Charlie Nicholas's Flying
Saucer. Charlie had a Crosley Dealership in MN and built
this custom Crosley. Some remembrances from Chet
Tschetter, who worked for Charlie part time from 1952-54
while he was in High School.
"Charlie was short
and stout, had a hard time bending over a fender to
service a normal car engine except a VW, Porsche, MG
or an Austin Healey. He also had a bit of a problem
sliding under cars as his shop had no lift, only a
creeper, standard floor jacks and stands. I guess that
is where I came in at 5½' and 155 lbs. I could bend
over and crawl under and Charlie would issue
instructions and away we went.
Crosleys were his love but his car shop was always full of foreign marks. He knew and understood them all. Under Charli¢s tutelage I had the pleasure working on many. Being short and stout, he always had his footstool at the ready to give him the added height to bend over a fender.
Charlie was very proud
of his Crosley Flying Saucer. He drove it to the
Indianapolis 500 at least once and I recall it created
quite a stir as a rather unusual small American car.
The color was very close to a British Racing Green.
The car came out only on special occasions but one
would always see Charlie wearing his customary beige
one piece coveralls.
Yes, his sense of humor
was great, janitor he was as the shop was always
clean. Humor he had, automobile psychiatrist yes - he
listened to hear automotive problems which he then
confirmed and repaired. "
Ted DellaCamera (CT) bought the
Saucer at the 2019 Crosley Nationals and did a bit of
sprucing up of an earlier restoration and has had it to
many shows
and an appearance on Chasing Classic Cars with Wayne
Carini. Ted report about his time doing Chasing Classic
Cars. "Not only was it a blast to work with
the crew and Wayne, the car itself had a blast with
smoke coming from the engine bay! As the car was
cresting a hill in mid-July, the motor lost power and
both oil caps blew off. Wayne and I got the Flying Saucer back to the garage, where I pulled the spark plugs. I cleaned and checked all the plugs before reinstalling them. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to fix the problem. The heat that was generated in that one incident melted a piston so Wayne wasn't able to get back behind the wheel and finish what had started out as a really fun ride.
I was bummed and worked like a crazy man for the next week to find a replacement piston. If you are already a fan of Crosley cars, then you know how hard it is to find some of these parts. But, I managed to find a piston that would work if I replaced all four; the replacement wouldn't work with the remaining three. Wayne schedule didn't allow him to come back to continue the story so what you'll see on Chasing Classic Cars isn't the happy ending I wanted, with Wayne smiling as he finished his trip in this one-of-a-kind car."
Highlighting a couple of
VCs from the last time VCs were the Spotlight class in
2011.
Paul Gorrell (Iowa) calls it "Rusty" it had the number one position of the Spotlight class in 2011. This is the prototype of all VCs to come, the very first Hotshot. Paul walked by it going to school sitting at the local Crosley dealer. He tried to buy it for years as he saw it rusting away beside the closed dealership. Even a wall of the building fell on it. He had to wait till the estate sale after the dealer died to buy it. To restore it would mean replacing everything that made it the first Hotshot. So he mounted #1 to a trailer and showed it the way he bought it back in the 80s. It has notes painted all over pointing out differences from the production Hotshot.
Paul Gorrell (Iowa) calls it "Rusty" it had the number one position of the Spotlight class in 2011. This is the prototype of all VCs to come, the very first Hotshot. Paul walked by it going to school sitting at the local Crosley dealer. He tried to buy it for years as he saw it rusting away beside the closed dealership. Even a wall of the building fell on it. He had to wait till the estate sale after the dealer died to buy it. To restore it would mean replacing everything that made it the first Hotshot. So he mounted #1 to a trailer and showed it the way he bought it back in the 80s. It has notes painted all over pointing out differences from the production Hotshot.
Deane Sherman (Ohio) shows
off his Super Sport at the 2011 Nationals pulling a
restored Whizzer motor bike behind. Deane help lead the
club as a board member for over 30 years and was key to
making the Nationals run smoothly even longer. He passed
on February 26, 2018. Deane displayed many beautifully
restored Crosleys over the years at Wauseon.
One more thing. Paul
surprised us all the first time he showed Rusty back in
the 80s by starting up Rusty and driving it, sort of.
Here is a picture
of Paul giving me a ride, that is Duane (our current
membership chairman) running along behind because Rusty
was steered by picking up the tongue of the trailer and
pointing it.
Cleaning out some CotM
that have been waiting way too long. I always like two
pictures and sometimes I only have one of a car. It is
easier to let them pile up when I have pairs to use so
here we go.
