Special Collection

I was happy to learn that the California Auto Museum will be hosting a microcar show next year, from March 15 to August 5, 2019 - especially great news for me, given that CAM is about a mile and a half from my house. A friend of mine is on the Board of the museum was talking about the show and knew I had a microcar (or, uh, four). I told him about the Crosleys and one of the things I mentioned was that my 1950 wagon had been featured in Road and Track Magazine back in 1975.  He couldn't even picture what a Crosley looked like, so I told him I'd send him a few photos.

Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries

As I got the pictures together I looked to see if the R&T article had ever been posted online. I did some googling and found what seemed like it might be an online version of the article. I clicked through to the site and could not believe what I was seeing...

Frank and Shirley Bell had already owned their 1950 Crosley Super Station Wagon for about a decade* when someone from Road and Track contacted them about featuring the car in an article. The concept was to compare a new compact car (a Ford Pinto station wagon) to a compact car from a quarter century beforehand - their Crosley station wagon. Given that Crosley was one of the only American-made compact cars of that era, and certainly the smallest mass-manufactured USA compact of 1950, it was a perfect fit.

Author (and probably photographer) Ron Wakefield met up with Frank and the whole Bell family at their home in Hawthorne for a photoshoot and test drive of the Crosley. Frank shared details about the car and Wakefield gamely took the the 26.5 horsepower beast for a spin in 1974 California traffic. His review was fairly charitable, although the line I always remember best is his comment that a Crosley is not unlike a rolling upright piano.

Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries

I'm not sure when I first learned about the article, but I first read it when it was reprinted in the Crosley and Crosley Specials book in 1998. The story only added to the semi-legendary status I'd already accorded Frank - at that point, he was one of only two guys I'd met who actually drove their Crosleys more than a couple miles at a time. When I went to my first Crosley Club meet in 1997, I was flummoxed to discover that only two members (Frank and Bob Carson) drove their cars to the meet. And, unlike Bob (who had a spectacular DNF rate), Frank usually made it home under his own power too. From the moment I met him, I was a total fan. I've read and re-read Wakefield's article enough that I practically have it memorized. The photos - four shots showing the car in various settings - are equally committed to memory.

So, imagine my shock when I clicked the link and discovered over FIFTY never-before-published photos taken that day in Hawthorne! The site I'd clicked on was the Department of Special Collections at the Stanford Libraries. They have obtained Road and Track's archives from 1947-2012 - a staggering collection of photos and documents, many thousands of which have been scanned and posted at their website - including a priceless-to-me set of photos of the Bell family and their beloved 1950 station wagon, of which I am now the owner. I was blown away.

Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries

Many of the pictures are slightly different variations of the images I know well... multiple shots of the family washing the car in the driveway, slightly different angles of the dashboard, the car parked next to the Pinto, etc..  but there are also plenty of photos that were entirely new to me.

Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries

The biggest revelation were the under the hood shots. There were no pictures of the engine bay in the original article.... and I can kinda see why. Neither of the two photos of the engine are that good, and would have been fairly blah in reproduction.... and, frankly, the engine looks crappy. This was a total surprise to me. Frank was an airplane mechanic, and obviously kept the car running well enough that he trusted it on hundred mile-plus road trips. But, boy, that cam cover looks awful - like it's held together with JB Weld, mud and sheet metal patches. I can't imagine why Frank wouldn't have replaced it - cam covers couldn't have been that hard to find in 1974.

Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries.

The other under the hood surprise was the missing "oh shit" box. By the time I got the car, a metal box had been attached to the fender next to the battery box. It was packed with supplies and parts for a side-of-the-road breakdown: spare points, extra oil and funnel, some screwdrivers, wire, fuses, lightbulbs, etc... I LOVE it; a totally useful modification. What I don't love is that the fender was cut down to create the space for the box - looks like that was already done by 1974 - you can see the flat spot next to the battery that should have a curve matching the other fender. Not sure if the box was removed for the photo or if Frank hadn't fabbed it yet.

Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries.

There are also shots of the interior from the rear. There's the same piece of stained beige carpet and the strangely-painted wheelwells that the car still has, but the rest of the upholstery was replaced at some point after I first saw the car, probably in the mid 2000s. In these photos, many of the interior panels and the headliner are missing altogether - I wonder if Frank ever had the original panels or if the car came without them?

The funnest photos of the whole batch are the dozen shots of the car in Hawthorne traffic. It looks like Frank is driving, with at least two passengers - they are cruising through town, passing the Drug Store, the Texaco station, the State Farm office, etc... a moment in time, captured forever.

Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries.

Almost as neat are the pics of the Crosley parked on Frank and Shirley's lawn in the suburbs. It's so sweet to see the car carefully 'presented' at their house. By the time I met them, Frank and Shirley lived in a beautifully landscaped ranch house set into terraced hills in La Habra Heights... it wasn't fancy, but it was a more unique property than the little house in Hawthorne. You can see their old house a bit in the published photos, but these give a much better view.

I think my very favorite of all the pictures is a shot of Frank crouching in front of the Crosley, back to the camera, looking over his shoulder at the camera. It's an awkward pose (probably designed to show off the logo on the back of Frank's Crosley Club t shirt), but a nice photo and it really shows how small Crosleys are. He's got a funny, skeptical look on his face, which if you knew Frank, was not his typical look - he was a happy guy and I generally picture him with a smile... although maybe that's because I always saw him at Crosley meets. I still can't believe that this treasure trove of photos exists.

Courtesy of the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries.

I am not much of a car show guy, but whenever I do show the wagon, I bring along an oversized reprint of the Road and Track article mounted on poster board and put it up near the car. I look forward to getting a print of the crouching Frank picture made to add to my display. I still think of the Crosley as Frank's car - I guess it will be "mine" when I've had it for 51 years. Until then I look forward to sharing the history of Frank Bell's wagon, and am pretty excited to add this archive to the story.

Thanks very much to the Department of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries for allowing me to share these photos.

*the article says he'd owned the car for eight years at the time of interview - Frank's family told me he got it in 1964.