Radio maker Powel Crosley spent 13 years trying to sell Americans a really small car. Crosley cars ran from a $325 prewar convertible to a doorless sports car that raced, and the company stopped building them in July 1952.
Along the way, Crosley sold cars through appliance stores, built an all-steel wagon and put disc brakes on a production car. Here are six Crosley models from those years, and what the records say about each.
1. 1939 Crosley convertible coupe
The first Crosley was tiny even by today’s standards. It weighed less than 900 pounds and measured about 10 feet long. Crosley unveiled it on April 28, 1939, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and buyers could choose a convertible coupe or a quarter-ton truck.
The price was the headline. According to Makes That Didn’t Make It, the $325 Crosley was the lowest-priced car in America. Instead of car dealers, Crosley used his network of 25,000 appliance retailers. Hagerty UK adds that its air-cooled twin displaced 580cc and made 13.5 bhp.
2. Postwar Crosley CC with the CoBra engine
Once the war ended, Crosley announced a bigger car called the CC. It was still small, though. Makes That Didn’t Make It notes the CC was a foot shorter than the Volkswagen Beetle.
Its engine came out of wartime work. The CoBra name stood for “copper brazed,” because it used pressed-steel construction, as Hagerty UK explains. The CC came as a sedan, a convertible and a pickup, and the sedan cost $853. However, the CoBra developed serious reliability problems. Crosley then switched to a cast-iron engine in the redesigned CD.
3. 1948 Crosley station wagon, 8 in 10 Crosley cars that year
The wagon turned Crosley into a real automaker for a short time. It had a steel body when most American wagons still used wood. In fact, it became the company’s best seller.
According to Makes That Didn’t Make It, eight in 10 Crosleys built for 1948 were the all-steel wagon. The same history says Crosley was only the second maker after Willys-Overland to give up wooden wagon bodies. It also led the category until Plymouth brought out a steel wagon in 1950. Meanwhile, Hagerty UK says Crosley built almost 28,000 cars in 1948, its peak year.
4. 1949 Crosley Hotshot
The Hotshot was a small, doorless roadster with fixed panels where the doors would go. The first production car left the line in July 1949, according to OnAllCylinders. It rode an 85-inch wheelbase and weighed around 1,100 pounds.
It also carried hydraulic disc brakes at all four wheels. That came long before most mainstream automakers used them. Still, OnAllCylinders notes the brakes had reliability problems in car use. Under the hood, the Lane Motor Museum lists a cast-iron, 44-cubic-inch four with 26 horsepower. The Hotshot started at $849.
5. 1950 Crosley Super Sports
A year after the Hotshot, Crosley added a slightly nicer version. It first arrived as the Super Hot Shot and soon became the Super Sports, Hagerty UK says. Unlike the Hotshot, it had real opening doors.
OnAllCylinders adds that it also got a more practical folding top. Crosley’s roadsters raced, too. In 1950, a Crosley roadster took the overall win at the first endurance race at Sebring, Florida, according to the Lane Motor Museum. The museum also counts 2,498 Hotshot, Super Hotshot and Super Sports cars in all.
6. 1950 Crosley Farm-O-Road
The Farm-O-Road was Crosley’s small utility vehicle for farm work. Crosley introduced it in August 1950. It looked like a little Jeep, but it did not have four-wheel drive.
According to Farm Collector, it rode a 63-inch wheelbase and started at $795. Owners could add a plow, harrows, a planter, a seeder, a cultivator and mowers. It stayed in the lineup until Crosley Motors went out of business in July 1952.
The end came quickly. Makes That Didn’t Make It says barely 2,000 Crosleys left the line in 1952 before production stopped for good on July 3. By the end of that year, Hagerty UK says, Crosley had sold its factory in Marion, Indiana.
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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.
