Roy Brown Jr., proud designer of Ford Edsel, dies

The Washington Post

Roy Brown Jr., the defiantly proud designer of the Ford Edsel, the chrome-encrusted, big-grilled set of wheels that went down as one of the worst flops in automotive history, died Feb. 24 at a hospice in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was 96.

He had pneumonia and Parkinson’s disease, said his wife, Jeanne Brown.

More than five decades after Brown’s creation debuted and promptly vanished from dealerships across the United States, the term “Edsel” remains practically synonymous with failure.

Among auto enthusiasts, however, the car generates deep nostalgia for a bygone era of American motoring – and a degree of affection that perhaps has proved Brown right in the end.

He was a veteran automotive designer in the mid-1950s when the Ford Motor Co. put him in charge of overseeing a new car. It was to be more sophisticated than the standard Ford, less expensive than the Mercury and so distinctive, he once said, as to be recognized “from a block away.”

The new design was named the Edsel in honor of Henry Ford’s late son, and only after executives rejected suggestions solicited from poet Marianne Moore, including Intelligent Whale, Ford Faberge, Mongoose Civique and Utopian Turtletop.

In the era of conspicuous consumption, Brown did not build a car for the motorist who drove. He made a behemoth for the driver who cruised – with room enough for five friends in tow.

What Brown’s design lacked in aerodynamics it boasted in flourish. External features included scalloped sides and showy taillights. In a bold departure from the prevailing fashion, he nixed tail fins. “I hated the bloody fins on the Cadillac,” he once said. “They were dangerous, too.”

The Edsel’s most recognizable attribute was its vertical grille, a design throwback. Brown recalled the applause from company President Henry Ford II – Edsel Ford’s eldest son – when he first saw the design. The company’s enthusiasm proved out of sync with American consumers.

“It’s almost grotesque,” automotive industry analyst Maryann Keller said of the Edsel, citing among the vehicle’s flaws its “hundreds of pounds of unnecessary weight in bumpers.”

“Obviously it was an attempt by Ford to make a statement,” she said, “but I think it was the wrong statement.”

After the car was released in 1957, the grille drew comparisons to an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon, a toilet seat and other cruder images. “There are people that have toilet-seat minds,” Brown once told the Sun Sentinel in Florida.

Ford had invested $250 million in the venture, according to Automotive News. The original design was altered because of its expense and after engineers warned that the grille might inhibit ventilation.

Marketers were accused of overhyping the car, which sold for $2,300 to $3,800 and which was designed around out-of-date consumer research. By the time Edsels rolled into dealerships, American tastes had shifted and the economy had entered a period of recession.

Ford had hoped to sell 200,000 but ended production by 1960 after the sale of about 118,000. The company lost more than $300,000 a day during the period when the Edsel was in production.

Brown said he “cried in my beer for two days” but then returned to his work with vigor. He attributed the failure to “bad timing.”

After the Edsel debacle, Ford transferred Brown to the company’s office in England. He was the chief designer of the Consul and the compact Cortina, which Automotive News described as “one of the company’s most successful products in Europe” and the best-selling car in Britain in the 1970s.

Before his retirement in 1975, he helped design Thunderbirds and Econoline vans. Besides those vehicles, his credits from earlier in his career include a show car that helped inspire the Batmobile.

Roy Abbott Brown Jr. was born Oct. 30, 1916, in Hamilton, Ontario. The son of a Chrysler engineer, he moved to Detroit at 15. Brown became a U.S. citizen and graduated from an art academy in Detroit before serving in the Army during World War II.

He began his career as a designer in the General Motors Cadillac studio and later oversaw design of the Oldsmobile. He joined Ford in 1953.

His first marriage, to Emily Roberts, ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Jeanne Feciashko Brown of Brooklyn, Mich.; four children from his first marriage, Jan Byron of Fenton, Mich., Reg Brown of Charleston, S.C., Penny Beesley of Milton, Ga., and Mark Brown of Norcross, Ga.; a sister; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

Until the end of his life, Brown expressed pride in the Edsel. Almost until the end, he drove one, his son said.

He told the Sun Sentinel that in later years, by which time his model had become a collector’s item, people would occasionally ask to buy his car from him.

He would reply, “Where the hell were you in 1958?”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.