Powel Crosley Jr. of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a busy man. He sold countless radios, owned the Cincinnati Reds, and most importantly, sold cars. He sold enough of them that I am never surprised to see one at a car event. The Crosley car’s diminutive size and simplicity, in addition to total production numbers exceeding 80,000, make them practical “fun” collector cars. They don’t take up much space, they have performance that is capable enough for two-lane driving, and they’re inexpensive. Barn Finds reader T.J. found this ’50 CD Four Sedan on Marketplace in Marne, Michigan, with an asking price of $3,500.
The downside is that it doesn’t run (there’s no spark). The engine does spin freely, but considering that the seller has done a fair amount of work on the car and has not gotten it running is a concern. Don’t get me wrong, I could probably flat lift the engine out of a Crosley (well, maybe not) if we find out the worst, but still…that doesn’t mean that I necessarily want to. The seller is throwing in a spare good transmission with the car, so that’s something. Perhaps he has simply lost interest in the project; it’s worth asking if you decide to message him.
The engine itself should be the cast iron CIBA engine, which produced 26.5 horsepower with a displacement of 44 cubic inches. Riding lawn mowers of today produce roughly the same power, but a 1950 Crosley weighed about half a ton, so the power-to-weight ratio isn’t that bad. Anecdotally, Crosleys could achieve up to 50 miles per gallon.
So what work has been done? The seller says that patches were welded into the floors and rockers, and the entire car was rolled with Rustoleum (in an almond color). A while back, rolling on Rustoleum was all the rage on the internet; is it still a thing? I can see the financial rewards of it, but it always seemed time-consuming to me. I’d rather thin it down and spray it on, but I have an air compressor. Regardless of the methodology, it’s a decent choice for a car that isn’t ever going to be worth much, and the seller claims that it’s a good 10-foot job.
The interior isn’t too bad, either. The headliner, door panels, and seats are all there, but you’re looking at a bare floor. Crosleys certainly had a floor covering of some sort, but I wonder how difficult it is to source it.
Crosley was a successful businessman who almost made his small car business work. In the postwar car boom, anybody could sell anything, so people gladly snapped up Crosleys. Unfortunately, when cars became more readily available, most people wanted something a little bigger (a Crosley is about a foot shorter AND narrower than a VW Beetle). Still, it’s a cute collectable that is certain to draw conversation wherever you take it. This one needs a bit of work and little bit of finger-crossing on the engine, but it looks like a clean project.
I have always been intrigued by Crosleys. Much to my surprise, last fall about 430 in the morning I was on my way to work and a Crosley pulled up next to me at the light. I complimented the driver and he really appreciated that I actually knew what it was. I was impressed, not only that it was on the road, but on the road early in the morning on a weekday before the sun was up, probably being driven to work.
Aaron I’ve seen ( probably YouTube but don’t remember now) people get foam rollers and thin out Rustoleum and roll it on. I agree with you, its got to be time consuming, but the results I’ve seen weren’t that bad. This looks like a great project to finish. And it has the more reliable Cast iron block engine. Nice find here. And a great write up too. Thank you.
Those engines can be easily modified to more than twice the horsepower.
What’s with the cross on the trunk???
Its actually the Crosley automobile emblem. It says Crosley and in smaller letters it says A Fine Car if memory serves me correct.
It looks like the designers got carried away with the design of those extravagant taillights. Are those sequential?
yes. One blink after the other
Fun write-up Aaron. Great comparison to riding lawn mower engines. I’ve done some basic reading on Mr. Crosley; he was an interesting and innovative man for his time.
lots of models too. I prefer the wagon’n p/u or even the lill sports model (not hot shot but super sport). Seems we’ve had several different models on here some in the ‘jeep’ or ‘off rd tractor’ clothing. Just no copper motors for me ! ~aahahahaa~
This model (CD Sedan?) looks from the rear like the current am gen MV-1 purpose built mobility impaired owner/driver model. The U owns a bunch and uses asa bus to p/u some wheel bound students here. Welllll… now I look @ it on-line it seems a CD Sedan on steroids (side view), the tail lghts modded, etc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifZXRnWVSVs
/OR/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU-YPOQD910
Think I should take it back? Mmmm, nawh… but looks a closer match in-person. 8^ )
I have a 47 pu get little cars actually a crosley won the very first Sebring race in the US
A ’49 station wagon converted to a ’48 sedan was my first car. Found the sedan body and liked the looks better than the wagon. Did the body off rebuild, put two ’39 Chevy taillights on the back (Crosleys didn’t get two until the ’49s), painted white over blue with matching interior and away I went.
I have a picture i took of one of these years ago that had been mounted on a gasser chassis. Twin-turbo, fuel injected flathead with the Ardun hemi-head conversion. Wicked!
I’ve restored many Crosley radios and, living near Cincinnati, attended radio collector meets not far from the original Crosley factory. At one meet, five of his cars came along with their owners. Two had the airplane prop in the grille that spun with the wind. Yes – original.
Even more interesting, the last remaining Crosley airplane is in the Aviation Museum of Kentucky, here in Lexington.
I recently sold my Crosley pickup with flathead Ford V8 60 power. I think this is agreat deal for the ask. And plenty of options for future owner!
‘The little cars that looked like radios’.
I saw a very faded blue Crosley in the back yard of my mom’s friend’s house. She said it was her backyard neighbor’s, but knew nothing more. I had to explore this tiny car! Finding sliding windows and not roll down windows was puzzling! I wanted this car so much. It was exactly like one that was used as an advertising logo for the local auto junk yard. They hung it on top of the roof of the entrance! I always wondered what happened to both vehicles as they seemed to just disappear one day!
I did a lot of research on Mr. Crowley’s car and his 50 pound cast iron engine. He promoted it with a photo of his wife holding it on her lap!