1951 Crosley Super Sport

[George Smolinski]

The Super Sport seems to preview the future Austin Healey Bugeye from England

Just in time for Christmas, a sports car that just might fit under the tree.  Not a toy but a 1951 Crosley Super Sports, the Pick of the Day.

The Crosley is a tiny bit of an automobile from a short-lived Cincinnati automaker that produced microcars for those who eschewed the bigger-is-better trend of most US car buyers. The company built pint-sized sedans, wagons and convertibles from 1946-1952, following a brief startup in 1939 that ended when war began.

In 1949, Crosley introduced the minimalistic Hotshot roadster, a doorless sports car that weighed just over 1,000 pounds.  The Super Sport version with doors and a folding top, rather than removable, entered the picture in 1950.

This yellow Crosley Super Sport with a red interior is a “very interesting car to drive,” according to the Indianapolis dealer advertising the roadster on ClassicCars.com.

The diminutive sports car is powered by a 724cc overhead-valve inline-4-cylinder engine generating 26.5 horsepower and backed by a 3-speed manual transmission.  Zero-to-60 time is rated at a brisk 20 seconds, “amazing for a car this size,” the seller notes.

“Pound for pound, some say the Crosley Super Sports is one of the greatest sports cars ever built,” the seller says.

Be that as it may, the Crosley is pretty much guaranteed to be a fun little runabout for those who appreciate great little cars, and it should attract lots of amused attention everywhere it goes.  The Super Sport is a rare collector car today since not too many of them were sold in the first place.

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While the seller does not reveal any details about the car’s history or restoration, the ad does note that it has been outfitted with a new fabric top and fresh tires on its 12-inch rims. 

The asking price for this Crosley is also diminutive, at $12,500. 

To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.