The designer for Ford Motors' futuristic but ultimately ill-fated Edsel, Roy Abbott Brown Jr. died on Feb. 24 in Michigan. He was 96.
Even as the Edsel, his most notable work, fell short of Ford's sales goals, lost hundreds of millions of dollars, became an enduring punch line and prompted an overseas transfer for its designer, Brown remained satisfied with it, stated autoworldnews.com.
"I'm proud of the car," he told The Sun-Sentinel of Florida in 1985. "There is not a bad line on the car," according to New York Times.
The eye-opening part is that all initial assessments of the car had critics agreeing with him.
"The Edsel will be radically different," said an article in The New York Times previewing the new model in 1957.
"The difference in style is spectacular," the article added. "The front end emphasizes a vertical grille that lends a distinctive continental flair. The rear-end assembly is also distinctive. Horizontal taillights sweep across the trunk lid to form a pattern like the graceful wingspread of a sea gull."
In anticipation of the car's release and early reviews Ford directors stood and applauded along with Henry Ford II when they were given a preview of the design.
However, the adulation quickly turn to mockery.
As New York Times reports, The vertical grille with the "continental flair" was compared to a toilet seat and later became known as the "horse collar." (Mr. Brown's initial grille design was far sleeker but was reworked out of concerns about getting enough air to the engine.) New features - the push-button shifter, the "floating" speedometer - had complications. (Making seat belts standard, however, was a trend that caught on.)
The Edsel had a price tag of $2,400 to $3, 800, but according to Matt Anderson, the curator of transportation at the Henry Ford, a museum in Dearborn, Mich., "This car was kind of aimed at a market that didn't really exist," reported New York Times.
As reported by many Micigan news outlets, he was born Oct. 30, 1916, in Hamilton, Ontario. His family moved to the Detroit area when he was a teenager. Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Jeanne Brown; four children from a previous marriage, Georgianna Byron, Reginald Brown, Penny Beesley and Mark Brown; a sister, Betty Klepinger; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
His wife confirmed that he suffered from pneumonia and Parkinson's disease. Brown's death was announced in Michigan news media outlets.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
