On 20 Jan 1995, Daren Stone said:
>"I'll admit that this is a bit of a stretch for the brit-car
connection, but I think it's intriguing, nonetheless.
----------------------------(Deleted stuff concerning Lou
Fageol--------------------------------------
It's not really as far-fetched as one might think, here on the Brit car
discussion, for you see, Lou Fageol owned Crosley, and so ties in nicely
here.(The Crosley having evidently become British, by adoption).
My most unusual car was one of the first I ever owned, a Crosley special built
by the Skillings brothers of San Jose, in the mid fifties. Car weighed about
480 pounds, tube framed, with sewn-on fabric bodywork, like an old Cessna, 750
crosley engine, 3- spd, torque-tube drive. The rear suspension was by bungee
cord, usually eight turns, each side.
When the Skillings bros ran the car it held the four-cylinder track record
at half Moon bay dragstrip (82mph) until one day Phil Hill showed up in a
Ferrari 750S Monza and blew the record clean away.
Crosley engine development was driven in those days by hydroplane racing,
those guys were said to be able to get the things to turn 15,000 rpm, most of
the road racers claimed 9-10 thou. Strange and wonderful engine mods were
not uncommon.
Brian Knowles '74 Lotus Elite 2+2 (daily driver)
knowlesb@delpi.com '69 Alfa Berlina (nightly driver)
'67 Jaguar 420
(semiannual driver)
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