his death his family continued to make significant contributions.

Edsel also helped to finance exploratory expeditions, including the historic flight of Admiral Richard Byrd
Richard Byrd
Richard Byrd is the name of:*Richard C. Byrd , American politician*Richard Evelyn Byrd , admiral, polar explorer, aviator*Richard Byrd , American Olympic athlete...

 over the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...

 in 1926. Byrd, in his Antarctic expeditions, also financed by Edsel, named the Edsel Ford Range of mountains after him. Other Antarctic homages include Ford Massif, Ford Nunataks, and Ford Peak.

Two of the three high schools in Dearborn
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...

 are named after Edsel Ford: Edsel Ford High School
Edsel Ford High School
Edsel Ford High School is a secondary school located in Dearborn, Michigan, USA. Edsel Ford, located on Rotunda, near Oakwood, is one of three high schools in the Dearborn Public Schools. Edsel Ford High School was completed in 1955, and the first graduating class was in 1956...

 and Fordson High School
Fordson High School
Fordson High School is a secondary school located in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was completed in 1928 on a parcel of land which was then the village of Fordson, named for Henry Ford and his son Edsel Ford.-History:...

; Fordson was the brand name of a line of tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...

s and was originally started as a separate company, Henry Ford & Son, later absorbed into the Ford Motor Company. Interstate 94
Interstate 94
Interstate 94 is the northernmost east–west Interstate Highway, connecting the Great Lakes and Intermountain regions of the United States. I-94's western terminus is in Billings, Montana at a junction with Interstate 90; its eastern terminus is the U.S...

 in the Detroit Metropolitan Area is named the Edsel Ford Freeway.

In September, 1957, Ford Motor Company unveiled a new division of cars called Edsel
Edsel
The Edsel was an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The Edsel never gained popularity with contemporary American car buyers and sold poorly. Consequently, the Ford Motor Company lost millions of dollars on the Edsel's development,...

. The Edsel division included the following cars: the Citation, Corsair, Pacer, Ranger, Bermuda, Villager, and the Roundup. The Edsel division is remembered as a significant commercial failure, although the cars sold moderately well in their first year. The Edsel division was discontinued soon after the 1960 models were introduced.

Edsel and Eleanor Ford House

In 1929 the Ford family moved into 'Gaukler Point', their new home designed by Albert Kahn in 1929, on shores of Lake St. Clair in Grosse Pointe Shores
Grosse Pointe
Grosse Pointe refers to a coastal area in Metro Detroit, Michigan, United States that comprises five adjacent individual communities. From southwest to northeast, they are:*Grosse Pointe Park, city*Grosse Pointe, city*Grosse Pointe Farms, city...

, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. The estate's
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

 gardens were designed by landscape architect
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....

  Jens Jensen
Jens Jensen (landscape architect)
Jens Jensen was a Danish-American landscape architect.-Early life:Jens Jensen was born near Dybbøl in Slesvig, Denmark, in 1860, to a wealthy farming family. For the first nineteen years of his life he lived on his family's farm, which cultivated his love for the natural environment...

 with his traditional 'long view' giving visitors a glimpse of the residence down the long meadow before revealing the entire house at drive's end.

He also designed the gardens for Edsel and Eleanor's summer estate 'Skylands' in Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...

 on Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island , in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 6th largest island in the contiguous United States. Though it is often claimed to be the third largest island on the eastern seaboard of the United States, it is actually second...

 in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. (1922). Jensen did design work for their two other Michigan residences, one being 'Haven Hill,' between 1922 and 1935. 'Haven Hill', now within the Highland Recreation Area
Highland Recreation Area
Highland Recreation Area is a state recreation area in the southeast part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in north Oakland County, west of Pontiac....

 near White Lake Township
White Lake Township, Michigan
White Lake Charter Township is a charter township of north Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan, it is part of the Detroit metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 30,019...

 in southeastern Michigan, is designated as both a Michigan State Historical Landmark and State Natural Preserve. Jensen's landscape elements, with the diversity of tree, plant and animal life, combine aesthetics, history and nature.

Edsel Ford died at 'Gaukler Point', the Grosse Pointe Shores house, in 1943. His wife Eleanor continued living there until her death in 1976. It was her wish that the property be used for "the benefit of the public." The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House
Edsel and Eleanor Ford House
The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, which is named "Gaukler Point" - is on the shore of Lake St. Clair in Grosse Pointe Shores, northeast of Detroit, Michigan, the United States. It became the new residence of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford family in 1929. Edsel Ford was the son of Henry Ford and an...

 is now open to the public. Located on 87 acres (352,076.8 m²), the house has an excellent collection of the Ford's original antiques and art, and the historical landscape grounds on the lakefront. The museum currently hosts tours, classes, lectures, and special events. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

External links


Further reading

  • A&E with Richard Guy Wilson, Ph.D.,(2000). America's Castles: The Auto Baron Estates, A&E Television Network.
  • Bak, Richard (2003). Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire. Wiley ISBN 0471234877
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