RIP Roy Brown, designer of the Edsel

[quote]While success has many fathers… In the long run, the failure of the Edsel actually proved a blessing to Ford: Out of its ashes came the Ford Falcon and Mercury Comet, and the lessons learned helped Ford successfully launch the Mustang. Somebody still had to take the blame for Ford Motor Company suddenly becoming the butt of many jokes, however, and that somebody was Roy A. Brown, the Edsel’s chief designer, who died this past Sunday at the age of 96.[/quote][quote]Intended to help tighten the gaps in the market between Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln, the E-car, later named Edsel, was to split the difference between Ford and Mercury while Mercury moved upscale. Brown’s old associate Spear had by this time also made his way to Ford, where in 1948 he proposed an updated Continental with an upright grille, which he called the Cavalier. While the Cavalier didn’t make it past the 3/8-scale plaster model stage, it (and that 1941 La Salle) nevertheless inspired Brown to use that upright grille on the E-car. While not the only designer whose work appeared on the E-car (among those who assisted were Bob Ademeit, Bob O’Neil, Ken Pheasant, Byron Brown, Jim Arnold, and Robert B. Jones), Brown was still tasked with setting its overall design direction and with making it distinct from every other car on the road while forced to use existing Ford and Mercury body shells. When he unveiled it to Ford management in August 1955, they applauded him; when it became apparent by the spring of 1958 that the Edsel wouldn’t come close to meeting sales expectations, they exiled him – first to the truck studio, and then, in the fall of 1959, to Ford of England.[/quote][quote]Ironically, it was in England where Brown achieved his greatest success: designing the massively popular Ford Cortina, which debuted in 1962. While there, he also designed the Consul, Zodiac, and Zephyr, but by the spring of 1964, his exile over and the memory of the Edsel scrubbed away by the launch of the Mustang, Brown returned to Dearborn. There he remained for the next 11 years, eventually working his way up to executive designer at Lincoln-Mercury. Since then, Ford has conspicuously ignored the marque, but collectors and enthusiasts have vindicated both Edsel and Brown alike, and Brown reciprocated the appreciation by participating in Edsel club events.[/quote][url=http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/02/28/roy-brown-designer-of-the-edsel-dies/]Sauce.[/url]