A car, a truck or a tractor?
After the Second World War ended in 1945, the WillysOverland Co. took its popular military Jeep through a successful transition into the peacetime market by converting it to what they called the Universal, or Civilian Jeep (CJ). It was promoted as a combination tractor, pickup truck and passenger vehicle suitable for fields, construction sites or outback trails, or carrying the family to town.
The Universal/Civilian Jeep was a better off-roader and passenger vehicle than it was a tractor, so agricultural use was soon largely abandoned. It was being replaced by light tractors from companies such as Ford, Ferguson and International Harvester.
This didn't deter Powel Crosley Jr. of Cincinnati, Ohio, from pursuing the same idea a few years later. Crosley was an innovative entrepreneur who made a fortune manufacturing radios, refrigerators and other appliances. He was the first to market a low-priced radio and put shelves in refrigerator doors, his famous Shelvador model.
Crosley also had a long-held dream of producing a small, economical car. He started his own automobile company before the Second World War making a range of tiny cars, vans and trucks with Waukesha air-cooled, two-cylinder engines. They were marginally engineered, and few were sold.
Following the war, he resumed building tiny vehicles, now totally redesigned and powered by a 724-cc overhead-cam inline 26-horsepower four that had powered portable military generating sets during the war.
It was called the Cobra, because its cylinder block wasn't traditional cast iron, but assembled from sheet steel stampings and COpper BRAzed together. With an eye to the future, Crosley had purchased the rights to the engine.
The immediate postwar years were a seller’s market created by low car production during the Depression, and no civilian production for 3 12⁄ years during the war.
Crosley did reasonably well in this period, reaching a record high 29,089 sales in 1948. But serious problems surfaced because the sheet metal engine, while very light, corroded in civilian use, allowing coolant to leak out or contaminate the oil. A switch to the CIBA (Cast Iron Block Assembly) engine in 1949 solved the problem, but Crosley’s reputation was damaged.
Crosley had other interests besides automotive ones, including the Crosley Broadcasting Corp., farming and ownership of his beloved Cincinnati Reds baseball team and Crosley Field, where they played.
Crosley’s farming activities convinced him to develop a versatile little farm and road vehicle that he introduced in 1950. Called the Farm-O-Road, it was intended as a true dual-purpose machine like the Civilian/Universal Jeep, only on a much smaller scale.
The Crosley sedan was small, but the Farm-O-Road was positively Lilliputian. While the car had a 2,032-millimetre wheelbase and overall length of 3,683 mm, the Farm-O-Road’s wheelbase was only 1,600 mm and it was just 2,311 mm long. Like the car, it had 12-inch wheels.
Despite its minuscule size, however, the Farm-O-Road was equipped to act like a real grown-up worker. It had two gear ranges, with six speeds forward. Top speed in low range was 24 km/h (15 mph) and it would pull small plows, rakes, harrows and mowers. Front and rear power-takeoffs were optional as was a hydraulically operated drawbar and dual wheels. The overhead-cam fourcylinder car engine supplied the power.
In addition to agricultural applications, the Farm-O-Road was intended for road use with a claimed top speed in the 65- to 80-km/h range. Normal passenger accommodation was two, but an optional rear seat could carry two more. If the owner wished to use it as a small pickup truck, a cargo box with a hydraulic dumping mechanism was available.
A fabric top and side curtains provided basic protection from the elements, and for that really sporty feeling, the windshield could be folded forward like an English sports car.
The Crosley Farm-O-Road was a true multi-purpose machine, albeit on a miniature scale. It could be used as a light farm tractor, could serve as a small pickup or carry passengers.
The Farm-O-Road was not a sales success. It was made for only a couple of years, and like Crosley's cars, was just too small to be taken seriously. It would be regarded today as little more than a small utility vehicle, like a John Deere Gator.
Although total production was in the hundreds, not thousands, it was an interesting attempt at a dual-purpose vehicle.
Crosley Motors succumbed to bankruptcy in 1952, and the Crofton Marine Engine Co. of California eventually acquired the rights to the Farm-O-Road. They revived this tiny chapter in automotive history a decade later as the Crofton Bug. The Bug saw limited production, with only 200 to 250 sold.