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Happy Birthday, Al

As I got ready to call my buddy Al on his birthday today, it dawned on me that it was 20 years ago this month that he and I made our 700 mile road trip in a Crosley. Twenty years!

The Crosley Super Sports Coupe

I haven't laid eyes on my Crosley Super Sports in nearly two years. It, along with most of my tools, was packed into storage when we tore down my old garage to start building the new house and shop.

If I haven't been able to work on my Super Sports, I have been able to think about the restoration and plan out exactly how I want it: color, stance, interior, frame mods, performance upgrades... even tires. I've been moving this car around in pieces for 23 years, but I finally see light at the end of the tunnel.

If you are anything like me, a tattered project car is a source of endless speculation. A nice survivor or restored car is pretty obvious: you drive it, fix whatever breaks and make minor changes that don't disrupt the feng shui of the thing. But a genuine basket case is wide open. You have to do everything over, so unless you are planning a concours restoration, you have nearly unlimited options - at least insofar as your budget and imagination will go. 

And one of the places my imagination - and my research - took me was to the Super Sports Coupe.

SOLD: The Le Mans Special

I really dropped the ball.

The Este 500

Regular readers of this blog will know that I love one-off Crosley-based cars, small sports racers and mysteries. The Este 500 is all three.

Hell Drivers Promo Film from the '80s

Tip of the hat to my buddy Al who sent me the link to this 1980s promo film for Jack Kochman's Hell Drivers, featuring "Jumpin' Johnny" Wisner.

High Times Dragster for Sale Again

I've been following the saga of the High Times Dragster since before it even acquired the name... it's all hazy now, but I think Chuck Koehler may have been involved initially, and then a guy in Wisconsin named Arnie acquired it and gave it the moniker that has stuck.

Just (14 Years Ago) Married

Fourteen years ago, Liv and I loaded the Crosley up with our wedding presents (they barely fit) and drove away from the Masonic Hall, man and wife. It was a pretty fun day.

Layout Man

I've been plugging away at the new issue of the Tin Block Times (newsletter of the West Coast Crosley Club) and am just about done. I've been the editor of the TBT for over a decade, but I also started doing the layout a few issues back. I worked as a commercial artist for many years, so I have experience - but that was all back in the pre-computer era. Figuring out how to do in InDesign what I would be doing with cut-and-paste has been a project.

The Coolest Crosley-Powered Object on Earth

Raffi Minassian is on a ROLL. Last week he publishes an article about the Hot Shot his dad bought when he was 10, and now he drops THIS article on Bring a Trailer about his 1953 Giaur, which is very probably the coolest Crosley-powered anything on this planet.

More Hot Shot coverage from Raffi Minassian

I've written about Raffi Minassian before - he's an incredibly knowledgeable car aficionado who got the Crosley bug when he was 10. I first met him at a Crosley meet in 2001 where he sold me a spare Crosley engine that he bought along with racer Chalmers Hall's Crosley-powered Giaur. Raffi writes regularly about auto design and collector cars, and it's always worth a read.

(BTW- my buddy John McKnight bought, and is slowly restoring the Hot Shot in the photo above.)

Raffi just posted a short history of the Crosley Hot Shot at Vintage Road and Racecar - nice overview, and fun pictures of stock Hot Shots and several racing specials - check it out!

Star Turn

Hate to interrupt coverage of the 2019 Meet (I know - it's already late) but wanted to say THANKS to  Dennis Terdy and the editors of the Crosley Auto Club's Crosley Quarterly, who did an extensive interview with me and gave it FOUR full color pages!  To misquote Bill and Ted: "I'm not worthy!"

2019 Club Meet By the Numbers

This year is the 21st time I've been to the West Coast Crosley Club's annual fall meet, and after all the years I've learned a few things.