LOL!!! I remember my dad talking about how he would dread having to fix either the Teletouch Drive or other electrical system problem with an Edsel (he fixed quite a few of them as a Ford dealership mechanic when they came out). He had to rip out the steering wheel and half the dashboard just to get at the TT Drive assembly. He said it was the worst car he ever worked on.
I just read on IMDB.com that Ward Bond was ill the entire time he appeared on Wagon Train -- high blood pressure and alcoholism. He drank alcohol throughout each day of shooting. He died partway into Season 4 (1960-61), and was replaced without any explanation to the audience. Bond did not get along with his co-star, the actor playing scout Flint McCullough, and while on set routinely dropped broad hints to any who would listen as to the latter's sexual orientation. "Wagon Train" was a favorite of a couple of senior Edsel Div. executives, and so Edsel became the sponsor despite the fact that WT's proven demographic did not, as a rule, buy cars like the Edsel -- it skewed too old and too low in disposable income.
Came here because I read about it in The Big Book of Top Gear. ''Suffice to say, they probably didn't need any glue for a while''. and ''Did the parents really want a dealer that smelt of horse poo?''
Wagon Train was sponsored by the Edsel Division (which in Jan '58 was re-subordinated to fall within the new Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln Division) for just less than a year. Some insisted that the WT audience skewed too old for the show to be effective at selling Edsels, but a couple of individuals in senior management thought otherwise -- mostly because they liked the show themselves -- and WT's producers got the contract. '58 Edsels were supposed to be sold to "the young professional on his way up", but WT's viewers, although overwhelmingly male, were in general pretty far down the path to the pasture and didn't need such a pricey, gadget-laden car. The pony gambit was a last-ditch attempt, dreamed up in Nov. '57 IIRC, to leverage the car's connection with WT. Edsel sourced ponies at a discount from a couple of big regional suppliers, who delivered one animal to each Edsel dealer in the US (still >1000 dealers, despite the resignations that had already begun to occur weekly). For a couple of months, during business hours a dealer's pony stood in a makeshift little corral lined with straw on the edge of the showroom floor. Most dealers were surprisingly game about the whole thing, although Edsel's publicity office was initially bombarded with frantic calls from dealer personnel in the non-farm states about what to feed the ponies and how to care for them. In the end, nothing could sell an Edsel -- esp. this blatantly kid-friendly, cornpone appeal to buy what was supposed to be an adult sophisticate's automobile.
Wow. Desperate to rid themselves of these Edsel's!! My dad told me that a neighbor of theirs bought one. Brand new at the time. He was the envy of the block....for about a month!! I'd still love to have one. Just to have as a collectors item.
Crap back in '58 you could have bought several ponies for $100! Depending on where you lived (most of the USA and rural towns) ponies could be bought for like $20...
Don't remember exactly. I think it was a $100 cash or $200 off a new Edsel. Mostly people wanted the $100 go figure. I can't see why a new Edsel and pony in the back yard of Chicago home would not work? LOL
Dealers would have a small corral in the middle of the dealership. They would have to feed and clean up after the horse. My father was en executive for Ford at the time. He said the pony thing shows how desperate they were in 1958.
The gent who was in charge of bringing this advertising faux pas to life was a man names C. Gayle Warnock. He was head of PR at Ford, assigned the Edsel account. I had the pleasure of conversing at length one day on the phone, in probably the late 1980s. He was long since retired by then, living in Tucson, AZ. He really chuckled when he recalled the Edsel/Pony debacle..... Calling it a logistics nightmare never even scratched the surface. He went into tremendous detail about this campaign in his book, "The Edsel Affair".
Gayle was long gone by the time the Pony contest was enacted... "Tommy" Thomas was the main brainchild behind this contest. Gayle left Edsel at the end of 1957 btw.
You're gonna need that pony to get around when the Teletouch packs up again.
LOL!!! I remember my dad talking about how he would dread having to fix either the Teletouch Drive or other electrical system problem with an Edsel (he fixed quite a few of them as a Ford dealership mechanic when they came out). He had to rip out the steering wheel and half the dashboard just to get at the TT Drive assembly. He said it was the worst car he ever worked on.
Now there's one name no owner has ever attached to a racehorse...Edsel.
Was ahead of its time i liked them
I bet this annoyed a lot of parents, being badgered to go enter the contest. Could have been a PR fail!
