It would be interesting to see an article in the two engines used in the Hot Shot. The CIBA (cast iron braised), cast iron cylinders with braised sheet metal water jackets and the ?? COBA ??, conventional cast iron block.
@@onklewillie I'm not a Crosley expert but I've only heard Crosley engines called "sheet metal engines." Obviously, they were not. This was just a derogatory term.
The engine was extremely high revving for the day and you could buy hop up kits from J.C. Whitney that would let you hit 90. In fact, the engines were so good they continued in production for boat racing long after Crosley exited automobile production.
I drove two hotshots at an auto auction that I worked for. It was honestly one of the best cars I ever drove there. The throttle was snappy, the handling was like a go kart, and even the shifter was smooth. Even when you're only going 30 mph in that thing, it feels like 60. So much fun and I hope I get to own one one day.
I owned a 52 Hotshot in 1964 - it was my first car. (I was 14 years old!) It had a Braje racing head and intake for twin carburetors. If I remember correctly it had 4 Airhart disc brakes (although they may have been Goodyear-Hawley brakes). I bought it from the son of the President of Amherst College and kept it in carriage house on their property. I paid $50.00 for it and it came with a spare engine and transmission. I eventually sold the car to Sandy from Sandy's Speed Shop in Westhampton, MA. I have no idea what became of it after that.
. . . disc brakes . . . They were called “pinch brakes” back then. No criticism, just info. And the head and block were one unit. It may have had Braje intake and exhaust manifolds and water jacket covers, but not head.
@@kennethjackson7574 Nor is mine! My dad also had a '48 Crowley 'wagon'. He was very economy minded - driving the Crosley, a small Nash Rambler wagon, then a Hillman Minx. My older brother still has a Crosley powered by a supercharged Ford flathead. He races at the Bonneville salt flats.
@@kennethjackson7574 "My memory isn’t as good as I remember it being"- LOL! I'm going to borrow that if you don't mind. "Old-timers disease" ain't something to be ashamed of; it just means we were smart enough to survive this long creating more memories than the human brain is capable of handling 😁
I know they are not sports cars but the closest thing I ever drove to the pure, thrilling, sports car feel was the early Pinto wagon with a four speed. Find a twisty, hilly, backroad and throw them into the corners, what fun! The wife and I had three of them. Amazing high speed handling, at least the cars made it feel that way even though they weren't really that fast...
Thanks for the enjoyable program. Powell Crosley Jr. was a remarkable, visionary guy. By the late 20’s and thru the 30s Crosley , based in Cincinnati, was the “Henry Ford of Radio”, the largest radio manufacturer in the country, by building good performing, very affordable products. The list of his accomplishments is interesting and impressive.
And the “Shelvador,” the first refrigerator with shelves in the door. And Anti-Aircraft “Flak” shells. And APUs (Auxiliary Power Units (generators)) for some aircraft.
Around 1948, the wife of a high ranking Packard executive drove a Crosley wagon as a shopping car. The front was fitted with the 1948 - 50 Packard grill and the hood was fitted with a Packard cormorant [swan] hood ornament. The Packard Club had pics in one of their magazines and the caption said that it looked like the cormorant could fly off with the car. Note: The smallest domestically sold Packard of 1948 weighed about 3800 lbs , was about 6 ft wide and about 17 ft long.
H modified was an awesome class. I can’t think of any other class in scca where basically all development and new technology for the class, was done by individuals, not auto manufacturers. Guys like Jim Broadwell built crosley based, tube frame, fiberglass bodied kits. These cars punched way above their displacement and the drivers were their own mechanics and engineers. Everything from crosley, to Saab, and mercury outboard motors were used to power these featherweight cars. It was a class with hard, close racing and a small, die hard following, and the crosley, specifically the hotshot, paved the way. Bart, I enjoy your videos on cars and motorcycles. I personally would love to see h modified featured in its own video from you. Until next time.
Another cool video -- Just a funny little thing, the three speed gearboxes Crosley used (Borg Warner T92) were also used in Economy Power King Tractors, a large garden tractor produced in the 60's and 70's.
I actually picked up one of these last fall. It’s pretty rough, but intact enough to be worth saving, and since my dad and I pilfered it’s engine to put in a bellytank go-kart, I figure once my Model A is done I’ll work on cramming a Ford V8-60 into my Hotshot. On a side note, the door cutouts in mine are shaped differently than all of the other examples I’ve seen, but it doesn’t look modified. I’ve also checked for a serial number in all the places my local expert said it should be, but nothing. It’s odd.
Should be an owners club. Those are always worth joining to learn all about machines and they can usually verify authenticity as well as being your best source for obscure parts. Jay Leno believes in them too.
I owned for a Super Sport for a short time in I believe 1962. I knew a lot about Crosley cars. Their original engine block was made from brazed sheet metal with steel cylinder liners. The coolant rusted through the sheet metal block and they changed to a cast block. The over head cam was driven from a shaft via bevel gears to cam and crankshaft. The head and block were one casting so there was no head gasket to blow. This allowed racing pistons and huge compression ratios could be used. This method was also used on the Offonhouser Indy race engines. Crosley also won at the 24 Hour Le Man race in the Index of Performance class.
I have read that the car was able to pass much more powerful cars in the turns and the drivers, when they passed the Super Sport, would turn and stare at the little thing.
Went to high school with a classmate that drove one to school. He just drove on the sidewalk & parked by the bike rack. Friends (4) were always picking his car up & twisting it around making it hard to come out of his parking space.
My friends dad has a Hotshot. We call it the clown car, because he actually drove it in Shriners parades. What was really cool was when he and my brother drove around together. My brother had a 1958 and a 1959 Berkeley's.
