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Then in 1929 a group of businessmen formed the American Austin
Company to build the very successful British Austin 7 in the
United States. This unfortunate company staggered on from failure
to failure in the thirties, in the process re-organizing and
changing it's name to the American Bantam Company and lodging in
Butler, PA. As almost a dying gasp, Bantam invented the Jeep for
the U.S. Army in 1940. The Army rewarded the company by ordering
almost all of its Jeeps from Willys and Ford.
Other than the Bantam, there
were no American Mini-cars in existence at the time. So, a
possible market was there waiting, waiting for a product to fill
it.
Experiments began at Crosley
in late 1937 to build a small, low priced car to do for the
automobile business what Crosley had done for radio. To open the
curtain a little, the name of Crosley Radio Company was changed to
just the Crosley Company and plans went forward on the car. Rumors
of a Crosley car began to appear in newspapers through the last
part of 1938. It wasn't until 1939 that any confirmation came from
the Crosley Company. On April 2, Lewis Crosley confirmed the
rumors and gave a few specifications of the new car. It would be a
two cylinder coupe that would sell for $395. An unconfirmed rumor
had the car being a three wheeler.
On April 20, 1939 a press release by the
Crosley Company described the car as a three passenger coupe, to
sell for $300 and have a rear track of only 18 inches. Why this
some what erroneous press release was sent out is unknown, but
eight days later the new Crosley was shown to the public at the
Indianapolis Speedway and the rear track was the same as the
front.he car was indeed small, with a wheelbase of only 80 inches
and prices of $325 for the convertible coupe and $350 for the
convertible sedan. The cars were in production at two plants;
Cincinnati and Richmond, Indiana. The engine was a Waukesha air
cooled, opposed, two cylinder unit. The car could be had in gray,
yellow or blue, all with red wheels and a black top. All up weight
was only 925 pounds. On
introducing the cars, Powel Crosley stated, "I have always wanted
to build a practical car that would not only operate at low cost,
but also sell at a low price." By June 11th the Crosley was in
quantity production. But some problems were developing that would
plague Crosley throughout the pre-war years. Production during the
second half of 1939 totalled 2,017 cars, not even a week's run of
either GM or Ford. Getting parts supplers, starting the assembly
lines and putting the cars together all created problems. The
outbreak of war in Europe also began to cause supply problems.
Crosley's marketing technique
was to be as radical as his car, the cars were to be sold through
large department stores and appliance stores and service was to be
obtained at special, centrally located service centers. Powel
Crosley was trying to invent a new way to market cars, to change
the method that the "big three" used to sell its products to the
public. In keeping with his marketing plans, on June 14th Crosley
announced that several large stores would sell Crosleys. Most
notable of these were Macy's in New York and Bamberger's in New
Jersey. Mr. Fielding Robertson was the manager of the Crosley
Distribution Corporation which was to handle the servicing.
Fourteen orders were received the first day the Crosley cars were
put on display by Macy's. A huge crowd swamped the exhibit of the
two cars on the first day they were displayed. The price had now
climbed up to $350 and gray and blue were listed as the standard
colors with yellow as an option. By July 15th a showroom had been
purchased at 155 East 44th Street in New York and was used as the
main factory showroom.
The 1940 Crosley models were
announced on October 1, 1939, but the new line did not debut until
the tenth. The line was now expanded from the two original models
to four, a "Delivery" and a maple wood bodied station wagon were
added. However production was down to a mere 422 for 1940, the per
cent of the market was so small as to not be measurable. The 1940
Crosley had another distinction. All of the original engineering
drawings are now in the hands of the Crosley Club. How the club
got them is very interesting and also very curious. It seems that
in 1973 the Willys-Overland club located a warehouse full of
engineering drawings for the Willys car, all dating from before
World War II. The drawings were purchased by the Willys club and
were being cataloged by the Willys Club members when the 1940
Crosley drawings were found mixed in. These were offered to the
Crosley Club and were purchased. How the drawings got into a
warehouse full of Willys drawings is a mystery. There is no known
connection between the two makers, although both companies were
involved with light weight Jeeps during the war.
