1948 Crosley Wagon

Description

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

Hagerty Marketplace is honored to offer another selection of vehicles from The SugarCreek Collection. This private collection in southwestern Ohio is supported by its own in-house restoration and maintenance shop, with a full-time staff of craftsmen. The garage is a true spectrum of car enthusiast dreams, ranging from unfinished restorations to the most recent sale of the SEMA-exhibited 1,000 HP 1962 Dodge Power Wagon, supporting the Mike Rowe WORKS Foundation. Thirty select cars from the collection are being offered just in time for spring. Whether awaiting restoration, preserved showroom stock, restored to like-new, or tastefully modified, these cars and trucks are truly SugarCreek quality. 

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Powel Crosley Jr. insisted that he'd never made more than $20 a week until he was 30 years old, but the quirky entrepreneur was never short on ambition. The determined Cincinnati native had a string of jobs at an early age before creating the Crosley Radio Corporation in 1921. By applying mass manufacturing techniques from the automotive industry to his radio factory, he earned the nickname "The Henry Ford of Radio" and grew the business into one of the top radio manufacturers in the world. Capitalizing on that success, Crosley purchased his hometown Cincinnati Reds baseball team in 1934 and owned it until his death in 1961. However, automotive enthusiasts know him best for Crosley Motors, which he created in 1939 with the goal of producing affordable, compact cars that would be accessible to a wide range of consumers. The company did exactly that until 1952, when it could no longer compete with its larger, more powerful competitors. 

The Crosley Wagon was introduced in 1947 and quickly became the company's best-selling model. It was an all-steel, lightweight vehicle built on an 80-inch wheelbase and powered by a 44.2 cu-in inline-four engine producing around 26.5 horsepower. It was notable for its overhead camshaft design, which was quite advanced for its time. 

Highlights 

• Offered from The SugarCreek Collection  

• Finished in white paint with red “woody” painted appearance in rear and “Lopsided Heart Gallery” painted on the doors 

• Black vinyl interior with wood panels on inside of doors 

• Powered by a 44.2 cu-in inline-four engine producing 26.5 hp 

• Three-speed manual non-synchromesh transmission 

  Features 

• Split windshield  

• Four-wheel drum brakes 

• Red leather-wrapped steering wheel 

• 70 mph speedometer and odometer with aftermarket gauges for fuel, amps, oil pressure, and water temperature 

• AM radio with large dash speaker  

• 4.50 x 12 blackwall tires 

• Rear tailgate and flip-up hatch 

  Known Imperfections 

• Multiple paint chips, scratches, scuffs, and cracks on the original paint (inside and out), commensurate with the age of the vehicle 

• Paint is bubbling on lower part of doors, just below Lopsided Heart Gallery lettering 

• Tailgate wood is chipped and scraped 

• Light corrosion on inside bottom of doors 

  Included 

• Keys 

  Ownership History 

This 1948 Crosley Wagon joined The SugarCreek Collection in 2022. It was restored years ago, but no additional ownership history information is available.   

Additional Notes    

A Broad Arrow Auctions Specialist is working as an agent on behalf of the owner of this vehicle. Broad Arrow Auctions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hagerty.   

Contact: Matt Lowney   Phone: 623.308.2640   email: mlowney@hagerty.com