Past Crosley of the Month Winners - Page 14

Here is the Winner of the Spotlight class at this years Nationals. I unfortunately don't have all the details, so anyone that has info about the car to add please send them to me and I will update the captions. Number 2 is owned by Jeri Polak of Ohio, that is her on the right.

As I understand it she bought number 2 at the Nationals in 2014 and restored and made it road legal, notice the headlights and taillights, not normally standard on a midget racer. She even entered it in the Keystone road rally, here.

Al Calvin of Ohio owns this 1941 Pre-War woody wagon. It was shown at 2016 Crosley Nationals with a restored Pre-War chassis sitting behind it. Looks like a survivor with a lot of original paint left and some of the wood. A very rare model and we had this original and a restored version both at the show.

The woody came in two styles over the couple of years of production, this one was based off the pickup body and has a metal lower body, the other style started with a cab and chassis so the complete back is wood.

Tim Hamblen of Indiana owns this custom fiberglass Crosley, he calls it Guppy. This was the Guppy at the 2016 Nationals. Here is the owners description of what he knows on the car history.

If the Nationals had a most improved trophy I think Tim would have won with Guppy, here is a picture from the 2015 Nationals when he first showed it. He also got it running pretty good at the 2015 show with the help of other members.

Interesting uses for CoBra engines. I swiped this photo off Tim Foster's post on the West Coast Crosley Regions blog, this Tin Block engine table was on display at their 2016 Fall show in Buellton, California. I really liked the table and wanted to make it CotM but thought what companion photo can I use.

Then I remembered Yankee Crosley raffled one off at the 2010 Nationals and donated a second one for our Silent Auction. A little less complete but nice support legs. Just to show another use of old CoBra engines here is a picture of the lamp that was presented to me when I retired as President all those many years ago, it has been sitting next to my chair ever since.

Bob Brown of California sent me these before and after pictures of his FarmOroad restoration.  Bob says the story he got was that it was disassembled 25 years ago and has passed through 3 different people till he got it in pieces.

Bob spent 18 months from when he bought it to complete the rebuild. Looks like a few body parts got lost in all the moves and Bob had to be creative to make a finished FOR. The diamond plate looks good and the front winch makes it ready for some serious offroading.

Our newest Youth Project Mechanic, Jackson Ross of Indiana and his 1950 Hotshot donated to the Club by Robert Rogers of NY for the latest project.

Above Jackson is overseeing the first starting of the Hotshot since he got it home. Jackson is 14 and has been coming to the Crosley Nationals with his Grandfather since he was 4. His Grandfather is Tim Hamben and he will be Jackson's mentor during the restoration. Both are active in the KYANA Region of CAC. Jackson and Tim made the trip East to Erie PA, right after Christmas, where they met up with CAC VP Jeff Ackerman who has stored the Hotshot since it was donated earlier in 2016. Here is Jeff handing off the car to Jackson. We look forward to progress reports in the Quarterly.

I realized after last months CotM that Lizzy Fry, the first Youth Project Mechanic, and her finished project wasn't honored on the home page. Above Lizzy in the driver seat of her 1947 sedan.You can see Lizzy giving an early status report at the 2014 National membership meeting when she was CotM. Lizzy had the support of many club members and vendors with parts. Members of the Ohio region helped with training and assistance on different skills needed to finish her project.

Lizzy with her Grandfather as mentor, both from Ohio, finished her 3 year project not to long after the above picture was taken at the 2015 Crosley Nationals. Other commitments did not allow her to attend the 2016 meet where her grandfather accepted the title for her (after turning 16) from the CAC board of directors. Lizzy Grandfather, Ron Sipe said “I was pretty proud of her because we’ve got guys in the club who’ve been working on the same car for 12 years,” (some of us even longer).

Time for some oldies from the archives. This is an advertising postcard for McCall Appliance of Indiana PA. One if the many Crosley appliance dealers that signed up to also sell Powel's car in 1939. Click to see the back side for a list of purchase possibilities.

Another Crosley dealer expanding in to the auto trade in 1939. This one in New Castle, PA. Note the Shelvadore Refrigerator with shelves in the doors. Crosley was the only company to offer shelves for years, the rest place a model housewife in front of the door so you couldn't see the blank space. Both images can be made bigger by clicking on them.

To kick off the build up to the Nationals in July where Modified Crosleys will be the Spotlight Class. This 51 Wagon at first glace doesn't look all that modified and might even make it into the stock class, that is till you hear it running. It is re-powered by a Harley Davidson air cooled twin. This was owned and shown back in 2008 at the Nationals by Barry Dennis of Michigan.  Not sure if Barry still owns it, if anyone knows send me a note.

The before history is also interesting, Ronnie Kaczmar, long time Crosley owner and member of CAC used it as his daily driver until his death in the mid 2000s. The car had over 200,000 actual miles on it and needed a lot of work. Will not guess how many engine swaps. One of the highest mileage Crosley in existence if not the highest. Here is a before picture.

Here is a list of some of the modification.

Start getting your Crosleys ready for July both modified, stock, race and other variations, we have classes for all of them.

Decided to show some past photos of volunteers from the Nationals. Above is Sara Sherman announcing door prize winners in 1986. She still makes it to the Nationals most years with her kids for at least one day. I can't place the two behind the counter if anyone recognizes them send me an eMail.

Working the Crosley store in 1987 is Lois Friday and Cathy Gormont. Lois and her family don't miss a year and now supplies us with her Crosley embroidered line of clothes. Kathy came with her brother Arnold for years and then with her son Richard.

Some more modifieds to get you ready for the Nationals and the spotlight class. Not all modifieds are Crosleys with some other make engine sometimes they are Crosley powered creations. Here are two that were shown at the 2003 Nationals. Above a nice custom roadster that probably has some Crosley body parts but they are hard to pick out. It is was reported as being owned by Chuck Dillon of Ohio but this is a similar but different car. Owner on known.

Here is a nice 3 wheel motorcycle with a Crosley engine. My good friend Dave looking it over but not ready to trade in his Harley Sportster yet.

If anyone knows who owned/owns the motorcycle let me know and I will add their name. If they are yours dust them off and bring them this year.

They all need to be saved but some are harder than others. These two shots are of a rescue Barry Smedley of Indiana made a few years ago.

Not sure if this is on Barry's list for a future restoration or just parts.

The meet bosses decided this belonged in the Auto Related class at the 2017 Nationals last month, I assume because Paul Gorrell of Iowa didn't have it running yet. I think it was the smallest Crosley Modified at the show. Paul says he just ran out of time to get it finished in time for the Nationals. He has most of the hard parts figured out/finished and says he will bring it back when it is running. He had to make the front fender which is impossible to find for a Doodle Bug. He welded together two pieces cut out of an eagle gas can (see next picture) then made what was left into a tool box.

Yes a V8 Crosley, Paul picked up an aluminum crankcase that someone else made in the hopes of  a future V8 and abandoned the project. Paul used a stock block and a Crofton block so all the plugs are on the outside and all the intake and exhaust is in the V. He had a Hiawatha Doodle Bug scouter, that has it's own story, and decided it needed a new engine. Paul says only a small notch in the frame was needed for clearance and otherwise is a stock frame. Power to the back wheel will be a jack-shaft chain drive with friction drive to the flywheel.

Here is Ohio member William DiMatteo's racer at 2017 Nationals. The most unique engine placement I have ever seen. With a very low center of gravity and near perfect weight distribution I bet it really does well on corners.

I wonder if the driver is tempted to do some fine tuning on the carbs in the middle of the race. You do have to be careful not to lean on the exhaust. Click here for a look from the rear.