Tin Block Triumph: Bone Stock '47 Truck For Sale

"Stock" is a word that is rarely used to describe Crosley automobiles - and with good reason: they are one of the most-modified automobiles on Earth, perhaps second only to Volkswagen Beetle for percentage of modified vs. stock cars. I've been ogling Crosleys for almost 25 years, and I can count the number of truly factory-stock cars I've encountered on one hand.

So, I was happily surprised to see this incredibly period-correct '47 truck for sale in Hemmings.

The seller claims that there is nothing on the car that wouldn't have been there in 1947, and from what I can tell, he's not exaggerating.  The seats are the first thing I noticed - it sports the correct round-back seats that only came on vehicles from the first year or so of production. Bonus points for not overstuffing them during the resto - comfort was never high on Crosley's priority list.

The exterior is painted in a correct "Crosley Blue-Gray" and the wheels are "Chinese Red" - correct for '46 and '47 cars. And, the gas filler runs through the bed - a design flaw that was corrected in later trucks. And, just one taillight, exactly as sold.

But it's the view under the hood that separates this restoration from nearly every other Crosley I've ever seen: a CoBra "tin block" motor, in running condition. The seller's daughter was nice enough to send me videos of her dad driving the car - honestly the first time I can remember seeing a tin block-equipped car moving under its own power. And, it sounds great. That's the right "beehive" air cleaner, too.

The "tin block" nickname comes from the motor's stunningly innovative "Copper Brazed" sheet metal construction. Stamped steel components were welded to steel cylinders to form a cylinder block which was bolted to an aluminum crankcase. An overhead cam rides on top. Oakland engineer Lloyd Taylor designed and built a prototype of the motor and demonstrated it to Crosley who first optioned it for use in military applications during WWII.

The CoBra was ultimately the key to Crosley's postwar cars: once Powel Crosley figured out just how good Taylor's lightweight four-banger was, he had a whole car designed to go around it.

Unfortunately, what worked perfectly on thousands of WWII generator motors didn't hold up as well under the unique stresses posed by stop-and-go traffic. Within 18 months of the first Crosley automobiles rolling off the production line, the CoBras were failing in unprecedented numbers, victims of cracked welds, leaks and other woes accelerated by poor owner maintenance.

Something needed to be done - and fast - and the Crosley engineers came up with a very, very good solution: a replacement engine block that replicated the Taylor design, but in cast iron. Crosley owners were offered the option to have their tin block-equipped cars switched to a new CIBA (Cast Iron Black Assembly) at the dealer. The last new cars with tin blocks shipped in January 1949.

The CIBA motor was a vast improvement over the CoBra. While the cast iron block weighed slightly more than the earlier version, the extra durability more than made up for the weight gain. All external components and the bottom end remained the same, meaning that parts were just as easy to get. The vast majority of Crosley owners opted to replace their rapidly aging CoBras with the new-and-improved block.  

I'm halfway amazed that the seller even found a good tin block to restore for this truck. I've seen a ton of them on shelves over the years, but most had the same issues that caused the recall in the first place. That said, I've heard that the earliest CoBra motors were better built and that the cracking welds were the result of Crosley going to a cheaper manufacturing process - which sounds very "on-brand" for Cincinnati's finest.

And, the CoBras could be made reliable - their biggest problem was electrolysis, which is basically eliminated by using antifreeze.  Even back in the forties, they were used in Mooney Mite airplanes and ended up in some racing applications. One longtime H-Mod racer used CoBra blocks in his racing engines because they were lighter. He was still racing tin blocks in the nineties!

In any case, kudos to the seller for going the extra mile and building a truly "period correct" truck. There are a lot of high quality, high dollar Crosley restorations out there these days (like this '47 truck for example), but none that I've seen have gone so far as to include the incredibly unique motor that actually inspired the whole car.  

Seller notes that the truck won a 1st Place at the Crosley Nationals in 2019. No wonder - this Crosley is in a class by itself.  

Priced at $16,500, located in Canton, Ohio.