I had an NA miata or mx-5. It wasn't fast or luxurious but it was the most fun driving I've ever had. I've owned a Subaru WRX and a Golf GTi as well as a motorcycles that could do 0-100 km/h in 3 seconds (and do well over 200km/h. But the car I wish I still had is that little mx-5 that made me smile so much. My BMW K1600GTL launched like a rocket ship. What an engine that bike had. It was heavy too. I would like to see a naked bike with that engine
I had a 1950 station wagon conv.,that my mother sold for 25.00$ when I was in Nam!!! Still Pissed !!! Also had a 52 Hotshot. My first car, another story !!!
The Secma Fun Buggy might be considered as a contemporary Crossley Hotshot : open top, two seater, light (1300 lbs), with a quite modest engine (4 cyl 1.6L, 105HP) but a 0 to 60mph in less than 6 seconds.
Powell Crosley, the company's founder, produced appliances before getting into car production. He was also the long time owner of the Cincinnati Reds. Crosley Field is named after him.
In the early 1950's, the notable R&T correspondent and journalist, Henry Newman Manney III, b 1922, d 1988, raced a Crosley Hotshot ,which he eventually supercharged, documented in Road & Track at Torrey Pines, California. The early 1950's pics of Manney the Third racing that Hotshot are interestingly documented in vintage R&T photos taken at Torrey Pines. He also built a Crosley based special that he called "Georgette-the Racer", raced without much success, and which was recycled later into Chet Lancaster's "Georgette". Henry N Maney III was an interesting character becoming the R&T European editor/writer where he even obtained, bought, and drove A Ferrari 250 GTO long before the 250GTO became the cars now only capable of being owned by the super wealthy. Because of HNM III's others used the Crosley OHC engine in other purpose build racers one of which fascinated me when I saw it in 1971 at the Nelson Ledges Race Track near Warren, Ohio. Henry N Manney III, often signed off his articles by writing , "Yr mst lyl & fthfl srvnt, HNM III......Your most loyal and faithful servant. HNM III was a legend, and was sorely missed with his passing. But his involvement with the Crosley Hotshot was memorable for we, the few still remaining, capable of remembering the Hotshot. Cheers.
When you first showed the car I said, "It looks like a Crosley..." and then of course, it was! I grew up in suburban Detroit in the 50s, and a guy in my neighborhood had one of these for many years. He also had one of the tiny station wagons, that were reminiscent of the Morris Minor 1000 wagon. Now: @ 7:47 Here WHAT is? I never saw this drawing you were telling us to get ready for.
There’s a photo somewhere of architect Frank Lloyd Wright riding in a Hotshot. Crosleys had friends in high places. 😊 By the way, I own an MG Midget, so I get what the Hotshot was all about. Life’s too short to drive boring cars.
Wright had a whole fleet of Hot Shots painted his favorite deep pink coral color. He made his students drive them between his Wisconsin and New Mexico homes - they weren’t great for that kind of journey. One is in the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum.
Thomas McCahill said "The hood vibrated like a thousand Bronxites tongues cheering the umpire." There was no one like Unk! Pick up old copies of Mechanix Illustrated, you will love his writing. My father was a subscriber when I was a kid and I loved reading that mag.
Love the new usage of sound effects and better editing. The videos feel more like complete informative works, but I can still relax to the tone of your voice
You didn't mention the 1950 Super Hotshot, soon renamed Super Sports. That car DID have doors. Also, the Crosley engine was an OHC engine, not merely an Overhead Valve engine.
I have a 2004 Suzuki Jimny. I think the top speed is around 78mph. A simple 4cylinder engine and very small little 4x4. BUT, the smile factor when you drive it is 100+! It parks very easily and is great for running errands around town (Ostia, Italy). But is is also a great little off roader. I can definitely see why people would have bought one of these.
As a Brit I don't know much about the American car market, particularly in the 1940s. The car looks like a good attempt to build a Frogeye, albeit before the Frogeye existed, but I think the real tragedy is the "styling". It's sort of right, but the proportions are all wrong, the wheel arches don't fit the shape of the car and it looks homemade. It could have been a great success if it had looked more desirable. The engineering seems good.
A buddy of mine worked at Crosley and bought the last car to come down the assembly line before they closed. He absolutely loved it, and in the 1980s he insisted that it was a great car and would sell if they brought it back.
Crosley had a great forwarding looking idea of what a car should be and do. Unfortunately he was trying to sell that idea in America where bigger is always better. I think the car might have been received a little it better if the front hood treatment had include some grill detail and if the car itself had been an inch or so lower on its suspension. I didn't until the comment section realize the transmission was an off the shelf GM product. One of the things that got Crosley in trouble across its product line is that since everything was built so much smaller than the regular American car industry, virtually every part in a Crosley was unique to that car. In my youth I owned and drove to death an MG Midget. It is great fun trying to drive a slow car fast, and that Midget was really great fun.
The engines were sought after in the 50s and 60s for Three Quarter Midgets that primarily raced on dirt short tracks. They were sanctioned by USAC. I had a friend in 65 that actually raced one.
Thanks for credits on the video of my Crosley super sport I restored. Car was sold a few years ago. Still have my custom built Crosley powered motorcycle. The Crosley engine was way ahead of its time. How about a separate video of the Crosley engine itself?
Great video, The only other time I had heard of Crosley, was the car used in The Grand Tour episode by James May. It is a shame Crosley did not set up in Europe, at that time he would have succeeded as Europe (&UK) needed small cheap cars. I always admire these little independent car manufacturer's - sadly all fallen by wayside - for attempting their dream. Nowadays, legislation would stop anyone - apart from a certain E Musk - from introducing a new car company, this legislation seems to come from above, but I do wonder if it is to protect current manufacturers from new competition?
