1960 Edsel Ranger Convertible

Chassis No. 0U15Y701609

The Edsel experiment had come to a close almost as soon as the 1960 cars reached showrooms. Ford, facing a public backlash against the marque's controversial ''horse-collar'' grille, ordered a hurried, clean-sheet redesign that favored a more conventional horizontal grille treatment and trimmed the range to Ranger passenger cars and Villager wagons. Riding on a 120-inch wheelbase shared with the Fairlane and Galaxie, the 1960 Rangers wore Ford sheet metal enlivened by unique trim, tail lamps, and reverse lamps. It was too little too late; production was halted barely a month after introduction, with just 2,846 built.

Only 76 of those were convertibles, and that number alone has secured the model's standing as the object of the Edsel collector's longest search. So few genuine examples survive that a number of 1960 Ford Sunliners were re-nosed and re-lamped to pass as the real thing. Authentic, documented cars are correspondingly prized.

Chassis number 0U15Y701609 is one of them. According to previous research, its history includes owners in Tennessee and Illinois before the car joined a well-known private Edsel collection, where it was kept as the centerpiece. An older cosmetic restoration returned it to Regal Red, its original color, while the cabin was retrimmed in correct red and silver vinyl and retains the embossed original door panels that are effectively impossible to reproduce. Most significantly, the car was built with the most powerful engine offered, the “Super Express” 352-cubic-in V8 rated at 300 horsepower, which remains under the hood alongside the three-speed Dual Power automatic transmission.

The Edsel occupied one of the briefest and most scrutinized chapters in Ford's history, and the 1960 convertible is the scarcest artifact of its final weeks. Its next owner will find few doors closed to them, and fewer still at the Edsel Owners Club gatherings where this car would draw a crowd wherever it is parked.