One possible reason for the
minimal 1940 production was the early introduction of Crosley's
1941 models on July 28, 1940. The 1941 models were almost
identical to the 1940 models with only one noticeable change. The
1941 line was again expanded to more body styles to bring the
total offered to ten. Now available was a "Covered Wagon" (sort of
a convertible station wagon), a parkway delivery and a panel
delivery.
Also produced in 1941 by
either an outside company or the factory was a vehicle called the
Mosquito, a cut down 1941 sedan with single rear seat with hand
rails. This mini-Jeep was tested during 2nd Army maneuvers at Camp
McCoy by officers of the 147th Infantry Regiment. Mr. Bart
Vanderveen (a noted military vehicle historian) has informed me
that at least one other modified military Crosley was produced in
1941. A "Covered Wagon" model converted for military use was also
tested.
With only two wheel drive and
small tires it is unlikely that any of the Crosley military
conversions were very successful.
The 1942 Crosleys were
quietly put on the market in late 1941. Added was a hard-top model
with a round "opera" in the rear quarter. With gas rationing
coming into effect, Crosleys were becoming more desireable cars to
own. This aspect was stressed by Crosley ads, including an "A" is
for Ample ad in 1943 referring to the "A" type gas ration sticker.
From the ads it appears possible that Crosley might have been
building cars after the February 1942 cut-off date. Crosley then
turned to War.
Powel Crosley was not content
with only building cars, he also built several prototypes of
motorcycles (one a three wheeler) boats and later a snowmobile.
During the entire pre-war period Crosley managed to produce 5,757
cars, not an awful lot but definitely beyond the prototype stage.
In addition to the above mentioned snowmobile
was a very interesting Jeep. Crosley did not participate in the
initial trials for what became the original Jeep but became
involved in 1942 in a project to build a special mini-Jeep. This
was to be a special light weight vehicle capable of both being
transported by a C-47 (the military version of the DC-3 ... and
more about that later) and easily manhandled out of the mud by the
troops. The first pilot model, called a CT-3 Pup, (no details on
what the C or the T stand for or whether there was a 1 or 2) and
was delivered to the Army in February of 1943. After the first one
completed its tests at Fort Benning, Georgia (the Army's
paratrooper training school), 36 more were ordered.
The "Pup" weighed 1,125 pounds and used the
Waukesha two cylinder engine (of 13 horsepower) with a special
adaption on the three speed transmission that gave it six forward
speeds and two reverse. After six Pups had been sent overseas for
further testing, the Army changed its mind and decided to end the
project. The reasons are apparent; a 13 horsepower motor lacks the
power to move 1,100 pounds of vehicle plus cargo across really
rough terrain. Astonishingly, a number of Pups survive, at last
count it was seven or eight. In addition to the Pups there was
also a snowmobile (snowtractor), a motorcycle and several other
odd vehicles. There also appears to have been a small truck for
use by the Air Force.
At this point we can sum up the pre-war period. The pre-war
Crosleys were something less than perfect; the lack of a closed
model initially made the cars somewhat impractical and durability
was not one of their strong suits. Cannonball Baker did manage a
one and half times trip across the U.S.. By the end of the 1942
production models, Powel Crosley realized that much improvement
was necessary in both the engine and body.
The story of the post-war
Crosleys really starts in 1943. It was in the summer of that year
that Paul Klotsch, the chief engineer of Crosley Motors, met Mr.
