In 1949, Crosley was the first auto manufacturer to offer modern-style disc brakes on a production automobile, but the experiment was not a success.

Here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, we tend to take the view that in automotive technology, historical firsts might be overrated. They’re fun to track down and to talk about. But often enough, the first attempt to bring a mechanical innovation to market results in a  bitter and expensive failure. The greater glory (and the profits) then go to the second, third, or fifth company that tries it, gets the bugs fixed, and delivers a useful product to the public. And really, which is the greater achievement? The first, or the first to actually make it work?

One good example is the 1949 Crosley, the first U.S. production car to be equipped with modern disc brakes. For being first, Crosley earns an honorable mention in the history books. But it wasn’t a success, and so its actual impact on the auto industry was more or less negligible.

Going all in on the new development, Crosley adopted Goodyear-Hawley disc brakes on all four wheels and on all models for 1949, promoting it under the name Hydradisc. Developed by New York inventor Jesse Hawley and acquired by Goodyear’s aviation division, these brakes were manufactured for a wide variety of aircraft applications in the 1940s, including wheel brakes and helicopter rotor brakes. With a cast-iron rotor and hydraulic two-piston calipers, the Goodyear-Hawley setup was essentially a modern disc brake, unlike other systems that arose around that time including Kinmont and Ausco Lambert, which were disc brakes in name but used entirely different mechanisms. (William F. Lanchester designed a caliper brake with a copper rotor in 1902, but we’ll set it aside for now.)

The Goodyear-Hawley system was thoroughly proven in numerous aircraft, but when it was adapted for automotive use, suddenly an unforeseen problem arose. The cast-aluminum calipers were eaten alive by the harsh winters of the American Midwest, where snow and road salt froze the pistons up tight. There was no suitable fix at hand and early in the 1950 model year, the disc brakes were dropped and replaced with Bendix 9-inch hydraulic drums on all four wheels.

Still, we salute Crosley for trying. The two forward-leaning individuals responsible for the innovation were Powel Crosley (in the fedora below) and his chief engineer at Crosley Motors, Paul Klotsch (left). While Crosley built his vast fortune manufacturing radios and appliances, he was a car guy at heart and the tiny Crosley automobile was his pet product. (See our feature on the Crosley Hotshot here.) Klotsch, a German-born engineer who immigrated to the United States in 1933 to escape the Nazis, was the car company’s technical mastermind. When Crosley Motors shut its doors in the summer of 1952, Klotsch moved on to the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, where he became a top research engineer and led the automaker’s free-piston engine program.