Another Field Find: New Jersey Super Sports

Checked back in on Lazlobasset's NJ rust field find and discovered that he'd posted more photos, including a Super Sports that's doing its best to return to the earth before the crusher comes.

Hope some east coaster can save all these cars before they get crushed...

Dual Carb Crosley Motor w/Headers For Sale: $250 in PA

Just saw this motor posted for sale on the HAMB for $250. With that header and dual intake you couldn't go wrong at the price even if the crank is broken in half. Seller says the cam is not installed but it comes with, plus a pile of other parts including clutches, a tranny, an axle and more. Seller prefers not to ship, and the whole lot is in Newcastle, Pennsylvania.

Ebay HotShot Clown Car Back Again

This 1950 HotShot was the subject of the first post I made this year- it popped up on Ebay with another clown car back in January. Bidding went wild, reaching $8500. I'm not sure what happened, but apparently the high bidder came to his senses because here it is for sale again 10 months later.

Current bid is $3205, Buy it Now is $8K.

Resto Debate: HotShot and Super Sports Floor Covers

There has been a vigorous debate raging over at the Crosley Gang Yahoo Group for the past couple of days, begun when 'Cutworm' posed a seemingly simple query:

"All my Hotshots either have or show signs of carpet being glued to the floorpan.  I also have pics from Wauseon showing black carpets used. Is this right? What about the goofy cover over the trans-shifter assemblies?"

Determining what would be factory-correct is easy for almost any other auto of the period, but like so many other details of Crosley build history, there are no stats, no notes in the manuals or parts catalogs, and dang few factory photos. What were the floors of Crosley roadsters covered with when they came from the factory?  I'd always believed that they came with rubber mats, but I realized that I didn't really know.

User L. E. Hardee weighed in, saying that he didn't believe any Crosley came from the factory with carpets.  "Black rubber mats are what I have seen," he said, and then offered an interesting tidbit:  "The drive shaft hump was just paint."  Phil Rowland disagreed, noting that while rubber mats were correct,  the drive shaft hump was definitely covered.  Club prez Dave Anspach and Pete Berard came in on Hardee's side: uncovered hump.

Phil took it to the next level, actually digging out some documentation. Sure enough, Tom McCahill's 1949 Mechanix Illustrated review of the HotShot shows rubber covering the hump.  Jim Bollman jumped in with even more detail:

"...no regularly built Crosley ever was delivered from the factory with carpeting. That is not to say someone might have pulled strings to get a one off or a dealer may have added carpeting to get a premium price.

"The June 1951 Mechanics Illustrated shows very clear pictures of the interior and it shows a pebbly surfaces rubber mat that is one piece over the hump and all. I have seen the same material in a very original HS (have 35 mm slides around somewhere showing it). I also managed to salvage a small piece of the material from a mat that was beyond saving, for my files, it has a fiber material attached to the back side to absorb noise and retain moisture to insure a rusted out floor."

Then Phil went even one better, adding personal side to the story. "I looked over a NEW '49 Hotshot in a Crosley dealer showroom and remember it well.  It definitely had a rubber mat covering the tunnel.  It surprises me that so many people believe otherwise.  Must be they're too young to have been there back then.  I have advantage being 80 years old."  I did a little digging myself, and in a Crosley factory photo it sure looks like the hump is covered with a rubber mat.

Pretty amazing that the conversation started without a consensus and ended with that question definitively solved, details on the exact coverings used, and even including a photo of factory-correct interior from the period. 

As if that wasn't enough, the conversation then shifted to a discussion of the material on the storage area behind the seats.  'Brawnybug' quickly responded with a description and then a photo from his very original Super Sports: "Here's a picture of the material covering the floor and fender wells....  It's gray and stipple textured, kind of a linear pattern."

And there we left it.  This is the sort of thing that used to only happen among experts at the annual Crosley Club meets - now it's any time, and all out in a public forum, documented for everyone.   This has become THE site for Crosley nuts, and it's really pretty amazing.  The Crosley Gang rules!

Can You Identify These New Cars?

Found a copy of this great old Motorola auto radio ad on the HAMB. Can anyone identify N?

Curbside Classics' Brief Bio of the Crosley

Jeff Nelson over at the Curbside Classics blog recently offered up a concise and very accurate rundown of the Crosley story. Nice pictures, straightforward story, and best of all, no repetition of the common Crosley canards ('The Hot Shot's experimental sheet metal engine...') I find in 90% of the articles I see about Crosleys. 

Check it out here.

New Jersey Junk

Today I came across two separate reports of rusty Crosleys that are rotting away in the wilds of New Jersey.  First up was this CC sedan that HAMB user 'Lazlobasset' found mouldering into the dirt.  Car looks pretty straight and complete (note that the front badge is still there!) but I suspect the interior may not be as good as the rest.

The same spot had this half-a-CD. This one looks too far gone to be anything but yard art, but those grill bars seem to be pretty straight.  The owner of these (and a field of other neat stuff, like Cushman scooters) has been priced out of the area so these cars are for sale and will presumably be moving along soon.

On the Crosley Gang Yahoo Group, 'racerpete' posted some pics of a CD Crosley station wagon he found last weekend on top of an old delivery truck at a show at a South Jersey junkyard.  Hard to tell much from the photos, but since it's got roll up windows it may have been a 'Super' model.  That's an original 'flat top' hub cap, too.

Neat stuff, and good to know that Crosleys are still fertilizing the dirt of my home state...

Hemmings Find: 1950 Crosley Hotshot For Sale in Maine

This clean '50 Hotshot popped up on the Hemmings Blog the other day.  It is supposed to be super solid and runs great.  Sure looks nice in the pictures.

Owner claims it was recently reawakened after a long storage, and that's kinda what it looks like.  Gauges and carpet appear to be faded, and the upholstery could definitely use some attention.  But, the paint looks pretty nice, it's got the accessory doors, and you can't argue with the radio in the dash. On the down side, I'm not sold on the red steering wheel, I think the taillight lenses are wrong and something looks weird about the rear gravel pan.

Seller is asking $7950, which would have been nuts just a couple of years ago, but prices on these have been going up.  I'd want to know if the floors and sills look as good as the rest of the car, and if it has the top assembly, but it might be worth a call for an East Coaster who knows how to haggle.

Vintage Picture: Kid and a Crosley

Today we've got a great vintage pic of a kid checking out the air conditioning on a CC (1946, '47 or '48) Sedan.  Sharp-eyed Cros fans will note that the car has the rare in dash radio, which makes sense since it's also sporting an antenna.  Crosley nut Doug Cottis bought the pic off Ebay and posted it in his 'Crosley Automobiles...  Fun Little Cars' Group on Facebook and gave me permission to share.

Thanks Doug!