Lloyd Taylor of Taylor Engines. Mr. Taylor had designed a unique
engine made of steel stampings, all hydrogen brazed together. The
complete engine weighed only 133 pounds, was very compact and was
producing an unheard of 36 horsepower at 5600 RPM from only 44
cubic inches. In addition to the novel stamped steel construction,
the engine also had a shaft driven overhead cam. Technically, the
jump from the pre-war two cylinder engine to this little four
cylinder powerhouse was unbelievable. From a small, basically
obsolete (in automobiles) engine to a small OHC design that wasn't
duplicated by the "Big Three" for over twenty years Crosley had
achieved a near miracle.
Crosley took an exclusive
license on this engine and before the end of the war had sold it
to the government for many applications, most notable being
generator sets. The first contract was for the U.S. Navy and
required the engine to run continuously at full power for 1200
hours (if in a car travelling at 50 MPH, this would equal 60,000
miles-without stopping). From this contract many others followed,
the little five main bearing four cylinder mill powered
generators, auxiliary power plants, back up generators in PT
boats, refrigerator units and even the Mooney Mite airplane after
the war. It should be noted that the prototype 36 horsepower unit
had a 9 to 1 compression ratio and used 100 octane fuel (Aviation
Gas). For use in the Crosley cars, the engine was detuned to 7.5
to 1 compression ratio (still the highest in the industry) and
delivered 26-1/2 horsepower. It was christened the Cobra-from
COpper BRazed. The entire block, of 125 stampings weighed only 14
pounds. The crankcase was an aluminum casting for ridgidity and
the inside of the block was at first plastic lined and later zinc
lined for resistance to rust. The block was held together by press
fits, spot welds and crimps prior to brazing in a 2060 degree F
furnace.
On June 20, 1944 Crosley
Motors and Crosley Radio were separated, the Radio division was
sold. The money obtained from the sale was used to finance the
post-war cars. According to one story, the post-war Crosley was
designed by some moon-lighting Hudson Body engineers in Detroit
over a period of one to two days. The similiarity of the Crosley
to the famous step-down Hudson does sort of support this. Whatever
the case, the new Crosley was announced on January 20, 1946. The
car was supposed to have an aluminum body and weigh less than
1,000 pounds. The Crosley can claim to be the first post-war slab
sided car, an honor usually claimed by Kaiser-Frazer. Although
announced in January, the first cars were not built until May 5,
1946. The first car was a 1947 two door sedan, with a normal steel
body and weighing 1,150 pounds. By July 4 the Marion, Indiana
factory had managed to build 149 cars. When it is considered that
Crosley had 600 "Dealers" and had orders totaling 30,000 cars,
this was a drop in the bucket. To speed deliveries to key markets,
Crosley played a trump card that had been part of the development
of the Pup - he could fly his cars in on DC-3's. Two Crosleys were
flown into New York's LaGuardia airport for delivery to Macy's
Department store. There was no problem fitting the two of them
into a DC-3 airliner. The publicity from this was excellent.
When shown to the public on
August 27th 1946 a crowd of over 9,000 people showed up. Something
over 1,000 people wanted to place orders, but unfortunately the
orders had to be limited to ten per day. For all of 1946 Crosley
managed to build 4,999 cars (4,987 sedans, 12 convertibles and 8
pick up trucks). The price was $853.58 for the two door sedan -
compare that with $1,072 for a Chevy two door sedan and you can
see that pricing was to be a problem all through the post-war
period. By February of 1947 Crosley was quoting a 30 to 60 day
delivery, by comparison, there was a one year wait for a Pontiac.
On November 18, 1947, the new
1948 Crosleys were announced. Added to the line was a panel truck,
a Sports Utility and a station wagon. The wagon was another
Crosley first, the first all steel bodied station wagon - beating
Plymouth by a year. The initial problems with the steel stamping
engines appeared to have been worked out (mainly oil leaks) and
production reached 19,344 for 1947 (14,090 sedans, 1,249 wagons,
4,005 convertibles and 3,182 trucks).
