Post-war America was a time when almost any car company could sell almost any car, people just wanted to get back to normal and they needed vehicles. Lots of them. Powell Crosley began making his small cars before the war and after the war, vehicles like this 1948 Crosley CC sedan were available. This very nice-looking example is listed here on eBay in Euclid, Ohio, there is no reserve, and the current bid price is $4,450.
For the record, the title Crosley CC isn’t me stuttering, CC was the designation for the 1946 through 1948 Crosley line which included this neat little (well, they were all little) fastback two-door sedan and a similarly styled convertible but not a full convertible as we know them today. It was basically like a big, full sunroof with the door frames still being intact, sort of like the famous Nash Convertible that Lois Lane used in the Superman tv show from the 1950s. Nerd alert, sorry. The seller has provided 75 photos, kudos to them for that!
The company also made several other body styles later into the run: station wagons, panel wagons, pickups, a “Jeep”-like vehicle called the Farm-O-Road, and even two-seat sports cars called the Hot Shot and Super Sport. We have seen most of them here on Barn Finds over the years and it’s fun to think back to what the US was like in those days, with incredible growth and entrepreneurship. Almost everyone had a better idea it seemed like. The seller says that this car has a mere 15,484 miles on it, as shown on the odometer. That’s amazing if it’s true and we have no reason to doubt the seller’s claim.
This particular Crosley appears to be in outstanding condition. Being somewhat of a microcar – although 12-feet isn’t as small as others – it helps to have this bright yellow color to be more easily seen on the roads. This car doesn’t exactly have 37 airbags and whatever other safety features that modern vehicles have. The interior looks great, I don’t see a real flaw anywhere on or in this car inside or out, do you? The gauges aren’t exactly like new and there is some soiling on the door panels unless those are shadows.
They mention that the hood release cable needs to be replaced and that a 1948 Crosley has an inside hood release cable is pretty cool. The engine should be Crosley’s CoBra (Copper Brazed) 44 cubic-inch inline-four which had 26.5 horsepower. It runs good but the carb could use a good cleaning and the radio doesn’t seem to work, which is a bit unusual since Mr. Crosley made a fortune in radios. Hagerty is at $6,300 for a #3 good condition car so this could be a good deal. This really looks like a winner, are there any Crosley fans out there?
15k miles on 8″ toy wheels indicates the car has seen a LOT of use, mostly early.
Right, except that these are 12″ wheels.
Ha, I once bought a 1954 Lloyd LP400S with 10,000 miles. I thought that was an incredibly low mileage until I got it running and realized that 10k miles in a Lloyd was requiring some serious dedication to rack up. Every 5 mile trip was an adventure!
Crosley at one time owned radio station WLW 700 in Cincinnati. It was so powerful that my Dad also from Cincinnati would listen while aboard ship during The Korean War. People would hear WLW in their teeth fillings if they to close to the broadcast tower north of Cincinnati.
Only at night when they were allowed to turn up the power.
AM stations reduce power at night not increase. They do this because atmospheric conditions at night allow for long skip propagation at night.
Powell Crosley’s WLW AM radio station was a very unique radio station. At one time they were the most powerful AM station in the USA. His goal was to be able to broadcast to the entire country. Until the rules were changed Mr. Crosley had gotten permission to do some very unusual things with his station… high power at various time of the day as an “experiment”… At one point he was transmitting a whopping 500,000 watts. When it was broadcasting, people claimed to actually receive the station in their teeth. Florescent lights near the transmitter would glow even when turned off. That high power did strange things.
Crosleys always look like they hired grade school children to design their cars.
all the proportions all off just enough to make it look really weird.
