Blue Blast from the Past

Yesterday, we took a little drive and saw a very rare car...Can you guess it from these pix?

Any idea?

Here's the model?

Now you know! 

The car is a classic Edsel, the monumental failure introduced by Ford in the fall of 1957. It was supposed to be luxury vehicle, but sadly it never caught on and Ford bailed out of the Edsel market in 1959.

There were 2 models...the Ranger and the Pacer. This is a Ranger -- the "lower" end of the two. 

The Ranger did not have the bells and whistles of the higher end Pacer, but neither sold well.

Along with a "wrap around windshield," cigarette lighter, a cushioned arm rest and a radio, as standard equipment, the car boasted a push-button automatic transmission system called "telematic" that was supposed to be the cat's meow. I remember driving a loaner car, a 196?ish Lancer that had a push button transmission and I thought it was the strangest thing I'd ever driven. According to Wikipedia, about 12,000 of these cars were made in 1958 and 1959--I wonder how many are around 62 years later?

While the car was never popular, it's still making automotive history by surviving all these years.