1948 was to be Crosley's
year, production reached its peak of 27,707 and Crosley was
actually the country's largest producer of station wagons (wagons
accounted for 23,489 of the production). But unfortunately the bad
publicity of the early stamped engines and the gradual meeting of
the demand for new cars by the bigger car manufacturers began to
tell. The new 1949 models were announced on December 16, 1948 and
in 1949 production crashed to a mere 8,939 cars and trucks. A new
line was added - the DeLuxe, the cars featured squared off
styling, more room, improved interior and exterior appearance . .
. and nobody bought them. Crosley had managed a new car for 1947
and another new one for 1949 (by Detroit's definition!) while
everybody else struggled for one new design in that period. What
happened in 1949 was the subtle change going on in America -
"bigger and better", more cylinders, more horsepower, longer,
lower etc. Oldsmobile created the horsepower race with '49 Rocket
V-8, Chevy dropped its old style and got a new, larger body, so
did the Ford and Plymouth. All of a sudden it seemed, the country
changed. One of the last things people wanted to do it seemed was
to economize. That social change spelled doom for the Crosley.
Early in 1949 the Cobra
engine was replaced by the Cast Iron Block Assembly - called the
CIBA for short. The new engine weighed only slightly more than the
old one and promised better durability. But by now it was really
almost all over. Crosley attempted a come back, spear headed on
July 14, 1949 with the introduction of the Crosley Hotshot. The
Hotshot was America's first mass produced post-war sports car.
Crosley managed to build 752 of them in 1949. Price cuts were
tried on the other models but that did not seem to make much of an
improvement in the now dismal sales picture.
On, or about May 15, 1949,
Crosley made history again. A new hydraulic brake replaced the
previous mechanical brake system on all Crosley models. The new
system happened to be disc brakes . . . and on all four wheels.
This brake was a spot disc and was the granddaddy of all modern
disc brakes. So in 1949 you could buy an overhead cam engined,
four wheel disc braked American sports car! And this sports car
was cheaper than any other car on the market! There had not been
anything like it before and, sadly, there has not been anything
like it since. America's only European style sports car was a
Crosley. Despite this, Crosley production continued its downward
curve, hitting only 7,612 cars and trucks in 1950. Of this number,
742 were "roadsters".
In addition to the Hot Shot,
on February 18, 1950 a Crosley Super Sports - with Leopard skin
seats - was shown at the New York Sportsman's Show. The car was in
production (without the leopard skin) by March 14th. Following the
Super Sports on June 21, 1950 was the Super series sedans, wagons
and trucks. By raising the compression ratio to eight to one,
thirty horsepower was produced. In addition, roll down windows
replaced the previous sliding ones. The wonderful disc brakes
proved to be a failure, salt on the roads caused them to freeze
up. Thus Crosley was forced to go to normal hydraulic drum brakes
in June of 1950.
If two sports cars and a
whole new line was not enough, the Farm-O-Road was introduced on
July 19, 1950. if stamped steel engines, overhead came, four wheel
disc braked and a host of other innovations led the way for future
American small cars, the Farm-O-Road stands alone. A very rare
creation. What do you call a jeep-car-tractor? Farm-O-Roads could
be used for just about everything, but mainly it seems they were
used as utility vehicles around country clubs, golf courses and
estates. They were definitely the best self-propelled riding lawn
mowers ever invented! In fact, so useful was the Farm-O-Road that
the vehicle was produced long after the Crosley Automobile Company
closed its doors in 1952, but I am getting ahead of myself. Sadly,
from here on, Crosley's victories were to be moral, not financial.