I just read on IMDB.com that Ward Bond was ill the entire time he appeared on Wagon Train -- high blood pressure and alcoholism. He drank alcohol throughout each day of shooting. He died partway into Season 4 (1960-61), and was replaced without any explanation to the audience. Bond did not get along with his co-star, the actor playing scout Flint McCullough, and while on set routinely dropped broad hints to any who would listen as to the latter's sexual orientation. "Wagon Train" was a favorite of a couple of senior Edsel Div. executives, and so Edsel became the sponsor despite the fact that WT's proven demographic did not, as a rule, buy cars like the Edsel -- it skewed too old and too low in disposable income.
"Pinto".
A good reliable name. A real winner right there. What could go wrong?
A a pony that would of fit right in in our small apartment in Brooklyn Lol
Came here because I read about it in The Big Book of Top Gear.
''Suffice to say, they probably didn't need any glue for a while''.
and
''Did the parents really want a dealer that smelt of horse poo?''
+Scarfaceone Thank you and thanks to Top Gear.
Wagon Train was sponsored by the Edsel Division (which in Jan '58 was re-subordinated to fall within the new Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln Division) for just less than a year. Some insisted that the WT audience skewed too old for the show to be effective at selling Edsels, but a couple of individuals in senior management thought otherwise -- mostly because they liked the show themselves -- and WT's producers got the contract. '58 Edsels were supposed to be sold to "the young professional on his way up", but WT's viewers, although overwhelmingly male, were in general pretty far down the path to the pasture and didn't need such a pricey, gadget-laden car. The pony gambit was a last-ditch attempt, dreamed up in Nov. '57 IIRC, to leverage the car's connection with WT. Edsel sourced ponies at a discount from a couple of big regional suppliers, who delivered one animal to each Edsel dealer in the US (still >1000 dealers, despite the resignations that had already begun to occur weekly). For a couple of months, during business hours a dealer's pony stood in a makeshift little corral lined with straw on the edge of the showroom floor. Most dealers were surprisingly game about the whole thing, although Edsel's publicity office was initially bombarded with frantic calls from dealer personnel in the non-farm states about what to feed the ponies and how to care for them. In the end, nothing could sell an Edsel -- esp. this blatantly kid-friendly, cornpone appeal to buy what was supposed to be an adult sophisticate's automobile.
I’d submit the name Ballsniffer
Wow. Desperate to rid themselves of these Edsel's!! My dad told me that a neighbor of theirs bought one. Brand new at the time. He was the envy of the block....for about a month!! I'd still love to have one. Just to have as a collectors item.
Winners had their choice of a pony or $100 dollars.
Crap back in '58 you could have bought several ponies for $100! Depending on where you lived (most of the USA and rural towns) ponies could be bought for like $20...
Don't remember exactly. I think it was a $100 cash or $200 off a new Edsel. Mostly people wanted the $100 go figure. I can't see why a new Edsel and pony in the back yard of Chicago home would not work? LOL
@@ubetchya78 I have known people who would give you $20 and the pony if you would give it a good home. LOL
Lets see if anyone can name the boy on the pony. He became a well known actor back then.
Who is it?
@@germanshepherd5314 Actor Paul Petersen.
@@StoriesFromMaine thank you!! 😀😀
@@germanshepherd5314 You are welcome.
Wow! They were desperate to dump all those Edsels!
Dealers would have a small corral in the middle of the dealership. They would have to feed and clean up after the horse. My father was en executive for Ford at the time. He said the pony thing shows how desperate they were in 1958.
What an embarrassment for the person who came up with that horrible idea......
Did anybody name themselves Woody and there pony Bullseye??? Lol😂😅👍👍
The gent who was in charge of bringing this advertising faux pas to life was a man names C. Gayle Warnock. He was head of PR at Ford, assigned the Edsel account. I had the pleasure of conversing at length one day on the phone, in probably the late 1980s. He was long since retired by then, living in Tucson, AZ. He really chuckled when he recalled the Edsel/Pony debacle..... Calling it a logistics nightmare never even scratched the surface. He went into tremendous detail about this campaign in his book, "The Edsel Affair".
Gayle was long gone by the time the Pony contest was enacted... "Tommy" Thomas was the main brainchild behind this contest. Gayle left Edsel at the end of 1957 btw.
I wonder if anyone named a pony Citation?
My God, we would never do this today. Buy an Edsel, I mean.
"Gocha" is a terrible name.
If you're referring to the suggested name in the video they were writing "Jocko"
Edsel should of stuck to levered mechanisms AND RODS!!;😤😡😡!!!
So useful when you lived in a big city like New York or Chicago. What a joke!
I remember pestering my parents to enter a thing where the prize was a live REINDEER! They were terrified we would win.
LOL !! I sure hope the winners had a VERY large backyard !! Apartment dwellers would have a hard time maintaining that Edsel Pony for obvious reasons.
I thought the same, the first place I rented was an upstairs apartment, the lease only allowed small pets, not small horses