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| The goal, realized! John Aibel in the cockpit of his childhood dream car! |
Starting the Crosley Automobile Club was one of the best
things I have ever done. We meet the most interesting and dedicated group of
antique car collectors one could imagine. Bill Exline, the Bollmans, and
numerous other wonderful persons all contributed their knowledge and expertise
to keep this wonderful club running up to the present day.
About a year and a half after forming the club, I received an
application from a fellow living in Lake Worth, FL, and listing the Le
Mans Crosley as the car he owned. I immediately called Hal up, and sure enough
he owned the car of my dreams. He found it in a junkyard in West Palm Beach
which coincided with a lead I had been given. Hal was restoring the car at the
time.
Guess where the family was going to go on vacation?! Yes, Florida here we
came.
Hal lived way out west of town on a large piece of property that included
his own private airstrip. He owned just about every exotic and weird vehicle
you could imagine. He even owned a flying car! His tastes were much like my
own.
Hal and I would meet yearly after that first meeting, at the annual Hershey,
PA auto show. I did my best to become his best friend. When he bought an
Allstate car, I found original workshop manuals for him and gave them to him.
The last time I met Hal at Hershey, I asked him how my Le Mans car was. He
stunned me by telling me he had sold it to buy a small motor-home. Naturally, I
asked him why he did not ask me first if I wanted to by the car. His answer was
that he did not think I had the money! I was sick. Hal did tell me to whom he
had sold the car to, but I was so sad that I lost my interest.
Many years went by and I found other interesting cars to buy
and work on, but I still carried a torch for that little Crosley.
Now my
brother Fred never ever throws anything out. One gloomy winter day, I told him
that I still yearned to own that Crosley.
Fred said to me, “I have the phone
number of the fellow who bought the Crosley. Why don’t you call him up?”
I did call Mr. Don
Snyder and asked if he still owned the Crosley Le Mans car. He answered yes,
the next question was would he sell it? Again the answer was yes! All he wanted
was what he had paid for the car plus what interest he would have received at a
bank. Doing the math it added up to such a high number for a Crosley that I
almost said no thank you. Then it dawned on me that this was the one car I just
had to own.
My first "baby" Erik was about to graduate from the Indiana State University and West Springfield, OH was on the way to Terre Haute, IN where I was taking
the family to the graduation. We stopped and left off the trailer and a check
with Don. On our way home we stopped and our new Crosley Le Mans car was loaded
and ready for us to take it to its new home. I still could not believe I owned
this wonderful car!
The enjoyment of owning and vintage racing this machine is a
dream come true. Over the years I have attended events at the following tracks: Pocono Raceway, Lime Rock Park, Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, and the movie
shot at the Pine Brook Speedway.
The car always performed very well and could
run competitively with vintage race prepared MG-TDs and with many of the Pre-War
sports cars of the 1930s.
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| John Aibel wheeling his prized 1951 Crosley Le Mans car around the PVGP |
Now the Crosley is sort of retired, and does the occasional
car show in Southwest Florida. Someday, I hope, another generation of the family will again race the
car as it was built to race.
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