1952 Crosley Station Wagon

By Jay Hirsch

Powell Crosley Jr. was a Cincinnati industrialist who made his fortune producing radios and refrigerators in the 1920s and 1930s. By the mid-1930s, in spite of the Great Depression, Crosley with his appliance empire had amassed a not-so-small fortune. With this fortune Crosley indulged in things that people of wealth can. He acquired a radio station, had an interest in the Cincinnati Reds (in 1953 became the Redlegs) and with a dream that never died within him, he started up an automobile company. That company “would produce a small, low cost, economical car that anyone could afford.”

The result in 1939 was an open car, with an 80-inch wheelbase and an air-cooled engine, that sold for $300. Prior to the United States entering WWII Crosley had sold 4,757 of these vehicles. In 1940 the station wagon and delivery wagon were introduced, and the pickup and covered wagon were added in 1941. The 1941 covered wagon and panel delivery had a wooden upper body while all others had canvas tops.

With the United States entry into the war, the auto industry devoted its attention to the making of wartime material. Crosley Motors turned out their new 44-cubic-inch “CoBra engine” for industrial use. The armed services used the tin block engine in self-contained generators, generators for PT boats, and any place that lightweight power plants were needed. The name CoBra was derived from how the engine was made. It was not a cast-iron block; it was an all-steel, stamped-copper, hydrogen-brazed engine — it was a welded engine! What worked fine in generators was to be a factor in the demise of the post WWII Crosley.

The end of WWII in 1945 brought the U.S. back to a peacetime economy and an automotive public that was starving for new cars. This starvation included the federal government, from which Crosley obtained an order to build 16,000 of their small cars in 1946. The profit from this order enabled Crosley to venture into the public sector, and in 1946 the Crosley two-door sedan and two-door convertible were sold to an automotive-starved civilian population.

The sedan cost $905, and the convertible, $949. The convertible was unique in that the top did not fold backwards and into a storage well. Instead it slid back on rails mounted on the top of the car frame. Both cars had sliding glass windows in the doors, not roll up windows

In 1948 a two-door all-steel body station wagon was added to the Crosley line, the first all-steel-bodied American station wagon. The press releases by Crosley emphasized the cars “strength,” it used 20-gauge steel which was what the larger cars were built with. The tires, although small (4.50 x 12), were actually “50 percent wider in proportion to the weight and width of the Crosley than the tires of larger cars.”

In 1950 there was the Standard Crosley, which had the sliding glass windows, and the Super Series, which had roll up windows in the doors. The rear seats in the sedan or wagon could be folded against the back of the front seat for extra luggage room. The doors were lined with the same material as the seats, not with cardboard as in the Standard series. The station wagon had a rear door as an option, replacing the two-piece tailgate.

In the wagon the rear seat, in addition to folding forward, could also be taken out leaving a flat floor for cargo.

The two Crosley wagons seen here represent the rear-door and two-piece-section tail gate. The light green wagon is a 1950 owned by Diane Trash. The red 1952 with the rear hinged door is owned by Bob Poinier. The 1952 has the optional propeller in the bullet nose grill. The bullet nose grill appeared on the 1951 Crosley. The 1951 and 1952 Crosley are identical.

Both these cars have been restored by their owners.

“The car was not in too bad of shape when I bought it,” Bob told me. “Being a small car, a micro car, the wagon was stored inside by the original owner when the three-speed manual transmission needed work.”

He bought the car in 2001 from the family of the original owner, and over the course of two years brought the car back to how it was in 1952. Given its length of 148 inches and width of 50 inches you do not need much space to keep a Crosley. The Crosley’s size was a factor when sold new and is the same today for collectors.

Diane owns a 1936 Pontiac street rod. When she was at a car show with her husband in Macungie, Penn., in 2004, there were several Crosley’s there. She thought they were “cute and different.” Diane was talking with Bob and mentioned she would like to own a Crosley. Bob told Diane he had a friend who owned “all the Crosley’s — the two-door sedan, the convertible, the pickup, the panel delivery, the Hot Shot sports car, a FarmOroad and three wagons, two 1950s and one 1952. The owner lived nearby and would be at the show.”

They met at the show, and the result is seen here. Crosley owners have a great sense of humor, “you have to, just look at the size of these cars and the 1951 and 1952 with that factory propeller just shout Fun Car,” as Bob and Diane said.

Aside from the oh-too-good engineering idea of the CoBra engine for a powerplant for a car, which Crosley replaced in 1949 with the cast iron 44 cid OHV inline four, the 1949 Crosley was the first American car to have four-wheel disc brakes. The Crosley’s stopping power far exceeded its acceleration power which was 0-60 in about 35 seconds with a top speed of 65 mph. But given the car gets 45-50 mpg that is not a bad trade off.

Bob’s 1952 Crosley is “fully optioned” with sun visor, heater, ashtray, Crosley radio, and six-inch, dash-mounted fan. The fan Bob takes out when driving, for given the narrow windshield, it obstructs his vision.

From speaking with several owners of Crosley’s, the car could have easily supported a larger engine. Some owners who have restored pre-1949 Crosley’s have installed the Ford 302 V-8 with “room to spare” in the oversized engine bay. Given the Crosley’s weight of 1,402 lbs., the car is a “rocket on four wheels.”

In 1952 Crosley ceased production with only 2,075 cars being built. In 1953 Crosley Motor merged with Aero Jet Engineering of Azusa, Ca. •