My name is Ray for Raymond. I personally owned three Crosley’s, My Navy buddy Lewis Ray Leivan owned a Station Wagon as did my neighbor Wm. Micky Bill Walker, who was a Sargant in the U. Army and a Prison Guard at Fort Leavenworth Prison and had four children. I had two daughter’s. We all lived in St. Joseph, Missouri. We never once was afraid to get out on the highways and travel anywhere in them. My buddy Micky had a Evinrude Motor on his Boat and it was a Crosley Engine. That engine had an extra set of Crank Shaft Bearings other engines did not have. We went to a what we used to call a Jamboree where people would meet for a big Pot Luck bring your own meat and beverage. It was in Atchison, Kansas. And you would not believe how many Crosley’s and Triumphs , Renault Delphine’s, and Fiat’s were at the Event. Honda was not yet a big name then. In those days Renault was the big name in Foreign Cars and Fiat was just beginning to break into use. Old Fords was always #1. Chevrolet’s were not as popular because of the Babbitt Rods, and Plymouth and Dodge always had Crank Bearing Problems, Studebaker’s were always last on the list because they smoked all the time.
I am now 82 years old and am still driving two Studebakers a 50 Champion and a R-6 3/4 Ton 1951 Pickup as well as a 1901 Oldsmobile Reproduction which I own two I drive the most over them all. My 1901 Oldsmobile # 1 has traveled and still travels on California Highways and went from Redding, Ca. to St. Joseph, Missouri in 2014 and Back Representing the American Fallen Warriors. It won me an Honor Flight that was in my honor from Congressman Doug Lamalfa and a letter of Recognition from President Obama. That to me was an Honor even though I do not support his thoughts.
My hat goes off to you sir. Greetings from your northern neighbour.
I have a Midget and just have a soft spot for the KM Crosley and Bantam cars.
Designed by Sundberg & Farar of Detroit.
The first time I ever saw a Crosley I was about 10 years old. I thought some guy had built it in his garage for his kids to drive around the yard or out in a vacant lot.
My first car at the ripe old age of 13. Started as a ’59 station wagon and ended up rebodied as a ’48 sedan like this one. Always thought the through ’48s were better looking than the later models.
Fastback? More like humpback! And that color makes my liver hurt! That said, WHY would I be envisioning this as an around-town ride? Yipes!!
I have a ’48 Crosley Pickup with V8 60 flathead, Toyota front discs, Vega steering, 13″ wheels. Not recommended for crosscountry travel, but lots of fun in the niehborhood!
My friend in Birmingham had a number of these and spare parts galore. I remember him picking up a Crosley pickup in Tennessee and bringing it back in the bed of a regular pickup. I never found out what happened to his car collection when he passed away which included several classic cars.
And by the way I would buy this car if I had a place to store it. Just no room at all. I hope whoever does purchaser it will keep it as is and not change anything.
Great piece, you always do great work, but Scotty please stop:
‘This car doesn’t exactly have 37 airbags and whatever other safety features that modern vehicles have.’
Then buy a new car. Everyone knows this.
None of them have 37 air bags and a suite of safety features. And didn’t for most of the first ninety years. All require an awareness of this when being driven.
Someone who buys this is not going to care one bit. They are not interested in the scolds out there who just can’t stand that someone else might be happy.
The saaafety trolls can please sit down.
Good Lord man, the reference to the trillion airbags etc, was purely tongue in cheek, it wasn´t a serious comment. Have you ever heard of sarcasm?
Psychofish2, I was trying to think ahead to the almost always inevitable comments about small cars and safety today while driving them on the freeway next to Chevy Suburbans that often come up on small vehicle posts. I was joking and way over-emphasizing the airbag count. Thanks for your kind words though, and I agree with you 100% about the safety thing, if a person wants a safe vehicle, buy something new, not a Crosley or any old vehicle no matter how much it weighs in shear tons of iron.
I was trying to head off those safety comments about “how unsafe this car would be on the freeway” and they never showed up! The readers are onto me, dang it!
Scotty, why are you apologizing to a n intellectually challlenged person? Let it rest.
Cute little car in an eye grabbing color. I’m surprised by how roomy the inside looks, but I think I’ve seen more padding on a folding chair than those seatbacks!
