We start the 4th part of the Crosley engine family
tree, with the sale of the assets of the company
including the rights to the engine to General Tire in
July 1952.
Post Crosley Production - 1952 to 1961
Not sure how long AeroJet produced engines. Any Info would be appreciated.
AeroJet - General Tire
When Crosley sold to General Tire in 1952, they sold
the rights and tooling for the 4-cylinder engine, who
were primarily interested in producing engines for
government use. The engine was renamed AeroJet and was
cast in the block where the Crosley name had formally
been. Their marine division produced the "VIP" version
of the engine (Vertical Inline Power.) The entire
assembly rotated to achieve steering.
The best I can tell the AeroJet stop production in 1955 and was sold to Fageol.
See the whole side by clicking on the picture. You will
see the addition of freeze plugs to the left of the
water plug.
The Dragon 8 was built in limited numbers by John Peek, who build one for Sammy Crooks' L-Class Hydroplane "Dragon" (the source of the "Dragon" motor name?) as well as another 8 to 10 engines. The engine was made by bolting two Crosley engines tail to tail around one flywheel. The back engine runs in reverse direction. Burt Davidson after working on the Peek engine for Sammy built another 6 to 8 engines for L Class Hydroplanes in the mid to late 50s. At least one is still in existence and running in the hands of Burt's family.
Rotary Valve Crosley
ThermoKing
Not sure where this branch goes or if it is a branch or just an application. ThermoKing used the engine for refrigeration trailers running them on propane with DY10 Tillotson carburetors. These engines were supplied by Crosley starting in the CoBra days, and appears AeroJet supplied engines also. A report of gasoline versions also being used in France in the mid 50s. No information found yet on if Crosley built the unit ready to drop in or just the engine.
A block reportedly off a ThermoKing had the standard R20990 casting number. I have only see one serial number and it was different that Crosley production numbers.
May move this to the CIBA years next go around of updates.
How unique was the design? How long were they used? Help?
Italian Job
I have little information on the Siata,
Nardi, and others if anyone can help with what engine
they used.
Bandini - Mid 1950s
Bandini had single and dual overhead cams
versions. The Bandini used both a modified single
overhead cam almost stock looking Crosley and the highly
modified dual overhead cam version where Bandini built
the block and head assembly. Some reports are that the
true Bandini Single Overhead cam engines also had a
removable head like the dual engines and were 4 port
intake.
Ilario Bandini with Dual Overhead Cam Bandini/Crosley engine
1955 Bandini Siluro 750cc DOHC Rated 71hp
Barry Seel had a DOHC he rebuilt on a Dyno and said it hit 106hp at 9500RPM. One report of 60hp at 7000rpm for a Bandini built SOHC engines. Bandini website has been planned for awhile now.
Bendix Connection - 1955 - 1957
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I bought these Bendix Aviation photos off eBay.
They have Bendix Aviation Corp, Scintilla
Division in Sidney NY on the back. Two views of
two different engines. One is marked Two
Cycle Engine on the back. The rest of the story, told by Leigh Knudson. -
Bendix Scintilla efforts with Crosleys. It
was nearly all at the direction of my Dad, Gil
Knudson. Bendix needed new products and Dad had
a Crosley powered SIATA Amica, which I still
have. He was hill climbing in Class H
modified and giving away about 500 Lbs to the
specials and SIATA Spyders. He needed
horsepower and Bendix needed new
product. After designing and getting the
Auto Mag into production he tackled fuel
injection. I think he had about eight
patents on fuel injection but was monitoring and
metering entirely mechanically. The
injection system bore no resemblance to the
Hilborn system except in function. He told me,
many years later, the Bosch J-Tronic system was
basically his system with electronic controls,
but the patents had expired so no gain for
Bendix. The 2 cycle engine was an attempt to
build a 2 cycle with wet sump and have it stand
on end for outboard use. This would have been
clean burning and low polluting. The block was
cast specifically for the project not a hacked
up stock block. It only developed about 35 HP in
supercharged form so the project was dropped. My
Dad passed away in Jan. 1999. |
 1955 - 4 cycle fuel injected engine.  |
 1957 - 2 cycle fuel injected  |
Fageol - flat 8, not clear how many were made, parts
show up from time to time. It was reported that this was
the experimental model. Anyone have a Flat 8? How about
pictures of the production model?
Fageol 88 Vertical opposed 8. 80hp out of 88cu. in.
Weight 295lb. January 1958 Ad. I have a
report of one of these engines existing in Trenton, NJ
in 1957.
Here is how the 8 worked off a 4 cylinder crank.
Fageol
Lou
Fageol of Twin Coach bus and automobile company of
Kent, Ohio picked up the motor from General Tire in the
mid-1950's, probably 1955 and built it as the Fageol 44
boat motor. The first motors shipped as Fageol were just
left over AeroJet engines with a Fageol decal and
possibly a Fageol intake manifold. This early 4-stroke
outboard did not achieve enduring success or wide
distribution. The Fageol 44 was sold in 3 performance
forms, single carb, dual and supercharged (see curves to
right). Mirror image blocks were cast to be used
in the opposing, pancake design, to put the intake and
exhaust ports on top of the engine.
All under covers the Fageol 44 outboard hides its heritage well.
High Compression Option
Mirrored Block Fageol/Crofton |
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Click on the picture for the full engine view.
Elgin
Another casting number change. Click on the picture
for the full engine view.
Crofton
W.B. Crofton bought out Fageol's Crosley engine business and inventory around 1959 including the Fageol Marine name. They sold to the military, made boat motors and used the engine in their Crofton mini jeep, an updated version of the Crosley FarmOroad.
Crofton used both regular and mirrored blocks in their engine production. The Mirror engines were put together from the left over blocks from the flat 8 production run
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 53CI Crofton/Fageol Block |
| Probably late in Fageol ownership
or early in Crofton's ownership a 53 CI version
was offered and you could have your old engine
rebuilt in to a 53 for $375. The 53 CI model had
a 2.75" bore instead of the standard 2.5" to get
the extra cubes. Several of the 53 CI
engine have shown up, seems to be very rare, so
production musty have been very low. There are
also reports of a Fageol/Crofton Gold Cup 60
which may be the origin of the 59 CI that became
Homelite, but none of these engines have turned
up. |
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Above is a brand new Crofton military engine that was still in the crate and had the protective wrapping pulled back.
From Crofton Engine Manual
Big Block Year
Randall
Randall made after market aluminum blocks for racing. They were made in the early 60's for Crosley retrofits for improved breathing, for whatever application desired, vertical or horizontal. Used all stock or after-market parts [required larger valves] and could be bored to 2.6 inches. $395.00 f.o.b. Note exhaust ports were moved to spark plug side and 4 intake ports were made to give cross flow system.
Scott Atwater
Taylor Years
CoBra Years
CIBA Years
Post
Crosley
Big Block
Years
| Taylor Years | CoBra Years |
CIBA Years |
Post Crosley | Big Block
Years |
