Back in the good old days, many sports car folks had the idea of sticking a bigger motor in a Crosley Hot Shot to get a little more oomph out of Powell Crosley's racing roller skate.
No less a luminary than
John Fitch cut his teeth in a re-chassised Hot Shot that was promptly dubbed '
The Fitch Bitch.'
I doubt that the owner of
this particular Crosley roadster set any records, or even competed in any races in the car. Having spent way too much time underneath a Hot Shot I'm pretty certain that this motor upgrade - looks like it's out of an XK120 Jag - would fold that frame up like it was made of tinfoil before it got into third gear.
H/T to Arizona Crosley nut John McKnight who sent me a link to these photos on the very cool
Motor Life blog. We'll probably never know what happened to the car, but these photos are a fascinating glimpse into the days when Crosleys were just old cars to be fooled with. California plates mean that this was likely a rust-free car, probably only 10 or 15 years old when it was repurposed. I'd love to know what happened to that body in the garage!
3 comments:
Very nice!
Over by the Danville, IL airport there used to be a shed full of Crosleys, including a Hotshot with a flathead V8 (probably a 60) with a multi carb setup. This was in the '80 and early '90s, and they were obviously neglected. Wonder what happened to them?
Hello! I have for sale Waukesha engine company which was mounted on the first model Crosley. The engine in working condition. If You are interested, email me compfull@ gmail.com I'll send you the photos and video.
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