This little Crosley isn’t a barn find, but it’s such a rare and unique little car that we had to feature it. This is a 1952 Crosley Super Sedan, of which Crosley only built about 55 in total. This one recently underwent a complete restoration and looks great. It is being sold by Exim Cars of Lexington, Kentucky with an asking price of $10,500.
This car has been restored inside and out to a great level of detail. The interior looks as good or better then when the car was new, but there are a few pieces that aren’t original. The front bench seat and the tinted windows aren’t original to the car, but they look great anyways.
The original CIBA engine and transmission were completely rebuilt and should run great for a long time. The 750 cc four cylinder in this little car isn’t very powerful, but it’s definitely easy on fuel. These cars are fun to drive, but don’t plan on going anywhere too fast, as the top speed is only about 50 mph.
This is a very rare Crosley and it looks great, but we wish it was painted in its original color, instead of this ’57 Chevy Turquoise. However, given the quality of the restoration and the rarity of the car, we doubt it will affect the value of the car. Given that there aren’t many of these cars around, there isn’t much information about them. If any of you know more about the Super Sedan, please share.
love the propeller on the nose
This is the 4 but wasn’t their a even rarer six cylinder model??? I think you’ll find that there was!
it is a sweet one for sure ,the color is not too far off of a stock color .Between my dad and I we had 10 crosley’s and down to 3 at the moment .there is a very strong and helpful club and great parts venders for them so they are an easy restore and way before there time in many ways.there was only the one motor for the post war cars but came in two designs 1. is the cobra sheet metal block and then 2.the cast iron block ,both interchangeable on the same all aluminum crankcase. Google the crosley gang yahoo group and go to the club web page from there lots of info there.There never was a production 6 used by crosley Gary
Thanks Gary! I would like to find a cheap one to play with! But Gary, I was in an auto salvage in 1960 and was purchasing a 1930 Model A four-door and Claude, the owner, had a Crosley 6!!!!! I picked it up and held it! The name was on it! I thought boy that would be neat to make a drag racer out of that! A 6 cylinder! He had in laying inside on a cart. I do not do drugs and I restore autos. I remember this well as my friend Chuck counted the 6 spark plugs. Claude said it was rare. This is all I know and it is the truth.
Nice to see this! The color is a bit bright but isn’t too far off a stock color, and you’re right, it’s probably not going to put someone off if they really like the car. That said, there have been some strange choices made: not sure about that bench seat- the original front seats are easy to find and make access to the rear seat easy; the interior door panels are not doing the car any favors; the small steering wheel looks weird, and despite the tininess of the car, it helps having the full-size wheel to get into tight parking spots.There are a couple of errors in the listing: there were 216 sedans produced in ’52 – and they are identical to the 1951 models (1077 produced) with the exception of the # on ID tag. (In general, sedans were one of the more popular Crosley models.) If the seller is trying to say that there were 55 ‘Super’ sedans built in ’52 I’d be curious to know where the numbers came from – there are almost no records about specific sales numbers of the trim levels.Also, these should do well more than 50mph – that speedo goes to 70 for a reason. Jim: there were larger motors made as prototypes (apparently for non automotive uses) but they never went into production. Crosley only produced 2 cylinders (for the pre-WWII cars) and 4 cylinders.Not to rain on the seller’s parade, but this is priced significantly above the going rate for a restored Crosley sedan (like almost double) and this doesn’t have the really desirable options, like an in-dash radio or Braje speed equipment. If he gets an offer above $6K he should be doing a jig.
I drove my 1952 to college on I75 at 70mph (posted then). Had two complete engines except for the replacement nodular iron crankshaft (only one). The original cast iron crank would not last at that speed. Had to swap the crank over to the other rebuilt engine about once a year. It really was built for 55mph. Beware of the clutch/brake pivot rod dropping from the engine as the engine mounts aged.