When I was a school boy in Maine after WW2, I really wanted a Crosley Hotshot. Almost bought a friends Crosley station wagon for 35 dollars. Years later, @ 2017, there was a one stall garage/shop on Park Ave ,Edgewater, Fl. That was full of Crosley engines and parts. And a Crosley Hotshot in great condition for 15,000 dollars.
As soon as I saw the title, I asked, "What, a Crosley?" Damn! Got it! They were a forgotten classic, made using a stamping press, and sold thru appliance stores. They were small enough to fit thru shop double doors, no special garage needed.
I had an Austin Healey Frog Eyed Sprite in the early 70's which was startlingly similar. Lovely little car with a hole rusted through in the floor. I uprated the shocks and it handled like a go-cart. I think I paid about £200 for it, and it drove like a dream!
In the branch of the Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport near Washington, DC, I saw a Crosley Flying Flea. It was a vintage ultralight aircraft. I suppose if I bothered to look it up I'd find out if it's made by the same Crosley as these cars.
Crosley should have been exporting their cars to post war Europe and the UK, it would have sold well if the price was right. Europe was a great market for small cars back then (and now) and had a growing microcar industry going already. The Crosley line would have been good competition, honestly better many cars in that market. That little engine found it's way into different kinds of racing as it had a very high rpm range. The Brits would have really had even more fun with it. It wouldn't have been difficult to build the cars overseas as well, they had the people and space to do it. Shame the company didn't concentrate on the export market, they would have actually lasted far longer with a much larger market.
I’m in my 80s and a Canadian. I was a teenager in the 50s and very much into loving cars and trucks. I think I remember seeing a Crosley Station Wagon but perhaps it was only a picture in a magazine. I followed Tom McCale so it may have been in Mechanics Illustrated. In the USA the car was sold by Sears Roebuck which was known as Simpson Sears in Canada and I don’t recall ever seeing the Crosley in their catalogue or advertising. At any rate they would have had a tough time competing with all the British imports such as Austin and Morris which had dealers all over Canada. Then Ford dealers sold their Anglia and GM their Vauxhall so competition for compact cars was fierce. The Vauxhall lasted into the 60s
I'm from Latin America, and it always seemed strange to me that almost no one even talked about Crosley, I always thought it was one of those brands that only someone SUPER nerdy about cars would know about, I feel good knowing that there are more people who think that Crosley wasn't just a company that made cheap cars, good video.
I've always heard that name as Croz-ley (Crawz-lie), not Cross-lie. Crosley also had a radio empire among other things; they were big in Cincinnati. I had read elsewhere about the Crosley and I had seen one or two as a kid in the Pittsburgh area upriver a few hundred miles. Other than that a good presentation. If they had continued a few more years they could have gotten in on the small car craze and maybe swatted away the VW bug.
@@toqtoq3361 after the war many people in germany only had a driving license up to 250cc. Motorcycle or car. Because of that and because these cars were cheap there was a demand for very small cars / rollermobils. In this market segment the Goggomobil was quite high quality. It was nearly a real car.
That's the best looking jeep I've ever seen. Kidding. Looks like a super fun ride. I have a '72 1600 super beetle and one might be surprised at the exhilaration and fun of driving a minimalist well engineered car.
I don't know if it still exists, but in the mid-1980s I saw a Crosley sports car, don't recall if it was a Hot Shot or a Super Sport, in a Summerville, GA carport with a custom body by Howard "Dutch" Darrin (more famous for his work with Packard and Kaiser-Frazer). I often wonder where that car is now?
@@DavidMurphy-w9q No, it was a Crosley. I was driving through Summerville on my way to a project and I spotted what I first thought might have been a King Midget in a carport. A resident was cutting the lawn, so I turned into the driveway and waved, got out and spoke to the owner. He was happy to discuss the car, that it was a Crosley (engine in the front instead of a go-cart rear engine), very tiny size and from the reference in this video I gather that the Summerville car must have been a Super Sport because the Darrin modifications had included cutting the hinged doors down for the trademark "Darrin dip" and it had a "Korean chrome" pitted pot-metal cast _Darrin_ script call-out, as well as the _Crosley_ script. It had been used in sport car rallies as well as in track racing. It wasn't particularly handsome and graceful like some of Darrin's other efforts, Packard comes to mind, but it had a fun and playful vibe to it. The car was somewhat rough and showed some rust (A Kaiser Darrin would not have rusted due to the fiberglass body). I was disappointed that I didn't have my camera with me (this was before the days when everybody had cell-phone cameras, mid-eighties, remember) to document the existence of this automotive footnote, and though I sometimes drive through Summerville these days, not as frequently as when I was in college and working on construction projects or bicycling events in the area, I have not seen the Crosley-Darrin again Dutch Darrin's coachwork was known to build custom bodies for both high-end and more plebian brands, and this little white car, while near derelict when I spotted it, appeared to have been very professionally finished when it was new, as would be expected from Darrin. I am convinced it was the real deal. Again, does anyone know what may have happened to this unique little car? Summeville, Georgia, 1985 or 1986.
@@lawrencelewis2592 I wonder if there might be an archive of Darrin designs somewhere. As I said, I didn't have my camera with me that day (in those days I was using a 110-type pocket camera), but since I was assigned to do daily earthwork inspections on a construction project in the area I had planned to get pictures the next trip. The car wasn't there and I never saw it again.
The Crosley was indeed sold in England. Over there it was called the "Crosmobile". As to why it didn't sell better, at first it did, but, if you are talking about the Post-War version, the original engine, called the CoBra, for COpper-BRAzed, would corrode up because of electrolysis. Most people before the 70s used plain water in the cooling system, and you can't have copper and steel or aluminum and steel in contact with each other. They destroy each other. That seriously ruined their reputation. Then came the disk brakes - they would corrode up. That, and the end of the Seller's Market, was the nail in the coffin for them. And it is pronounced "Crozzley", not "Crossley".
