One of the more surprising things at the Studebaker meet last Saturday was the microcar delegation.
There were four King Midgets in attendance.
They were down next to the Packards, which made for quite a study in contrasts.
It didn't register with me until I was looking at the photos the next day, but the little fella between the King Midget Model III and the Packard in the photo above looks like a cyclekart. I'm kicking myself for not getting a better look or a good clear picture of it. In my defense, I missed the cyclekart in large part because I was fascinated by another display of automotive hobbitry nearby: four absolutely magnificent 
Crosleys.
What's a Crosley, you may ask?
The Crosley was a compact car--more of a sub-subcompact, really--built in Cincinnati by, oddly enough, the Crosley Corporation, which was founded, oddly enough, by industrialist Powell Crosley. Mr. Crosley first tried getting into the automobile business before World War One; after several failed attempts at becoming a manufacturer, he found a niche in the auto parts business making accessories, then branched out into other consumer products such as appliances and radios, established 500,000-watt radio station WLW, and acquired the Cincinnati Reds.
Though his other businesses made him a wealthy man and more than kept him busy, Mr. Crosley remained obsessed with the idea of building an affordable mass-produced car. He gave it another try in 1939, offering a 925-pound minicar through appliance and department stores (!) at a starting MSRP of only $325. Crosleys of various descriptions were produced from 1939 to 1942, then after the war until 1952.
Let's take a look at the four Crosleys that were on display at the meet. One was a station wagon that had been tricked out as a comic relief fire truck.
In the engine bay is a 4-cylinder Crosley CoBra--that's the correct capitalization, by the way--of 44 cubic inches displacement (750cc for those still using the metric system) producing 26.5 horsepower. It's notable for having a single overhead cam valvetrain--this is in 1946, mind you--and a block made up of sheet metal stampings welded together.
The other three looked like they'd come straight from the factory through a time portal. There was a rich chocolaty brown station wagon,...
...a wine red convertible with a canvas top,...
...and a super-rare (only 33 built) steel-top 1942 coupe in a snappy two-tone scheme.
The '42's prime mover is a 38.9 cubic inch air-cooled flat twin, used on all prewar Crosleys.
We'll do a more detailed examination of Crosley Motors in the near future, and there were a couple of other cars I saw that day that will be getting their own posts before long. We'll finish up for today with a look at the AMC delegation. The first to arrive was the beautiful red Matador, which seems to be here every year.
This year was the first time I realized that a Matador's rear quarter windows can be rolled down.
The Matador was joined by a paintwork-in-progress Rambler sedan,...
...an excellent 1968 Javelin,...
...and the landslide winner of the Car Lust Trophy, John Martin's 1978 Concord AMX.
One of 1,931 built, it came from the factory with a 258 straight six, four on the floor, heavy duty suspension, black paint, yellow stripe, and totally-not-an-imitation-of-Pontiac's-flaming-chicken-how-could-you-even-think-such-a-thing hood graphics. John added crushed velour upholstery, AMC mag wheels, a stereo, and an Eagle S/X steering wheel. The car took first place at the American Motors Owners Association national meet, as well it should have.
--Cookie the Dog's Owner
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