THE FABULOUS EDSEL PACER

[customline]

 The Edsel never made sense to me. Ford already had the Mercury. Why did they need another one?  The '58 Mercury was a gaudy tank so they said "it ain't ugly enough, let's see if we can make it reeeeally ugly".  I know some of you may not agree but like my dad used to say "there's an ass for every seat" ? (close enough).  

I got this kit for a pretty good price because it was started. The chassis and frame were glued together and airbrushed satin black. Many of the parts that would be satin black were also painted. After going over the instructions and looking at the really nice detail common to many ERTL kits of this time period I concluded it compares well to the Starliner kit for quality and crisp detail. It appears to be well designed for ease of assembly. No flash, very little parting lines, white wall inserts, etc.

I had a good head start thanks to whomever this kit had belonged to so I decided to just go ahead with it in spite of my already heavy workload ?.  

Nice engine, no accessory brackets though but the pan is separate and everything fits well... no bolt detail on the transmission pan - kinda odd considering the great detail elsewhere.  Big distributor! With vacuum advance!  I was able to drill all 9 holes without effing it up (a big deal for me.) 

How many kits detail the muffler?  The normal sequence for assembling the exhaust pipe is 1)engine to frame 2) exhaust cross-over/muffler unit to engine. 3) frame to floor pan. Remember I said the frame and floor were already glued together? 

I had to cut the muffler off the pipe in order to install the exhaust system and rejoin the severed parts.

The rear end and springs had been painted satin black so i assembled that and added the lower shock mounts and painted the axle housing glossy for some contrast. They said to paint the shocks blue so who am I to argue.  Thanks for reading all that but if you didnt....you didn't miss much. ?

[Bugatti Fan]

Looks to be an interesting build of that unsuccessful car.

[Superbird McMonte]

Very cool! What yellow did you use?

[Musclecarbuilder]

My cousin has an Edsel (Its pink and white!). He turned it into a race car for the 24 hrs of lemons. I will definitely be following this one! 

[Mike Slapattack]

Clean wiring work!

[espo]

Remember a lot of crude jokes about the front-end appearance when these were new. Also remember several people that would put the front - ends on their 1:1 Fords at the time as well. Looks like the previous owner did a nice job with the engine painting and colors. They did offer some interesting body colors back in '58 and '59.  

[customline]

7 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Looks to be an interesting build of that unsuccessful car.

Only if I can make it so, Noel. Thanks for your interest.

[customline]

4 hours ago, Superbird McMonte said:

Very cool! What yellow did you use?

Thanks, Dominick.  Krylon "gloss bright idea".  It wasn't as bright as the cap color but It needed to be. A bit disappointing. Most reference photos show a bit brighter yellow.

[customline]

3 hours ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

My cousin has an Edsel (Its pink and white!). He turned it into a race car for the 24 hrs of lemons. I will definitely be following this one! 

Welcome aboard, Will.  I won't be painting this Edsel pink and white but it may be some other appropriate combination of whatever I can find in my rattlecan stock.....Krylon or Ace....I'm kidding, stop pulling your hair!

[rv1963]

Well done Jim nice start, I agree AMT kits of that era are really good.

[customline]

1 hour ago, Mike Slapattack said:

Clean wiring work!

Thanks.  I'm glad you think so, Mike. I don't ? 

[customline]

1 hour ago, espo said:

Remember a lot of crude jokes about the front-end appearance when these were new. Also remember several people that would put the front - ends on their 1:1 Fords at the time as well. Looks like the previous owner did a nice job with the engine painting and colors. They did offer some interesting body colors back in '58 and '59.  

I was only a first-grader when these were new, David. The only derogatory words I recall was "horse collar". I would sure like to hear the crude stuff ?

I can't imagine a front clip swap on a '58 ford. It must have been because the top of the front fenders were rusted out and all they could find in the salvage yard was Edsel clips.

The engine was painted by the current owner, David. Thank you.

[customline]

13 minutes ago, rv1963 said:

Well done Jim nice start, I agree AMT kits of that era are really good.

 Thanks, Robert.  The detail on the chassis is top shelf like a Moebius or the new Revell stuff.  It's quite good. The way the glass is located is nice. The firewall is amazing. I'm quite happy with it. Gotta find a color combo but a lot of them are aqua or coral and white. I'm thinking black for the secondary and maybe red or some blue or green for the primary. I'll find a showroom catalog on line.

[Bullybeef]

That’s a neat detail on the muffler, I’m sure it could move onto another use with some work, that being said I’m not going to buy a Sledsel kit just for it though! 

[espo]

37 minutes ago, customline said:

I was only a first-grader when these were new, David. The only derogatory words I recall was "horse collar". I would sure like to hear the crude stuff ?

I can't imagine a front clip swap on a '58 ford. It must have been because the top of the front fenders were rusted out and all they could find in the salvage yard was Edsel clips.

The engine was painted by the current owner, David. Thank you.

The "horse collar" remarks were most likely the least offensive.  Because of the Forums rules regarding certain subject, I'm unable to share some of the details and I do agree with that rule having to do with subject that aren't discussed here. They have often gotten out of hand, and they're sort of rude in polite company anyway. Make from that what you may, I probably shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. I'm still interested in seeing what all you have planned for the Edsel build. 

[customline]

4 hours ago, espo said:

The "horse collar" remarks were most likely the least offensive.  Because of the Forums rules regarding certain subject, I'm unable to share some of the details and I do agree with that rule having to do with subject that aren't discussed here. They have often gotten out of hand, and they're sort of rude in polite company anyway. Make from that what you may, I probably shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. I'm still interested in seeing what all you have planned for the Edsel build. 

That bad, huh? I understand, David. We don't want to to offend anyone.

[customline]

4 hours ago, Bullybeef said:

That’s a neat detail on the muffler, I’m sure it could move onto another use with some work, that being said I’m not going to buy a Sledsel kit just for it though! 

Have you ever seen a muffler like that?  I've been under a lot of Fords and I can't say I remember ever seeing a muffler that looked like that. It's bizarre. ?

[customline]

Here's a few pix for those who have not had the pleasure of checking out this kit. The focus is on the way the firewall and the body and the floor pan mate up. So many kits are absent of this level of fitment. It's they way the all should be. Look closely at the way the three components mate up.

Edited September 10, 2024 by customline

[slusher]

Looking really nice Jim!

[Musclecarbuilder]

Wow that firewall fits in there like butter! I have this kit in my stash somewhere, I might have to pull it out and build it?

[David G.]

I built one of these kits a while back and I thoroughly enjoyed the build.

It looks like you have a great start on this one Jim.

David G.

[espo]

18 hours ago, customline said:

Here's a few pix for those who have not had the pleasure of checking out this kit. The focus is on the way the firewall and the body and the floor pan mate up. So many kits are absent of this level of fitment. It's they way the all should be. Look closely at the way the three components mate up.

Good point. At the time AMT was marketing this model along with a few others, their component quality was at or close to the best in the marketplace. Why they sold out to others is a mystery to most including myself.  

[customline]

 

23 hours ago, slusher said:

Looking really nice Jim!

Thank you, Carl!

[customline]

11 hours ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

Wow that firewall fits in there like butter! I have this kit in my stash somewhere, I might have to pull it out and build it?

That's what happened to me when I looked it over. Instant karma. ?

[customline]

11 hours ago, David G. said:

I built one of these kits a while back and I thoroughly enjoyed the build.

It looks like you have a great start on this one Jim.

David G.

Thanks, David.