To me A Brit this is more reminiscent of the Berkeley 4 wheel sports cars with their tiny body and little 2 stroke engine as used in some British motorcycles of the era! If anything I think the Berkeley was smaller than the HOTSHOT??
The engine was designed during WW2 as power plant for generators , water pumps etc....and was even used in B-17's to power the hydraulic system. My old friend and engine builder used to drive midget racers and said the Crosley engine did well in midgets because they would rev really high for the time. My grandfather drove a 1950 two door Crosley and I remember being very embarrassed to be seen by my classmates riding in it in the 60's...
You're thinking of the earlier engine which was called the "Cobra" for "copper brazed". It had a sheet-metal water jacket brazed onto a cast-iron block for cooling which was known for rusting out. Crosley chose it mostly because it was cheap compared to anything else he could get. It quickly gained a bad reputation in Crosley cars which soured sales even after the new engine was introduced. The "Cobra" was designed to last only as long as it took to win the war, and it was intended to be 'disposable' where it would be replaced instead of rebuilt as the servicemen/mechanics had more important engines to tend to. It was generally well=liked in service where it's limited lifespan was understood which may not have been known by Crosley who lost a good bit of money doing engine replacements under warranty.
Listen. I am older now. As is natural, I can afford more things because I have had time to build. I have a V-8 Hemi in my truck, and in the recent past I drove a 392 Challenger. My point is that no one MY age would be the market for this. But I am not every market. When I was a teenager, my first TWO cars were VW Bugs, and I was happy to have them. A friend of mine, in High School, had somethinv even cooler: A VW "THING." It was basically a Bug with a better looking body and a convertible top. That thing (pun intended) was cool as HELL for our age group! This would be AWESOME for a High School kid to pull up to the High School parking lot in!
Bart my buddy since you love and care about these magnificent & fascinating stories of little and weird car companies, Why don't you make a video on Runge cars & the craftsman behind it Chris Runge, It would make such fabulous video if you make complete and thorough as usual, So please take it into consideration 🙏🏻❤.
The Farm-O-Road should have been his first product. And no one born since the 80's really knows what 'sports car' originally meant. To today's kids a 'sports car' has 5000bhp, goes 500mph, and has automatic bum wipers. A *real* sports car had/has none of those things. Fact is there's only a couple left, and my 'government' says I don't get to buy one.
Crosley got a bad reputation, because of the Cobra motor. An alloy. Thought to be, cheap junk. I would think, because, the engine, would heat up, and cool down, it would warp, By the time, they went to cast iron, it was too late
Here's the early sketch of the Hotshot! I forgot to include it!
ruclips.net/user/postUgkxQjdF2i4YIzWOA0mbeHz6kJrSqSQ71kSm
It would be interesting to see an article in the two engines used in the Hot Shot. The CIBA (cast iron braised), cast iron cylinders with braised sheet metal water jackets and the ?? COBA ??, conventional cast iron block.
@@onklewillie I'm not a Crosley expert but I've only heard Crosley engines called "sheet metal engines." Obviously, they were not. This was just a derogatory term.
The engine was extremely high revving for the day and you could buy hop up kits from J.C. Whitney that would let you hit 90. In fact, the engines were so good they continued in production for boat racing long after Crosley exited automobile production.
Ah JC Whitney. It was like the sears toy catalog for car nuts. I remember flipping through its toilet paper thin pages well. 😁
I drove two hotshots at an auto auction that I worked for. It was honestly one of the best cars I ever drove there. The throttle was snappy, the handling was like a go kart, and even the shifter was smooth. Even when you're only going 30 mph in that thing, it feels like 60. So much fun and I hope I get to own one one day.
I wonder if this car might have inspired the design of Donald Healey's Bugeye Sprite
OPEN THE HOOD, SHOW THE MOTOR!!!
I owned a 52 Hotshot in 1964 - it was my first car. (I was 14 years old!) It had a Braje racing head and intake for twin carburetors. If I remember correctly it had 4 Airhart disc brakes (although they may have been Goodyear-Hawley brakes). I bought it from the son of the President of Amherst College and kept it in carriage house on their property. I paid $50.00 for it and it came with a spare engine and transmission. I eventually sold the car to Sandy from Sandy's Speed Shop in Westhampton, MA. I have no idea what became of it after that.
. . . disc brakes . . . They were called “pinch brakes” back then. No criticism, just info. And the head and block were one unit. It may have had Braje intake and exhaust manifolds and water jacket covers, but not head.
@@kennethjackson7574 The valve cover was finned aluminum and Braje was cast into it.
@@markkeyser I forgot they also made cam covers. My memory isn’t as good as I remember it being!
@@kennethjackson7574 Nor is mine! My dad also had a '48 Crowley 'wagon'. He was very economy minded - driving the Crosley, a small Nash Rambler wagon, then a Hillman Minx. My older brother still has a Crosley powered by a supercharged Ford flathead. He races at the Bonneville salt flats.
@@kennethjackson7574 "My memory isn’t as good as I remember it being"- LOL! I'm going to borrow that if you don't mind. "Old-timers disease" ain't something to be ashamed of; it just means we were smart enough to survive this long creating more memories than the human brain is capable of handling 😁
I know they are not sports cars but the closest thing I ever drove to the pure, thrilling, sports car feel was the early Pinto wagon with a four speed. Find a twisty, hilly, backroad and throw them into the corners, what fun! The wife and I had three of them. Amazing high speed handling, at least the cars made it feel that way even though they weren't really that fast...
