Edsel Villager History

The Villager was Edsel's volume 4-door station wagon, built on a 116-inch-wheelbase Ford wagon body for 1958 alongside the 2-door Roundup and the wood-trimmed Bermuda. It was offered in six- and nine-passenger configurations. Ford's internal sales figures showed the Villager outsold the other two wagon nameplates by a wide margin, suggesting that even within the struggling Edsel brand, the plain, practical family hauler attracted more buyers than the niche two-door or the premium woodgrain wagon.

Unlike its two wagon siblings, the Villager survived Edsel's 1959 contraction as the sole remaining station wagon, and continued into the brand's final 1960 model year. According to Edsel lore, the very last Edsel manufactured — a 1960 Villager — rolled off the Louisville, Kentucky assembly line on November 19, 1959, the day Ford officially announced the brand's end.