Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A Crosley Middleman

The last thing I need is another Crosley.  Well, actually, let me amend that: the last thing I need is another incomplete, non-running Crosley.
So, you can imagine my inner conflict last week when I saw a post titled 'Crosley Rescue Alert: Napa California!' on one of the Crosley boards I frequent.  The post listed a CD Crosley station wagon body that had to be moved within the week or it was going to the scrapyard!

I called the number and got the details; not much was there.  The body wasn't even on a frame, so no rolling it around for ease.  The  ID tag was still intact, there were a few pieces of glass left and not much rust. The best news was that it had the cool one-piece rear door. 
The owner had bought the body a few years back with the intention of using it to build a hotrod.  There's a long history of Crosley-bodied rods and even a few Bonneville record-holders with Powell's pride straddling a Caddy or Chrysler motor.  This one was slated to be a streetable gasser-style build for the guy's daughter, but she balked when presented with the plan, so it just sat in his storage space.  He'd just bought a Dodge Power Wagon project and the Crosley had to get gone.  Now.
I said I'd come get it, figuring I'd just store it until I could find a home for it. As luck would have it, the Power Wagon was just outside Sacramento, so he even offered to drop off the Crosley on his way to pick up the truck!
A couple of days later he pulled up with the Crosley in the back of his pickup.  In ten minutes we had it on my trailer (so I can move it around til I get rid of it).  It's not a bad car- it has less rust than MY wagon!  Still, I have more than enough projects, so I knew it had to go.  I had planned to put it on Ebay for what I paid for it, but then it occurred to me that I should talk to the Liebherrs in Nevada- they have a lotta space and they REALLY like Crosleys.  Sure enough, Dale said he'd take it.

So, I'm sorta babysitting this Crosley until Dale can come get it.  I'm glad I was able to be the middleman here and am really glad there's one less Crosley in the scrapyard.  Winning!

5 comments:

Midtown Bazaar said...

You're like a Foster-home for orphaned Crosley. Get it, FOSTER home? Oh christ I kill myself.

d a v i d e said...

"This one was slated to be a streetable gasser-style build for the guy's daughter..."


...best dad evvah?

Ol' Man Foster said...

I dunno... Best Dad Ever might have been the guy who brought home that XK150 Jag coupe with the Zagato body - and kept it!

Ol' Man Foster said...

Liebherrs have been and gone - Crosley in, Crosley out!

Anonymous said...

'I dunno...Best Dad Ever might have been the guy who brought home that XK150 Jag coupe with the Zagato body - and kept it!" March 16, 2011 at 11:32 PM

You might like this site:

http://classicjaguar.com/cj/zagato.html