Crosley has a rich history , albeit obscure, being from Cincinnati, I appreciate this video
Thanks for the enjoyable program. Powell Crosley Jr. was a remarkable, visionary guy. By the late 20’s and thru the 30s Crosley , based in Cincinnati, was the “Henry Ford of Radio”, the largest radio manufacturer in the country, by building good performing, very affordable products. The list of his accomplishments is interesting and impressive.
And the “Shelvador,” the first refrigerator with shelves in the door. And Anti-Aircraft “Flak” shells. And APUs (Auxiliary Power Units (generators)) for some aircraft.
I used to own a 1948 Crosley wagon, but I've never heard of the Hotshot... and now I want one.
Around 1948, the wife of a high ranking Packard executive drove a Crosley wagon as a shopping car. The front was fitted with the 1948 - 50 Packard grill and the hood was fitted with a Packard cormorant [swan] hood ornament. The Packard Club had pics in one of their magazines and the caption said that it looked like the cormorant could fly off with the car.
Note: The smallest domestically sold Packard of 1948 weighed about 3800 lbs , was about 6 ft wide and about 17 ft long.
H modified was an awesome class. I can’t think of any other class in scca where basically all development and new technology for the class, was done by individuals, not auto manufacturers. Guys like Jim Broadwell built crosley based, tube frame, fiberglass bodied kits. These cars punched way above their displacement and the drivers were their own mechanics and engineers. Everything from crosley, to Saab, and mercury outboard motors were used to power these featherweight cars. It was a class with hard, close racing and a small, die hard following, and the crosley, specifically the hotshot, paved the way. Bart, I enjoy your videos on cars and motorcycles. I personally would love to see h modified featured in its own video from you. Until next time.
Also, your course for them can be quite small - racetracks take up a lot of space.
Bandini produced a race car that used a Cosley engine modified with DOHC head. It competed in the SCCA H modified class.
Honestly, i respect crosly for just wanting to make a good car
Crosley started off making radios originally. I'd LOVE to have a Crosley!
Wow, thank you for producing this!
I have owned 4 Citroen Meharis, this reminds me of them.....................love it!
Another cool video -- Just a funny little thing, the three speed gearboxes Crosley used (Borg Warner T92) were also used in Economy Power King Tractors, a large garden tractor produced in the 60's and 70's.
I actually picked up one of these last fall. It’s pretty rough, but intact enough to be worth saving, and since my dad and I pilfered it’s engine to put in a bellytank go-kart, I figure once my Model A is done I’ll work on cramming a Ford V8-60 into my Hotshot.
On a side note, the door cutouts in mine are shaped differently than all of the other examples I’ve seen, but it doesn’t look modified. I’ve also checked for a serial number in all the places my local expert said it should be, but nothing. It’s odd.
It might be a preproduction prototype or something. That would be cool.
Sure it's a Hotshot, and not a H/ Modified, with a non production body?
Should be an owners club. Those are always worth joining to learn all about machines and they can usually verify authenticity as well as being your best source for obscure parts. Jay Leno believes in them too.
My uncle had a Hot Shot in white color. I remember that the car had a wind up music box in the dash that played "Merrily We Roll Along".
I owned for a Super Sport for a short time in I believe 1962. I knew a lot about Crosley cars. Their original engine block was made from brazed sheet metal with steel cylinder liners. The coolant rusted through the sheet metal block and they changed to a cast block. The over head cam was driven from a shaft via bevel gears to cam and crankshaft. The head and block were one casting so there was no head gasket to blow. This allowed racing pistons and huge compression ratios could be used. This method was also used on the Offonhouser Indy race engines. Crosley also won at the 24 Hour Le Man race in the Index of Performance class.
I have read that the car was able to pass much more powerful cars in the turns and the drivers, when they passed the Super Sport, would turn and stare at the little thing.
Went to high school with a classmate that drove one to school. He just drove on the sidewalk & parked by the bike rack. Friends (4) were always picking his car up & twisting it around making it hard to come out of his parking space.
My friends dad has a Hotshot. We call it the clown car, because he actually drove it in Shriners parades. What was really cool was when he and my brother drove around together. My brother had a 1958 and a 1959 Berkeley's.
I had an NA miata or mx-5. It wasn't fast or luxurious but it was the most fun driving I've ever had. I've owned a Subaru WRX and a Golf GTi as well as a motorcycles that could do 0-100 km/h in 3 seconds (and do well over 200km/h. But the car I wish I still had is that little mx-5 that made me smile so much.
My BMW K1600GTL launched like a rocket ship. What an engine that bike had. It was heavy too. I would like to see a naked bike with that engine
I remember seeing one when I was a teenager. They were easy to work on and very well laid out.
I had a 1950 station wagon conv.,that my mother sold for 25.00$ when I was in Nam!!! Still Pissed !!! Also had a 52 Hotshot. My first car, another story !!!
The Secma Fun Buggy might be considered as a contemporary Crossley Hotshot : open top, two seater, light (1300 lbs), with a quite modest engine (4 cyl 1.6L, 105HP) but a 0 to 60mph in less than 6 seconds.
Powell Crosley, the company's founder, produced appliances before getting into car production. He was also the long time owner of the Cincinnati Reds. Crosley Field is named after him.
In the early 1950's, the notable R&T correspondent and journalist, Henry Newman Manney III, b 1922, d 1988, raced a Crosley Hotshot ,which he eventually supercharged, documented in Road & Track at Torrey Pines, California. The early 1950's pics of Manney the Third racing that Hotshot are interestingly documented in vintage R&T photos taken at Torrey Pines. He also built a Crosley based special that he called "Georgette-the Racer", raced without much success, and which was recycled later into Chet Lancaster's "Georgette". Henry N Maney III was an interesting character becoming the R&T European editor/writer where he even obtained, bought, and drove A Ferrari 250 GTO long before the 250GTO became the cars now only capable of being owned by the super wealthy. Because of HNM III's others used the Crosley OHC engine in other purpose build racers one of which fascinated me when I saw it in 1971 at the Nelson Ledges Race Track near Warren, Ohio. Henry N Manney III, often signed off his articles by writing , "Yr mst lyl & fthfl srvnt, HNM III......Your most loyal and faithful servant. HNM III was a legend, and was sorely missed with his passing. But his involvement with the Crosley Hotshot was memorable for we, the few still remaining, capable of remembering the Hotshot. Cheers.