The heavily modified VC above called
Sport is owned by Fred Huttleston of CA. This picture
was taken in 2007 (I haven't had it that long) U assume
soon after Fred bought it. It has a Crosley engine with
dual Solex carbs matted to a Fiat 4 speed. Nice looking
modified.
This nice looking FarmOroad is owned by James Patterson
of TX. He won his class at the 2013 Good Guys Show.
James obtained it in 2010 from a woman that had owned it
since the early 60s. Her Dad traded a hound dog for it
when she was in the 9th grade. James restored it to it's
current beautiful state.
In honor of this years
Spotlight class, the VC, here is a trio of the three
different variations of the VC. These beauties were all
restored by Dave & Deb Anspach of Florida, our
president and first lady. The cars are a 1950 Super
Hotshot (Super Sports), 1951 Super Sports, and 1951
Hotshot. As you can see the three variations are very
similar.
The main differences are
the Hotshot had a simple assembled top, when the other
Crosley models added a Super line so did the Hotshot,
also referred to as Super Sports in some company
announcements. Crosley changed to a folding top and they
replaced the rubber cockpit trim with red leatherette
and other minor changes. You can see the folding top and
leatherette in the lower photo to the left. In 1951 they
added full doors and a hood ornament.
CDs are the Spotlight class for 2021 so
here is the kick off to get started. This is Don, Gracie
and Jen Gatens(PA) 1950 Convertible. I'll let them tell
their story. "We purchased this little convertible last
September outside of Denver CO and hauled it back to
Philadelphia. It was quite a 3500 mile trip. The car had
been in a storage container for ~45 years. The original
1969 CO tags were still on it! it is all original with
exception of the missing convertible roof assembly.
It was last titled in the early
70’s - we have the title even though the state of
CO purged it long ago. Our car is a work in progress. We
got rid of the mini cooper tires that were on it when we
picked it up and replaced them with the original rims
(after blasting and powder coating them) and new tires
so we could roll it in the garage."
Hope to see the Gatens family next year at Wauseon.
Hope to see the Gatens family next year at Wauseon.
Powel Crosley couldn't
deliver Crosleys fast enough in 1948. This all new
hauler was designed by Crosley Engineers in conjunction
with Kenosha Auto Transit to increase the number of cars
they could haul by 50%, three on the bottom and six on
top. I wonder how many were made. A year later they were
no longer needed to keep up with demand.
We have a few members that could make good
use of one of these, wonder if any survive in the back
of some junk yard.
Don Sirko's (IL) 1946 roundside
firetruck. Don has been a member since the 70s and has
owned his firetruck sine 1965.
Another CC firetruck, the name of the
owner or who submitted this photo got separate from the
photo. Anyone recognize this Crosley? I'll update the
caption if you send me the info.
Merry Christmas and
Hopefully a Much Better New Year
From the Crosley Automobile Club
I'm repeating a car from April 2019 because I couldn't
resist the pictures and story. Matt Hellberg,
of Iowa, believes his grandfather bought this 39
Convertible new. He helped his Dad get it back on the
road. Next generation of fans of Great
GrandPa's Crosley.
Early shot of the proud
owners. They later used the Crosley to advertise the
family jewelry store.
Since it is the time of
years we can expect some snow in the Northern parts of
the country, I thought a couple of pictures from when
Crosleys were just every day transportation and not
tucked away when the first flakes fall might be good.
Looks like a stock Crosley jack holding up that CD sedan
to put chains on. Wouldn't catch me under a Crosley with
that jack and on snow.
Powel Crosley showing
off his Pup. Not sure who the passenger or baseball
player is?
Crosley Pup at a military
base for testing purposes beside a Corbett 6X6. The Pup
(CT3) was made in limited quantity for the Army Air
Corps (Air Force), 36 seems to be the most used number
for how many were built, in the 1942-43 time frame. The
Pup was 4 wheel drive and was powered by the prewar
Crosley 2cyl opposed air cooled engine.
Anyone that has more info
on either picture drop me a note and I will add it to
the caption.
Nominated by Sam Perley - Jeff
Ackerman of NY and his Crosley powered "BIGSHOT"
roller in service. Jeff says it "Works great !" Built
in the 50s by a fabricator.
Here are a few other shots - Front, In action, Instruments.
Here are a few other shots - Front, In action, Instruments.
Jeff describes how it works. "The T-92
transmission has 3 pulleys on the back shaft, 3 belts
run to 3 pulleys on the front of the larger transmission
which then runs a drive shaft off the back of the larger
transmission, that has a 6 inch cog that drives the
chain to the rear roller with the 20 inch cog. It seems
to run nicely with both transmissions in 2nd gear.
