Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

[ford141]

Last week my great uncle pulled this little compact car out of the stream behind his shop. I still have to talk to my grandfather to get the details on this car, but it is a '46-48 Model CC. My grandfather drove this car daily for some time, and, as you can see, he "modified" the rear of the car so that he could use it as a truck and haul long items with it. When the motor gave up it was pushed into the back of the shop and left for years. About 20 years my grandfather and his brother were cleaning out the shop and decided that this thing was taking up too much room (ha!) so they pulled it outside and parked it behind the shop in the weather. It sat there untouched rotting away until about 10 years ago, when they decided that the tiny little car was in the way, so they pushed over the hill behind the shop into a creek bed, where it sat sinking into the ground. Just last week the little guy was finally rescued from its watery grave and is on its way to a relative of mine to begin restoration. It needs a lot of work, including all new floors, rear sheetmetal, interior, let alone the little sheetmetal motor that puked some 40-50 years ago, and that is most certainly rusted solid now.

Anyway, I figured you guys would love to see some pictures of the little rusty guy.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

Does the motor spin??

Why is the creek always the second choice to put cars that are in the way. There is never enough room "just" outside :'(

[squirrel]

Re: Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

That looks like a lot of work! maybe if you bury it for ten years, it'll disappear and it won't need to be fixed?

[DanStokes]

Re: Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

We have a racer at Maxton (and B'ville, too) who is the go to guy for Crosley parts. I can't pull his name up right now but I'm sure one of us Maxton folks will post it. Anyhow, the restorer of this little guy will need him.

Dan

[HillbillySailor]

Re: Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

If the block is all rusted together, where would one find another donor engine (provided you wanted to keep it stock)?

[ford141]

Re: Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

I didn't try to spin the motor, but I highly doubt it will move. These motors were fabricated from sheetmetal, and they were designed to be thrown away, so I'm thinking it will be very difficult to get it back in working condition. I also believe that the head was integral to the block.

Not sure what prompted them to push it in the creek. For that matter, I'm not sure what prompted them to push it outside the shop (the quansit hut beside the car). The shop is huge and is packed full of worthless stuff, and its not like it took up a lot of room. I remember looking at it when I was a little kid right after they pushed it outside and it was still pretty nice, even the paint was still good. laying in creek beds are always bad for cars.

[ford141]

Re: Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

Good read on the sheetmetal Crosley CoBRA engine: http://www.crosleyautoclub.com/Mighty_Tin.html

[JOES66FURY]

Re: Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

I didn't try to spin the motor, but I highly doubt it will move. These motors were fabricated from sheetmetal, and they were designed to be thrown away, so I'm thinking it will be very difficult to get it back in working condition. I also believe that the head was integral to the block.

Not sure what prompted them to push it in the creek. For that matter, I'm not sure what prompted them to push it outside the shop (the quansit hut beside the car). The shop is huge and is packed full of worthless stuff, and its not like it took up a lot of room. I remember looking at it when I was a little kid right after they pushed it outside and it was still pretty nice, even the paint was still good. laying in creek beds are always bad for cars.

Its a Pa thing...there were no less than 3 firebirds and 4 Falcons and 1 LTD in the creek behing my grandpas place...

[ford141]

Re: Grampa's Old Crosley - saved!

Ya, I guess you're right, Joe. There are a lot of hills around here, and the old-timer's way of getting rid of things was to push it down a hill. Usually there is a stream at the bottom of the hill, so that's where they stop.