When you first showed the car I said, "It looks like a Crosley..." and then of course, it was! I grew up in suburban Detroit in the 50s, and a guy in my neighborhood had one of these for many years. He also had one of the tiny station wagons, that were reminiscent of the Morris Minor 1000 wagon.
Now: @ 7:47 Here WHAT is? I never saw this drawing you were telling us to get ready for.
To see the drawing you need to click on the icon in the upper corner of the screen and wait for it to load.
There’s a photo somewhere of architect Frank Lloyd Wright riding in a Hotshot. Crosleys had friends in high places. 😊 By the way, I own an MG Midget, so I get what the Hotshot was all about. Life’s too short to drive boring cars.
Wright had a whole fleet of Hot Shots painted his favorite deep pink coral color. He made his students drive them between his Wisconsin and New Mexico homes - they weren’t great for that kind of journey. One is in the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum.
Thomas McCahill said "The hood vibrated like a thousand Bronxites tongues cheering the umpire." There was no one like Unk! Pick up old copies of Mechanix Illustrated, you will love his writing. My father was a subscriber when I was a kid and I loved reading that mag.
Yes, he wrote feature articles and his "Mail for McCahill" column. Always good reading!
Love the new usage of sound effects and better editing. The videos feel more like complete informative works, but I can still relax to the tone of your voice
Fantastic video, I think you forgot the picture at 7:45.
I got you
ruclips.net/user/postUgkxQjdF2i4YIzWOA0mbeHz6kJrSqSQ71kSm
@@bartscarstories Oh man, that's hilarious thank you.
Who needs a bottom on the car, anyways? 🤣
You didn't mention the 1950 Super Hotshot, soon renamed Super Sports. That car DID have doors. Also, the Crosley engine was an OHC engine, not merely an Overhead Valve engine.
I have a 2004 Suzuki Jimny. I think the top speed is around 78mph. A simple 4cylinder engine and very small little 4x4. BUT, the smile factor when you drive it is 100+! It parks very easily and is great for running errands around town (Ostia, Italy). But is is also a great little off roader. I can definitely see why people would have bought one of these.
As a Brit I don't know much about the American car market, particularly in the 1940s. The car looks like a good attempt to build a Frogeye, albeit before the Frogeye existed, but I think the real tragedy is the "styling". It's sort of right, but the proportions are all wrong, the wheel arches don't fit the shape of the car and it looks homemade. It could have been a great success if it had looked more desirable. The engineering seems good.
Yeah I think you're spot on
A buddy of mine worked at Crosley and bought the last car to come down the assembly line before they closed. He absolutely loved it, and in the 1980s he insisted that it was a great car and would sell if they brought it back.
Crosley had a great forwarding looking idea of what a car should be and do. Unfortunately he was trying to sell that idea in America where bigger is always better. I think the car might have been received a little it better if the front hood treatment had include some grill detail and if the car itself had been an inch or so lower on its suspension. I didn't until the comment section realize the transmission was an off the shelf GM product. One of the things that got Crosley in trouble across its product line is that since everything was built so much smaller than the regular American car industry, virtually every part in a Crosley was unique to that car. In my youth I owned and drove to death an MG Midget. It is great fun trying to drive a slow car fast, and that Midget was really great fun.
The engines were sought after in the 50s and 60s for Three Quarter Midgets that primarily raced on dirt short tracks. They were sanctioned by USAC. I had a friend in 65 that actually raced one.
Back in the 80s a friend bought a Crosley engine cheap at a farm auction to run the edger on his portable sawmill. Cool little powerplant!
Even more minimalist than the American Bantam.
Fun to see the Oregon plate on the Crosley Hotshot. 8)
Thanks for credits on the video of my Crosley super sport I restored. Car was sold a few years ago. Still have my custom built Crosley powered motorcycle. The Crosley engine was way ahead of its time. How about a separate video of the Crosley engine itself?
Great video, The only other time I had heard of Crosley, was the car used in The Grand Tour episode by James May. It is a shame Crosley did not set up in Europe, at that time he would have succeeded as Europe (&UK) needed small cheap cars. I always admire these little independent car manufacturer's - sadly all fallen by wayside - for attempting their dream. Nowadays, legislation would stop anyone - apart from a certain E Musk - from introducing a new car company, this legislation seems to come from above, but I do wonder if it is to protect current manufacturers from new competition?
9:00 Not everyday you get to see cars racing in a high school basketball gym.
These cars look like kit cars home made from Popular Mechanics blueprints!
When I was a school boy in Maine after WW2, I really wanted a Crosley Hotshot. Almost bought a friends Crosley station wagon for 35 dollars. Years later, @ 2017, there was a one stall garage/shop on Park Ave ,Edgewater, Fl. That was full of Crosley engines and parts. And a Crosley Hotshot in great condition for 15,000 dollars.
First production car with disc brakes. Eat your heart out Jaguar
As soon as I saw the title, I asked, "What, a Crosley?"
Damn! Got it! They were a forgotten classic, made using a stamping press, and sold thru appliance stores. They were small enough to fit thru shop double doors, no special garage needed.
We had one down the Street when I was growing up in the late 50s . You could tell it had advanced features way ahead of its time .
