 Everyone is getting there Crosley loaded up to head for the Nationals in July. Here is a load of 51-52s heading that way now |
 Even Carnation Milk is going to bring their fleet of CDs for the Spotlight Class |
 Jim Hosking cleaning up his 51-52 CD
Convertible to take to Wauseon many years ago. Some of
you old timers will remember Jim as a member from
years ago that had some very nice Crosley parts for
sale every year at the Nationals. Mike Duffy sent me
the picture's, another old member that has come back
to the fold and is heading back to Wauseon this year.
|
 Here is the Convertible at Wauseon in
Jim's flea market space. Jim is behind the table
selling. I'm guessing this was later 70s but not sure.
He later had a big yellow school bus to haul his
parts. Jim died back in 2018. Wonder if anyone
standing at the table will be at Wauseon this year.
|
 Park Hunter(WI) tells his Crosley story
"Erick was 12 when we dragged the Crosley home from
Minnesota. It was an erector set. The dream was to drive
it to Wauseon... long deferred." An earlier
shot of Erick as part of my April CotM a few years
back.
As many of us know some projects take
longer than others.
|
 "Now he's 21, done with college, and
about to head overseas as a missionary for two years.
So we've been scrambling to get l'il Ole roadworthy,
and today he drove it to work at the Walmart Auto
Center. And here he is today. The mirror was a
birthday gift Erick bought me at Wauseon 2019."
Great job Park & Erick and good
luck on your future adventures.
|
 Steve Eason of North Carolina arriving Monday at the Nationals. He draws a lot of attention on the road with his Hotshot. Not sure how long Steve was on the road, I know he had already been on the road for over a week. He went to the AACA National show in Auburn the weekend before and picked up a drivers plaque for the Hotshot. He had a couple more shows planned before he headed home. |
 Steve and his Hotshot in the line of cars at the nursing home parade. Because of covid restrictions at the home be didn't do our usual show but just did a couple of slow laps for fairly large crowd of residents that were out front to wave and smile at us going by. |
 I heard Lil' Digger recently changed hands and thought it would be a good time to feature it. It is on an ‘86 Suzuki Samurai chassis with a modified 1.3 engine and re-geared drive system with Jeep YJ suspension. |
 So I had Lil' Digger but what to put
with it then I remembered this photo taken in 1953. It
appears to be a 1949 Sedan Delivery being used as a
pet ambulance and hearse for the Happy Hunting
Ground Pet Cemetery. You can see the sliding windows
and handle on the back so it has a barn door rear
entry. Seemed like a good image to pair with Lil'
Digger.
|
 |
 "You have never seen a Crosley with such a unique appearance as what my car looks like now. It looks like something Crosley should have considered back when building cars." I have to agree with Clell, it would have been a good seller back in 1948. |
 Tater the early years??? The Buick
portholes used to be a popular addition to Crosley.
To the right is Tater owned by Martha Straube of Oregon. Click on the link for the front view. |
 Martha, with a lot of help from Kenny
Bush rebuilt this 1947 Roundside from very poor
condition, into a real crowd pleaser at the many shows
Martha has taken it. Here is a front
shot.
|
 Richard Campbell post these pictures
and the question anyone know where the Little Digger
is today? "Over the course of three years (1957-1959),
the Little Digger was unbeaten in the HM class on the
west coast. Built by Chalmers Hall of Phoenix,
Arizona, the little Crosley-powered special took first
in class honors in ten of its twelve races. (It failed
to finish in the other two events.) The engine
delivered 55 bhp at 8500 rpm. Transmission was a
modified MG TC unit with a Morris pressure plate. The
body was assumed to be a home-made aluminum shell.
Weighing a mere 760 pounds (wet), the Little Digger’s
weight was evenly distributed, with 48% front and 52%
rear with driver. Wheelbase 84-inches, overall length
121-inches, width 50-inches, track 44-inches, and
height 33-inches. Speed at the quarter mile was
clocked at 84.6 mph, and top speed was 114 mph."
|
 Above photo Copyright by Art
Still, The Digger was last heard of when it was
trailered to Mexico where Hall competed in a road
race. One report says Hall transplanted the engine
from Digger to a Giaur that he also took to Mexico
after blowing the Giaur engine. If anyone knows
what happen to Digger after it got to Mexico let
me know and I will pass it on the Richard.
|
 Our only Alaska memeber, Bob Picard,
sent this photo and story of his Gasporter, still in
use. "Here is a recent picture of my 1948 Crosley
Gasporter refueling my 1948 Stinson Flying Station
Wagon."
