Crosley, Buy One for the Garage and Kitchen

Crosley, Buy One for the Garage and Kitchen

What does a radio, a refrigerator, a car and the Cincinnati Reds baseball team have in common? It's Powel Crosley, born in Cincinnati, Ohio in1886. At thirteen, he and his younger brother built an electric go-kart, and at twenty one, he formed a company to sell an inexpensive 6 cylinder car called the Marathon 6. It failed for lack of money.

Crosley worked at a variety of different ventures that offered better success than his car company, but the turning point for Powel’s career was when his young son asked for a radio in 1920. Appalled by the high prices, Powel Crosley built his son’s radio by developing a five-tube receiver. He marketed this invention and sold millions turning Crosley Radio Corporation into one of the worlds largest.

It been reported by his friends, that once the creative phase of an operation was completed, Crosley would preoccupy himself with other interests. In 1922, Powel Crosley became a disc jockey on his own radio station, and by 1934, it was blasting out 500,000 watts of power. When the radio business started getting old to Crosley, he hooked up with an inventor with an idea for a refrigerator with shelves built into the door. The inventor had been turned down at Frigidaire and Kelvinator, but Crosley liked the idea of a "Crosley Shelvador" and sold four million of them. He also bought the Cincinnati Reds during the thirties which saved the franchised and they named the ball park Crosley Field in his honor.

Crosley gave his first love, automobiles, another go in 1939 with Crosley Motors building mini-cars and distributing them through filling stations and auto repair shops. After WWII, Crosley sold all his other interests, except for the Cincinnati Reds, and focused on making his cars. He turned his economical mini-car into the first postwar sports car.

The Crosley Hotshot had its distinctive “Cobra” single overhead cam, four-cylinder engine and disc brakes, both highly unusual at the time. Its 26.5 horsepower came at more than 5000 rpm, an almost unheard of speed for an American engine, and it would rev beyond 6,000. In 1950, a Crosley’s won at Sebring, the Grand de la Suisse in 1951, and placed second in Tokyo Grand Prix. A Crosley almost took a victory in its class at Le Mans in 1951 until its voltage regulator went out late in the race.

Racing enthusiasts weren’t the only ones that fell in love with the Crosley. As a passenger vehicle, it was a comfortable, light weight, inexpensive, fuel efficient, zippy little car. Over 70,000 Crosley automobiles were built by 1952 when production ended and the company was sold to General Tire Corporation.