As you know, the US government asked and eventually forced the auto industry to contribute to the war effort. This series is to highlight some of the major contributions and first up is Crosley.
Crosley produced cars from the 1930s until the 1950s. Interestingly, before Powell Crosley produced cars, he was the owner of the Cincinnati Reds. Their first car, what we would call a subcompact these days, was a convertible.
1939 Crosley Convertible
For the war effort Crosley supplied its power plant the four-cylinder CoBra. CoBra was short for Copper Brazed and often refered to as the “The Might Tin” it was used aboard PT boats and and the B-17 Flying Fortress bombers mainly to power generators, refrigeration compressors, etc., and were widely praised for their successes in the war effort. The engine was made from sheet metal rather than cast iron like most other engines.
CoBra Block – the thin walls reduced hot spots.
Crosley CoBra this one was set up for vehicle use
Crosley stayed in business after WWII and eventually closed up in 1952. Their last attempt to save the company was to production a utility vehicle called the Farm-O-Road which was used on farm and ranches.
1950 Farm-O-Road Utility
Their last car was in 1952:
Last year of production for Crosley
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Having lived in Cincinnati for a part of my adult life, I happened to see quite a bit of Powell Crosley’s contributions.
I have the biography of the Crosley brothers, Lewis and Powell, by Michael Banks, and highly recommend it. There is so much history on WLW’s transmitters, the Cincinnati Reds, Crosley radios, and of course the cars.
BTW, according to Bank’s book on Crosley, the ‘sheetmetal’ engine block design was very problem prone to smoking/oil useage, and headgaskets could not even seal well on new cars.
Crosley became seccessful by cost reducing radios, and tried the same techniques to car manufacturing-which just wasn’t the same ballgame.
You can also research Muntz (Mad Man Muntz); this is another guy who cost reduced televisions sets and tried to build cars without much success.
I always liked that fake propeller on Crosley cars…….nice blog, Tim.
Thanks Bill, for the interesting note on Crosley.
For tons of Crosley information, history and photos, join the CROSLEY CAR OWNERS CLUB. It’s dues-free; click the link.
www.http://crosleyautoclub.com/
Thanks for dropping the note. I am always glad include car club information in any posts.
memories….my dad actually had one of those 52’s sitting in the driveway…back in the 50’s….my sisters and i were playing outside and thought it would be cool to walk on the roof….bad idea..we really messed it up bad…and then good old dad messed us up bad..
just an FYI..
I’ve heard that part of the problem with the tin engine was rust. And the early models without U joints would fail where the drive shaft connected to the transmission. Very unique cars with a strong following.
Hey Steve
The first engine was Waukesha Model 150 Cub Twin, a 580 cc air-cooled L-head opposed twin-cylinder engine. The CoBra wasn’t used in their cars until 1946.
I though there was a 2 banger along the way. I thought by then end in 52 there was a cast iron engine in but I’m not a follower so I know only what I’ve read and heard. There’s one in the Hemmings blog that the owner updated with a 25 horse Honda engine that’s pretty cool. He had to make his own bell housing adaptors but apparently 25 horse is the ticket. Imagine going to 25 hp and doubling the hp from stock. Ha Ha.