COMPANY

In 1907, Powel Crosley, Jr. sought to build inexpensive automobiles and set out to form a company that could realize his dream. He created the Marathon Six company in Connersville, Indiana and saw his dream quickly fail.

After picking up the pieces, Crosley went to Indianapolis to work as a shop hand in the Fisher Automobile Company. As Crosley's luck would have it, he broke his arm trying to start a car and ended up going from job to job between automobile manufacturers in Indianapolis and Muncie, Indiana.

One of Crosley's early failed attempts was a cycle car, but he soon found success in automobile accessories. He co-founded the American Automobile Accessory Company and his prospects soared when one of his inventions, a tire re-liner, was picked up by Sears. He continued to see success in the invention and development of consumer products such as radios, appliances and even professional baseball, but his dream of developing automobiles eluded him.

That changed in 1939 when Crosley introduced his first small car. Instead of selling directly to dealers, he sold to his established independent department stores and appliance dealers. The car was tiny and included a 2-cylinder air-cooled Waukesha engine, an 80-inch wheelbase and a price starting at $325. The original car came in yellow, gray, or blue and had a black top with red wheels. It weighed only 925 pounds. Prior to World War II, Crosley managed to produce 5,757 cars until the war halted all automobile production in the country.

Unfortunately, the air-cooled engine couldn't produce sufficient power and became a noticeable problem. Although he had produced over 5,000 vehicles, only 2,000 were sold that first year. Major improvements would be made on future models, but Crosley proved no threat to major car manufacturers like General Motors.

After the war, Crosley resumed automobile production and built another small, lightweight car that got between 30 and 45 miles per gallon. He priced it at a mere $850. Sales reached record levels for Crosley as the post-war buying boom began and he even saw production reach a peak of 27,707 cars during 1948.

Once gas rationing ended, however, a car with good gas mileage didn't seem all that necessary and Americans turned once again to their big cars. All total, Crosley sold around 75,000 automobiles before closing down his endeavor for good in 1952.

One of the most popular vintage Crosley models is the Hotshot, which responds well to hot-rodding overhauls. Despite this fact, the Hotshot never took as a serious consumer vehicle, but it has become a major collector's item today.