The "Never Give Up Your Passion For Your Passion! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Had just driven past a car that I hadn't seen for years.  Car was made from 1958 to 1960.  Any ideas what it might have been?  I got my driver's license in 1960 and at first thought I might like to have one of those cars that had the grill vertical instead of horizontal.  But, then after two years they stopped production of what was known as the Ford Edsel, since I must have been one of the few who liked what the car looked like.  So...I gave up any ideas I might have had of getting an Edsel, since there was no way I could afford a new car, even though it had just gone out of production.  I was recently reading in a book called "Weird Pennsylvania" in which there was a two page story telling about a fellow who had a collection of Edsels.  His collection contained more that 150 of  Ford's least popular car, the Edsel, which he stores on his wooded hilltop property near the border of Chester and Lancaster counties.  He keeps his property heavily posted to intentionally keep out any visitors who might want to take a look at his collection.  He did invite "Weird Pennsylvania" to take photographs of his cars which also included a few Mercurys as well as Lincolns.  When the editors of the book arrived they found they had to travel back a dirt track that wound through the property.  How the giant cars from the 1960s could wind their way through the pathway was unimaginable.  But, soon dozens of cars became visible as the editors worked their way back the tight drive.  The owner of all of these amazing vehicles, Hugh Lesley, fell in love with the Edsel in a Ford showroom in 1957, but couldn't afford the price of one.  The new car sold for $3,500 so he thought he could wait until the car began to depreciate in value.  Several years later he managed to buy an Edsel convertible.  Shortly after that he bought a stationwagon and before long Ford dealers knew exactly whom to call when they would get an Edsel as a trade-in.  

Hugh with one of his Edsels

After 4 years he was able to get them for $25 to $50 for three and four-year-old cars.  Seems the Edsels were what is known as "rust buckets."  Leslie has a few pristine cars, but most of the Edsels are in pretty bad shape.  Actually, the car was a big, ugly car and far too expensive.  It had hugh imposing headlights and a central vertical chrome horse-collar-shaped grille measuring almost a couple feet high that split the bumper in two.  It was known as a Lincoln sucking on a lemon.  The 1960 version was manufactured for only three months before they shut down the line.  2,300 cars were manufactured with very few still remaining.  Lesley has close to a dozen of the cars that still remain.  Today many of his Edsels sit in a grove of trees along a highway near his home.  The grove of trees is now known as the Lemon Grove.  It may be that most of his Edsels aren't in good running condition, but those that do remain in good shape are a testament  to one man's passion for collecting.  Ride on Hugh!  I still like them!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.