Past Crosley of the Month Winners - Page 11

Dave Lindgren a past member from the 70s, 80s and 90s was digging throughhis photos and thought we might enjoy seeing a meeting of some FarmOroads back in 1988.

One more shot.

He wrote "We had just finished restoring the three, John Nichols owned the#101 with what we felt was a prototype body for military use. I owned the orange one, number 222 that I got from Lew Crosley and the thirdwas owned by Dr. Harry Fry of Lake Wales. I have no idea where the cars are now."

Ernie Hardee of North Carolina sent these pictures and note. Congratulations to his son Luke and his new bride Sarah.

"My son requested to use My 1949 Hotshot as his get-a-way car at his wedding tonight.  The Crosley was a big hit.  Everyone raved over the Hotshot.  The official photographer even followed along side sitting on her car window sill to get a good shot of the couple driving away.  The bride was still in her wedding dress of course.  Good contrast with the red car."

Bob Chase of California is putting the final touches on hid restoration of what may be the only surviving Crosley built FOR Fire Fighter. Bob plans to bring the finished firetruck to this years Nationals. Bob acquired the FOR in 1971.

AeroJet General Rocket Plant located in Sacramento CA, used it on the paved roadways within the plant as well as for off road use.  The FOR was retired from the plant fire department service in 1969.

Here is a shot of Sonny Hull (of PA) in his racing days in his famous Kitten II.  Sonny is still building some wild Crosley engines but has retired from boat racing.  Among his collection is Kitten II in restored show condition.

Sonny brought his Kitten to last years Das Awscht Fescht when Crosley was the featured make. It got a lot of attention.  Here is a front view.  A view from the drivers seat.  The engine that powers it all.

Friends of mine, Craig & Sue DeNagle, were leisurely drive back from out West taking pictures of old filling stations and such and ran across this interesting display at a gift-flower shop called Garden Station in Monticello IN, owned by Mike and Betsy Dill.

ConvAir Car in flight, 1948 - Here is an inflight shot of the flying car that is powered by a CoBra Crosley engine when on the ground.  The wings and airplane engine is left at the airport. 

The full story is in the Summer Crosley Quarterly. That article and these additional photos were supplied by Mike Banks.

The ConVairCar ended up in a rolled-up mass of parts, sitting sideways on a grass-and-dirt road in the sticks. Drawing of drive line had the describe: "The automobile ENGINE INSTALLATION is a simple and efficient installation which may be removed for servicing as a compete unit through an access opening in the bottom of the car.  The engine is a 26.5 BHP Crosley automobile engine." Ad hype has been around along time, simple and efficient gets translated in peoples mind as easy.

Neal of Iowa sends these pictures of his Crosley, finally out of the garage after 41 years in a house basement and then 16 months of restoration. Neal says "I have had a blast already in the first week of having it 99% completed."  He sent these photos to me for the Crosley_Gang but I think they deserve to be here. Click on the images for a closer look.

"Neal of Iowa" (his eMail signature) is Neal Derochie of  Sioux City, Iowa. He wrote thanking me for picking his Crosley as August Crosley of the Month. "It has special meaning for me because it was also the day I buried my father in-law whom I purchased the car from, I was able to complete it in time for he and I to take a ride in it at the beginning of July."

Donna Bryant sent these pictures, the originals were offered for sale on the message board. She writes that W & M Auto Supply Inc Grand Junction, CO used the above 51-52 Sedan Delivery and 1950 Wagon and Pickup for delivering parts in the mid 1950s

Donna drove the Crosleys in the mid 50s for W & M. "They belonged to my brother-law who owned the store. They were  always very easy to drive and small enough to get into tight places. All three were used for delivery." She worked for W & M for 29 years.

With the cruising season winding down I thought I would dig out some Crosley based cruisers from past Nationals.

The above down scaled Model A roadster pickup was shown at the 1977 Crosley Nationals. Tim Freshley recognized this as his first car that his Dad and he started building when he was 14 from a 48 wagon and got on the road when he was 16.  He sold it in 1973 and it has went through a few owners and modifications since. He did not know who owned it in 1977. Last he knew it was in New Jersey.

This scaled down Model T roaster pickup was shown at the 1981 Crosley Nationals. Jim Welther writes that the owner was Charles Ide, he is the young guy by the bucket, he also reported it was shown in 1995 and was for sale. Looking at the photo more the fellow in the red pants is Leon Wooster, long time member that died a few of years ago. His wife donated a large stash of his Crosley parts to the club that we sold at the Nationals this year.

If any one recognizes either roadster pickups and give me more info I will add it to the description.

Lizzy Frey Kid Reporter and the Youth Project Girl gave a progress report on her CC Sedan project with her Grandfather. They answered questions on Friday of the 2013 Nationals during a tech session. She has learned to worksheet metal and weld along with many other skills so far. 

She is making a list of what she needs to finish the project. She plans to show it completed at the 2014 Nationals.

She had a nice display of her progress on the Youth Project that she took over after last years meet. Lizzy has been a regular volunteer for many years. She is rebuilding this CC sedan with her grandfather.  Many members and vendors have made donations of parts and time helping her. Lizzy is already looking ahead to her next Crosley project, she hopes it is a Hotshot or Super Sports.

Here are a couple of photos that Peter Berard of Georgia sent me a few years ago of his favorite thing.  I know the 48 pickup is called Truk and Pete's wife is Julie. Couldn't find what he calls his Super Sports.

Those of you on the Crosley_Gang message board have heard him talk about Truk, here it is.  He writes "Note the attitude of Mr. Truk's rear end. I accidentally put the spring shackles under the spring. That gives it a bit of an attitude. Gonna leave them that way at least for a while. The handling seems to be unaffected."

Bob Sherman sent me these photos of his ride.  He didn't give many details but here is what I know.  Engine 2.5 Iron Duke w/ 5 speed.

Narrowed by 20 1/2" Chevy S-10 rear end. Rides on 12" tires on front, 15" on rear.  Chrysler tilt column, all seams filled.  Full custom interior.

Dale Frederick of PA brought his 1950 Pickup Tow Truck to 2013 Nationals. He was having way to much fun with it.

When I got back a little late on Friday afternoon he was trying to tow my F250 Ford pickup with camper away with a little help from Little Al.

Richard Campbell of NY recently acquired an HMod that was supposedly designed/built by Don Miller in the late 50's. It was listed as a 1958 but has no paper work. The engine, transmission and drivetrain are all standard Crosley. Everything else is custom.

Don Miller was a prolific HMod designer and builder. He is supposed to have made about 40 of the cars -- many with Crosley components -- but he also worked with other power plants.Does this look at all familiar to you? Rich would like to find more information on where his car was raced and any other history.