Cruikshank the Crosley

"Cruikshank the Crosley" by Andrew McWhiney is probably the single best article about Crosley ownership ever written.  Originally published by Road and Track in their July 1952 issue, "Cruikshank" perfectly captured the absurdity, novelty and charm of Powell Crosley's pint-sized econobox; McWhiney's experiences still rang true when I read them nearly 50 years later.  Ironically, the article was published just about the time Crosley halted production.

Below are some high res scans of the whole original story, along with some other nuggets from the same issue...
Click on the pages to see 'em bigger - these should be print quality if you want to download them.

Back in the early fifties Road and Track (and other sportscar mags) gave Crosley a lot of coverage - which made sense since they produced the only American production sportscar at the time.  The same issue of R&T that featured the "Cruikshank" article also featured a much-modified HotShot running Pebble Beach, and the Siata that won the 12 hour Vero Beach race that year.  I did a bit of a double-take when I saw the HotShot- I've never seen one that looked more like a Bugeye Sprite - especially with the right hand drive!

If any collectors out there need an original copy of this particular issue, I discovered that I have an extra copy.  It's in pretty good shape (in my comic book nerd days I'd have graded it 'Fine')... it's yours for $7 + postage.  Email me at timtaker at yahoo.com if you want it!