Wake Me Up And Make Me Go Go: 1948 Crosley Sedan vs 1965 Toyota Corona

Good morning! First, no, I do not apologize for that earworm; and second, welcome to Project Car Week! This week, we’re keeping the same price range as last week, between three and four grand, and looking for viable winter projects. Not all of them will run, but I promise none of them will be hopeless basket cases either.

On Friday, we wrapped up our week-long search for a decent used car, and wouldn’t you know it, that super-clean Mazda 6 from last Monday won by a country mile. That would be my choice too; it’s the best blend of practicality and fun out of the bunch, and it sure does look well-maintained.

As far as color goes, I don’t hate it in silver, but if I were to change it, I would go with one of two blues: either Mazda’s own Laser Blue, which was available on the Protege the year after I bought mine, or Ford’s Bimini Blue, which was the color of my ’93 Escort. I just like blue cars. I’ve had seven or eight of them over the years – but who’s counting?

Now, I know a lot of you don’t like it when I feature project cars, but I enjoy them, so it’s what we’re doing. I’ll keep it as painless as I can, and I’m trying to avoid the typical pickup trucks/Darts/Spitfires you see for sale everywhere, and focus on some uncommon choices. I think I succeeded today. Here’s what I found.

1948 Crosley CC Sedan – $3,500

Engine/drivetrain: 44 cubic inch overhead cam inline 4, three-speed manual, RWD

Location: Los Alamitos, CA

Odometer reading: unknown

Operational status: Non-running, but engine turns freely

The prevailing wisdom has always been that Americans do not like small cars. We’ll drive them, if we have to, to save gas, but very few car-buyers in this country actively go looking for a small car. (We have a disproportionately large number of such car-buyers here, it must be said.) That hasn’t stopped a few entrepreneurs from trying it over the years, however, with varying degrees of success. But only one of those entrepreneurs started out making radios: Powel Crosley. From 1939 until 1942, and then again from 1946 through 1952, Crosley made cars that were not much bigger than his radios, really.

Post-war Crosleys were powered by a tiny four-cylinder engine with a few notably weird features. The engine’s cylinders and head are one piece, brazed together from stamped pieces of steel, rather than a separate cast engine block and cylinder head like most other engines. It’s also a shaft-driven overhead cam design. A bevel gear at the front of the crankshaft drives a shaft that runs through what’s called a “cam tower” up to the top of the cylinder head, where another set of bevel gears turns the camshaft. This design was used in aircraft engines early on, but is rare in automotive engines. We have no idea how long ago this Crosley’s engine last ran, but judging by how clean it is, I bet it wasn’t that long ago. I can’t imagine it would be too hard to get this car running.

It seems to be in pretty good shape overall, especially for being seventy-six years old. We have no way of knowing how much is original and how much has been restored, of course, but I don’t see a whole lot of restoration work needed here. You could pretty much take it to Cars & Coffee as is, once you get it running. Make sure you can get there on surface streets, though – Crosleys realistically top out at about 50 MPH.

It looks reasonably straight outside, too, though obviously it has been repainted. I’m sure there’s some rust somewhere, but it’s a good twenty-footer as it sits, which is good enough for most casual classic car enthusiasts. You don’t see the sedan style very often; it seems like the wagon was more common, and looking at this car, I can see why. It’s proportioned like something out of a cartoon. Whether or not that’s a good thing, I’ll leave for you to decide.

1965 Toyota Corona – $3,500

Engine/drivetrain: 1.9-liter overhead valve inline 4, two-speed automatic, RWD

Location: Santa Ana, CA

Odometer reading: 85,000 miles

Operational status: Not running, needs some engine work

Toyota entered the US market in 1958, and… failed miserably. The Toyopet Crown, its first passenger car import, was slow and unreliable, and Toyota lost a ton of money. This car, the third-generation Corona, did a lot better. With more power than the Crown, and modern styling that took some cues from Oldsmobile and Mercury, the Corona looked like it belonged in America. And if it hadn’t been a success, there’s a good chance that RAV4 wouldn’t have cut you off in traffic today. But don’t hold that against this car.

As has become typical of imports, the US-market Corona got the “big” engine, in this case a 1.9-liter pushrod four, powering the rear wheels through a two-speed “Toyoglide” automatic. This one hasn’t been driven in a while, but we have no idea how long. The seller says it cranks but won’t start, which could be a few things, but it’s also missing the thermostat neck and upper hose, which means the cooling system has been open to the elements for who knows how long. You’ll want to flush everything out before you seal it all up again.

It’s incredibly clean inside, and it’s weird to see how American it looks. It has a wide rectangular speedometer and a pull-out headlight switch on the dash, just like American cars of the era. Some of them even had column-mounted shifters, though I don’t think there was ever a bench seat option.

The outside looks great too, and I bet there hasn’t been an early Corona this clean in most parts of the country in decades. Even the one I saw in Portland a few years ago was way rougher than this. It must have been kept in a garage; there’s no way it would be this clean and shiny if it had been sitting in this driveway all this time.

“Project” can mean a lot of different things to different people, and there are some aspects of fixing up a car that appeal to some of us more than others. Me, I’ll happily dive into mechanical restoration, if I don’t have to worry about the cosmetics. That’s why these two appeal to me: they both look great, but need some help with the mechanicals. Which one of them appeals to you?

(Image credits: sellers)