This is a 1948 Devin Crosley, it’s a highly-modified Crosley with a lightweight Devin body over the top, now powered by an MG A-series engine.
These custom-built Devin sports cars first began appearing in the 1950s, thanks to their low weight they often beat mass-produced sports cars in competition, and even today they remain competitive in vintage racing series.
Fast Facts: A 1948 Devin Crosley
- This Devin Crosley is a heavily modified Crosley chassis fitted with a lightweight fiberglass Devin body and powered by a rebuilt 1,275cc MG A-series engine. Originally disassembled and stored for six decades, it was restored in 2022 by Liberty Motorsports in California.
- Bill Devin, born in 1915, learned early mechanical skills from his family’s repair and car dealership businesses. After serving as a Navy machinist in WWII, he campaigned lightweight Crosley Hotshot race cars at events like Pebble Beach and Palm Springs, soon gaining an appreciation for small, efficient sports car designs that would later shape his entire life.
- In 1954, Devin founded Devin Enterprises in California, pioneering fiberglass body production for custom and competition cars. His first project, the Devin-Panhard, introduced the first toothed timing belt in an automotive engine – though unpatented, this innovation became standard across millions of later vehicles, securing his place in automotive engineering history.
- Devin’s modular fiberglass molding system, made of 50 interchangeable sections, allowed bodies to fit a wide range of chassis sizes, from Crosleys to Austin-Healeys. This approach made Devin Enterprises the largest aftermarket fiberglass body manufacturer of the 1950s and 1960s, with its cars remaining competitive in vintage racing to this day.
The Incredible Story Of Bill Devin
Bill Devin was born in 1915 in Rocky, Oklahoma. As a young man he would become a key figure in the American automotive landscape of the time – thanks to his unique approach to car design and his use of lightweight fiberglass for manufacturing.
Bill Devin at the wheel of his own personal Devin SS. Image courtesy of Undiscovered Classics.
His early exposure to cars came from his father’s automotive repair shop and later a family owned Chevrolet dealership. This upbringing imbued Devin with deep mechanical aptitude, and perhaps unsurprisingly led to him building his first vehicle – a small open-top car for his younger brother – made using a gasoline-powered washing machine engine and a metal sign for the body that had been hammered into shape.
During World War II, Devin served in the U.S. Navy as a machinist, gaining valuable experience in creating and repairing parts, and maintaining landing craft. After the war he opened several car dealerships taking after his father, including both Chrysler-Plymouth and Crosley franchises.
His first real foray into racing began with a modified Crosley Hotshot, an incredibly small, lightweight car, which he successfully campaigned at a number of events, including races in California at Pebble Beach and Palm Springs.
Devin Enterprises Begins
It seems likely that his appreciation for the benefits of small, lightweight race cars led to the next step in his life, the step that would make him a household name in classic car circles. In 1954, he founded Devin Enterprises in California, focusing on producing lightweight fiberglass car bodies and complete turnkey vehicles.
His first creation was the Devin-Panhard, it was built around a modified Panhard Dyna Junior chassis and a body molded from a Deutsch-Bonnet Le Mans race car. Devin’s modifications to the 745cc Panhard engine included pioneering the use of a belt-driven overhead camshaft system, marking the first application of a toothed timing belt in an automotive engine.
The car you see here started life as a 1948 Crosley but today only the chassis and some of the running gear remains. It was given a new Devin roadster body that’s considerably lighter than the original due to the fact that it’s made from fiberglass.
Sadly for Bill, he didn’t patent the idea. He just wanted a lightweight racing engine, but his invention of the toothed automotive timing belt would soon become commonplace. It would be used in the production of millions of automobiles – it still remains in production today with many marques.
Devin’s Clever Modular Molding System
Devin’s approach to fiberglass body manufacturing was ingenious – he developed a system of 50 individual molds that could be assembled in various configurations, allowing bodies to be created that fit a wide range of chassis sizes – from small cars like the Crosley to larger models like the Austin-Healey 3000.
This modular system resulted in Devin Enterprises becoming the world’s largest manufacturer of aftermarket fiberglass car bodies during the 1950s and 1960s.
The 1948 Devin Crosley Shown Here
The car you see here started life as a 1948 Crosley but today only the chassis and some of the running gear remains. It was given a new Devin roadster body that’s considerably lighter than the original due to the fact that it’s made from fiberglass.
It spent over 60 years in storage, and was bought as a disassembled, non-running project in 2022. The rebuild was completed by Liberty Motorsports of Costa Mesa, California and their work included the installation of a rebuilt 1,275cc MG A-series inline-four and a 4-speed manual transmission.
The rebuild was completed by Liberty Motorsports of Costa Mesa, California and their work included the installation of a rebuilt 1,275cc MG A-series inline-four and a 4-speed manual transmission.
They also gave the car a new red leather interior as well as a new fender flares and a headrest fairing, then finished it off with a repaint in black. The car also has hydraulic drum brakes, 14″ Dayton wire wheels, lever-arm shock absorbers, dual acrylic windscreens, a racing seat, a quick-release steering wheel, a Weber carburetor, a Pierce intake manifold, and stainless-steel headers.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Redwood City, California with black-on-yellow 1948 California license plates and a clean California title that lists the car as a 1948 Crosley. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
