The Crosley A Crosley was a tiny car made by the Crosley Radio/fridge company, from 1939 to ’41 and revived from1946 to 1952 (the war). The latter had an Overhead cam and a block-and-head as one piece, with a separate crankcase. It was 44 Cubic inch straight four cylinder putting out 26.5 horsepower at 5400 RPM. It probably weighed 60 pounds. I heard that Crosleys were sold by Sears Robuck & Company as “Allstates”. Dad found one somewhere (he could not turn down a stray) about ’66 and vowed to get it running. It was only a frame without a body, completely rolling assembly, though. There was a store called Desert Auto Parts run by an old bearded desert rat named Charley Matherly out by Smith’s ranch. We went there to get a throwout bearing for this strange, rare car. Dad said, “Watch this.” He strode right up to the counter and said, “Give me a throwout bearing for a Crosley!” “The short one, or the long one?” Charley replied. Ha. He had one to match our sample! While Dad worked on the weird engine, I put in a seat, dashboard and such. When it started, we had never heard anything that could rev like that! You could pick up the whole car yourself. Imagine a go cart with 26.5 HP and a three speed trans. This thing would haul! We sold it to a friend on the swim team, Jeff Smallski. I heard later he burned it to the ground trying to wire up something. Oh, well.
Love the wright up. only the Allstate was a re-barged Henry J. which is a Kaiser product for the '52 to '54 model years.
the mock up of the Crosley engine in my little pick up. this is a later Aerojet model with the hop up speed equipment. should be around 35 horse now.
...this is pretty cool shot...especially with Photosucket bug gone... @Chris Cochrane you are a Crosley King!!!
The Jalopy Journal
