I seem to recall that in the late 1940s or early 1950s, a couple of the winning Indianapolis cars were the "Blue Crown Spark Plug Specials". Was there a Blue Crown spark plug company?? My files go back to the late 1950s, and I have not seen anything that there was a spark plug by that name. If there was plug by that name, did they go bust soon after their Indy wins?? Bought out by one of the other makers; AC, Champion, Autolite??? Were they some sort of gimmick plugs??? Piper106
I will check out some of my old 1950's car magazines & 1940's Popular Science magazines & post back sometime Sunday. (I seem to remember an ad for a "tri tip plug" that was supposed to burn clean and give extra power in a ad, I will look for it).
Blue Crown plugs won three straight Indys. 1947, 48 & 49. 2nd in 1950 Check this link http://www.rumbledrome.com/blue.html
Here is a box of 10 Blue Crown plugs with the 3 team cars on the top. I'm sure the company history is known to the guys in the Spark Plug Collector Society Club.
I think that Blue Crown Spark Plug Co sponsored Bill Hopper's Arizona-based gas altered in the mid-50s. He ran a chopped Fiat with a blown Chrysler, think he was from Tempe. He and fellow Arizonian Carl Grimes were real competitors in the A/G ranks.
Sorry to drudge up an old post, but has anyone else have info on Blue Crown plugs? I just pulled the plugs on my 35 and found 6 of em. I have 2 M-5 up front and 4 M-7 in the rear cylinders..
For what its worth, one of the original Blue Crown Spark plug Indy cars still exists in all original condition. It was on display for years at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. While on display, I believe it was owned by a member of the Blue Crown spark plug family who loaned it to the museum in the 1960s. About ten years ago, they sold it to a private collector in Michigan where it resides today. It's a wonderful and never restored racecar.
My buddys Dad used to work for them. Just where talking about it last week. Old guy stories. I think He told Me some one in Florida has like a museum or part of one for blue crown. I will ask when I see him.
I too have always been curious about the Blue Crown Spark Plug Co. They sponsored the famed and extremely successful Blue Crown Spark Plug Specials at Indy with Mauri Rose and Bill Holland driving then just seemed to disappear. I saw this thread and decided to do some internet digging to find what info on them I could. This is on No Fenders.com: Blue Crown Spark Plug was a product of the Motor Master Products Company in the 1930’s and at the height of business, Motor Master Products was selling a range of 90+ spark plugs. This was during the era of when Chrysler owned the Autolite spark plug concern and General Motors owned AC spark plugs with Champion also doing business. During World War II; Blue Crown was producing 40,000 spark plugs per day under Government contracts for the war effort; Purvis, (his father and Owner of the Blue Crown Spark Plug Co.) owned factories in Chicago and Mexico, with the Mexican plant being for international business, prior to selling Blue Crown to the Defiance Automotive Screw Machine Co. in Defiance, Ohio in the early 1950’s. Blue Crown also sponsored Hudson Hornet NASCAR race cars, as even then NASCAR was quite “Big.” The whole saga can be read here: http://www.nofenders.net/2009/04/blue-crown-spark-plug-specials-saga.html
Just found this discussion, but maybe I can add a little to the Blue Crown history. The car in question was the 1949 winner driven by Bill Holland. It was later sold to noted Michigan collector Robert "Buck" Boudeman. Due to age and health, Boudeman has in recent years started to sell off some of his collection, and this particular car sold in the past couple years for an undisclosed amount estimated at $1.5 to 2 million. The twin sister to this car was the 1947/1948 winner driven by Mauri Rose. Sometime in the early 50's, both of these cars were sold to Earl and Tom Slick, who by this time had a presence in San Antonio. They owned a company called "Slick Airways", mostly a freight hauler with WWII era cargo planes. They could not duplicate the success that Lou Moore had with Rose and Holland. By the 1950 race, they had become obsolete. Keep in mind that Moore's race strategy was to run as few fuel stops as possible, and the car was built around a large fuel tank, and the engines being built and de-tuned for less power, but more mileage. (His dream was a one pit-stop 500 mile race). They employed noted drivers like Tony Bettenhausen to sort out the cars, but to no avail. Eventually, the car that Rose won in was wrecked at Indy in the early 50's, and it ended up in a goat shed outside San Antonio, on property Slick owned that is now known at the Dominion. (The Dominion is the high rent district that boasts tenants like George Strait, Spurs players David Robinson and Tim Duncan, and several more movers and shakers around here.) That car was in that shed for a few decades until Earl Slick donated it to the Indy Museum, where it was restored and now resides. Those two cars were Leo Goossen designs that were welded up by noted builder Emil Deidt. They were front wheel drive. My father had the pleasure of being shown the drawings for these cars by Lou Moore in his home office in Burbank, when he and my grandparents were guests of Lou and Vida Moore for Christmas Dinner in 1946. My grandfather was close friends of Lou Moore, and several other indy names of that time, including Chief Starter Seth Klein, Driver Duke Nalon and promoters Babe Stapp and Fred Lockwood who promoted the AAA races held at Arlington Downs in Texas..
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