Crosleykook please include a contact so that we can talk sometime. The enging I and Chuck held at News Auto Salvage in Springfield was gray and had red lettering CROSLEY on it. It WAS THE SMALLEST 6 cylinder that I have EVER seen! I have looked for another all my life only to find look-a-like 4 cylinders. I have always wondered about that!! I was 15 at the time. Had built soap box derby car and a few Bill Cosby types prior. I got my first A Ford at 12.5 years old. I wondered how it would have been to have built a drag racer out of that 6? I think Claude told us ??? it came from a car he had gotten in and he saved that motor as a conversation piece. I asked him how much he wanted for it and he really didn’t want to sell it as he was going to put it into a car at his house someday. Claude was old then! A (less than 2 years later) sale for the autosalvage property was held and it was all cleared off soon after as it was in the city limits and the city fathers then wanted places like that to disappear. I had bought a lot of A parts from him and a car or two. It was only about 3 blocks from my home. I seem to remember a stickshift transmission laying there too but I cannot say for sure that it was for the Crosley engine! I do know what we saw there that day though ! It WAS a 6.
i do remember that the group that crosley used to build his ww2 generator sets did make several prototype 6s but it was the 4 that made its way into the war time generators and later used in the cars. its possible that one made it to prototype stage and got out of the factory. there was the possibility of a small 8 being built using two mirror image blocks on a different crank case but it was too late in development and sales were lagging badly so not to be, but a few survived and the mirrored block was used for export models (crosmoble) and then sold to crofton for his bug.one of the club members built a 6 out of two cobra blocks and brought it to this years big show nice job
I just wanted to add that there must be a problem with this one if it cant do 50. most of mine have been the cc model (1946-48) they had tiny 6 in. brakes that were mechanical ! i called them my imaginary friends. it would go over 50 but unless your a bit crazy you did not do it often lol by 49 crosley had disk brakes on all four but they had some issues so they went to 9 inch bendex in 50, one of crosleys clams to fame was first car with disk brakes
Lots of excellent comments, thank you!A few clarifications:the steering wheel is not included in the sale, we’ll put in one that fits the car better. This one has sentimental value to the owner of the car.The car will go over 50, don’t read too much into that comment. It runs absolutely perfectly.We are aware of the prices for these cars (Steve, the owner has other Crosleys), feel free to make an offer on it.Thank you for the valuable comments everyone, it’s always nice to see others appreciate these cars.
Jim: I think Gary is correct- the Crosley 6 you saw may have been a prototype that got out of the factory. There is one that was found in Ohio pictured on the Crosley Auto Club’s rundown of engine development.. maybe that’s it! right here: http://crosleyautoclub.com/EngineTree/Crosley_Eng_Tree.htmlBest way to get hold of me is through my Crosley blog: http://crosleykook.blogspot.com/
Thanks fellas! I do not think it was the BIG 6 shown above but id did look like the engine at the bottom of that book! I could not tell if it was a six or not from that photo. I wish I could find out about Claude News engine though. If I had known that it REALLY was THAT RARE I would have tried harder to have bought it. But as sure as I would have at that age I would have ruined it. I notice that the one shown in the mag was hooked to a dynamo. The one he had was not! It looked like it would bolt up to his transmission that was setting there beside it. It could have been a fabricated engine like everyone is saying as it was not heavy like a Flathead because Chuck and I picked the darned thing up. It was not very big at all!!!!! At the MOST 18 to 21″ long and about that same height. I’m working from memory here and no I’m not crazy yet! I taught drafting for several years in addition to being a Mechanical Engineer. It was gray and had red painted Crosley on the valve cover. But again let me stress this would have been in 1960-61. Not long after WWII. It was in an auto salvage in Springfield, Mo. 65802 on the S. W. corner of College Street (Route 66) and Nettelton Street.
The Super models were factory-equipped with rolldown windows, extra chrome trim and a few other specialties (including the grille spinner). And the top speeds are closer to 70 than what was printed above. For more on the Crosley saga, join the Crosley car Owners Club http://www.onelist.com/group/Crosley http://www.CrosleyClub.com; there are no dues and ownership isn’t a prerequisite.
Let’s update those Crosley Car Owners Club links … the CCOC is free and very active at http://www.facebook.com/CrosleyCarClub and Crosley@groups.io . Thanks!
https://images.app.goo.gl/PTaC2LVT1mfsTA1x8
My Dad had a Crosley Sedan, I think it was a ;52, I wish I could attach the photo of him in it here. I wasn’t around yet, but love the car, so cool and small for the time