On Mon, 09 Jan 1995 10:20:30 -0500 (EST) W. Ray Gibbons said:
I think most of you must be too young to remember the Hotshot, so you
can't form a mental image of it. They are not thick on the ground; I saw
one at a car show last year, probably the only one I've seen in 30 years.
Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember seeing new ones, so forgive me,
I must jump in here.
I think Dick Harold has stated the Crosley history rather accurately.
However, while he is correct that the Hotshot was a roadster, I would
certainly not have said there was anything jeeplike or square about it.
Could you possibly be confusing the appearance of the Hotshot with that of
the Mini Moke, Dick?
*** Ray
***I will defend myself by being a bit more detailed in describing the
Crosley Hot Shot Sports Roadster. (You are right, no prewaer models.) I
must admit that these are my observations, and I will not insist that
anyone else agree with me. That said, I'll charge ahead fearlessly.
***The Hot Shot had fairly flat sides with cutouts for the wheels much like
the Jeep of the period. The windscreen even attached to the vehicle much
like that of a Jeep. The bonnet, while somewhat curved, appeared flat
mainly, I suppose, because the wings were almost as high as the bonnet.
The front-end treatment was much different from the Jeep and was more
rounded and sloped back to some extent, and it had no openings. The two
headlights appeared oversize for the car and were mounted high between each
wing and the bonnet creating a "bugeye" effect. The bumper was more like
that of a conventional car and was chrome, unlike the Jeep. The two
individual seats had tube frames with attached cushions much like that of
the Jeep. The rear had a bit of a slope to it unlike the Jeep. Yes, it
was more rounded, more stylish than the Jeep, but I still say it appeared,
at least to me, to be similar to the Jeep. I might even go a tad further
and say that the Hot Shot looked a lot like today's golf cart but with a
long snout and windscreen!
***By the way, the Hot Shot must not to be confused with the regular
Crosley line of cars. It was a completely different animal in every
respect sharing little more than the four cylinder engine. In fact,
believe it or not, the Hot Shot had a longer wheel base than the standard
Crosley, 85 inches as opposed to 80 inches!***
--- some text deleted ---
I do not believe the Hotshot name was used for any pre-war Crosley model,
but was used only for the sports roadster in the early 50s. The Hotshot
had the cast iron 4 cylinder engine, I believe with a few performance
mods. It was a fairly competent little sports car, and rather cute,
--- some text deleted ---
***The '39 Crosley had a 3" bore and a 2 3/4 stroke for a cid of 39". The
compression ratio was 5.6. The '40 through '42 Crosleys had a two cylinder
engine with a 3" bore and a 2 1/2" stroke for 35.3 cid developing a little
over 12 horsepower at 4,000 RPM with a 5.6 to 1 compression ratio.
***The '46 through '52 Crosleys, including the Hot Shot, had a 2 1/2" bore
and a 2 1/4" stroke and managed to develop 26.5 horsepower @ 5,400 RPM.
The piston displacement was 44 cid and the compression was 7.5. This
engine had a shaft driven single overhead cam. Ignition timing was set 12
degrees BTDC.
***Please forgive me for an occasional error. After all, it has been a few
years since I had one of these jobs in the shop and my memory isn't what it
was - thank goodness.***
Dick
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