Memories of really dumb rides
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (Original Article)
The chrome tablets that I brought down from Mount Synchromesh include the Chronicles of the RDVs (Really Dumb Vehicles).
Today’s reading is from the Chronicles and concerns four of automotive history’s dumbest rides:
The Dodge La Femme. Back in the ’50s, Chrysler’s marketing think tank noticed that women were starting to buy a lot of cars.
They didn’t know back then that women want essentially the same kind of cars men want. So, they decided to pander to The Little Woman with an automotive caricature of femininity called the Dodge La Femme.
Offered in the 1955 and 1956 model years, La Femme was a Dodge Custom Royal Lancer on estrogen. The newly restored 1955 model to be displayed this Mother’s Day at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Mich., gives you an idea of just how silly this car was.
It is painted Sapphire White and Heather Rose, with gold "La Femme" script on the fenders. The interior is graced with pink tapestry upholstery featuring rosebuds.
The rosebud pattern is repeated in the raincoat, rain bonnet, umbrella and purse furnished with the car.
Even back in those Ozzie and Harriet heydays, women weren’t buying this brand of patronizing. During the two years the cars were offered, a grand total of 2,500 La Femmes were sold.
The Edsel. Back in the ’50s, Ford Motor Co. developed a bad case of brand envy. Chrysler and GM both had more car lines than Ford. So, Ford decided a fourth line was in order.
The idea was to position the new car between the Lincoln and Mercury. It would be offered in a full range of models and be called the Edsel, which rhymed prophetically with "dead cell."
So, the boys from Ford sat around their Grosse Pointe country club convincing themselves what a great idea the Edsel was. And perhaps it would have been if the car had lived up to its buzz.
But it didn’t. It wasn’t the new kind of car credit card au Ford had promised via the grapevine. …continue reading