UPDATE: The mystery Crosely at the bottom of the post has been identified as a Crosley Bull Pup thanks to L.C. Odin.
For those who haven’t read the article I posted on the lightweight jeeps a few years ago, Crosley built ‘extra-light weight’ four wheel drive vehicles called the CT-3 Pup and marketed to the military in 1942. The Pup had a 2-cylinder 13hp engine air cooled motor and weighed 1125 lbs. What I didn’t know was that a slightly different ‘hi hood’ version of the Crosley Pup was also built. More about that in a moment.
The issue of the Pup came to my attention yesterday because Marc forwarded me a great photo of a CT-3 Pup being loaded onto US Navy Bomber May 5, 1942, on eBay.
View all the information on ebay
According to Hemmings thirty-seven Crosley Pups were built before the idea was abandoned, at least in part, due to some weak parts. As in the photo above, here’s another look at the ‘classic’ version which you can view at Mighty Eight Air Force Museum in Pooler, Ga. (more pics of it here) and check out these fantastic detail photos at the Comancheclub.
What makes the Crosley Pup jeep more interesting is that I discovered the following photos taken at the Cincinnati History Museum (Interesting note: the Museum offered a history program on Powel & Lewis Crosley in 2013) of a version of the Crosley that seems to have been ignored.
UPDATE: This has been identified as the Crosley Bull Pup. See L.C. Odin’s comment for more info .(Photos taken by Nicholas Massa)?
Links:
1. Crosley Pup at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum, 100 Bragg Boulevard, Fayetteville, NC.
2. Crosley CT-3 Pup at the Mighty Eighth Museum in Savannah, Georgia.
3. Great Flickr from the rear of the Pup. Photo by ‘Rocknrun’
4. Tampa Bay article about the Crosley Pup.
5. Hemmings article about Crosley war products.
6. Crosley Auto Club Article
7. Twenty-seven detail shots of the Crosley Pup from the Comancheclub, including this rare shot of a data plate:
I’ve always found the Crosley brothers pretty interesting! I think the dynamic between the two was they key to their success. Powell was a marketing genius and Lewis was one of the best around at the engineering and th manufacturing process.
I have a 1952 Crosley Sedan, one of the last produced. They were very interesting fellows. Powell’s lifelong dream was to produce a car and he made a great amount of money in the teens selling accessories for cars. Then he made it big in the 1920’s by going into radio and producing one of the first affordable radios. At one point he was called the Henry Ford of radio. Crosley began producing cars in the late 1930s and sold them alongside radios and other appliances in department stores. Crosley produced many items during the war including their copper brazed engines used in PT boats. The Crosley pup was just another attempt to expand into the wartime market. After the war they made their mini Jeep as the Farm-o-road pictured here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crosley_Farm_O_Road_without_front_bumper.jpg
Much like Jeeps it had many accesories for farm and yard use…. but was MUCH smaller.
-Merlin
What engine did the Crosley Pup have, especially: What bore? What stroke? How many cuin?
Hi Hans,
According to this site http://crosleyautoclub.com/War_Years.html :
“The Pup was 4 wheel drive and was powered by the prewar Crosley 2cyl opposed air cooled engine”
This site has more information, though I don’t have the time to validate it:
2″ engine, b/s and cid matching exactly, 15HP@4200 in the Crosley http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?p=520113 :
For 40-42 Crosley had a 2cyl “2A”, 3x 21/2, 35.3 cid, 12HP@4000, which apparently was the same engine with a smaller bore, as all the Crosley 2cyl’s were supposed to be Wauk 150’s.
– Dave
The mysterious second vehicle presented above shall be the Crosley Bull Pup which, as you have guessed, has been designed as a lightweight scout car addressing the complaints received about the Pup. It is my understanding that a single prototype has been constructed.
Wonderful. Thanks for identifying that vehicle!
– Dave
I have always like and been fascinated with ALL Crosleys. I guess in the 40’s, post-war boom years, it’s day had passed. People wanted BIG, roomy, comfy, ostentatious cars. A ostentatious life was what they had during the depression. Too bad. Right cars, wrong time.
Hello, I was told by the owners of the Bull Pup, that it was owned, used, and upgraded at the Crosley Plant until it’s closing. It was a plant transport vehicle. The upgrade was done at the plant. Hence the hard fenders and higher hood to address a larger engine. Regards Barry Ogletree
The “Navy Bomber” referred to in the caption is a C-47 (or Navy R4D) transport.
The negative has been flipped, the doors are in the left side of the fuselage.