On the last day of 1950 came
what is Crosley's most famous racing victory. A completely stock
1950 Crosley was entered in the first internationally recognized
road race in the U.S., Sebring. Crosley number 19 entered by Fritz
Koster and Ralph Deshow pulled a first place on formula. Fritz and
Ralph were two totally different drivers, Ralph drove the Crosley
flat out (he claimed the handling was so good and the top speed so
low that he didn't slow down for most of the turns!) gaining
valuable time. He then handed the car over to Fritz who had a
reputation of "keeping the car together". Evidentially this was
the right combination as the Crosley led (again on formula) for
the entire race. The little car covered 288 miles in six hours, an
average of over 66 MPH! At the time of the race an interesting
story was told. It goes as follows: Fritz and Ralph had wrecked
their car in practice laps and happened to see the Crosley in the
spectators' parking lot. They talked the owner (Gus Ehrman) into
letting them race the car. I have not been able to verify this. If
true, the Crosley would indeed be as stock as anyone would want!
Crosley was quite successful
in racing and a modified Super Sports did quite well at LeMans
until the voltage regulator quit. Needless to say, Crosley
Hotshots and Super Sports were extensively used as the basis for
various home built racers. Added to the land victories, the engine
was used in boats and again was a winner. Many companies came into
business to supply high performance parts which could squeak the
little four banger out to over 100 horsepower. The power output of
the engine compared very well with contemporary European Grand
Prix engines (on a horsepower per cubic inch basis).
On November 13, 1950 the 1951
line was introduced and for the first time the Crosley sported a
real propeller in the middle of the grill. Production, which was
bad in 1950, fell to only 4,839 in 1951. 1952 was to be the last
model year Crosley and was introduced on November 26, 1951.
The now inevitable end came
on July 17, 1952, after a production run of only 1,522 cars. Powel
Crosley called it quits. From 1949 to 1952 he had lost between
three and four million dollars on the car. Compared to Kaiser's
loss of fifty million between 1945 and 1954 this was not much -
but it was all from Powel Crosley's personal funds. General Tire
bought a controlling interest in the company by obtaining 317,077
shares at twenty cents each. Production of cars had stopped
somewhere around July 4th but the plant was still building engines
to meet government contracts.
This should be the end of the
story, but it isn't. The Crosley engine and the Farm-O-Road were
too good to die. The engine kept going in boats - the Marine
Division of the Aero-Jet General Corporation produced the "Vee
Drive" and Fageol continued engine production at least through the
late fifties, several other companies produced versions of the
Crosley engine for marine use in to the 70's, the Bearcat 55 being
one of the last. The engine continually popped up in cars - such
as the Panda in 1956 and was used by various Italian Sports cars
in the fifties (such as Nardi, Bandini and Siata).
The Farm-O-Road went back
into production as the Crofton Bug on a very, very limited basis
around 1960. Even Lloyd Taylor, the original designer of the "tin
engine" kept at it. In 1958 he produced the "Super Sports" engine
- a two liter tin engine which produced 145 horsepower (Taylor -
where were you when Crosley needed you?) But that engine never
made it the way the original "three quarter liter" engine did in
the Crosley. In the 1980s Taylor was still making fabricated steel
engines, and tring to sell his ideas. He had a 150 hp and a 186 hp
version that passed California emission tests in 1981.
With the scrapping of the
dies, there will never be any more Crosleys. Not that somebody
didn't try though - Ed Herzog (owner of Service Motors in the 50s,
60s, &70s) attempted to get production going back in 1952 but
could not raise the money. He did manage though to buy most of the
left over parts at the factory. Thanks to Ed, a lot of Crosleys
are still on the road.
It is interesting to
speculate as to what would have happened if only Crosley had hung
on for a few years more . . . in 1956 the big foreign car surge
began and people were buying cars, that were no where near as good
as the Crosley, in great numbers. Had Crosley continued for only
three years more, they might have ridden the crest of the small
car boom that occurred. The money that would have made the company
would probably have carried it through until 1973 brought the need
for small cars again.
All that is left now are the
cars and a devoted group of Crosley owners who will probably keep
the little cars rolling along and thumb their noses at Detroit
every time one of the big three claims some "fantastic" first -
like four wheel disc brakes in a low priced car . . . Crosley had
it all - over 40 years ago.
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