What Is It? - The Augusta Chronicle
It was based on the Ford Fairlane, so several readers guessed Ford, but in front was the infamous “lemon-sucking” vertical grille and in back were taillights wee nearly as infamous (our readers tell us why below). Our clue last week, in addition to telling you that it had only two doors, was: “This model would feel right at home on the range. It had been planned for as a midlevel division of Ford Motor Co. , which also included Ford, Mercury, Lincoln and Continental, but by the time it hit the market the nation was in a recession so big cars had fallen out of favor. There were other reasons, too: quality control, similarity to Fords, controversial designs, and even the name itself, chosen to honor Henry Ford’s only son. Corsair was used by a British Ford in the 1960s, and was only one letter different from Chevrolet’s Corvair in 1960. Pacer was picked up by AMC in the 1970s as the egg-shape car that became the butt of many a joke. Citation was a Chevrolet front-wheel-driver beginning in 1980. Ford used Ranger as a model of its pickup for years and its compact pickup beginning in 1983. And Villager became a Mercury wagon before it became a Mercury minivan based on the Nissan... Chosen randomly from the correct entries was the name of Ronald L. Tanner, of Augusta, who wrote: “I am pretty sure that the car in the picture is a 1958 Edsel two-door wagon. Source: chronicle.augusta.com
