It's Raining Tin Blocks!

Ok, not really.

But once I made that last post a few people have come forward with THEIR running CoBra motors...

First up is Martin Park Hunter from La Crosse, Wisconsin. Park is a Crosley nut of the first order and does all the work on them himself - he often posts videos with him working on his Crosleys... not sure how I missed this one!

This past summer was the first time that the annual Crosley Automobile Club Meet in Wauseon, Ohio has been cancelled (COVID, natch). The powers that be came up with the idea of having a "virtual" meet and invited members to "show" their cars via photo and video - Park did a great job with his virtual submission, showing off his 1948 Station Wagon and then taking the viewers with him on a drive - powered by CoBra!

I also stumbled across this video of a 1949 Danbury Fair race boat that sports a running tin block. (Apparently this was a thing.)

Next, friend of the blog John McKnight chimed in with a video of HIS tin block running - OK, it's not in a car, but running, just the same.

John's CoBra has solid provenance; it came from Bob Heinze, an original Crosley dealer back in the forties, and, up until about 15 years ago, the guy to go to if you wanted your Crosley gauges rebuilt. He rebuilt the gauges for my Super Sports over 20 years ago, and someday I'll be putting them in the dash of my SS.

John's motor offers a good example of how to quickly tell a CoBra from a CIBA. The most obvious cue is the valve cover. The CoBra valve cover sits down in a groove in the block. The CIBA valve cover has a flared flange and sits on top of the block. Also, early valve covers, like the one here, don't have the breather in the center! Later tin blocks did have the breather on the valve cover like on the CIBA. 

Other cues: the logo is barely visible on the lower driver's side of the block on the CoBras; CIBAs almost always have a prominent logo cast on the same side, just below the valve cover, although the exact placement can vary a bit from year-to-year.

Once you know what you are looking for it's easy to tell the tin blocks and the cast blocks apart - be the first one on your block to be able to distinguish a Mighty Tin at a glance!

If you are really interested in a deep dig on all things CoBra/CIBA (and the post-Crosley variants like Aerojet, Homelite and Bearcat) be sure to visit the Crosley Automobile Club's Crosley Engine Family Tree page!