You’re not likely to ever again see an ad that touts the 51 MPH performance of their racing machine.
Categories
Quick Little Hotshot
Tag: Crosley
Categories
2010 InterMarque Spring Kickoff
I headed to the InterMarque Spring Kickoff event this morning in St. Paul, MN, which had a very good turnout of vintage sportscars despite the gloomy weather. The highlight of the show for me was this homebuilt Crosley Special, garage-built in 1951 and with hillclimb and gymkhana history in Indiana going to back to the mid 50s. It was a stunning little car, and far and away my favorite of the day.
As gorgeous as this little Crosley was, it was by no means the only show-stopper on hand. There was a very strong showing from a variety of makes: Plenty of Citroens, MGs, Healeys, Triumphs, and Jags—with a few Maseratis, pre-war luxury cars, and a few vintage bikes as well. A wonderful mix of cars, in conditions ranging from Pebble Beach Competitors (the Daimler pictured below has competed there), to well preserved, to rusty and rattle-canned. Excellent variety of cars at virtually every level of collecting.
The Vintage Foreign Motors of the Upper Midwest hosts a very fun event that has grown many-fold in recent years. Excellent!
Here’s a few more shots from the event.
In 1952 Chuck Hassan imported a Bandini Motto Crosley to compete in the newly formed 750cc Hmod class in the American SCCA. His first race was a total success as he won his class and the index of performance at the 6 hour Vero Beach race. He competed in many more events including Sebring and ended up 24th overall in the 1952 national standings. He then sold the car to James Riley who raced a couple of times in 1953.
In 1954 the car was purchased by the great Sandy McArthur (the 1950’s Hmod King) who raced it to 6th in the national Hmod class that year. McArthur also raced it in 1955 and for the Sebring 12 hour event had a Mercury outboard motor installed by the factory. He was leading the index of performance after 6 hours when the fiat 500 gearbox let go. He competed in a few more races that year and in 1956 sold the car to Clair “Sonny” Reuter of Naperville Ill. Reuter raced the car a few times and then installed a new Bill Devin Monza body for the 1958 season. This great car was in his possesion till his death in 2006.
My father Jack Reuter purchased it from his estate to compliment his other Bandini racer, 1955 Bandini #358 DOHC. We are now restoring the car with its Devin body.
Cliff Reuter