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Personal Quotes

Speaking at the end of Crosley Motors, Inc. on July 16, 1952: "I tried to save the company. I just couldn't make the Crosley at a low enough price to attract sufficient buyers. I've worked hard. Now I think its time to take it easier and get a rest."

"I've always wanted to build a practical car that would not only operate at a low cost, but sell at a low price. I've been dreaming of this car for twenty-eight years." - 1939

About a book he bought for a quarter, 'The ABCs of Radio': "I read the book and it intrigued me. A couple of days later I went back to the shop and asked if I could buy the parts separately and assemble the radio myself. For between $20 and $25 I returned home with headphones, a tuning coil, a crystal detector, a condenser, and other mystifying gadgets. Before I knew it, I had virtually forgotten my regular business in the interest of radio. I wondered how other men on salaries as small as mine managed to buy radio sets at the prices advertised. I knew that the expensive equipment I had been shown was out of the question for them. I also knew that many men lacked the mechanical knowledge - or desire - to build their own sets. I was confident that the radio set was not going to be a rich man's toy and that it had to be within the reach of everyone." - from a magazine interview

"When I was twelve years old I decided it was about time for me to take a swing at the world. At the time, the automobile was the scientific but unpredictable wonder of the day, but to me its future was assured. So I was determined to build one. Rather short on capital at the moment, I borrowed eight dollars from my younger brother Lewis, and with his help I concocted a four-wheel wagon, powered it with an electric motor and battery, and displayed it to my father as my 'invention'. He looked at it with the gloomiest eyes. In fact, he thought so little of my contraption that he offered me ten dollars if it would work. After the test - my automobile had traversed the whole block - I accepted the ten dollars, paid Lewis his eight, plus a dollar as his share of the profit, and gloatingly pocketed my dollar, convinced that I had embarked on a great industrial career in the new mechanical age."

Have you ever stopped to think how ridiculous it is that one to four people require a ton-and-a-half motorcar to carry them a mile or so to a picture show?

Powel Crosley Jr. was a typically ...

Powel Crosley Jr. got into the radio ...