Photos by Matt Litwin.
Here at Hemmings, Web Editor Daniel Strohl owns the Crosley beat, but when Senior Editor Matt Litwin’s photos of this perfectly restored ’47 Crosley pickup crossed my desk recently, I wanted to know more.
A call to its owner, Crosley evangelist, collector and Crosley Automobile Club president David Anspach of Blandon, Pennsylvania, turned into a feature about this pint-sized truck that appears in the October 2015 issue of Hemmings Classic Car, on sale at newsstands on August 18 (or subscribe here).
David’s enthusiasm for these plucky little cars knows no bounds and when he restores one he goes all the way. He does a lot of the heavy lifting on his cars himself and his efforts have netted him numerous AACA awards and gold at concours shows around the country including Hemmings own Concours D’ Elegance in 2011. David is scheduled to bring this truck, as well as another of his Crosleys, to this year’s Hemmings Concours in Saratoga Springs, New York.
“I’ve been fortunate to get Crosleys into some really big shows,” he told us. “When I took over as club president I wanted to help bring respectability to Crosley as a marque. They’ve always been considered clown cars, but they are wonderful little vehicles and a lot of people don’t know that they exist.”
He purchased this pickup at Auctions America’s Auburn Spring sale in 2014. The truck was intact and at least superficially presentable, but he bought it intent on performing a complete teardown and restoration.
“It was an 80-footer,” David said. “But The ’47 round side is a little more unusual and quaint and I always wanted one.”
The pace of the project was shoved into overdrive when, on the way home from Auburn, David received a call from the Hilton Head Motoring Festival and Concours d’ Elegance in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Show organizers were seeking entrants for the event’s Pickup Trucks class and were hoping that David could deliver. With Hilton Head in November that left only the months of August through October to give the needy pickup a complete show-worthy makeover.
David tore the truck down in his garage and sent the CIBA-based engine (Crosley Cast Iron Block Assembly) to Crosley engine specialist Barry Seel. After rebuilding and refinishing the engine in the correct factory color, Barry also went through the original T-92 Warner three-speed manual transmission.
While the powertrain was taking shape, the body was stripped, repaired and repainted by Mervin Zimmerman of Hamburg, Pennsylvania. The truck’s sheetmetal was largely intact but the inner bed rails needed to be replaced and some small patches fabricated. Crosleys don’t have trim tags divulging their original color, so David selected a blue-gray metallic from the factory color chart, which Mervin applied in single-stage urethane.
David handled the restoration of the Crosley’s chassis himself at home, stripping the frame, axles and leaf springs with abrasive wheels on an electric grinder, then topcoating everything with POR 15. He also rebuilt the truck’s brakes, steering and suspension.
Robert Gilbert of Fix It All in Hamburg, Pennsylvania handled the Crosley’s upholstery work and final assembly of the truck’s components fell back to David.
The whirlwind restoration wrapped up in time for the Hilton Head concours and for his efforts, David scored one of the event’s Palmetto Awards.
“We ended up finishing second to a 1930 Model A pickup,” he said. “It came down to a tie on points and they broke the tie by giving the Model A the edge for historical significance.”
Powel Crosley would probably be surprised that one of his humble subcompact pickups is now in the business of hauling home car show gold, but David believes its the best way to honor the Crosley legacy.
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