"I acquired the gasporter several years ago to be able to refuel my 1948 Stinson and my 1943 WWII Army spotter airplane. It was previously used for many years to refuel airplanes at the Lake Hood Seaplane base in Anchorage. As you may know, the gasporter was designed for refueling small aircraft with the driver/refueler standing up to drive. It is claimed to have a 200 gallon tank but I can only get about 190 gallons in it if I allow for expansion space. It was designed with a reinforced walkway atop the engine so that some high wing airplanes can be refueled without the need of a ladder. The fuel pump is powered by a PTO driven by a belt run from a double crankshaft pulley." |
 A vintage photo of another airport Gasporter. "The engine uses gas from the big
tank which means that this Crosley has the biggest gas
tank in the world. There is a scupper at the bottom of
the tank that holds about 3 gallons in reserve for the
engine that can't be pumped out when refueling the
airplanes. It works very well for what it was designed
to do. I remember seeing these trucks occasionally
when I was learning to fly in 1964 and I immediately
recognized what it was when I saw this one in
Anchorage. I just had to have it and now I'm glad I
do."
|
 Just a reminder that this years
Spotlight Class is Commercial. These two nice examples
were at the 2021 Nationals.
Brad Johnson(IN) is the owner of this motorcycle hauling 47 Roundside Pickup. The little Indian appears to have been originally a real minibike with most the engine parts there just no internals. It was on a carnival ride. |
 Tim & Lorilee
King(FL) are the owner/restorers of Willie a
beautiful 49 Panel Delivery.
If all the trucks that are being talked about online, as Winter projects show, it may be the biggest Commercial class ever. |
 These two nice Crosleys belong to
John Roeser(IL). John didn't say what the event was
where these photos were taken but the policeman is
taking a careful look above to see if he needs to
write a ticket. The 47 Convert and 52
Sedan Delivery are in parade ready shape. John
writes "The 47’ was bought new by my grandfather's
secretary, then he from her and me from him. When she
owned it she drove it to Florida and back from Elgin
Illinois"
|
 The 52 Sedan Delivery apparently does double duty as a show car and delivery for John's bakery. Hope we see it at the Nationals in the Spotlight class in July. Not sure who the two young ladies are posing with the delivery. John says he bought 52 from Kap (Kapraun) 25 years or so a go. |
 Ran across these two photos and
couldn't resist making them my choice this month for
CotM. I wonder how two Chevrolet dealers thought it
was a good idea to use a Crosley to advertise their
dealerships. Above I would guess was in Texas based on
the dealer name and web search. A nice 51-52 CD
Pickup.
|
 Strong Bros Chevrolet was in Syracuse
New York and from the looks of the other cars in the
background this 48 1/2 Crosley wagon was fairly new
when it was used to promote Chevrolet. Nicely shows
off the white wheels they switched to in 1948. Maybe
the dealers were showing that you could upgrade from a
Crosley to a Chevy.
|
 Lewis Shepard This is a Crosley powered Lewis
Shepard, I would call it a tug but not sure what it
was officially called.
|
 It was for sale at 1999
Crosley Nationals, not sure if it sold or where it is
but wouldn't it look great in the commercial spot
light class this year. What little I could fine shows
they also made fork lifts and hand operated pallet
movers. Later they merged with Hyster. Looks like it
would be a beast to drive with handlebar steering to a
single wheel and solid rubber wheels.
|
 Hope everyone is loading up to head to the Nationals. |
 A nice load of 1947 CCs on Crosley's trick double wide on the top hauler. |
 If not the largest certainly the
longest commercial vehicle in the Spotlight Class at
the 2022 Nationals was Paul Bryant's(IN) 1941 PreWar
pickup 5th wheel dozer hauler..
|
 Paul has a proper dozer to haul all
looking brand new and ready for the next work site to
push some dirt around to make a small pile.
|
 Just to get everyone thinking about the 2023 Spotlight Class, here are a couple of FarmOroad pictures. The above factory prototype still exists and is restored and lives in California. It was brought to the Nationals a few years ago after it was freshly restored. If you want to know about this one check out the 2013 Nationals Photos. Hope all those FOR projects that have been on the back burner get dusted off and started on for 2023 Nationals. |
 This rig was built by the U.S. Geological Survey department to measure river currents on the Mississippi River. They chose the FarmOroad because it was small enough to go on sidewalk of many bridges. They used the rear PTO to raise and lower the equipment and a manual hydraulic jack to adjust the boom angle. |
 Hotshot at 1952 Watkins Glen, the last year the race was run on surface roads. It moved to a track in 1953 after 12 spectator were injured and 1 was killed in 1952. Richard Campbell reports number 4 was driven by Dolph Vilardi. |
 The car was entered by Candy Poole, and Poole is shown kneeling next to the car in the third photo. Poole went on to build the Crosley-powered PBX Special in 1953. The PBX won the first H-Modified National Championship in 1954. |
 Mike Powell posted these
pictures on the club Facebook page. Here is his
description "Crosley transmission & narrowed
axles, Wisconsin engine. My father built this for
us, still running today" - Mike 1954
|
 Mike teaching his son how to shift.......60 years after his Father did the same for him |
 Dakota Middleton (IN) is our current Youth Mechanic. Barry Smedley is his mentor, to oversee, teach and help with the restoration. |
 Dakota
was chosen by the board of directors to be the
latest Youth Mechanic and took possession of
his project at the Crosley Nationals in July 2022.
Working hard on his Hotshot.
|
Past Crosley of the Month Winners
- Previous
Page - Next
|
|
