1948 Crosley CC Four Is Our Bring a Trailer Auction Pick of the Day

• This adorable 1948 Crosley CC Four is our Bring a Trailer pick of the day.

• The CC Four stood out among the chrome-covered barges of post-war America, powered by a 0.7-liter inline-four.

• The blue-and-white Crosley was restored by the previous owner, including a fresh paint job.

When you think of cars from the postwar era, you likely picture gigantic boats stretching nearly 20 feet long, bedazzled in chrome trim and sprouting jet-age fins from the rear fenders. But not every vehicle that emerged after the end of World War II was a portrait of American excess. One of the few companies not building lavish boulevard cruisers was Crosley, which focused instead on lightweight subcompacts. Its most popular model was the CC Four, and this station-wagon example is now for sale on the Bring a Trailer auction site—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos.

Crosley launched its first car in 1939, a tiny two-door that competed with the American Bantam. The company continued building road cars into 1942, with wartime fuel rations making the efficient little runabouts an attractive choice. In 1946, civilian production resumed with the new CC Four, which was offered in a plethora of body styles: sedan, two-door convertible, station wagon, panel van, pickup, and even a convertible wagon called the Sport Utility. The CC helped Crosley reach new heights, more than tripling sales to over 20,000 units in both 1947 and 1948, but reliability woes hurt the brand's reputation. Crosley launched a miniature sports car called the Hotshot and an off-roader called the Farm-O-Road, but sales plummeted and the company ceased production in 1952.