CROSSLEY VEHICLES TODAY

1928 20.9 Coupe

Crossley 20.9 Coupe

Photo - Charles Donovan

The car with its shooting brake body.
Crossley 20.9 Coupe
The car with its body returned to coupé form but still carrying much of its "original" paint.
Crossley 20.9 coupe
Crossley 20.9 coupé
Crossley 20.9 engine

Photos - Malcolm Asquith

The car in 2006 with its new paint.

This 20.9 coupe is now owned by Malcolm Jenner. It has coachwork by Grose of Northampton and was originally ordered by a Mr Whitten as a one-off design drophead coupe with dickey seat. In 1949 it was converted from its original form to the Shooting Brake as illustrated in the first photograph. The conversion was probably not done by Grose and involved fitting out the back with cupboards, shelves and even a double bed. An extremely dubious central jacking system had also been fitted at some time. The front of the car and the doors were largely untouched but to cater for the wider rear body the rear door pillars were moved outwards meaning that the doors would not close properly. In its modified state the car was virtually undrivable and probably did very few miles mainly on the Whitten estate before being laid up. The unique colour scheme at the rear resulted from Mr Whitten's children painting the car with shellac. Mr Whitten's comments on this are not recorded!

There are only about five Grose bodied cars left today and even though they bodied several Crossleys this is the only one of them known to survive.

The chassis number is 40781 and the engine 40787.