Past Crosley of the Month Winners - Page 35



I don't know much about these pictures but have been waiting for a good time to use them. They were labeled as Howard Murrill of TN with his 51 Crosley.


He looks like a proud owner of an almost new Crosley in 1952 and thought they would be a good welcoming in for 2020.


CAC Vice President anf National Meet Chairman Jeffrey Ackerman's 1950 FarmOroad. He bought it from Paul and Suzanne Weimer at the National meet 1999. "It has been a National show winner several times over the years. Both of the girls learned to drive on this FarmOroad. Heather, at age 15 helped restore it in 2000, She now drives it occasionally when home.


Samantha has been driving it around the house since age 13. Now, at age 16, she has shown it at the National meet the past three years. If you have attended the National meet recently, You probably recognize this FarmOroad as the one that never has time to cool off, as Samantha typically goes through two tanks of fuel at the meet ! I am glad to see these Crosley kids having fun with this fine FarmOroad."


CAC Nationals are just around the corner, it isn't to early to start making plans to be there. The VC (Hotshot & Super Sports) are the featured class this year. The picture above is from the 2000 Nationals. The VC was featured in 2000 and 2011 with 26 cars on the grounds. Jeff, our meet chairman, is hoping to double that for 2020.Whatever you have bring it to the meet or just bring yourself for a great time, July 6-11, Wauseon Ohio. More info.


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 5’10” and 155 lbs.  I could bend over and crawl under and Charlie would issue instructions and away we went.

Crosley’s were his love but his ‘Furrin’ car shop was always full of foreign marks.  He knew and understood them all.  Under Charlie’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’re already a fan of Crosley’s 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’s 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.

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.


1st - George McMurry(MO) 1949 Hotshot

2nd - Brian Dlapa(WI) Hotshot

3rd - Jerry McCullough(WA) 1949 Hotshot

 I wanted to honor our Spotlight class winners one more time. The virtual show was a  success, thanks to our committee and all that participated. If you haven't already looked over the show check it out. Hope we can all be back top together in person next year.


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.


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

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