A few pics from a small car show I stumbled upon today. The highlight for me was easily this adorable baby 4x4 that so many of you correctly identified as a Crosley FarmOroad, which up until today did not exist in my world and now I don’t know how I’ll ever get it out of my fevered brain.
http://crosleyautoclub.com/Details/Details_FOR.html
As you can tell by the marketing material below it was intended as a utility vehicle for (surprise!) farms, the same concept that Willys had been trying and mostly not succeeding at with the CJ series for 5 years.
The FarmOroad was very configurable from the factory: this one didn’t have a front axle, but 4x4 versions were available, and PTO was an option. This one did have low and high gearing, so despite the lack of 4 wheel drive there were 3 levers: e-brake, manual transmission, and 2-high/low.
Per the owner it was used in a factory to tow small trailers around the floor, hence the lack of rust. It was an extremely clean vehicle. And extremely small, something Crosley must have specialized in.
Here are some of his other cars from a 4th of July show I shot last year. Apparently he knows someone from the Crosley family; I’m not entirely sure how that translates to access to these delightful vehicles, but I’m grateful..
As a side note, for anyone who doesn’t know, Indiana used to be quite well-known for auto manufacturers, rivaling Detroit. Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg, Crosley...quite an assortment of memorable cars were made here. Even my beloved Jeeps have a history here: the company that remained after Auburn/Cord stopped making its own cars was contracted by Willys to make MB bodies during World War II.
The car show was filled with hot rods that bored me, so no pics, but this beauty grabbed my attention, and if I weren’t smitten with the Crosley I probably would have spent more time with it.