Well…….l hope the next buyer lives in Oklahoma. With a whopping 25 H/p hills are always a challenge. I owned a 52 wagon to which a buyer in Fitchburg, Ma wanted to buy it. He lived on a significant hill, with a driveway that would be a challenge to most 4w/d vehicles. When the reality set in, he decided perhaps it wasn’t his best choice. Fun cartoonish cars for your urban dweller.
This made me think of the Crosley in Porky’s.
I love the Studebaker-ish bullet nose decoration. It makes the car look like a cute baby rhino.
It seems like every time another car manufacturer is mentioned here on Barn Finds, I pipe up and say we had one. Well, with 5 kids plus my mother and father, we’ve owned a lot of cars over the years.
My oldest brother had a Crosley. At the time I was too young to care what he was doing so I have no idea what year or model but it had to be late 40s early 50s because it did look similar to this one, but his was a station wagon.
Who designed the engine?
Lloyd M.Taylor of Taylor Engines in Oakland, California.
Hey, Bob Hess, I got my first car at 13 also. It was a 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood
Angel… My car would have fit in your trunk!
Indeed
Most Crosleys don’t have more then 15K miles on em because of what they are and what used for. 15K on a Crosley is like 150K on a normal car. That being said the benefit of a low mileage car is the originality of it which this one does NOT have. That interior is obviously not original as is the paint etc. So really what is the point here. It is just another run of the mill crosley someone screwed up in the 70s.
My parents had a brand new 1946 Crosley station wagon and drove it from Wilmington Delaware to Racine Wisconsin for Christmas 1946 with my 4 month old baby sister in the back seat. They drove through a bunch of snow and had a brutal trip. Not sure if Crosley’s even had heat. My mother swore she would never take a long trip in that car ever again. Tried to add a picture of the car here, but not savvy enough to figure it out : )
Heaters were optional, as with nearly every new car then.
Ya gotta be a “member” to post pictures here.
After World War II Mom and Dad got married, wanting to buy a car they tried many dealers in Balto. Md. and found all had “waiting lists” and nothing to actually sell. EXCEPT for two companies… Studebaker and Crosley! He told me he almost bought a Crosley, but went with the Studebaker because it “had a little more room” inside and a bigger eng. Later they took me and my brother to the circus, and we saw what looked like 20 or so clowns get out of a little Crosley just like the one above. I was fascinated the Crosleys from that time on. I ended up buying a very used two seat sports car version… in about 1976. It was a 1950 “super sports”, it had doors and a folding top, but not like the 1951’s doors, they were “slide on” (that feature lasted only one year). Loved that old car, drove very much like a go-cart, very nimble. The sports car was always the coveted version, but I always loved the little sedans too.
My first car was a 1947 Crosley conv. Canary yellow with red wheels. This came from the factory that way. Had the old tin engine which leaked oil bad. On a drive one day it froze up and never ran again. Think my Dad just junked it out.
By the way if you look closely you can tell that Powell Crosley was able to engineer some savings into the design of the car…. The fenders are “cross changeable”. Meaning the same fender on the front drivers side fits on the rear passenger side!!! So they only needed to “press” two types of fenders in the building of any of their cars… all of their models used the same idea.
love em. Thanks for the ol advert Scotty. Every model has something to offer. Just would not want the copper engine one (last time I said that here I was told it was only in a select few early).
Yeah, that engine was designed for the war effort, not designed to be a “long lasting” power source. But it was designed to be quickly and cheaply built and be very light but still produce a reasonable amount of power for various equipment. The original eng. was photographed many times with one man holding the block in his hands, demonstrating how light the whole thing was. Once it got into the their cars, they realized that it needed an “up grade” and they started building the engine like the other manufactures did, took more time but worked much better.
Auction update: this one “sold” at $6,203 but then was relisted at $7,990 and the auction was ended early because the “best offer was accepted”.