Crosley Corporation was ahead of its time, producing a variety of small-scale vehicles in the 1940s and 1950s. But post-war America would buy anything that moved, and independents like Crosley often got pushed to the side. Enter W.B. Crofton who bought the rights to the Crosley Farm-O-Road, a miniature Jeep, and put them into production a few years later. This 1959 edition (or 1960, the title is missing) looks to need a complete restoration and does not appear to be complete. Located in Long Beach, California, this Crofton Bug is available here on craigslist for $1,900 OBO.
The original Farm-O-Road was developed as a multi-purpose vehicle, originally targeted at farmers. It was built just two years before Crosley’s demise in 1952 and only about 600 of them were produced. Fast forward a half dozen years and Crofton resurrected the little vehicle and assembled no more than 250 of them as The Bug in their San Diego plant between 1958-63. They’re approximately ¾-scale to a full-fledged Jeep. The length was stretched by more than a foot, though the Farm-O-Road’s wheelbase was kept. The Bugs used a 35-horsepower Crosley-derived 44-cubic-inch inline-4. If you wanted one of these new, you had to custom-order one, which means they could modify it for your purposes.
This Bug, whose model year isn’t quite known, looks to have been sitting around unused for several years. A lot of rust is present and the seats are all but gone. The odometer is broken, so the mileage on the odometer is simply a guess (looks like 15,000 and change). Paired with a 3-speed manual transmission, the motor in this Crofton is stuck, so you’re going to need to try to fix it or find a comparable small engine to use in its place. If you search online, you’ll find where a few of these have changed hands for $10-20,000 over the years, but all in pristine condition.
Well, it’s gone, somebody probably paid $1900 for the antique Planters nuts can. I kid, but not too lightly.
What I wanted to say, is one can determine the median age of BF’s group, which must be dropping, because with no comments, it tells me this has no interest. To old farts, however, the Crofton Bug was a neat machine. Before AWD 4 wheelers, not the fancy ones with a/c and P/S,,, the early utliltarian ones, these performed a multitude of outdoor jobs. Golf courses and parks, that usually pulled “gang” mowers, pulled parade floats, airports, factories and so on. Most I saw had dual wheels in back for flotation. It didn’t have the versatility of a Jeep, but there was a market for a small 2WD utility type vehicle. It was street legal, if you dare, but most were towed to the destination. It’s an “ambitious” restoration, but looks complete and probably the cheapest classic 4 wheel vehicle you’ll find in California.
I have a 1960 that came modified from California. It has a Datsun 1500 “torquer” engine with automatic. It is a thrill ride at 45 mph. This one, at $1900, is a good deal – hope someone restores it.
Sounds fun Jorn. I’m a little amazed—not one word about Crosleys.
They forgot to put a period after the 9.
Never saw one of these out in the Chinook Belt. There would be many days when you would have trouble keeping it on the road, especially if you happened to be on the downwind side of a semi. Lots of westerly wind to keep you leaning hard. Kind of a cute truck to have for a runabout. Go get the mail, parts, bucket of nails, I’m sure you would have the only one in town. It’s really too bad that something like this wasn’t as successful as it could’ve been. Now you need a quad side-by-side…
Cute, but looks to much like a kiddie car or clown car. I would be afraid to drive it around the block even if it were in pristine condition; someone on a bicycle might hit you and put you in the hospital. Lol.
Seriously it would make a fun toy.
LOL. Those that know what it is know it was CHEAP! Those that don’t know think it was overpriced. Someone scored a home run on this one. I found it too late. I doubt it was listed 20 minutes.
I am trying to sell one for my aunt whose husband passed away. He was a huge collector.
Hi, I may be interested in it. Can you email me at tom999w at gmail? Thanks.
GREAT call on “Planters” can …
If you are familiar with Crosleys, note that the intake, fuel pump, and exhaust are on the “wrong” side. For some reason Crofton used a mirror image block. Rather rare and yet another iteration of the venerable Crosley engine. The Bearcat 55 outboard motor was also derived from Crosley.
Luv the comments!! I am the one that purchased this Brawny Bug and looking forward to getting this restoration under way.
I just helped finish a brawny bug . Let me know if you need paint and body done. I can send you photos of the one I just did or check out my fb page EMS fabrication and Restoration.
Funny, I recently sold a Crosley version in about the same condition for $4k.