Crosley Supersport

masraum · 10-25-2016, 01:16 PM

This lady pulled in behind me this past weekend. I stopped to let her pass, and then when thi guy on the motorcycle got her to stop and talk, I snapped a couple of other pics. Hilariously small.

Per the Internet, seems they used a 44 cubic inch 26.5hp motor. Again, according to the Internet, Crosley made the first American sports car, was the first American car company to start making cars after WW2, the first mass-market production car with SOHC and the first American car with 4 wheel caliper type disk brakes. I think many/most of these firsts are associated with the Super Sport, but it it's ancestor model the Hotshot.

The tires looked like they were maybe 3.5" wide.

kach22i · kach22i's Garage

Looks like fun at 20 mph.

And about 100 mpg.

URY914 · URY914's Garage

It won Sebring.

Look it up.

http://www.crosleyautoclub.com/Sebring/Sebring.html

masraum · 10-25-2016, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kach22i

Looks like fun at 20 mph.

And about 100 mpg.

35-50mpg is what I saw online.

masraum · 10-25-2016, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by URY914

It won Sebring.

Look it up.

Forgotten History: The First Sebring Race on 12/31/1950

Wow, pretty amazing. The one that I saw was just putting along. I have a hard time picturing that thing at 7500 rpm. That must have been a hoot.

kach22i · kach22i's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

35-50mpg is what I saw online.

Great, I just took a guess.

silverc4s · silverc4s's Garage

I think the engine block was brass or copper or some such unbelievable metal...

masraum · 10-25-2016, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverc4s

I think the engine block was brass or copper or some such unbelievable metal...

Per Wikipedia

"The CoBra (Copper Brazed, also known as "The Mighty Tin") was originally developed by Lloyd Taylor, of Taylor Engines in California, for military use aboard PT boats and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. The engine was made from sheet metal rather than cast iron like most other engines. This was done to get a thin, uniform wall thickness and thus avoid the creation of hot spots around the combustion chamber that could ignite the fuel, causing pre-ignition (knocks), which in turn limited the compression ratio. These engines were used mainly to power generators, refrigeration compressors, etc., and were widely praised for their successes in the war effort."

wdfifteen · wdfifteen's Garage

Not sure wiki is right. Most four cylinder Crosleys had a cast iron OHC engine, though the company tried cobra engines for a while. I've never heard of a Crosley cobra ever being used in a B17 or a PT boat. A good friend of mine used to race a Crosley powered sports racer. He bought Homelite/Thermoking (Crosley) cast iron compressor and boat motors by the pound. A lot of strange things were done with Crosley engines - they were converted to straight eights, V-eights, and flat eights. I don't know what the attraction was, but tinkerers love mucking around with Crosley motors.

tcar · 10-25-2016, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Not sure wiki is right. Most four cylinder Crosleys had a cast iron OHC engine, though the company tried cobra engines for a while. I've never heard of a Crosley cobra ever being used in a B17 or a PT boat. A good friend of mine used to race a Crosley powered sports racer. He bought Homelite/Thermoking (Crosley) cast iron compressor and boat motors by the pound. A lot of strange things were done with Crosley engines - they were converted to straight eights, V-eights, and flat eights. I don't know what the attraction was, but tinkerers love mucking around with Crosley motors.

Wiki is correct from what I've read.

Crosley used the sheet metal engine for a couple years immmediately after the war. OHC. I was unreliable in civilian use.

The engine was used during the war as an auxillary power unit on some bombers and PT boats..

There was one in Albuquerque driving around when I was a kid... It was a wagon. A 'woodie'.

dafischer · 10-25-2016, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Not sure wiki is right. Most four cylinder Crosleys had a cast iron OHC engine, though the company tried cobra engines for a while. I've never heard of a Crosley cobra ever being used in a B17 or a PT boat. A good friend of mine used to race a Crosley powered sports racer. He bought Homelite/Thermoking (Crosley) cast iron compressor and boat motors by the pound. A lot of strange things were done with Crosley engines - they were converted to straight eights, V-eights, and flat eights. I don't know what the attraction was, but tinkerers love mucking around with Crosley motors.

Originally, the first Crosleys 1939 - 1941 were 2 cylinder horizontally air cooled Waukesha engines. The first 4 cylinder Crosleys (1946) used the sheet metal 4, AKA the COBRA (COpper BRAzed) engine which was developed for military uses mentioed earlier in this thread. This engine was problematic, prone to coolant leaks, and preignition, and replaced with a cast iron block, which many of the early cars were updated to. Both engines had the cylinders, water jackets, and head as one integral piece, and this block was bolted to an aluminum crankcase.

These engines were easily modified and used in 3/4 Midgets with great success.
I had a couple of Crosleys while I was in high school, a 1950 station wagon, and a 1950 Hot Shot. The Hot Shot was a "kit"...rolling chassis, body separate, and a pile of parts. I was able to find an ex 3/4 Midget engine, and mounted it in the chassis. It started and ran well and I wanted to see how well, and per the tach I had hooked up, it was turning 8,000 rpm when the pressure plate grenaded taking the bell housing with it, in my dad's garage. Somehow the shrapnel missed me and my friend, but left some lasting impressions on the cinder block wall. End of experiment.

Rambling mode off.

petrolhead611 · 10-26-2016, 05:50 AM

The Crossley was not by any means the first SOHC powered production car. Wolseley, Morris, Singer were all using such engines well before WW2. Some mainland European cars did too, some even had twin cams.

petrolhead611 · 10-26-2016, 05:52 AM

MG also, but like the Morris, they used the Wolseley engine( and I think that was a scaled down Hispano Suiza aero engine licence built by Wolseley during WW1)

flatbutt · 10-26-2016, 06:18 AM

nice hack rig too!

Chocaholic · 10-26-2016, 06:27 AM

Agree. Hard to tell what it is (Ural?) but of the two, I'd prefer having the hack in my garage.

nightheart · nightheart's Garage

Wow, bringing back memories. My Dad had a 47 Crosley. He bought it used in the fifties and kept it till he died in 04. We gave it to my uncle, who is a car freak, and he's been driving it ever since. Brings back memories driving down by the spring with the top off, double clutching, and topping out at about 35 mph. 47 cc's of power, but it seems like a lot more in a car that weighs about 8 pounds. Good memories.
Pictures of right before we gave it to my uncle, who has since had it resprayed.

tcar · 10-26-2016, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petrolhead611

The Crossley was not by any means the first SOHC powered production car. Wolseley, Morris, Singer were all using such engines well before WW2. Some mainland European cars did too, some even had twin cams.

You may be confusing the American builder Crosley with the British Builder Crossley.
Not related.

But you may be right.

petrolhead611 · 10-27-2016, 02:05 AM

I certainly am not confusing one of the finest British automakers, Crossley, of Manchester England with the US economy car make Crosley .
Crossley cars were up there with Rolls Royces for quality in the Edwardian and Vintage eras.
Their tenders were used extensively in WW1, chosen for ruggedness and reliability. They were expensive cars,and once the '29 slump occurred their attempts to go somewhat downmarket didnt save them as a car maker(they even licence built Overland Whippets for a while);they just stuck to truck and bus manufacture thereafter and then amalgamated with other companies.