The car was christened the Edsel after company founder Henry Ford's only child, and rolled into showrooms in 1957 amid tremendous hoopla, including a TV extravaganza hosted by Frank Sinatra. But it wasn't long before the automaker's high hopes deflated like a bad tire.
Only 63,000 Edsels were sold the first year -- less than half the company's annual projection -- and the next two years were even more dismal. The unusual shape of the grille seemed to bear the brunt of the criticism, with Time magazine cracking that it looked like "an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon." That was a tad kinder than the critic who said the grille resembled a toilet seat.
