The provocative question in our title suggests the point is open for debate so MyStarCollectorCar decided to jump in the deep end and address the issue.
The two car models do share some similarities because both were costly investments for their parent companies and offered a rigid love-it-or-hate it style not generally found in other car models.
Jim Sutherland
The Edsel was supposed to provide an upper-end model for the Ford division in the Blue Oval family and was created to compete for the kind of buyers who typically bought Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Mercurys because their buyers had more disposable income than an average Ford customer.
The Edsel cost plenty of dough during the research and development phase, although its oddball style created more controversy than sales because its designers stepped onto a very narrow cliff and gambled whether the car would get love from Ford loyalists.
The Edsel looked conventional from a side view, but its front and rear ends chose another path. The 1958-59 Edsel models featured a large horse collar front grille that appeared to be added to the car’s overall style by designers who mixed cocktails with hallucinogens and acted on sheer impulse.
The rear end of the first Edsel was also controversial because the taillights hugged the upper perimeter of the car’s horizontal fins and left plenty of blank sheet metal below them. It was a jarring style that caught people off-guard, even during the back nine of the Fabulous Fifties when outrageous automotive design was as popular as Elvis.
The Edsel settled into comedy punchline status after a brief 3-year production run that ended with a completely new design for 1960. The ‘60 Edsel’s new look was not enough to save the car, likely because the car’s rear end was still too weird for the average buyer. But the happy ending is the Edsel got a mercy-killing that year.
The death of the Edsel did not discourage American Motors from their own radical design direction during the 1970s. The Gremlin broke the ice for AMC in the oddball car design department when it was introduced in 1970 because of its chopped rear deck, but the little car paled by comparison to the Pacer when it debuted in 1975.
The Pacer was compared to a goldfish bowl on wheels when it hit the AMC showrooms because of its wide cab with plenty of passenger and window space coupled to a small front and rear deck. The Pacer was supposed to be an AMC alternative to the wave of small imports invading the North American automotive market during the 1970s but was unable to compete with them.
Instead, the Pacer was saddled with AMC’s heavy, outdated six-banger and did not offer good MPG numbers or neck-snapping performance. It was roomy enough for four adult passengers, but the Pacer had a very small trunk, so they needed to pack extremely well for road trips.
There was little appetite to buy a Pacer during the car’s 5-year production run but, like the Edsel, it gained momentum as a curiosity piece at car shows in recent years.
One might also add the Pacer has become very cool along the way to 2026.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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