I had an Austin Healey Frog Eyed Sprite in the early 70's which was startlingly similar. Lovely little car with a hole rusted through in the floor. I uprated the shocks and it handled like a go-cart. I think I paid about £200 for it, and it drove like a dream!
In the branch of the Air & Space Museum at Dulles Airport near Washington, DC, I saw a Crosley Flying Flea. It was a vintage ultralight aircraft. I suppose if I bothered to look it up I'd find out if it's made by the same Crosley as these cars.
Crosley should have been exporting their cars to post war Europe and the UK, it would have sold well if the price was right. Europe was a great market for small cars back then (and now) and had a growing microcar industry going already. The Crosley line would have been good competition, honestly better many cars in that market. That little engine found it's way into different kinds of racing as it had a very high rpm range. The Brits would have really had even more fun with it. It wouldn't have been difficult to build the cars overseas as well, they had the people and space to do it. Shame the company didn't concentrate on the export market, they would have actually lasted far longer with a much larger market.
There were some Italian sports cars that used the Crosley engine. Don't remember who made them.
I’m in my 80s and a Canadian. I was a teenager in the 50s and very much into loving cars and trucks. I think I remember seeing a Crosley Station Wagon but perhaps it was only a picture in a magazine. I followed Tom McCale so it may have been in Mechanics Illustrated.
In the USA the car was sold by Sears Roebuck which was known as Simpson Sears in Canada and I don’t recall ever seeing the Crosley in their catalogue or advertising. At any rate they would have had a tough time competing with all the British imports such as Austin and Morris which had dealers all over Canada. Then Ford dealers sold their Anglia and GM their Vauxhall so competition for compact cars was fierce. The Vauxhall lasted into the 60s
I'm from Latin America, and it always seemed strange to me that almost no one even talked about Crosley, I always thought it was one of those brands that only someone SUPER nerdy about cars would know about, I feel good knowing that there are more people who think that Crosley wasn't just a company that made cheap cars, good video.
8:13 dog passenger wearing goggles!
Crosley made lots of cool and goofy stuff. 😀
imagine driving this in one of those nascar convertible races from back in the day
@3:23 26.5hp lol, my vtwin OHV lawn mower is 28hp, not sure of the CC or cubes lol
I've always heard that name as Croz-ley (Crawz-lie), not Cross-lie. Crosley also had a radio empire among other things; they were big in Cincinnati. I had read elsewhere about the Crosley and I had seen one or two as a kid in the Pittsburgh area upriver a few hundred miles. Other than that a good presentation. If they had continued a few more years they could have gotten in on the small car craze and maybe swatted away the VW bug.
Goggomobile.. Australian, but nuttier.
Austrian.
@@vanceblosser2155 the dart…
@@vanceblosser2155Also produced under licence in Australia with fibreglass bodies for a few years. The Dart was a neat little sports body version.
Sorry: german
The Goggomobil was built in Dingolfing, Southern Germany (Bavaria) by the company Hans Glas.
@@toqtoq3361 after the war many people in germany only had a driving license up to 250cc. Motorcycle or car.
Because of that and because these cars were cheap there was a demand for very small cars / rollermobils.
In this market segment the Goggomobil was quite high quality. It was nearly a real car.
Beats a King Midget any day.
minute 7:46, I have one of those fans, they run on compressed air. Not sure what the air source is for this fan.
My father was saving up for one when they were new. My grandparents thought they were unsafe so they bought him a new DeSoto convertible instead.
MY father raced inboard engine boats in the late 50’s and early 60’s. They used a 44cu. in. Crosley engine.
That's the best looking jeep I've ever seen. Kidding. Looks like a super fun ride. I have a '72 1600 super beetle and one might be surprised at the exhilaration and fun of driving a minimalist well engineered car.
We had the car factory here in Marion Indiana it was called "Crozley."
I want it..
Also thank you for including your sources on screen!
I don't know if it still exists, but in the mid-1980s I saw a Crosley sports car, don't recall if it was a Hot Shot or a Super Sport, in a Summerville, GA carport with a custom body by Howard "Dutch" Darrin (more famous for his work with Packard and Kaiser-Frazer).
I often wonder where that car is now?
You might be thinking of the Kaiser Darrin. It had an engine from the Kaiser Henry J and had unique doors that slid forward into the front fenders
@@DavidMurphy-w9q No, it was a Crosley.
I was driving through Summerville on my way to a project and I spotted what I first thought might have been a King Midget in a carport. A resident was cutting the lawn, so I turned into the driveway and waved, got out and spoke to the owner.
He was happy to discuss the car, that it was a Crosley (engine in the front instead of a go-cart rear engine), very tiny size and from the reference in this video I gather that the Summerville car must have been a Super Sport because the Darrin modifications had included cutting the hinged doors down for the trademark "Darrin dip" and it had a "Korean chrome" pitted pot-metal cast _Darrin_ script call-out, as well as the _Crosley_ script. It had been used in sport car rallies as well as in track racing.
It wasn't particularly handsome and graceful like some of Darrin's other efforts, Packard comes to mind, but it had a fun and playful vibe to it.
The car was somewhat rough and showed some rust (A Kaiser Darrin would not have rusted due to the fiberglass body).
I was disappointed that I didn't have my camera with me (this was before the days when everybody had cell-phone cameras, mid-eighties, remember) to document the existence of this automotive footnote, and though I sometimes drive through Summerville these days, not as frequently as when I was in college and working on construction projects or bicycling events in the area, I have not seen the Crosley-Darrin again
Dutch Darrin's coachwork was known to build custom bodies for both high-end and more plebian brands, and this little white car, while near derelict when I spotted it, appeared to have been very professionally finished when it was new, as would be expected from Darrin.
I am convinced it was the real deal.
Again, does anyone know what may have happened to this unique little car?
