What are your thoughts on the "Edsels" of the audio history?

the edsel was prolly a fine-driving car in its day. my "edsel" was/is my bose cinemate sr-1 soundbar, the only remotely affordable speaker system that would let you get your head out of the stereophonic "vise."

The Nakamichi "stacker" type CD changer was a disaster. Discs would get stuck in them if not put in the horridly shallow tray correctly. Jam the entire thing. 

So, the genius of it is they then make the "shaker" version, where the drawer does a little shimmy to seat the disc properly. Worked - most of the time. 

Cool idea, but not ready for prime time. The sound was OK for the era. They kicked butt on cassette, and bit the dirt on CD changer. The single CD player was good. 

Needlebrush

QC on American Cars was indeed shoddy, and probably still is, but the Edsel was probably no worse than contemporary autos in that regard.