Crosley
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The Crosley was an automobile manufactured by the Crosley Corporation and later by Crosley Motors Incorporated in the United States from 1939 to 1952. (It should not be confused with the Crossley made by Crossley Motors of Manchester, England.)
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[edit] History
Industrialist Powel Crosley Jr. of Cincinnati, Ohio, owner of a broadcasting company and the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, had ambitious plans to build a compact car and developed assembly plants at Richmond, Indiana, and Marion, Indiana. In May, 1939, the first car was shown at the Indianapolis Speedway. It was a two-door convertible that weighed under 1000 lb (450 kg) and sold for $250. It wasn't an instant success, but in 1941 more body styles were introduced.
The chassis had an 80-inch (203 cm) wheelbase, half elliptic springs with beam axle in front and quarter elliptics in the rear. The power came from a two-cylinder Waukesha air-cooled engine that had the fan as a part of the flywheel. The engine was connected with a three-speed transmission and then directly via a torque tube to the rear axle, thus eliminating the need for joints.
In 1941 the body styles available were expanded to include two- and four-passenger convertibles, a convertible sedan, a station wagon, a panel truck, a pickup, and two models called "Parkway Delivery" (a mini-panel with no roof over the front seat) and "Covered Wagon" (a convertible pickup truck with a removable back seat).
During World War II, the Crosley became attractive because of gasoline rationing and the good mileage (50 miles per U.S. gallon, 5 L/100 km). Crosley was the last company to cease production of civilian vehicles in 1942, partly to allow car buyers the opportunity to purchase as many Crosleys as possible to aid in fuel rationing, and partly because the War Production Board needed some time to determine a useful purpose for Crosley's small factories.
Civilian car production resumed in 1945, but only at the Marion plant; the Richmond facility had been sold during the war years. The Crosley HotShot was the first post-war sports car produced in the United States being introduced in 1949. Also in 1949 Crosley started shipping all their line from Pickup to Hotshot with disc brakes, a first in the USA.
With 24,871 cars sold, the best year was 1948. Sales started to decline in 1949 and adding the Crosley Hotshot and a combination farm tractor jeep called the Farm-O-Road in 1950, could not stop the decline. In 1952, only 1522 Crosley vehicles were sold. Production ceased that year, and the plant was sold to the General Tire and Rubber Company.
The Crosley Hotshot won the first Sebring endurance sports car race in 1950.
[edit] Engines
The original engine is the Waukesha Model 150 Cub Twin, a 580 cc air-cooled L-head opposed twin-cylinder engine built by Waukesha Engines of Waukesha, Wisconsin and utilized from 1939 through 1942. It was replaced in 1946 with the CoBra (for "Copper Brazed"), a 721 cc overhead-cam four. That engine in turn was replaced in 1949 by the new and more reliable CIBA (Crosley Cast Iron Block Assembly) engine utilizing five main bearings.
[edit] Crosley CoBra (1945–1949)
The CoBra (Copper Brazed, also known as "The Mighty Tin") was originally developed by Lloyd Taylor, of Taylor Engines in California, for military use aboard PT boats and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. The engine was made from sheet metal rather than cast iron like most other engines. This was done to get a thin, uniform wall thickness and thus avoid the creation of hot spots around the combustion chamber that could ignite the fuel, causing pre-ignition (knocks). The engine wasn't adopted for automobile use until 1946. It was a very lightweight engine; the block weighed only 14.8 lb (6.7 kg); complete with all accessories (including the flywheel) weighing only 133 lb (60 kg). The engine produced 26 hp (19 kW) at 5200 rpm.
[edit] CIBA (1949–1952; 1955)
The CIBA (Crosley Cast Iron Block Assembly) was a more traditional and more reliable engine utilizing a cast-iron block. When Crosley Motors, Inc. was sold, the engine was renamed "AeroJet" and production continued. Production of the AeroJet ended in 1955 and the engine rights were sold to Fageol and later to a series of different companies ending in 1972 with the Fisher Pierce Bearcat 55.
[edit] Notable Crosley owners
- General Omar Bradley
- Humphrey Bogart (Two-cylinder Crosley)
- Kathy Godfrey (1951 CD sedan)
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1951 CD Surrey)
- Geraldine Farrar (Two-cylinder Crosley)
- Paulette Goddard (Two-cylinder Crosley)
- Pamela Harriman (purchased the first 1939 Crosley)
- George M. Humphrey, Secretary of the Treasury
- Art Linkletter (1952 CD Sport Convertible)
- Alex Raymond, Flash Gordon cartoonist (Crosley-Bandini)
- Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York (1950 HotShot)
- Gloria Swanson (Two-cylinder Crosley)
- Fred Waring (Two-cylinder Crosley)
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1952 VC Super Sports)
- Henry N.Manney III Road and Track contributor (Hotshot)
[edit] See also
- Crosley Car Owners Club (CCOC) History
- Powel Crosley Jr.
- Lewis M. Crosley
- Crosley Pup
- WLW
[edit] External links