Summeville, Georgia, 1985 or 1986.
I would sure be interested to know and see a picture of that car. I had no idea that Darrin did work on a Crosley.
@@lawrencelewis2592 I wonder if there might be an archive of Darrin designs somewhere.
As I said, I didn't have my camera with me that day (in those days I was using a 110-type pocket camera), but since I was assigned to do daily earthwork inspections on a construction project in the area I had planned to get pictures the next trip.
The car wasn't there and I never saw it again.
The Crosley was indeed sold in England. Over there it was called the "Crosmobile". As to why it didn't sell better, at first it did, but, if you are talking about the Post-War version, the original engine, called the CoBra, for COpper-BRAzed, would corrode up because of electrolysis. Most people before the 70s used plain water in the cooling system, and you can't have copper and steel or aluminum and steel in contact with each other. They destroy each other. That seriously ruined their reputation. Then came the disk brakes - they would corrode up. That, and the end of the Seller's Market, was the nail in the coffin for them. And it is pronounced "Crozzley", not "Crossley".
There actually was a car called the Crossley. Prewar I believe.
@@mesckoSame company. The first Crosley came out in 39. It had an air-cooled twin.
What the heck! I almost craped myself at " just under 400 HP".
The Crosley name is pronounced Crozley. Not Crossley.
To me A Brit this is more reminiscent of the Berkeley 4 wheel sports cars with their tiny body and little 2 stroke engine as used in some British motorcycles of the era! If anything I think the Berkeley was smaller than the HOTSHOT??
Donald Healey probably saw one and thought, If I tidy up this design, I will have a Healey Sprite, bug eyes and all.
The engine was designed during WW2 as power plant for generators , water pumps etc....and was even used in B-17's to power the hydraulic system.
My old friend and engine builder used to drive midget racers and said the Crosley engine did well in midgets because they would rev really high for the time.
My grandfather drove a 1950 two door Crosley and I remember being very embarrassed to be seen by my classmates riding in it in the 60's...
You're thinking of the earlier engine which was called the "Cobra" for "copper brazed". It had a sheet-metal water jacket brazed onto a cast-iron block for cooling which was known for rusting out. Crosley chose it mostly because it was cheap compared to anything else he could get. It quickly gained a bad reputation in Crosley cars which soured sales even after the new engine was introduced.
The "Cobra" was designed to last only as long as it took to win the war, and it was intended to be 'disposable' where it would be replaced instead of rebuilt as the servicemen/mechanics had more important engines to tend to. It was generally well=liked in service where it's limited lifespan was understood which may not have been known by Crosley who lost a good bit of money doing engine replacements under warranty.
Back then didn’t we pronounce “Crosley” as CROZLY?
Yes.
Croz lee, Not Cross lee. I grew up near Cincinnati. WLW radio was part of the Croz Lee Broadcasting Company.
It's important to mention that Frank Lloyd wright use the hot shot for all of his Taliesin architect students!
I'll take a goofy, cheeky but elegant car above those muscular confidence screaming monsters any day of the week.
The Cast-iron Block was a big deal for them ..their earlier engine were odd. They would roll steel into a cylinder welding the seam then doing a bore.
I'd love one of those.
Listen. I am older now. As is natural, I can afford more things because I have had time to build. I have a V-8 Hemi in my truck, and in the recent past I drove a 392 Challenger. My point is that no one MY age would be the market for this. But I am not every market.
When I was a teenager, my first TWO cars were VW Bugs, and I was happy to have them. A friend of mine, in High School, had somethinv even cooler: A VW "THING." It was basically a Bug with a better looking body and a convertible top. That thing (pun intended) was cool as HELL for our age group!
This would be AWESOME for a High School kid to pull up to the High School parking lot in!
3:00 - It's like a Nissan Figaro... but 60 years earlier!
Drink every time he says " in and of itself "
Crosley should have exported or set up a factory in Europe
Crosley did export to europe as Crosmobile but not sucessful enough
I think if they made it look better it would have sold better.
We had a Crowley refrigerator. It was sporty as well.
It's a shame he didn't design to look a bit nicer people like nice-looking things.
"literally doesn't have a top" whole showing a picture of one with a top.
at 7:55 no sketch shown?
We have one in our library in Marion Indiana
Saying "It had no doors" while showing a picture of one with doors.
Bart my buddy since you love and care about these magnificent & fascinating stories of little and weird car companies, Why don't you make a video on Runge cars & the craftsman behind it Chris Runge, It would make such fabulous video if you make complete and thorough as usual, So please take it into consideration 🙏🏻❤.
It was a really cute car.
I believe I heard they were sold in the Sears catalog
The Crosley Hotshot was the Suzuki Cappucino of it’s day; the original Kei Roadster.
I had one when I was 15 (74') that I bought off a friend for $200.
11:30 Non-synchro three-speed. Watch for the double-clutch!
It almost looks like an Austin Healy.
More like a Frogeyed Sprite.
Yes, "Driving at its finest." Mclaren, EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
The Farm-O-Road should have been his first product. And no one born since the 80's really knows what 'sports car' originally meant. To today's kids a 'sports car' has 5000bhp, goes 500mph, and has automatic bum wipers. A *real* sports car had/has none of those things. Fact is there's only a couple left, and my 'government' says I don't get to buy one.
At 3:09 I think you need to add a visual annotation crossing it out to make it clearer that's a fake engine.
7:47 I was waiting, haha :)
He put it on his media feed: ruclips.net/user/postUgkxQjdF2i4YIzWOA0mbeHz6kJrSqSQ71kSm
Crosley got a bad reputation, because of the Cobra motor.
An alloy.
Thought to be, cheap junk.
I would think, because, the engine, would heat up, and cool down, it would warp,
By the time, they went to cast iron, it was too late