Looking for a Crosley

[hausdok]

The people I'm going to see this weekend have been collecting all things Crosley since 1974. I figure even if we don't strike a deal on a car, just being able to absorb some of their knowledge & maybe buy some parts will well worth the trip. I've always been a fan of Powell Crosley. You should read his history sometime.

I'd always known there had been a Crosley car. A fellow that ran a filling station in my home town bought one when I was maybe five or six and he still had it when I went into the military in '75. I never knew though, until I started running the scans to locate those sites for you that Crosley was practically a household name and is into appliances, radios, phones, you-name-it, and that old Crosley crap - and there's a lot of it - is collectible.

[voxnut]

Mike-

I had a '51 wagon for a few years and loved it, but when I got my Studebaker wagon it ended up being surplus and I didn't have a place to keep it inside, so I needed to move it on. I would say join the national club. Great group. Although the West Coast Crosley Club is worth joining as well. I did the design on their magazine for a few years.

If you want to actually drive the car - which I did- I would also recommend a 50-52 wagon with the hydraulic drum brakes. The cable brakes are a pain to keep in adjustment, and aren't so hot at stopping the car and the disc brakes on the '49 model are hard to get parts for and are difficult to deal with in a different way. If I'm ever in the position to have enough inside storage, I'd love another Crosley wagon. It was a really fun car to tool around town in and go get ice cream and all that stuff.

Dean

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[Mike Sal]

Ya, the biggest reason I am a Crosley fan is the story of Powell Crosley....quite a guy. Reading his biography is inspiring. Just think, you can thank him for having those shelves on the inside of your refridgerator's door (called "shelve-a-door").

[sweetolbob]

I don't know how their dealer network was arranged but a few memories of my youth is recalling a couple new Crosley's parked at a filling station about a mile or so from my house and the sign on the station saying Crosley Dealer and Service. I know they sold them.

[8E45E]

Ya, the biggest reason I am a Crosley fan is the story of Powell Crosley....quite a guy. Reading his biography is inspiring. Just think, you can thank him for having those shelves on the inside of your refridgerator's door (called "shelve-a-door").

I had an older neighbor who owned a Crosley table radio from the early 1950's. Crosley radios were very popular at one time, and I believe Powel Crosley owned a radio station in Cincinnati before the war.

Craig

[Mike Sal]

Powell started out wanting to make the "model T" of radios. Radios were expensive in those days. He got with some engineering students & they designed a radio that only needed 1 tube. They sold lots of them, but complaints started coming in that they were too weak & couldn't pick up stations from very far away. He thought that what his customers needed was a better station, not a better radio, so he started WLW & it was the most powerful station in the US (if not the world).

All of the competitor radio stations complained so the government made him turn the power down. During WW2, they had him turn the power back up so all of the radio free Europe and coded messages could be broadcast from Cincinnati to places around the world. He made so much money from that he branched out into cars, appliances & base ball teams.

[Skip Lackie]

I had an older neighbor who owed a Crosley table radio from the early 1950's. Crosley radios were very popular at one time, and I believe Powel Crosley owned a radio station in Cincinnati before the war.

Craig

Yes. Crosley owned WLW (700 AM), which for about five years in the 1930s was the most powerful radio station in the world, with a 500 kw transmitter -- at a time when other stations were limited to 50 kw. During that time, it could be heard by more than half the population of North America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLW

[hausdok]

A few additions. These might be duplicates, I found them on a British search engine:

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C833660 - '48 Crosley PU - $10,500
https://www.midwestclassiccar.com/in...tails/49055029 - '48 Crosley SW - $9,000
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C833669- '50 Crosley Hotshot Convertible - $15,500

[Bo Markham]

I had the opportunity of purchasing the remaining inventory of the Honolulu, Hawaii Crosley dealership many years ago. I did so for the express purpose of buying a 50-52 pickup. I never did find just the one I wanted, though. I sure would like to find one, as both the man (Powell Crosley) and the Crosley automobile have all ways stood out as truely American Icons....

[Milaca]

Here is a 1948 Crosley pickup for sale, in need of a full restoration for $1500, near Minneapolis, MN: https://classiccarsleftbehind.com/ca...ility-pickup/?

I have had a 1950 Crosley Super sedan for many years, though I have yet to restore it and get it back on the road. I have only got it running and got the original 4-wheel disc brakes to work again so that I can drive it around the yard. I had a new set of 4:80 x 12 boat trailer tires installed on it two years ago, so it should be fine for a few more decades. I don't intend to sell it, just sharing my madness.

[Bob Bryant]

When i was a kid we would go through Marion, Indiana on our way to Indianapolis. There were many Crosleys waiting for delivery at the factory.

[qsanford]

Too bad they didn't include a Crosley radio as standard equipment in their cars! What a marketing concept that would have been! (They could have got them at cost!) <G>

[kxet]

8 volt battery would move this car quite a ways. Hybrid? ha ha.

[Mike Sal]

Ya, I was surprised to learn that both factories were located in Indiana (Richmond, then Marion). I had always assumed that they were made near Cincinnati since that's where the home office was.

[Mike Sal]

Going this Friday to look at a couple of cars (sedan and wagon). The father was a Crosley hoarder & now the son has to get rid of all that stuff. I'm sure all of the car clubs will be seeing more and more of this kind of thing as time goes on.
Mike Sal